Episode 152: 2025 U.S. Open Recap with John Borsos

Welcome to the Reel Turf Techs Podcast, Episode 152.

Today we’re talking to friend of the pod John Borsos, about his experience volunteering at the 2025 U.S. Open at Oakmont Country Club. John shares what it was like to be part of the crew at one of the toughest courses in the world with long days, high standards, and the kind of camaraderie you only find when everyone’s working toward the same goal. From precision mowing lines to the unique challenges Oakmont brings, John and Trent share a behind-the-scenes look at what it takes to keep a major championship running smoothly.

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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 Welcome to The Real Turf Text Podcast, episode 1 52. Today I'm sitting down with John Borsos and we're gonna do a little recap of the US Open. We were both, uh, fortunate enough to volunteer at Oakmont for the US Open and what an experience it was. So much fun, met so many good people, and, hope you enjoy the episode. Welcome John to the Real Turf Text podcast. How you doing, John?

John Borsos 1:57

I'm doing good.

Trent Manning 1:58

Yeah, you're doing good.

John Borsos 1:59

Yeah. Hanging in there.

Trent Manning 2:00

The man,

John Borsos 2:01

coming to an end.

Trent Manning 2:03

the man, the myth, the legend. J cdot, that's what it is. Yes.

John Borsos 2:09

so that what Kruger said, I think that's what Kruger said. Tim,

Trent Manning 2:14

what did he say?

John Borsos 2:15

I think he said the man that met the legend when he took a selfie with me at the open

Trent Manning 2:20

Oh, okay. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Is that the first time y'all have met?

John Borsos 2:24

I think somehow it was the first time we met in person. I don't know how that was possible, but I think we just miss each other at the big show,

Trent Manning 2:32

Mm-hmm.

John Borsos 2:33

I assume, because I know, like I don't, because I think it was the first time we met in person.

Trent Manning 2:41

I don't, he's one of those, I don't see a whole lot at the big show. I know he is there

John Borsos 2:46

Yeah. It

Trent Manning 2:46

and I know he is busy running around and sometimes you'll, you know, give him a high five or something on the trade show floor, and that's about it. He's, uh, but this past year in San Diego, Georgia, and the Carolinas, we had our deal together. So I did get to see him there. Um, he's an awesome guy.

John Borsos 3:09

Yeah.

Trent Manning 3:09

Really good. Um, and one thing I always appreciate every time, you know, I've been at Ttac for the last however many five, five years or so, um. He makes a special trip over to where Ttac, the technician association for the people that don't know, um, where they're doing their education and you know, its at a different venue. But anyway, he comes over there to tell all the technicians thank you, and he appreciates us. And if our boss does not appreciate us, let him know. You know, give him a call and talk to him. I mean, it's just, you know, it's cool that he goes out of his way to, uh, thank the technicians and I've always really appreciated that about him. And I think that says a lot about him and his character.

John Borsos 3:59

definitely. Super nice guy.

Trent Manning 4:02

So what are we doing here? We're gonna do a US open recap. Um, we'll see. Maybe the wheels fall off of this thing. Um,

John Borsos 4:11

What, what we can remember, even

Trent Manning 4:12

yeah. Well we can,

John Borsos 4:13

but like it was what, oh,

Trent Manning 4:16

two months ago. Yeah. Yeah. Let's see. Yeah. Yeah. Two months, a little over two months ago. Um, yeah, I can't believe summer's almost over.

John Borsos 4:27

Yeah. Well it's crazy because like a week before the open we had like our last frost, the Monday before, I think it was James had gotten there, what, the Sunday before? Like two weeks.'cause he was

Trent Manning 4:40

Yeah. Yeah. He was there advance week and

John Borsos 4:42

yeah. So he got the feel pretty much the end of our spring and then our summer hit like right after.

Trent Manning 4:53

Oh, wow. Okay. Well, that's cool.

John Borsos 4:54

it was like, I was like, you can go, almost all seasons might snow here later, but

Trent Manning 5:00

Get the, the full

John Borsos 5:01

always good for that. Yeah.

Trent Manning 5:03

Yeah. What day did you get over? Was it Sunday? The first volunteer day?

John Borsos 5:08

Yeah, Sunday was like, what? Like four o'clock I think.

Trent Manning 5:11

Yeah. Yeah. Something like that. Yeah.

John Borsos 5:14

Yeah.

Trent Manning 5:15

I think James got in Yeah, the Saturday, like a week prior. Yeah.

John Borsos 5:20

he was there for advance week. Yeah.

Trent Manning 5:23

Which was, I mean, it was awesome that, uh, they brought him over and he got to spend all that time and meet all the people. Um, super nice dude. Uh, yeah. Yeah.

John Borsos 5:33

He is so much fun.

Trent Manning 5:34

yeah. Yeah, he was, he was a lot of fun. Um, yeah, I got in Saturday, I got, I mean, about noon, I guess. I took the early flight out of Atlanta, straight to Pittsburgh and caught an Uber and, um, got over there and, you know, it was one of those things, it's like Oakmont, you know, you've heard all these stories and all these things and it is a really impressive facility, but it's another golf course, you know, I mean, I don't know what I was expecting, I guess, but, um.

John Borsos 6:09

and the layout's interesting'cause you have the, the inter um, well turnpike splitting it

Trent Manning 6:14

Oh yeah. That was so

John Borsos 6:16

right down the middle and it's, it's so weird because when you're on the course, you don't even realize, like the turnpike is there. Like every so often you hear a tractor trailer go by or that train that's down there, but like when you're standing there, you look across, you don't really notice that there's an interstate like down below you.

Trent Manning 6:34

Yeah,

John Borsos 6:35

weird, but it's definitely interesting. Interesting layout.

Trent Manning 6:39

yeah. No, su super cool and yeah, I guess it used to be 36 holes

John Borsos 6:46

Yeah. E the east course. Um,

Trent Manning 6:48

Mm-hmm.

John Borsos 6:49

so like where the tent, the big merchandise tent was, I think that's over where the east course was. And then whenever. I mean, I don't take this for word, I just hearsay through the Oakmont. Like people I think like whenever they committed to so many opens is when like pretty much they made A-U-S-G-A like headquarter type deal where they just moved everything over into there. So

Trent Manning 7:14

Okay.

John Borsos 7:14

they abandoned, abandoned the east course.

Trent Manning 7:17

Yeah, I think they still had maybe a nursery over there. I think I drove by and some, a few small things going over there.

John Borsos 7:24

Me and Tommy were over there the one day, and I'm sure we were somewhere we weren't supposed to be.

