Episode 133: Alex Tessman, CTEM

In this episode, we chat with Alex Tessman, Equipment Manager at Sheep Ranch Golf Course, part of the renowned Bandon Dunes Resort in Bandon, OR. Sheep Ranch is a public 18-hole championship course, and Alex is one of nine techs maintaining the resort’s seven courses.

Alex’s journey started as a high schooler raking bunkers at Pacific Dunes before transitioning to the technician side. He shares insights into advancements in cutting unit technology and his unique hobbies, including working with carnivorous plants and creating custom CNC projects for the course.

Alex also reflects on his first experience at the GCSAA Conference & Trade Show in Phoenix, highlighting the growth of equipment manager classes and the exciting opportunities ahead for San Diego 2025. Tune in for a deep dive into continuing education, EM networking, and the passion that drives success in the turf industry.

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Transcript

Trent Manning 0:56

Welcome to the reel turf techs podcast for the technician that wants to get reel follow along. As we talk to industry professionals and address hot topics that we all face along the way we'll learn tips and tricks. I'm your host, Trent. Manning let's have some this episode are real turf techs on golf course industries Superintendent radio network is presented by Foley county a strong supporter of equipment technicians and golf course maintenance departments everywhere Foley county offers a proven solution for above and below the turf for turf professionals To learn more about Foley company's line of real grinders bed knife grinders and the air to G2 family of products or to find a distributor visit www dot Foley C o.com Foley Ready for play Welcome to the Real Turf Techs podcast episode 133. Today we're talking to Alex Tessman, Equipment Manager at Brandon Dunes Sheep Ranch Golf Course in Bandon, Oregon. Sheep Ranch is a public 18 hole championship course. Bandon Dune Resort has 7 courses and a total of 9 techs. They're primarily all Toro equipment. Let's talk to Alex. Welcome Alex to the real turf text podcast. Thanks for coming on. How you doing?

Alex Tessman 2:29

Hey Trent, things are good.

Trent Manning 2:32

That's Yep. Happy Monday. It's the fall of the year and it's my favorite time along with probably a lot of other equipment managers.

Alex Tessman 2:42

Yeah, finally slowing down.

Trent Manning 2:44

Yep, that's that's what it's all about. Tell us how you got into the turf industry.

Alex Tessman 2:50

Well, there was a, A high school teacher that, you know, was a pretty big impression on me and he was trying to line me out with a job and He told me call this guy and he'll line you up. I didn't know who this guy was. I didn't know what the job was. I didn't know anything about it. But all I did was I called him every other day, which come to find out he was on vacation for two weeks. So I blew up

Trent Manning 3:21

Blew his phone up.

Alex Tessman 3:23

his phone a little bit. And he calls me back and says like, hey you know, I'm in charge of the rangers and, you know, we usually kind of keep that for the retired guys. Let me put you in touch with agronomy.

Trent Manning 3:38

Oh,

Alex Tessman 3:38

like you could be a workhorse for another guy I know.

Trent Manning 3:42

Okay.

Alex Tessman 3:42

he put me in touch with Jeff Sutherland at Pacific Dunes. And so I, on the same day of getting my license, starting college and getting a job I all of a sudden found myself raking bunkers on a golf course. I didn't even know existed.

Trent Manning 4:01

Nice and never played golf before any of that stuff.

Alex Tessman 4:04

Nope. Not then, not really since.

Trent Manning 4:08

That's okay. That's alright.

Alex Tessman 4:10

Yep.

Trent Manning 4:11

There's a lot of us that don't play.

Alex Tessman 4:13

No. I'll go play with the old man, because you only get so much time with the old man, but

Trent Manning 4:19

Not a great point. Yeah the listeners don't forget that

Alex Tessman 4:23

Yeah.

Trent Manning 4:23

cuz life's short for

Alex Tessman 4:25

Absolutely.

Trent Manning 4:27

So, how did you end up in the shop turning wrenches?

Alex Tessman 4:32

Well, it was we were doing a big renovation on Trails, where they tore up all of the sod on one of, like, I think what I was working on was 18. Yeah. And little squares, we had to lift that up one piece at a time, move it off, reshape and put it back. Well, that really kind of sucked. That was not a fun time. And so I was already kind of looking for a different career path. I didn't really think this would be my sort of jam and, you know, then it started to be like, Hey, why don't we get you in the shop? Because you seem like you could kind of manage yourself and do your own thing. And I think they saw. A different side of me that wasn't really greenskeeper agronomy worthy and someone saw the talent in me and namely Scott Huntley kind of put me in the shop. And next thing, you know, a position opened and I was just kind of the next shoe in because I was already in there assisting.

Trent Manning 5:30

Okay. So you assisted another technician for how long?

Alex Tessman 5:35

Yep. Just kind of went in the afternoons, helping him whatever he wanted, just whatever he needed. But that's how I kind of got into the, into turning wrenches. And then I went full time for common grounds. I don't know when that would have been. I started working here in 2010. I think it was a couple of years, 2013 or so when I started turning wrenches.

Trent Manning 6:01

Okay. All right. Yeah. Well, you still look very young. So,

Alex Tessman 6:07

Thanks.

Trent Manning 6:08

Yeah, no, no offense, but I was thinking, well, How have turning wrenches that long?

Alex Tessman 6:14

No, I've been working here for 14 years, but not turning wrenches for the whole time.