Trent Manning 7:30

That's easy to,

John Borsos 7:32

the lady wrote our names down on a piece of paper. I'm like, I don't know.

Trent Manning 7:37

that's easy to do with Tommy though. Yeah. I don't, I know I've told the story a few times. I don't know if I told it on here or not, but when Tommy was at Pine Valley and I went to visit him, um, and he gave me a tour around the course. He drives up and I don't remember what hole we were on but he drives up on the back tee box and, you know, we're looking at the hole and he's talking about, you know, how long it is or whatever. And he makes a left turn and goes off the tee box. And I thought I was coming outta the front of the side by side. We were on, and I mean, I was holding on for dear life and he's like, oh man, I thought there was a path there. And I mean, it was just like straight down this hill, it's like, you're gonna kill me. And he said, I could have swore there was a path there. So we've been joking about that ever since. You gotta be careful with him.

John Borsos 8:32

I don't think there was any major incidents with people driving off anything that. The open that I know of, that I heard of,

Trent Manning 8:38

No, I didn't hear about it. There was, yeah, there is some, like some blind spots.

John Borsos 8:43

Yeah,

Trent Manning 8:45

Yeah. Not, yeah.

John Borsos 8:46

Went over the hill.

Trent Manning 8:47

all

John Borsos 8:48

do remember that one sitting there. Yeah.

Trent Manning 8:50

Coming back and forth.

John Borsos 8:52

It's like the amount of people moving around in there is insane. Just like the traffic. And it's its own little city.

Trent Manning 9:02

Well, yeah, and I don't, you know, all the days kind of run together because our start time was what,

John Borsos 9:10

Was it four?

Trent Manning 9:11

4 30?

John Borsos 9:14

So I

Trent Manning 9:14

don't, I'm,

John Borsos 9:15

'cause I think I had to get to the the shuttle spot by three.'cause we had we got there by I think three 30, right?

Trent Manning 9:24

that's sounds right.'cause I was riding with Seth and we were leaving the hotel at three 30 and it was about a 15 minute drive or something like that over, um, yeah. And then quit time, was I don't know when, I mean that one night. We were there super late. I, you might have already left, but we were

John Borsos 9:45

well, yeah,

Trent Manning 9:46

rollers with water.

John Borsos 9:47

yeah, I had to catch the bus back and I was like I don't wanna leave you guys, but

Trent Manning 9:52

Yep.

John Borsos 9:52

go. or, I'm sleeping here in this maker here. But yeah that's only the bad thing was like not being on a park, on property and like, where the shop, at the end of the day we were still working while everyone was coming in and getting ready to leave. Like we were still working past, like where they were working. So the shuttle was leaving and they're coming to find me every, I'm like, listen, I'm in the shop guys. If you need me to leave, just yell in there and say, Hey, we gotta go.

Trent Manning 10:21

Oh

John Borsos 10:21

we're busy checking mowers and doing whatever, and like we lose track of time really quick in the shop.

Trent Manning 10:28

Oh yeah. So easy to do. Um, yeah. Super easy to lose time. Go back through my pictures here. A minute, but, um, I forgot where I was going with that, about the days running together and it's hard to keep track, but, you know, we were driving in, or I was riding with Seth and where we were normally turning in, like I said, I don't remember what day it was. If it was Monday or Tuesday or whatever, there was like a gate up and the whole shop's blocked off and you couldn't turn in there anymore. I don't, it was pretty crazy.

John Borsos 11:06

Can't remember what day they did that. It

Trent Manning 11:08

yeah, and I don't know if it was the first day of the tournament or started like on Tuesday, but the, what was it? The first, uh, to, during all the practice rounds, they had the truck set up close to the shop of, you know, ping and Callaway and all them. Yeah. And they all pulled out on Wednesday, I think. And I guess they set up for the, just for the golfers, if they need to make a change or need a new club or whatever, they're all set up ready to go,

John Borsos 11:46

That's

Trent Manning 11:46

is the first time I'd ever experienced that. And I've volunteered for quite a few CER tournaments, so I don't know where they do that at other tournaments where they have that set up. But I'm sure it's, you know, very similar. And I don't remember if it was me and you or who I was talking to, but it was like, uh, you know, when I used to race, SACA, the Hooser truck would always show up. You know, he's putting tires on the whole race, you know, and he travels from race to race or whatever. So I guess kind of the same thing

John Borsos 12:19

tune it up before the, yeah,

Trent Manning 12:21

Yeah. If they need a little tuneup on their clubs.

John Borsos 12:23

the tournament starts, I guess they can't change anything, I would assume, right?

Trent Manning 12:29

Yeah, that would be my guess too. I don't know that for sure, but that, that would make sense. Yeah. You, you play with what you got.

John Borsos 12:36

yeah, we work in golf, but we have no clue.

Trent Manning 12:39

Yeah, that's right. Yeah. I mean, we don't play,

John Borsos 12:42

what's, everyone's like asking me like, oh, do you see this person? You do this person. I'm like, listen, if it wasn't Tiger Woods, Neil Shipley, I'm like I don't know who they are.

Trent Manning 12:50

right. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Yep.

John Borsos 12:53

like, oh, I can't believe you're not into golf. I'm like, I am, but not in that way.

Trent Manning 12:57

Yeah. And I enjoy watching like the US Open or,

John Borsos 13:02

yeah.

Trent Manning 13:02

Augusta, you know, I try to watch the majors and that's about it. That's about my

John Borsos 13:09

at the grass,

Trent Manning 13:10

Yep. Well, and that's the thing. I mean, that's what I'm really watching. I'm not necessarily watching the golfers, but looking at the course conditions,

John Borsos 13:18

Yeah. It's so weird. That's what we do every day.

Trent Manning 13:22

Yeah, so why would we do something else when we turned the TV on a Saturday or Sunday to golf? Still gotta look at course conditions. Um, what was one of the cooler things or what was something interesting that you saw during the tournament that you hadn't seen before or you thought was neat or any of those things?

John Borsos 13:49

Ooh, that's a good question. I gotta go back to my memory bank here. Well, so like a normal day for me. It's checking 30 reels to see so many reels go through the place as quickly as they did was kind of crazy.

Trent Manning 14:06

Oh yeah, that was nuts cause.

John Borsos 14:09

was like insane.

Trent Manning 14:13

When, if you want to get an idea, go to our YouTube channel and check out the time lapse that we did, you know, checking all the mowers out because yeah, I mean there's, I don't know how many walk mowers they had.

John Borsos 14:26

like I said, I don't like, I don't even know how many were there, like for greens

Trent Manning 14:31

yeah.