Trent Manning 6:19

Yeah, that's still, that's cool. That's great. How did you learn the cutting unit stuff? Was it more hands on with the guy that you're working under?

Alex Tessman 6:30

It was like. Baptism by fire, just kind of, you know, we, there definitely wasn't as much of a technical mind for cutting units then as we're sort of leaning into now. So it was just get it sharpish and make it sheer.

Trent Manning 6:45

Yeah. Yeah.

Alex Tessman 6:45

You know, we never discussed paralleling and anything like that until quite recently.

Trent Manning 6:50

Yeah, and yeah, I don't know. I don't know, you know, why, how it was. I mean, a lot of things I guess I've learned over the years and I kind of knew about, but we didn't necessarily implement them like we do now. And I definitely think it's, really good where we're at and where we're headed in the industry on cutting unit setup.

Alex Tessman 7:18

And we had burn hard grinders at that time. So we didn't really, couldn't really indicate good, like the Foley's that we have now,

Trent Manning 7:26

Mhm.

Alex Tessman 7:26

Just get a scratch and let her fly, you know, definitely couldn't do relieving.

Trent Manning 7:31

Yep. Yep.

Alex Tessman 7:32

so it's been incrementally learning over the years, just step by step.

Trent Manning 7:38

Oh, yeah. Yep. Well, no, I mean, I've told a few people this with all this research I've been doing recently. I've learned more in the last nine or 10 months about cutting units I have in my 28 year career, which you know, it's mind blowing. It's crazy how much information there is out there.

Alex Tessman 8:00

Oh boy.

Trent Manning 8:02

No it's crazy. It's I mean, it's very eye opening and a lot of the stuff that we were taught over the years was at the time was okay, but times have changed and cutting units have changed a little bit and I get it, you know, it's just like saying. Well, the internal combustion engine is the exact same thing as it was a hundred ago, but yeah, so, you know, you still got, it's a four stroke, suck, bang, blow, all those things,

Alex Tessman 8:42

Huh.

Trent Manning 8:42

you know, but, you know, no carburetors hardly anymore. Everything's fuel injected. There's no points and condensers. Magnetos, all those things, everything in the past. So internal combustion has came a long way and you can say the same thing with cutting units and say, well, this real was, you know, invented in the 1800s to cut carpet and you know, now we're using it to cut grass, but

Alex Tessman 9:14

Is that true? It was made to cut carpet?

Trent Manning 9:17

Yes. Yep.

Alex Tessman 9:18

No kidding.

Trent Manning 9:19

Made to cut the nap on carpet

Alex Tessman 9:21

No

Trent Manning 9:22

England. Yes.

Alex Tessman 9:25

Oh, I can't wait to lay that fun fact on people.

Trent Manning 9:28

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. We'll have to look that up and see exactly when it was created, but sometime in the 1800s, but cutting unit technology has came a long way and I don't know what everybody else is doing, but I think Toro. has definitely led or is leading the trend to make cutting units better. They put a lot of R and D in their cutting units and,

Alex Tessman 9:57

that whole DPA system.

Trent Manning 9:59

yeah, and the DPA come out in the early 2000s. So, I mean, that's, you know, 25 years old and that was, you know, really pushing the curve back then. Anyway, talking about rambling, there we went. Yeah, we did it. But I love getting off topic sidetrack.

Alex Tessman 10:18

100%.

Trent Manning 10:19

What is your least favorite part of the job?

Alex Tessman 10:22

I think sort of unfortunately is probably the most important part of the job, which is setup, making sure everything is so spot on all the time, every time, every day. Maybe it's the monotony of that. You know, cause I think we all sort of like the variety in our job. That's the one monotony thing where I'm just like, You know, but it's got to be done.

Trent Manning 10:46

Yeah. We used to have that question on the podcast. What is your favorite part of the job? And everybody said the variety. So it was everybody has the same question. So that's not a very interesting question. We'll pick something else, but I totally get it. Yeah. It's any of those monotonous chores that we have to do over and over again.

Alex Tessman 11:09

Yep.

Trent Manning 11:10

Yeah, that makes it

Alex Tessman 11:11

one of those things you can't just glaze over to you. You can't just quick it. You're going to pay attention.

Trent Manning 11:15

What's your favorite tool?

Alex Tessman 11:18

A headphones.

Trent Manning 11:20

Oh, okay.

Alex Tessman 11:21

I

Trent Manning 11:22

So you can listen to the RealTurfTex Podcast.

Alex Tessman 11:25

I've listened to three episodes today,

Trent Manning 11:27

Oh, wow. Okay. Are you behind or are you double dipping? Okay.

Alex Tessman 11:32

I guess way behind. I have been making an attempt to listen to all of them. I'm right now. I just listened to your episode from COVID times with Diana Kern the other day

Trent Manning 11:44

Oh, wow. Okay. That's going way back.

Alex Tessman 11:47

so I'm trying to get through them all.

Trent Manning 11:49

Okay.

Alex Tessman 11:50

a while.

Trent Manning 11:51

No, it's all good. It's all good. No problem at all there. I appreciate you listening and I love it when listeners are guests too. That's, you know, it's cool. Comes full

Alex Tessman 12:03

Oh, yeah. Yeah, it is nice, you know, and you know, it's just kind of me and my four walls in here and I love to have my headphones and I mean, I'm just like rolling through all my podcasts, yours included.