John Borsos 14:32

Not including, uh, the team

Trent Manning 14:34

then tees and approaches and yeah. I mean, they had so many walk mowers and then all the fairway mowers. Yeah, just crazy amount of mowers

John Borsos 14:45

Hold on a second. I got a door open. It.

Trent Manning 14:47

there.

John Borsos 14:48

Sorry, Kat was trying to be on a podcast

Trent Manning 14:50

Ah, that's all good. Let

John Borsos 14:52

Right here's Creek. Creek. I'm like, what is going on back here? Well, yeah, there was so many reels and just the, how many people were there and like the orchestration of getting everybody out to where they needed to be and back in before play started, like I was out there for the amateur and it was one thing, but like this was like a whole nother level because how many people were like, what was it, 200 and some people volunteers.

Trent Manning 15:26

well, don't, I heard over 200. I was kind of thinking there was like one 50 there, tournament week

John Borsos 15:33

yeah, I don't

Trent Manning 15:34

and you know, 50 advance week or something like that. But I mean, that's a lot to. A lot to wrangle 150 people. Yeah. And all the carts. And all the mowers and who's going where and what hole is this? And you they

John Borsos 15:50

We had our little experience what was that Monday? Going out, doing bunkers and call our name. You're like, where am I going? Everyone's just runs out the door. You're like, we're not used to that. We go to the shop

Trent Manning 16:01

well, yeah.'cause we'd been going to the shop and then Yeah, our names get called to go rank bunkers. And I'm like, what? Rick Bunkers, I

John Borsos 16:08

where do we even go?

Trent Manning 16:09

30 years. I don't know how to rake a bunker.

John Borsos 16:14

But yeah, it was like, how is people that like, have even never been through that experience. Like I said, I was there for the amateur, so I kind of had an idea, but it wasn't that many people, so it was a little easier to know where you were going to where this, they ran outta the door and like you didn't know if they made a left or right.'cause you didn't see them.

Trent Manning 16:31

Right, right, right. Yeah, it was definitely, uh, confusing.

John Borsos 16:36

I ran into the boss. I'm like, so I know I'm with you. Where are we going?

Trent Manning 16:40

Well, that, yeah, that helped out too, that your, uh, boss was working there

John Borsos 16:44

yeah.

Trent Manning 16:46

and he worked there prior. Right.

John Borsos 16:48

He was there 10 years prior to coming to us, I believe, because I'm pretty sure he intern and then he was, I guess the assistant, an assistant one, however many they have. I don't, I know he did, from what he tells me, it was like he was over the east course when it was there and then he like irrigation and stuff, so. He knows more about the course than I ever will just get the tidbits of it.

Trent Manning 17:20

That was something else I found interesting is. You had the superintendent, which was the head person in charge. Then you had a director of agronomy that was under the superintendent, and I'd never seen that before. It's opposite, like at every other place I've seen. So I don't know exactly

John Borsos 17:40

yeah. I don't know

Trent Manning 17:41

what the idea was behind that, but it

John Borsos 17:44

don't know how that works out. Yeah,

Trent Manning 17:46

yeah. Good for them. You get that title right? Director of Agronomy at Oakmont. Wow. You put that on my resume. Go anywhere?

John Borsos 17:57

Yeah, it's definitely interesting. They have a culture there and them guys like, they turn out some good people. I mean,

Trent Manning 18:02

oh yeah. Yeah

John Borsos 18:03

it's crazy.

Trent Manning 18:05

Well, that was something on one of the banners in the break room was, or the, I guess it was equipment storage that they turned into the volunteer break room. The standard is the standard. And they talked about that, like whatever you create, that's the standard and that's what it is. Yeah, I don't know. Just, it's definitely a different culture there. It's really special what they have there. I mean, it's definitely a different place.

John Borsos 18:35

oh yeah. They definitely get some stuff done when they need to.

Trent Manning 18:41

Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. No, it was impressive for sure.

John Borsos 18:45

I mean, had what had to cut gauges show up overnight?

Trent Manning 18:52

right, right. Yeah.

John Borsos 18:54

we had one and we had what, three or four? I'm like, okay.

Trent Manning 18:59

Yep. That's what happens. You call up and say, it's Oakmont. I need these. Then they're there.

John Borsos 19:06

I think they were wr Did they end up wrangling up rollers? I know they were looking for some, I dunno if anyone ever, they ever showed up or not because they were looking for more rollers.

Trent Manning 19:17

More rollers? That I don't know.

John Borsos 19:19

Yeah. It was crazy.

Trent Manning 19:20

I remember, uh, filling the rollers up with water one night. That's about all I remember. Doing with the rollers. What else? Oh, all the electric stuff I thought was cool too. I electric backpack blowers and all that kind of stuff. I don't know how well it worked, but,

John Borsos 19:38

you know, I mean, I know they went through a lot of batteries, turnover. I mean, I don't I don't even know how many batteries they even had there. I just know which ones were charged. Which one are charged. The K top bottom. Let's, we just had, like I said, like the. The whole system going to where it was just like a blur of what was coming in and what was going out.

Trent Manning 19:58

Well, yeah, like every shift people would Yeah. Drop off dead batteries. Pick up charge batteries and Yeah, I don't, there was

John Borsos 20:05

I don't know if they were taking extras with them or not. I don't even know. I assume so. I don't

Trent Manning 20:11

yeah, I don't know for sure either.

John Borsos 20:14

So I mean, I seen them out there running them, but like so much going on at once that trying to focus on what they were doing while you're trying to focus on what you were doing was kind of hard

Trent Manning 20:24

yeah. Yeah. I wanna say what I saw him doing the most of with the blowers is, uh, fluffing the rough.

John Borsos 20:31

for

Trent Manning 20:32

Yeah, the rough

John Borsos 20:33

Yeah.

Trent Manning 20:34

Um, something

John Borsos 20:36

I would not want.

Trent Manning 20:38

yeah, something else I never knew that you had to do on a golf course. But if you have five inch rough. You know, you gotta fluff it, you know, it's so something I never thought of.

John Borsos 20:52

that was definitely crazy. And I mean, just walking through that rough between like bunkers was enough of a workout. I can't imagine like them guys push mowing

Trent Manning 21:03

Oh

John Borsos 21:03

and then raking it. Raking it and blowing it and

Trent Manning 21:06

Well I remember talking to, uh, Ian Christie the EM there and about the push mowers, and he's like, well, we started with 12, then we went to 24, then we went to 36, then we went to 48. So they had 48 of those push

John Borsos 21:25

push mowers. Yeah. And they are push mowers, not self repel.

Trent Manning 21:29

yeah, not self rappel. You were pushing this thing. And I think it was Massport was the name brand or something like that.

John Borsos 21:36

May, Mayport, Massport. Massport.

Trent Manning 21:38

I thought it was a mass port, but,

John Borsos 21:40

Mayport.

Trent Manning 21:41

Yeah, I'd never seen these, but I mean, it's like the simplest push mower you could ever think about. I mean, it's an engine and a blade.

John Borsos 21:50

I'm ready to buy'em for work because

Trent Manning 21:52

yeah,

John Borsos 21:53

pretty good

Trent Manning 21:54

why don't I do remember, uh, Ian and some of the other guys walking around with extra wheels and, uh, you know,

John Borsos 22:01

well I guess there was the big wheels. He had said that they don't like to be thin, put on their side. I think they got'em off Amazon'cause like they needed a ton of them think is what he said because'cause he pretty much said yeah, they're China wheels, so they're not the best.

Trent Manning 22:17

Well, I don't remember what the max height of that mower is, but yeah, they bought larger diameter wheels to put on there to make it even higher. To get up to, to cut. And before we got on here talking, I was showing you some of the pictures. They had their John Deere, uh, 9,000 and nines, they had made special brackets for the rollers so the deck would sit higher. And then when they done that, they had to put like a skirt around the deck. So the blade would suck the grass up and cut it. So yeah, I mean, it is just crazy all the stuff that those guys had to go through to have a US open

John Borsos 22:59

Yeah.

Trent Manning 23:00

and the course conditions. I mean, it's amazing how hard it is. You take these golfers that are the best in the world and they're struggling to break par, you know, and then they go to these other courses and they're 10 under, you know, so that's, that says a lot for the challenge of Oakmont.

John Borsos 23:20

it's crazy. It just. I mean, I said seeing everybody go out there and cut everything that quick and then I mean there isn't like a plate of grass out of place. Like when we're done come back in, it's like insane. Except for the out of play, out of bounds areas. That was wild seeing like from like Monday morning till Tuesday morning how fast with like people walking to public walking around how fast those out of bounds areas like turned and died off.

Trent Manning 23:55

Oh

John Borsos 23:56

it was like insanity, how fast that happened,

Trent Manning 23:59

yeah. If you think foot traffic doesn't hurt grass, just go to a major tournament and see where everybody walks. I mean, you see it, you know, on tv, on any of these. They have the crossings for all the spectators. I mean, it just destroys some

John Borsos 24:13

for, it is crazy. Then like walking through that, like later in the week. It was weird how like it held so much water and like where like you walk somewhere else, there wasn't water. It was really weird. Not it wasn't like where you sloshing through it, but like the dampness where the grass is all laid over and dead compared to if you walk through the rough, your feet were dry. You walked over where like spectator for walking and it was like, still had to do on it. It was real weird,

Trent Manning 24:46

That is weird. I don't think I noticed that.

John Borsos 24:48

you know? I was, it was weird in the morning.

Trent Manning 24:51

That is crazy. Um, anything else that you found interesting you want to talk about? I was looking through, uh, some of my pictures to try to jog my memory here. Oh, the, that was something that I'd not seen before at a tournament. When they mowed fairways, they mowed fairways all in one direction. I'd seen, you know, yeah. Either push or from tee to green or green to tee or whatever. I guess all the other tournaments that I have volunteered at, I wanna say most of'em were half and half, you know, light and dark or whatever you call it. So I thought that was kind of interesting all one direction. But when you have that amount of mowers, you can do that

John Borsos 25:40

Yeah,

Trent Manning 25:41

and that amount of volunteers.

John Borsos 25:43

I think I mean like obviously having I don't know how many people were on one Green, like at a time. I don't even know how many people were out like, you know, at one time on one Green, because I know like when we were up at nine, that split green up there, like the practice Green Nine like standing there waiting for them to start, everyone's kind of getting in a position and then once they start going and everyone's just crossing it is wild.'cause half the guys won't have a headlamp on. They think it makes it easier to see, and the other guys are like, have a headlamp on. And you have people like, I mean, they're like literally volunteers. It's not like they all work there. They're, you know, hamo and green. They're, you got people that haven't done it there until like now, then you see'em all just like a little dance going on the green. And it just, that, oh, it just amazes me, like how they do it. And I especially like when you're, you know, say three guys cutting one green all different directions. It's like, how are you even seeing a line on this?'cause there was no due,

Trent Manning 26:53

Oh, right, right, right.

John Borsos 26:54

it was like, just find your spot. And like I said, I mean obviously when we moved turning boards and stuff, like we'd be out there moving, turning boards and like give them somewhat of a spot to aim for, but. Instead watching'em. Guys, like the guys who have done it for a while with a walk mower when they turn, just like the dance of that always amazes me. Just spin it and keep going. And the guys that like are like nervous about it, you can tell as they're coming across and getting ready to turn, they kinda hesitate. It's just like you'll be all right.

Trent Manning 27:25

Yeah, yeah. Yeah. That is crazy.

John Borsos 27:29

It's kinda hard to screw up. But you go into,

Trent Manning 27:33

yeah.

John Borsos 27:34

the collar or the rough, you're in trouble.

Trent Manning 27:36

Yeah, for sure. Well, yeah, let's talk about walk mows for a minute. And yeah, what kind of craziness that was.'cause they were what, 20-year-old Jacobson PGMs,

John Borsos 27:49

might have been more than 20. Oh, I'm thinking more than 20.

Trent Manning 27:52

than that. Yeah, maybe older than that. Um, yeah, it was crazy. So, and I guess those were 19 inch, or, lemme back up. The original ones I think were 19 inch, and then Jacobson had a 22 inch, and somehow they ended up with a bunch of 22 inches, but they got the 19 inch reels. And a 19 inch bed knife and put in the 22 inch mower,

John Borsos 28:22

Yeah,

Trent Manning 28:23

which has to be hard too for the operator on his overlap. Yeah. You know,'cause your bucket's so wide and Yeah. And trying to figure out where that line was and, you know, they were what? Double cutting, triple cutting. Quadruple cutting on some greens. I mean, it was crazy the amount of mowing they were doing.

John Borsos 28:44

like I said, it was kinda hard to tell how many people were out there sometimes'cause it just.

Trent Manning 28:49

Yeah. Mowing the green.

John Borsos 28:51

Yeah, it was, there was a lot going on at once.