Trent Manning 12:15

Okay, cool.

Alex Tessman 12:17

Every

Trent Manning 12:17

awesome. What do you do to relax or find your balance?

Alex Tessman 12:21

so I kind of thought about this one. I think it's sort of funny because I was going to tell you all of the things that I sort of do aside from work. You know, I like to, I have carnivorous plants that I have a huge carnivorous plant collection. I kind of garden. I have a CNC business on the side. I like to keep my hands busy. I like to do things and separate my mind. But then I think I started to learn that this is actually where I come to relax. Like I'm so crazy everywhere else, doing all my other little side projects. Maybe this is. This is where I find my balance is the cool down period of being at work.

Trent Manning 13:02

I could see that for sure. Yeah, I definitely find work more relaxing sometimes than I do my personal life.

Alex Tessman 13:10

Huh. Yeah.

Trent Manning 13:11

For, well, tell me about the CNC. Well, what are you

Alex Tessman 13:15

I have a one finity CNC. I do a lot of the courses, signage, that sort of thing, T markers,

Trent Manning 13:22

Okay. Yeah.

Alex Tessman 13:23

those sorts of things. I have started making all of the benches for band and dunes proper. So, I had a guy come in from Facilities Maintenance say like, Hey, some guy tried to drive out your course to get to the beach. We need a maintenance sign that says, Don't do that. That's what I've been doing a lot of lately.

Trent Manning 13:44

that's awesome. That's super Yeah,

Alex Tessman 13:46

been really fun.

Trent Manning 13:47

cool. Yeah, so yeah, sorry. I got sidetracked there. Yep. I think I was gonna say that we bought a CNC machine. I don't three. No, it's been longer than that. Maybe five or six years ago. And we got we've been making all our course signs. We were making Remember bag tags? I mean, I was doing, yeah, all that stuff. You know, anything, we're just kind of trying to find an excuse to you know, keep using it. But being able to make the signs is super cool. And we've been using high density urethane, the

Alex Tessman 14:30

a color core

Trent Manning 14:31

No, it's foam. It's just straight foam. And I mean, it's crazy. You know, mean, it's pretty dur, durable. It doesn't rot. It carves about two times faster than wood,

Alex Tessman 14:45

Yeah,

Trent Manning 14:46

Know, which is awesome. It's easy on the bits and all that stuff. Definitely worth the checking into,

Alex Tessman 14:55

I'm writing that down right now.

Trent Manning 14:56

Yeah. Do it. Yep. High density urethane. We buy it in a four by eight sheet, and it's an inch and a half thick. Just like a you know, a two by four or something like that would be. And we, let's see, we paint it. So all our signs, the background is white. So we'll paint it white. And then we put down, or a mask it's a blue mask, you know, so anyway, you put it down, then you carve it out and then. Peel off the or mask and paint the letters. I mean, it turns out great. It's awesome.

Alex Tessman 15:36

I'll definitely have to look into that, you know, because here on the Oregon coast, it's wet, and wet. All the time.

Trent Manning 15:43

Yeah. Nice.

Alex Tessman 15:44

if we put those signs in the ground, it's touching the ground, it's like game over, they have to have an air gap or it will just rot. So I love this

Trent Manning 15:54

definitely be worth checking into for sure. And I don't, yeah, I don't remember the cost of the sheets, but I mean, it's nothing crazy. And I mean, it lasts forever unless, you know, we had a golf ball hit one and it did break, you know, it

Alex Tessman 16:11

or maybe that's not good for business.

Trent Manning 16:13

What? Yeah. You got to think about that too. You got to think about that. Yeah. What's your biggest challenge to date?

Alex Tessman 16:22

Ooh. You know, I that's kind of tough biggest challenge When I started over here at sheep ranch, we basically had two connex boxes with a tarp strung across between them

Trent Manning 16:40

That's a challenge.

Alex Tessman 16:41

yeah, so I had to do set up in a dugout ramp thing I made on the ground laying in a puddle full of cardboard just to set up my reels for the day. So I would say it was quite challenging to sort of muddle our way through that while we're like, watching our beautiful building being built right next to it. You know, you're like neck deep in mud.

Trent Manning 17:07

Yeah.

Alex Tessman 17:07

That was quite challenging. But the reward is fantastic. I mean, this building is great.

Trent Manning 17:15

So how long have y'all been in the building?

Alex Tessman 17:19

I think we're, Sheep Branch has only been open, I think we're going on three years now.

Trent Manning 17:24

Okay, cool. Oh, that's awesome.

Alex Tessman 17:27

new.

Trent Manning 17:27

a yep. Have a new facility like that and

Alex Tessman 17:30

Yeah, it was great. I got to just sort of make it my own and whatever I wanted to, however I wanted to piece it together, I was just sort of afforded that. It was great. It was a challenge, but it

Trent Manning 17:41

Yeah, right, right, right, right. No, that's super cool. So next question is what's the strangest thing you've seen at

Alex Tessman 17:50

Oh, this is a pretty good one. So when I worked over on trails this sort of, you know, it's kind of sad when you really think about it, but he had some sort of a psychotic break. And thought that he was being followed by black helicopters and men in suits and the whole, like the government was tracking him Somehow got his Honda element up a footpath that was all made out of wood and crashed it on the deck of trails end, which is our pro shop for the trails course. So we had to have. This like, this poor guy having a total come apart, Trying to run from us and the whole bit, like, oh That was pretty, that was probably the craziest thing I've seen.

Trent Manning 18:41

Yeah, that's that's pretty unfortunate too. Cause yeah. Mental health is really important to us here Techs and that stuff can happen.

Alex Tessman 18:54

And I'm just about tinfoil hat enough that I wanted to believe him. I

Trent Manning 19:00

Yeah yep.

Alex Tessman 19:02

was on his side.

Trent Manning 19:04

Do you have a mentor in the industry?

Alex Tessman 19:07

Oh, well, I mean, you know, like most people answered that's sort of a multitude of people.

Trent Manning 19:13

Yep,

Alex Tessman 19:13

you know, Jeff Sutherland was the first person to give me a chance. He he's the superintendent for Pacific Dunes. He. Definitely has kind of a paternal kind of aspect to him. He just feels like a guy that like actually kind of cares. You know, Fred Yates, he's now our new head of agronomy. He was the first person to sort of tell me that, like how important the equipment managers are, which at the time I kind of thought he was blowing smoke up my ass, but he wasn't. He was actually being like sincere, you know, the Ron Wagner, the guy that told me that to just give this guy a call. I mean, he sent me on the path to begin with. I mean, he's, he was the guy that sent me down the track of going to welding school instead of getting into tech, like everybody I went to high school with did

Trent Manning 20:01

good stuff.

Alex Tessman 20:02

you know, Eric Langford is the you know, introduced me to GCSAA and to you and. And the programs and kind of showed me that there is a larger world than just band and dunes. And I didn't know that We had no idea. So I, you know, I really thank him for showing me that.

Trent Manning 20:24

Yeah, and I think there's a lot of people out there that have no idea the resources that are available to technicians. And not that we have a ton of resources, but they are, there are resources that people have never heard of. So this year in Phoenix, was that your first time?

Alex Tessman 20:43

Yeah,

Trent Manning 20:44

Yeah, that's awesome.

Alex Tessman 20:46

that was really cool. You know, and I got to say, it was that was the first time meeting you. And I just got to kind of BS in with Hector. I have no idea who he was. And you both were like, I mean, I talked to Hector for like an hour about his family and his, he gave me this really cool thing, a beard oil. He was so nice. Some guy came up and wanted to take a selfie with him. I'm like, who am I talking to?

Trent Manning 21:10

right,

Alex Tessman 21:11

everyone was so welcoming. It was like, you know, it was really neat. Yeah.

Trent Manning 21:17

No, it is a really good industry and for the most part, we're, you know, pretty tight niche too. Group, which you know, I think a lot of people enjoy. I know that's one of my favorite things about it for sure Yeah, I'm so glad you got to show this year so how did you get to show for the first time It?

Alex Tessman 21:39

that would have been Eric Langford. You know, he was the one he's now the superintendent for old Mac. And you know, he kind of showed me the way that. You know, Hey, there's this show and it would sort of appear like the classes for EMS has really been on the rise in the last couple of years. And like, I think it's time someone, you know, from the wrench side should start going to these things.

Trent Manning 22:03

Awesome

Alex Tessman 22:04

Absolutely. Like

Trent Manning 22:05

Yeah, for

Alex Tessman 22:06

I'm always down for that, You know? So, so he really kind of pushed me into it.

Trent Manning 22:11

Yeah, more, more the merrier, for sure, and every year it seems like, I mean, every year there's definitely more technicians that come, you know, how many more? I don't know. I heard last year we had around 175 in attendance, which I think was the most to date.

Alex Tessman 22:32

Oh, wow.

Trent Manning 22:33

yeah, it'll be interesting to see what happens in San Diego. San Diego is a usually not as well attended as Orlando is usually the best attended cause there's, well, there's more people on the East coast and it's really cheap for them to get down there and housing is really cheap in Orlando. A lot of clubs, they'll rent a house and have 10 people staying at a house. And, you know, it's a thousand dollars for a week or something for 10 people, So it's yeah. Dirt cheap to stay down there.

Alex Tessman 23:08

It sounds like the consensus I've been hearing on the podcast though, is that everyone loves San Diego if they

Trent Manning 23:13

Oh yeah. Yes. Yes. San Diego is awesome. And it's definitely my favorite spot for sure. But it's because of San Diego and the weather, you know, a convention center is a convention center. Yeah. The other really nice thing is all the places to eat that were within walking distance of the convention center in San Diego, which is super nice too. You know, there's one thing, Phoenix wasn't terrible, but there wasn't a ton of places to eat. And there's so many people there, you know, attending the show that everybody wants to eat at the same time and there's place to eat.

Alex Tessman 23:54

I always wondered if those restaurants around there were just going, what in the hell just happened? Just all of a sudden they're just full of us.

Trent Manning 24:02

​Yeah.

Alex Tessman 24:04

like they didn't even know what hit them.

Trent Manning 24:06

Nope. I had no idea. What would be your dream job or opportunity?

Alex Tessman 24:12

Well, that's kind of a weird one I thought of because like, like I said, this is pretty much the only job I've ever had. So I don't even really necessarily know what else might be better or worse. I mean, I think I've got it pretty good kind of where I'm at. You know, of course, maybe I think I'd like to, I'd like to see something different.

Trent Manning 24:33

Yep.

Alex Tessman 24:33

to kind of experience some different scenery, but as far as the pace and the flow around here, as far as dream job, I don't know how you could beat it.