Trent Manning 28:55

Well, yeah, I got a, a picture here. It was a PGM 19 and that's what they were using on greens. But there's also a PGM 22 that they were using for cleanup, 1000 on the approaches, 8,000 on their fairways. And yeah, we kind of skipped over that, but the fairways were so tight,

John Borsos 29:20

oh

Trent Manning 29:20

I mean super tight fairways and I don't remember the hole on the course, but during the practice rounds they had net over it so they couldn't hit golf balls from it'cause it was kind of funnel that all the balls would end up down there in the same place. But yeah, super tight cuts on their fairways and then you get to rough and it's four and a half, five inches,

John Borsos 29:43

Yeah.

Trent Manning 29:45

which is crazy.

John Borsos 29:47

What were they, what do they have on the what was it, two sixties on the ts? Is that what they were using?

Trent Manning 29:52

Yep. John Deere,

John Borsos 29:54

the two sixties?

Trent Manning 29:57

I'm trying to, yes, two sixty's on the Ts and then two 20 SLS on the approaches. So the fixed head, John Deeres. And then they had a couple 25 hundreds too. I don't know what they were doing with those. Um,

John Borsos 30:15

I don't know because I know we checked them in and I remember parking them and they were going in line, like over, I don't know where they were going though

Trent Manning 30:25

it could have been,

John Borsos 30:26

with the practice area. Maybe

Trent Manning 30:28

maybe

John Borsos 30:29

short game practice.

Trent Manning 30:31

and I'm wondering too if it was like cleanup for the fairways

John Borsos 30:35

It might

Trent Manning 30:36

because I've seen'em do that at East Lake. Use a triplex for the cleanup versus the fairway mower for the cleanup.

John Borsos 30:43

Yeah. So I don't remember seeing them out there. I definitely remember seeing like the 31 hundreds.

Trent Manning 30:51

yeah. They were mowing the intermediate and walk pass with 31 hundreds.

John Borsos 30:56

Yeah. I don't remember seeing the the drive, like the 25 hundreds out there, but I remember checking'em in, driving around and,

Trent Manning 31:05

Yeah. Yeah. Parking them.

John Borsos 31:07

yeah, it's, I'm sitting, I'm like, oh, this thing's kind of nice. What the heck? Where'd this come from?

Trent Manning 31:14

Yeah. And I mean, that was something, you know, at every shift, check all the mowers in and then drive'em around, park'em for the next shift. You know, and hopefully you get a nap after, before, uh, the evening shift starts. But yeah, definitely some long days. But I mean, just the feeling of being there and everything you get to experience and all the cool things you get to see, all the cool people you get to meet. I mean, it's something else.

John Borsos 31:46

yeah. We had the the shop camaraderie going by midweek,

Trent Manning 31:51

Oh yeah, yeah, for

John Borsos 31:52

together. I think we came outta the gate like pretty good for the most part. But it was like once, like it's crazy how fast we just all kind of just knew what needed done and just did it. But it's I, we do it every day, but not in that extent. You know what I mean? But

Trent Manning 32:09

Yeah. Right.

John Borsos 32:10

it just kinda like everybody found their place and just did whatever

Trent Manning 32:17

It is interesting how that works because you know, I mean, you've been doing it a long time. I've been doing a long time, and we can do any of the things that was being done there. But you also don't wanna step on the other guy's toes either. You know? This is like, this is your show,

John Borsos 32:34

baby.

Trent Manning 32:34

yeah. Yeah. What,

John Borsos 32:35

baby. Can you tell

Trent Manning 32:36

do you need

John Borsos 32:36

me what I wanna do? Or I'll find what I need to do if you don't tell me what to do. It's like just everything worked out, but

Trent Manning 32:43

Yeah. And it was, uh, it was really cool just being able to, to fit in where you could. And yeah, let's go through, so Ian was the head guy. What was the assistant's name?

John Borsos 32:56

Chris?

Trent Manning 32:57

Chris. And then court rash was there from John Deere. Who was the other John Deere Tech.

John Borsos 33:04

Joe.

Trent Manning 33:06

Yeah, Joe. I don't remember Joe's last name. Sorry Joe.

John Borsos 33:10

Joe. Joe's a rockstar.

Trent Manning 33:11

yeah, he was a rock star for sure. And he worked for Revels,

John Borsos 33:16

I believe so.

Trent Manning 33:16

I believe. Yeah.

John Borsos 33:18

Yeah, that'd be our dealer out here.

Trent Manning 33:19

yeah, as a, as a road tech. And then of course James Breeze over from the uk, Tommy Richie who else was in there? Oh, did you meet? Well, yeah. Yeah. Seth was there for quite a while.

John Borsos 33:34

Sha was it Shane?

Trent Manning 33:37

yep. Shane Barnett, I think he was there for several days. I'm trying to remember. He's in our WhatsApp group. Kenny, was it Landman or something like that? He was there like Sunday, but I think Sunday was his last day. He worked

John Borsos 33:53

okay. The Vance week. Okay.

Trent Manning 33:54

Yep. And then I think he said he was moving to Florida or something.

John Borsos 33:59

Yeah.

Trent Manning 33:59

I was like, you sure? Sure. You wanna go from Pennsylvania to Florida?

John Borsos 34:04

I don't blame him.

Trent Manning 34:05

You don't like him? Okay. I don't just

John Borsos 34:08

I'm not this fall, winter, spring season. I'm not all about, I'm not summer like I was even as hot as humid as it was this year. Like I was loving it.

Trent Manning 34:19

You were loving it. Yeah. Well, good for

John Borsos 34:20

Gra the grass wasn't.

Trent Manning 34:23

I'm not that guy. I don't, maybe I'll move north. I don't want to be cold either, but,

John Borsos 34:28

yeah. Like I said, like if I can get a job in Aruba, I'm happy.

Trent Manning 34:34

well there you go. Now that's a

John Borsos 34:35

85 highs, you know, like seventies lows, breeze all year round.

Trent Manning 34:42

I don't know. I was in, uh, Exuma in The Bahamas last year and yeah, it was only 85, but it was the most miserable 85 I've ever experienced.

John Borsos 34:55

That just a lot different when you're when you're working first vacation, a little different.

Trent Manning 34:59

Yeah, yeah, it is. Yeah. Way different. Yeah, I mean, my shirt just like dripping wet would sweat by noon and it'd be 82 degrees or whatever it was like, this is nuts, and it would rain at any minute.

John Borsos 35:15

Yeah.

Trent Manning 35:16

You know, you never know. Okay humidity got high enough now it's gonna rain.

John Borsos 35:20

it only rained for a little bit though, right?

Trent Manning 35:22

That's right. It only rained for a very short period of time. And then, uh, humidity right back up. I don't know. Just, uh, I'm a mountain guy, I'm a hillbilly, I guess. I don't know.

John Borsos 35:33

And who else is that? Everybody came through the shop.

Trent Manning 35:38

Yeah, that was, uh, majority of the people for sure that worked in there, but, uh, all really good guys and enjoyed working with'em for sure.

John Borsos 35:50

it was a fun time.

Trent Manning 35:51

Yeah.

John Borsos 35:53

he said cutting it up. I had some shop annex and, well, we won't talk about those, but it was

Trent Manning 36:01

Yeah. You always gotta keep it light in there.

John Borsos 36:04

Yeah. Like I said I think I commented one point, I'm like, this is why they don't want us together

Trent Manning 36:10

yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

John Borsos 36:11

he said it's I mean, definitely a different atmosphere than your normal day-to-day shop life, you know? are different than like their normal day-to-day shop life. But like you got that many guys going together for that many hours, it, you're bound to get a little on a loopy side sometimes

Trent Manning 36:32

Oh yeah. But I think yeah, we've done good to, to keep everything on the up

John Borsos 36:39

pumping up. Yeah.

Trent Manning 36:40

just, yeah. Kind of go with the flow and, you know, this happens and that happens and that's okay. We'll, we will get through it and move on to the next thing. Supercharged course maintenance with Task Tracker, the leading golf course maintenance software in the industry. Built for precision and efficiency, Task Tracker simplifies daily operations, optimizes water usage, and keeps your team on track. With real time updates and streamlined workflows, It's the essential tool for modern superintendents. Learn more at www. clubessentials. com backslash task tracker. Let's get back to the episode.

John Borsos 37:27

Shop was pretty big. I mean, that was a decently big shop.

Trent Manning 37:33

Yes. No, they had a very nice shop. And it was fairly new

John Borsos 37:37

No. Yeah. I think what? 23. 2020? Yeah. I think

Trent Manning 37:41

Yeah. I mean that it was not too old and I don't, I don't know how big it was. So they had two lifts in there. They had the two end ground lift tables, which were cool. Um, hydraulic lift tables, that was awesome.

John Borsos 37:56

Lots of storage

Trent Manning 37:58

two sets of grinders. Really tall ceilings too in there. So like you're saying for the parts storage, you know, you needed a ladder to get to the top couple shelves, which was cool. Ton of inventory. Most snap on I think I've ever seen at a golf course.

John Borsos 38:20

Yeah. Well, would Jr

Trent Manning 38:24

Yeah, good point. Yeah, I have been to Jr's shop.

John Borsos 38:27

The wall of

Trent Manning 38:29

yeah, but I'm, as I'm assuming, I don't know for sure, but I'm assuming, and I didn't ask Ian if the golf course buys all that, I'm guessing.

John Borsos 38:41

so from what I gathered, so Chris's box was to the left. And that was his personal box, his personal stuff was to the left. I think everything else in the other, like the snap-on boxes, everything else believe was the shops

Trent Manning 39:04

Okay.

John Borsos 39:05

is from what I understood, because why I, talking to my need, like using tools or whatever, and it's oh, here's is mine, but this is mine. Make sure it come back, whatever. But It was like, that's before I gathered on how that setup was, because I think he said, he was like, oh, I gotta take a looking for this. We're looking for that. Which is I guess I get with you know, I've never worked out of like a shops box per se. It's like always been my own box. So like I know where everything is, like someone needs something. I hear them opening drawers, I'm like, what do you need? Third drawer, down, top box to the left? You know? It's like I know exactly where everything is in

Trent Manning 39:38

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

John Borsos 39:40

to where someone walks up to it. They're like just while I was there, I'm like, okay, where is this? Where is that? Just trying to look for stuff, you know,

Trent Manning 39:48

Right. Yeah. The way I, ours is set up, I have my box, my small box anyway, with all my main stuff that I keep there. And then, uh, we do have, uh, a shop box. So, and you know, I got the two assistants and they work outta the shop box. I use my stuff too. You know, anybody on the crew, they go to the shop box, they, yeah, stay outta my uh, stuff. And, but when I first started working there there was no shop tools and the mechanic there, he had his toolbox in there. And I'll never forget we walk in the shop and there's one of the guys on the crew that's got a drawer open and he says plenty of choice words, but, uh, more or of the story was, that's a good way to get your arm broke is what he told, told the guy. Um, he didn't say it quite that nice. So it, it is funny. You gotta gotta be careful other people's tools.

John Borsos 40:50

it's interesting dy dynamic at like my shop because like the people that I led in my box know they can go in my box. The people that know not to touch it know not to touch it. It's kinda weird I mean, it's like I don't have to say anything but They know, like you take something out. If you don't know where to put it, just set it where I sit'cause I'll put it back. But I like you if you put it back where you got it,

Trent Manning 41:17

Oh yeah. Yeah. And that's,

John Borsos 41:19

don't know where it goes, just set it where I sit and I'll, I know you borrowed it and I'll put it back.

Trent Manning 41:24

yeah. And you know, if I loan something out to one of the crew people from the crew box, I'm like, when you bring it back, just put it on top of the tote box. We'll put it away. Because if you put it in the wrong drawer, you might as well threw it away. I mean, maybe it ain't quite as bad, but you know, it is gonna be weeks before I find that. And I'm gonna be furious looking for what I need when I need it, and it's not there. And for all intents and purposes, it's lost if it's in the wrong drawer, you know, nobody knows where it is.

John Borsos 41:55

where is it? I, it should be here. That's like the people that came in and out of oakmont shop, like grabbing stuff and walking out. I'm

Trent Manning 42:05

yeah, right, right.

John Borsos 42:07

I'm like okay. I don't know who you are or where you're going with that, but that would definitely not fly.

Trent Manning 42:14

Right. Yeah, I was, uh, I was kind of surprised too, um, with everybody in and out and getting what they needed to, but that's kind of the way it works with the shop box too.

John Borsos 42:26

yeah.

Trent Manning 42:27

You know, there's kinda, everything's fair game, I guess.

John Borsos 42:32

Of course. We did have a selection of tools out at all times on The lift.

Trent Manning 42:39

Yes. Yes, we did.

John Borsos 42:41

We're all ready to go. These eyes right here. Grab it.

Trent Manning 42:44

yep. Whatever. And I was kind of surprised the guys there, they knew exactly where, like if they left a tool on the lift, they're like, oh yeah, that stays over there. You know, that's where that goes. So

John Borsos 42:56

Its place is, everything has its place and

Trent Manning 42:58

everything has a place.

John Borsos 43:00

well, it's it's like my 6 53 it came to us secondhand, but like low hours, like demo unit. A weird story, but so the front roller high adjustment, the lock for it has always been just a bolt, a nine sixteens bolt

Trent Manning 43:18

Okay.