Trent Manning 24:43

Yeah. Yeah. Well, hey, there ain't nothing wrong with that. I remember Bob Smith that's in the witness protection program. We gave him a hard time because of Bob Smith, but he wanted his dream job was to own an NFL team. So, you know, you can dream big. You can dream big whatever. Yeah. You could dream to Have the ultimate CNC sign business or something, you know, I mean, it could be anything.

Alex Tessman 25:14

well, yeah, I mean, I suppose if I could just. If it wasn't in this industry know. I guess, I don't know, I suppose is the answer. I

Trent Manning 25:26

that's all good, man. What? Yeah. We won't take any points off.

Alex Tessman 25:33

there's no

Trent Manning 25:34

know the answer. Yeah no, no test. What technician would you like to work with for a day?

Alex Tessman 25:40

you know, who I think I really got to get a load of is J. R. Wilson.

Trent Manning 25:44

Okay. Yeah, yeah.

Alex Tessman 25:46

He seems like a guy who like, I don't know he's got this kind of It's like he figured out how to do drugs and do it right. You know, it's like he's got it all figured out in my mind. I just, I don't know. Maybe I've got a figment of his imagination in my mind, but he seems like he could do almost anything.

Trent Manning 26:06

I believe J. R. can do anything.

Alex Tessman 26:10

Anything.

Trent Manning 26:11

And I'm not saying that just because I consider him a good friend, but it's amazing what he does up there. And I was lucky enough to spend a couple of days at his shop with him and yeah, he makes his own sub air systems, including the fiberglass cover. Lead that goes over it. I mean, he's doing all that. And yeah,

Alex Tessman 26:34

Yeah. I think he's, I think he said he was forging or was that you

Trent Manning 26:38

Yeah, no he's yeah. Forging tines and heat treating them for one of their air fires. I mean, just so, you know, some of the craziest stuff and it, yeah, he has like a two story set up in his shop and we go upstairs. And I see a bench grinder on a drill press. And I'm like what is this for? And he's sharpening stump grinder teeth. The green teeth are round. So you put it in the drill press or in the Chuck and you turn it slow RPM and you bring it down to the stone and sharpen the stump grinder teeth.

Alex Tessman 27:22

that's fun. I just did the same thing with our five eights times. I, but I checked in a little four inch grinder, put it at a 45 degree angle and put the tines down to it. I was doing the same thing just two weeks ago.

Trent Manning 27:38

Wow. going to have to start putting pictures out there.

Alex Tessman 27:42

Yeah.

Trent Manning 27:43

Give away your

Alex Tessman 27:44

of those things. I wanted to put the picture up and I was like, but that just doesn't quite look OSHA compliant.

Trent Manning 27:50

Well, honestly, most of the stuff we do, I shouldn't most, but there is quite a few things that are not, is not OSHA friendly for sure that happens around the golf course. Yeah. What do you know now? You wish you'd known on day one.

Alex Tessman 28:04

I think I would have liked to have known just truly being like, not a golfer, truly knowing like how large the industry is. It felt very kind of isolationist here that I, you know, it's just didn't even know about GCSAA, didn't even know about the EM program, but I mean, it's sort of relatively new, I suppose, but. It would have been kind of nice to know sooner that, that there was a career path and that it's not just. You know, kind of a dead end job. It would have been really cool to know.

Trent Manning 28:37

hopefully, we all do a better job of spreading the word. that's one of the reasons for the podcast here. Spread the word and GCSA is doing good stuff too but we all just have to keep spreading the word.

Alex Tessman 28:53

Well,

Trent Manning 28:53

think a lot of it happens word of mouth.

Alex Tessman 28:56

Oh, yeah. I mean, when I started in on the program went through my AMCP, that sort of stuff. And then I started kind of telling all, you know, cause every course here has its own mechanic, common grounds, assistants, fleet mechanics. And then I started telling those guys, like, this is what I'm doing. And now they're all GCSA members and, you know, They're all kind of working through their EMCP. I've got another mechanic coming to show this year where it was just me the first time and now I got another one. And so you're right. I think it's growing. Yep.

Trent Manning 29:27

That's awesome. What I've heard other people say when they're getting a local technician group started, the first time they'll have three people there and the next time they have 15. And the next time they got 25 and the next time they got 50 and then 75 and then 100, you know, I mean, it starts really growing and it's really exciting because, you know, just off the top of my head, I could probably name 10 states that are starting an equipment manager local program.

Alex Tessman 30:02

Huh.

Trent Manning 30:03

Within the state and getting technicians together a couple times a year or more. It all depends on your area and all that kind of stuff. But like you're saying at your place, that would be great opportunity

Alex Tessman 30:16

Yeah. I mean, we could have a party just on this one, just on this resort.

Trent Manning 30:22

Right,

Alex Tessman 30:23

you know, if we can get some other people from Oregon, it could be quite the turnout almost immediately.

Trent Manning 30:29

Yeah,

Alex Tessman 30:29

there isn't one already, I don't know.

Trent Manning 30:31

Yeah, I don't know. I haven't heard, you know, obviously, I'm on the East Coast. So, maybe that's why I don't hear anything happening on the West Coast but I don't, Know, I don't know what's happening over there.

Alex Tessman 30:43

I don't either.

Trent Manning 30:45

So, you'll have to keep me posted. Let me know how it's

Alex Tessman 30:48

do. I do need to look into the the OGCSA

Trent Manning 30:53

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. See if they're doing anything because that's another thing that a lot of associations or local chapters are doing is they're appointing an equipment manager to be a liaison to the board to help advise their local board of kind of education type stuff. And we done that here in Georgia a long time ago. We're not technically liaisons. But we have an educational committee and they put a couple of us equipment managers on the educational committee and we've been doing the education for technicians for I don't over 10 years now which awesome

Alex Tessman 31:36

Yeah.

Trent Manning 31:37

because before that it was you know the superintendents were always struggling to come up with ideas like what do these technicians want to learn this year You know, so what?

Alex Tessman 31:48

how could they know?

Trent Manning 31:50

well, right. They don't know. I mean, it's, you know, just like me or you trying to figure out what a superintendent wants to learn about. I have no idea.

Alex Tessman 31:56

no idea.

Trent Manning 31:58

bugs, grass, you know, I don't know.

Alex Tessman 32:00

Something like

Trent Manning 32:01

Yeah.

Alex Tessman 32:01

think they cut grass. I don't know.

Trent Manning 32:03

Get ready for tips and tricks. What kind of tips and tricks you got you want to share with us?

Alex Tessman 32:10

Well, apparently putting your angle grinder at a 45 and your drill press is a good one

Trent Manning 32:16

Yeah, there you go.

Alex Tessman 32:17

But

Trent Manning 32:17

tell me why, yeah, let's back up. Why were you sharpening tines?

Alex Tessman 32:23

We were getting from JRM were just sort of cut at a 45. And when they were sort of entering the turf, they were sort of making a bit of a smiley face kind of shape and just sort of reclosing because of the sort of needle type shape, it was just so surgical. It was just leaving a nice slit and not leaving it open. And our goal was to fill that hole with as much sand as humanly possible. So we, we took a, you know, one set of those and ground it more to a bullet point, and it was just leaving a giant hole gaping hole that was. Exactly what we needed, which was like, well, shit, now I have to do all of these. So it kind of started out with just yank, trying to do that by hand at the bench grinder. And I was like, wait a minute, I gotta come up with something. Just gimme a minute, So that's why is'cause it, we just needed that hole to stay open and it wasn't.

Trent Manning 33:18

Oh, that's awesome. That's yeah. Good stuff.

Alex Tessman 33:21

Yeah.

Trent Manning 33:22

I would have never thought.

Alex Tessman 33:24

Yeah, I, you know, I didn't really think so either. Cause we've been running those JRM tines just with the cut and I'm for years then up until recently, it was never an issue. And then all of a sudden they just started closing up. I don't know if, you know, some sort of turf conditions, it was too wet, too soft, yada yada. I don't know, but Had to make something happen and we made it happen.

Trent Manning 33:46

Good deal. Yeah, so what kind of tips and tricks?

Alex Tessman 33:49

Like disdain for people who Wiring being like external and visible. So I always want to route things like through the frame, if at all possible. So one of the tricks that came up with doing that is taking a section of like a aluminum what is that? Like aluminum cable, steel cable. And on the end, I just melted some heat shrink just so the end wouldn't fray. And you chuck it up in a drill and just spin that thing up there and it will find its way almost anywhere you want to go with that thing spinning in there, tie off your electrical, whatever you want to do and pull it all back through nice and neat. You can,

Trent Manning 34:29

interesting. Yeah, never thought about that.

Alex Tessman 34:33

and I also found out that you could use a similar trick when you're putting like we have Dakota top dressers, or I'm sure it doesn't matter. What there's like a joining section in those belts. If you take that rod that goes in that joining section, or sometimes it's cable. If you chuck that up in a drill, it'll just fly right in there.

Trent Manning 34:52

No way. Alright, I'm gonna have, yeah, I gotta try this. I don't, yeah, gotta try that.

Alex Tessman 35:00

And then I think the second trick, which

Trent Manning 35:02

I've definitely said choice words trying to get that wire back in the

Alex Tessman 35:07

Yeah, exactly. Yeah. I don't know. I may, maybe it's just my laziness that comes up with this stuff, but.

Trent Manning 35:13

Hey, what, you know, smarter, not harder is the old saying. I'm

Alex Tessman 35:18

yeah, I'm not exactly a big guy, so I can't just hoof it in there. Second trick though, is for finding a hole in a tire. Instead of doing the soapy water and an old squeezy spray bottle, I went and got myself one of those little half gallon pesticide sprayers that you could pump up real good and just whole tire all at once. And it makes it so much faster, so much easier. You don't have to like burn up your wrist, trying to spray this thing down very efficient.

Trent Manning 35:51

that is a really good idea and there you probably already got some of those floating around the shop somewhere for

Alex Tessman 35:56

Oh yeah.

Trent Manning 35:57

You know, I mean, if not. They're everywhere and go to Home Depot or Lowe's or any one of the above.

Alex Tessman 36:05

Yep.

Trent Manning 36:06

No, that's a good one. I really liked that one. Well, what else you got you want to talk about?

Alex Tessman 36:10

I don't know. What would be is there a suggestion or like something that typically someone would, well,

Trent Manning 36:17

no, I got a suggestion. I want you

Alex Tessman 36:20

step

Trent Manning 36:21

to talk about how you're going to start your local technician thing in Oregon. No, that's really putting you on the spot. How about this? How about we talk about how you could do that if you wanted to? And I'll help you with some ideas.