John Borsos 43:19

instead of you know, your little quick spinning, whatever you want. Whatever you wanna call it. So if like my doors are open, like right to the left of where the adjustment is, or the lock is essentially is a nine sixteens wrench. So people come in there and be like, oh, you don't have the wrench in there. I'm like, it's there for a reason,

Trent Manning 43:43

Oh

John Borsos 43:43

that. It's like I literally leave a nine sixteens wrench there because instead of having to go in my box, walk over. It's like right there, just my Allen wrench for a bed knife grinder. It's hidden in the corner that you look at it, you don't know it's there, but it's there.

Trent Manning 43:57

Okay. Yeah. On my bed knife grinder, I took an eye bolt. There's a hole over on the left hand side of the grinder, just, you know, empty hole. And I put a, this is like a quarter inch eye bolt. That I put in there and I keep a T-handle in there, Allen T-handle for, you know, whatever it is. Three sixteenths for adjusting the nut.

John Borsos 44:20

The angle. Yeah.

Trent Manning 44:21

yeah. The angle. And it's there, you know, and if it's not in that hole, I'm like, what? Who took my Allen? You know? And don't get me wrong, I'm guilty of laying it on a table instead of putting it back in the hole. It's happened before,

John Borsos 44:33

Yeah.

Trent Manning 44:34

but it's so handy to, you know, have what you need in its place.'cause yeah. Who wants to walk to the toolbox every time you need to do that?

John Borsos 44:44

Yeah, it's not like that big a deal, but it's also okay, now I gotta search through my Allens for that. Or you know, you know, nine sixteens wrench isn't that hard. I mean, can't find one. I got a 14 millimeter, but it's right there. I don't have to stop what I was doing just to adjust it.

Trent Manning 45:00

Right. It's and I don't remember all of them, but it's one of the eight forms of waste in the lean system and being efficient on manufacturing. When I was listening to that book motion is one of the waste. So the less we're moving around and we can stay in one place and we have everything we need, the more efficient we are.

John Borsos 45:24

How often does that happen?

Trent Manning 45:26

Yeah. That has not happened. And

John Borsos 45:28

Not our world.

Trent Manning 45:28

so it is funny, I just, uh, interviewed a guy last, no, wasn't this past Saturday, Saturday before. That's, uh, hopefully gonna start not tomorrow, but the next day in the shot with me and I told him. His number one task was helping me keep track of my stuff because I don't know what it is. The older I get, I'm like, where did I lay that wrench? Where did I lay that screwdriver? And I do think a lot of it, and I'm laughing and joking about this, but I do think a lot of it is a DD and my brain going here, there and everywhere, and I've totally forgot what I was just doing two seconds ago, and where I laid this.

John Borsos 46:15

and I don't like, I feel like at the golf course as a golf course mechanic, that we we don't really get to focus on one thing. Like very rarely are we focused on one thing that we're like, you know, we're always pivoting and moving and doing stuff. And like for us to actually keep track of everything that goes on. Like I have a piece of equipment that's been pulled apart for, I don't know how long,'cause I'm waiting on parts, but that's, it's a complete disaster as it is, but it's no one's fault except our own crew. And like I literally have bolts out of it because I had to tear it apart to make sure, okay, what else do I need? You know, tear it down to do my parts list. And like literally there's just bolts sitting there. But I know where every single one goes, like someone else looks at it, they're like, there's just a bunch of bolts there. Yeah. But

Trent Manning 47:10

Right.

John Borsos 47:11

I, I don't know if it's like just over the years of doing this, that you remember you grab a bolt, you look at it okay. It goes in there. If I hand you a bolt, you may not know where it goes, but if you put it there,

Trent Manning 47:22

Oh

John Borsos 47:23

it's it's weird.

Trent Manning 47:24

No, it is kinda weird how that works, and I don't know that everybody has that

John Borsos 47:31

And

Trent Manning 47:32

and or if it's something that you develop, like you're saying, maybe over time or, you know, when that happens.

John Borsos 47:40

I mean, I know I did it on cars, but to me it wasn't like, well I can't say I didn't have three engines apart at one time.'cause I did because just waiting on parts, waiting on, okay, waiting on warranty. It was crazy. But once again, it's like I knew what went where, but it's like I, I have like kind of a system for that. When I pulled those apart, like the bolts kind of went in. The holes they came out of,

Trent Manning 48:03

Yeah. Yeah.

John Borsos 48:04

like, it wasn't like in a can, but like a lot of times it could have been in a can and I could have picked up, okay, that's a converter bolt, that's a head bolt, I

Trent Manning 48:11

It is funny how that stuff

John Borsos 48:12

know.

Trent Manning 48:13

and I mean, I don't know. I really enjoy, enjoy that too, being able to do that. And maybe I'll start doing it more, but I don't take a lot of pictures when I take something apart. I mean, it's rare that I take pictures

John Borsos 48:31

the

Trent Manning 48:31

and I know that's,

John Borsos 48:35

is if I'm pulling a solenoid off, it has like different color wires going, different terminals. I'll snap a quick picture'cause like the chance, I'm remembering with the bar went where, or very slim.

Trent Manning 48:48

Yeah, and I mean, I, I get that and I do think taking pictures is a, a really good idea. And like the young guy that's helping me in the shop now, I mean, we took a motor or he did it. I was there helping a little bit, but. He took a motor out of a John Deere fairway mower and he done the whole thing itself. And I don't know how many pictures he took. you know, and that's gonna help him when it's going back together. So it's, it's awesome he did that. But same deal. We ordered the parts and it's been almost a month, and now we have the parts and now we don't have the time to do it'cause we're grinding reels every day, um, because of this grow in, um, making me want to pull my hair out. But that's far

John Borsos 49:33

your last

Trent Manning 49:33

to grow in. What's that?

John Borsos 49:36

You gonna be your last growing.

Trent Manning 49:38

Yes. This will be my last grow in. I can almost guarantee it.

John Borsos 49:42

Yeah.

Trent Manning 49:44

Yep. Uh, I don't want to do that again. I don't wish it on on anybody. And I mean, I don't know what it is, is what's making this one worse than anything else because, I mean, we've. Built plenty of stuff and grown in plenty of stuff over the years. But the construction company was supposed to be off property July 1st, and they're telling us like, this week, hopefully three more weeks we'll be done. You know, so that's not really confident that they'll be out in three weeks, but every day there's a little more grass and a little less dirt. So I am happy about that. Um, I'm sick of the mud and the shop,

John Borsos 50:28

how's that going into the fall for you guys? Or like growing grass like.