Alex Tessman 36:41

And just seeing if it ain't already happening.

Trent Manning 36:45

Yeah.

Alex Tessman 36:46

I think that'd be a pretty good 1st step. You know,

Trent Manning 36:48

you know any board members or your executive director or anything?

Alex Tessman 36:54

Not for any local associations. No,

Trent Manning 36:57

Yeah.

Alex Tessman 36:58

I haven't a clue.

Trent Manning 37:00

Well, somebody in y'all's operation probably does. I would think. Yeah. you can get a phone number or an email

Alex Tessman 37:09

be found out.

Trent Manning 37:11

Yeah. Yeah. For

Alex Tessman 37:12

I think there's a local distributor, Turfstar Western will kind of put on some classes here and there. I don't know if it's, it doesn't seem like it has a really large turnout, but that might be just because of the, you know, maybe that's more Toro specific or something. I don't know why.

Trent Manning 37:32

don't. So, the Toro distributor that I use that I have to use because Toro and that distributor tells me I have to use them because of where I live in the country. But that's a whole nother topic for another day. They have one once a year and yeah, it's all Toro related, which is fine. And, you know, I've tried to go or if I don't go, I at least send my guys to it. And, just for the networking, you know, if you don't. care about Toro or you know, learning go for the free lunch and to talk to other technicians. You know, I would recommend that all day long.

Alex Tessman 38:15

Yeah, I definitely try to, if there's anything that pops up like that, I kind of let any of the other guys go especially any of the new guys, just go get the little class local here or whatever. You know, cause some people just are kind of not super interested in going to show and it's just maybe a little too much for them, that kind of thing. So it's like, you know, I'm afforded all this other great education. You know, you guys go do the local one. So I'll have to get it from them exactly. You know, maybe they've made some connections locally in the Oregon area.

Trent Manning 38:49

Yeah. How many technicians do y'all have in your group?

Alex Tessman 38:54

Let's see. Pacific, Trails, Shorties, Common Grounds, Fleet, Sheep Ranch. Okay. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. Oh, old Mac. So that's nine.

Trent Manning 39:10

nine. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, y'all gotta do y'all's own thing there.

Alex Tessman 39:14

I know.

Trent Manning 39:15

Yeah. Yeah. Knock it out, man. Line it up. Friday's out, you know, Friday afternoons or you know, whatever your light day is. Everybody go grab a bite or something and you're right. you know, there's some technicians and mechanics that are not into that. I could care

Alex Tessman 39:33

No. No.

Trent Manning 39:34

I just want to get their check and go home. And Hey, that's fine too.

Alex Tessman 39:38

Yeah.

Trent Manning 39:39

But do want a little bit more, there's more out there.

Alex Tessman 39:43

Oh yeah. Yeah. More for me.

Trent Manning 39:49

Well, you want to do some rapid fire?

Alex Tessman 39:51

Okay. I

Trent Manning 39:53

What's your favorite movie?

Alex Tessman 39:55

think I'd have to go either Inglourious Bastards or Saving Private Ryan.

Trent Manning 40:00

Yeah.

Alex Tessman 40:01

world war two collection. I'm a big world war two guy.

Trent Manning 40:04

Okay. Yeah.

Alex Tessman 40:05

gotta be one of those.

Trent Manning 40:07

Yeah. Both classics. What would be your last meal?

Alex Tessman 40:13

I think this one has already been said once, but Taco bell.

Trent Manning 40:17

It has been said.

Alex Tessman 40:19

Yeah. Cause I c I could do the steak and potatoes any day. I guess I'm fortunate enough that I could do that anytime, but that Taco bell is the one fast food joint I will go to ever, and it's just my little guilty pleasure.

Trent Manning 40:34

Hey, nothing wrong with it. No, no shame here. Yeah, no shame at all. So do y'all have a lot of Taco Bells there?

Alex Tessman 40:41

Yeah,

Trent Manning 40:42

Yeah.

Alex Tessman 40:43

There's one about a half hour away,

Trent Manning 40:45

Okay. All

Alex Tessman 40:46

when we go to the big city of like, I don't even know. It's probably the smallest city compared to most people.

Trent Manning 40:52

Yeah, that's funny. What are you most proud of besides your family?

Alex Tessman 41:00

This was kind of a funny one. I was asking my buddy about this because I'm not exactly the most like, you know, I think I've been described as like arrogant or cocky, but pride is a strange one for me. But after talking with him about it, what I had come. To the conclusion is that in my childhood really wasn't like, I could have easily fallen into. Assisted, you know, all the section 8 and food stamps and drugs and just getting into that sort of world and. And I just made a decision right then and there that I was going to be a self sufficient man and kind of cut my own path. And so, so I'm pretty proud that I didn't take the easy route. Let's put it that way.

Trent Manning 41:46

Yeah. No, for sure. And yeah, if you can't be proud of that, what can you be proud

Alex Tessman 41:50

Right.

Trent Manning 41:50

that is awesome because it is so hard to do what you're doing versus, like you say, you know, I don't want to call it the easy route, but it's definitely a route that is a lot easier to fall into. And go that direction and then once you're in how do you get out? Yeah, all these people struggle with that. I mean, I

Alex Tessman 42:17

And it was almost kind of, kind of weird. I was almost like kind of belittled amongst my quote unquote peers, because it was like, well, you just think you're better than us. And that that I was like, well, I don't know. Maybe I am sorry to say it, but I'm not doing whatever this is.

Trent Manning 42:36

Yeah

Alex Tessman 42:38

It can be done.

Trent Manning 42:40

and it yes, yeah, I think it definitely easier said than done to say, you know, I'm out. Cause yeah. How easy is it to say, eh what the hell? It's just one, you know, whatever it is. Yeah. It's just one.

Alex Tessman 42:55

It

Trent Manning 42:55

But right. That's yeah. That's how I get you for sure. Yeah. That's good stuff, man. I'm proud of you. That's

Alex Tessman 43:04

Well, thank you.

Trent Manning 43:05

Yeah. That's very good. And you don't have to be cocky. You can be confident. Yeah, I like that word

Alex Tessman 43:13

I like that better. That sounds better.

Trent Manning 43:14

yeah, it sounds better. Confident. We'll tell the listeners how they can get ahold of your confident self.

Alex Tessman 43:23

Well, has anyone just dropped a cell phone number on here? Can I just do that?

Trent Manning 43:28

I would not, yeah, I would prefer not, I mean, I don't know, you know, it was probably fine, but yeah, I would not put a cell phone number. Are you on any of the social sites?

Alex Tessman 43:41

I mean, not really. I like, just got an X the other day. I'm really not active on there.

Trent Manning 43:49

fine.

Alex Tessman 43:50

I'm not active on there. WhatsApp group, I think most of us are on there. So, definitely that.

Trent Manning 43:56

Yep. Yeah, I think that would be a good way for

Alex Tessman 44:00

You know, or I can give you my work email. My work email is srmechanic at bandendunesgolf. com.

Trent Manning 44:12

Very good. That's awesome. Yeah. A

Alex Tessman 44:13

can

Trent Manning 44:13

lot of people give emails. Yeah. No, that's good. And if you're thinking about the WhatsApp group, just reach out to me or anybody else that's in it. And, We'll get you in there it is a really good resource

Alex Tessman 44:29

that is hands down probably one of the biggest leaps at kind of getting into this whole thing is getting involved in GCSA, going to the show and meeting you. Having that tool has been like, I mean, it's like the most useful thing. I mean, I almost said that's my favorite tool. It's my damn phone,

Trent Manning 44:52

Oh yeah. And we have had people say that for sure. But yeah, the what's that? Yeah, it's such a great resource. And there. So depending on your personality, there's a lot of people that are in the group that never asked a question. that never say a thing and that's totally fine too. So if that's you and you want to see what everybody else is doing, I mean, you know, not that you're trying to keep up with anybody, but just seeing how other people are solving problems sometimes is really helpful. And if you don't feel comfortable asking a question, that's okay.

Alex Tessman 45:32

Or definitely don't do it publicly. Reach out to me, reach out to you

Trent Manning 45:37

Yeah, right. Yeah.

Alex Tessman 45:38

in a singular form. Yeah.

Trent Manning 45:41

And. You know, I don't know how much of that is going on, but I know there is a good bit of that going on. If we're talking about whatever in the main group, I know there's side techs going on all the time. And I mean, that's great. think it's awesome.

Alex Tessman 45:56

Cause I got into this industry, not knowing how to turn a single wrench. I mean, I'm a welder by trade and. You know, so I've made all the stupid mistakes and I'll tell you how not to make those mistakes. Reach

Trent Manning 46:11

on, you know, on the other hand, there's a lot of us that are in the industry that are not welders, but if we were welding something, you could probably help us a lot,

Alex Tessman 46:20

bet.

Trent Manning 46:21

And there's a lot of people in the group, you know, I mean, that's the great thing about the group is we all have kind of our specialties or something that we are good at, that somebody else isn't, and that's okay. That's what makes a group so great.

Alex Tessman 46:37

absolutely.

Trent Manning 46:38

Yep. Awesome, man. Well, I can't thank you enough for being on. I appreciate your time. I appreciate you coming on the podcast and I look forward to seeing you in San Diego.

Alex Tessman 46:49

Oh, I can't wait. I'm excited. I can't wait to meet all you guys again. Really appreciate you having me on again. I really love the the WhatsApp group. That's been indispensable. And I hear in San Diego, the one thing to go find is some Kansas city barbecue. Don't know what that means, but we're going to have to go find out.

Trent Manning 47:10

Okay. Yeah, you keep me posted on that because I've had a lot of Kansas City barbecue and it's never been in San Diego.

Alex Tessman 47:19

Seems kind of funny. Doesn't it?

Trent Manning 47:20

Right. Yeah. All the Kansas City barbecue I had was in Kansas City.

Alex Tessman 47:25

Well, maybe this won't be so good for you.

Trent Manning 47:28

yeah, I don't know. Yeah, I'm interested. I'm intrigued for sure.

Alex Tessman 47:31

Well, I can't wait to see everybody there and build the connections even better.

Trent Manning 47:36

Sounds good. We'll see you soon.

Alex Tessman 47:38

Awesome. Thanks, Trent.

Trent Manning 47:46

thank you so much for listening to the Reel turf techs podcast. I hope you learned something today. Don't forget to subscribe. If you have any topics you'd like to discuss, or you'd like to be a guest, find us on Twitter at Reel turf techs.