Trent Manning 50:34

I, I mean, it's working out. So all the warm season stuff is down and for whatever reason we're doing all the cool season grass in house, that was not part of the contract. Yeah, so we're seeding all that, however, and we don't have much more left to seed. So most, all the fine fescue has been seeded. We got, you know, a couple more acres to go or something. So that kind of worked out for our fav favor really, because we couldn't have seeded that in July. I,

John Borsos 51:11

Yeah.

Trent Manning 51:12

The other thing is a bunch of the bunker complexes, or the bunker faces are supposed to be fine fescue, and you can't get that side from May to September. So now we're able to get that side, we can finish those bunks. Um, so I mean, it's all, it's working out, but just ready for it to be over with. That's it. Just ready? Yep. Back to normal. Yeah. I never thought I'd say, man, I'm really ready to mow some grass. I, but that's what I want to do.

John Borsos 51:47

like as our season I mean, we're not done by any means yet. I mean, we'll, depending on what the weather does, weather dictates. When we've done cutting, we can be done end of October or middle of December. It just depends, you know, what our temperatures are like. But it's, I'm sitting there, I'm I don't want it to stop because I like the, like routine I have like through spring, spring through like fall, like I like it and it's like getting into winter and yeah, it's like a break. But like for me it's, everyone's oh, what you doing in the winter at the golf course? Well. I got Zambonis and everything else. No removal of stuff, and it's just I just wanna grind reels and get stuff done and everything, like back into check and always something stops me. It's like anytime I try to grind a reel, even in season, it's just like something shows up and I'm like, all this possible. I, there could be nothing. As soon as I touch a reel, it's five things come in the door. I'm

Trent Manning 52:49

yeah. Yeah.

John Borsos 52:49

how is this possible? But

Trent Manning 52:52

Yeah. It is crazy how that works. Yeah. I don't know if that's Murphy's Law or what it is. Yeah. I don't know. Were you ready to wrap this thing up? I am. It's getting late.

John Borsos 53:05

Past for bedtimes,

Trent Manning 53:06

it is, yeah. Passed our bedtime. But I really appreciate you being on, I really enjoyed working with you at the US

John Borsos 53:12

was fun time.

Trent Manning 53:13

and that was definitely an awesome experience that I would highly recommend to anybody listening you know, try to volunteer. Yeah. Did you, how did you get in foot in the door, the boss?

John Borsos 53:29

the boss, yeah. Literally

Trent Manning 53:30

I used.

John Borsos 53:31

like I said, I was out there for the amateur in 21 and back then,'cause he would just, he started in 19 at our place. He's oh, I think it'd be good for you to go. Okay. Then for obviously open. It was pretty much, he's yeah, you're going. I'm like, all right.

Trent Manning 53:47

Sweet. That's awesome.

John Borsos 53:50

So I was just, like I said, surprised that we ended up I ended up in the shop.'cause last time I was out on the course, which was fine, but I don't know if I could do that at the open. I don't know if I could do that. Grind.

Trent Manning 54:02

Yeah. Well, I don't, yeah, RAK and bunker's. One afternoon. That was plenty enough. RAK and bunkers for me. I really don't want to do

John Borsos 54:08

For the AM amateur, I had the option of just working the morning shift, so that wasn't bad. Like you're in or you're out and just, like I said, literally could park inside. So it was a lot easier

Trent Manning 54:19

Yeah.

John Borsos 54:19

moving around. Not as much traffic obviously, but yeah, I mean it definitely obviously oakmont's a different animal there getting like the volunteer there. I mean obviously you kind of, kind of have to have an in, but definitely would like to do something outside, outside our area. Like my area for sure.'cause I mean like I, that's all I've volunteered at has been Oakmont like most of the courses I've seen have been around here. I haven't spent much time like, you know, down south see different courses, different grasses, you know, I'd like to. Do that even, or even I mean, like Robert up in, where's he up? Connecticut?

Trent Manning 54:59

yeah. Yeah.

John Borsos 54:59

I wouldn't mind, I wouldn't mind to go up there

Trent Manning 55:01

Oh yeah. Yeah. You should definitely try to do that.

John Borsos 55:05

a place I really want to visit is Narnia. You know what I'm talking about?

Trent Manning 55:11

Is that where Bob's at?

John Borsos 55:12

above that, yeah. Narnia I call Narnia because he was, he like was an hour ahead of us'cause of how far over he is. So he'd always be up like, well, for me it'd be like 2:00 AM

Trent Manning 55:24

Uhhuh.

John Borsos 55:25

But I like to see that up there because that gotta be beautiful.

Trent Manning 55:28

Oh, I'm sure. Yeah. Yeah. I'd love to go visit him too. Yeah. If you make a trip and you need company, you let me know.

John Borsos 55:35

It's a far ride.

Trent Manning 55:37

is it, can you drive all the way?

John Borsos 55:39

You have to get ferry, I believe.

Trent Manning 55:41

Yeah. I

John Borsos 55:42

yeah. I think there's some part where we had to get over. Yeah.

Trent Manning 55:45

Yeah.

John Borsos 55:45

Yeah, like that. Like one place I like to visit, but like I said, I like to volunteer somewhere else.

Trent Manning 55:51

Yeah, try. The players at Sawgrass or something, that's another, I mean, they're always have a ton of volunteers. Awesome shop. Chris Langley's down there now. Awesome dude running the shop. So yeah, for the technicians, if you want a really nice spot to go to check out in March try to get your foot into the door there. But most of the time these tournaments they put out stuff I see, you know, on Twitter occasionally looking for volunteers. Sign up here. You know, and if you're really interested, find out who the superintendent is or who one of the assistants is, and you can get your foot in the door.

John Borsos 56:30

whoever, even the EM is, you know, look them up. If they're up on, you know, just take female professional email, you know?

Trent Manning 56:37

Oh yeah.

John Borsos 56:38

Or if you already know them, just send'em a text or a call. Hey,

Trent Manning 56:41

yeah.

John Borsos 56:43

Like I said, I, you definitely I've got,

Trent Manning 56:45

yeah, and I remember that. So in 2018, Corey Phillips and me and Patrick Drinker also, and Austin Wright and I've talked about this several times on the podcast, but we volunteered at Bell Rie for the 100th PGA championship. And I'd met Chris Rapp, the equipment manager at the time through the task group at GCSA. And I'm trying to remember, I mean, it was probably like 2016. He was like, yeah, we're gonna have the PGA championship in 18. I'm like, count me in. You know, this is two years and I don't even know what I was volunteering for. Right. But I'm like, that sounds super cool. Yeah, I wanna do it. And we did it, you know, and it's awesome. And that, I'm trying to think if that was like my first. Nah, it wasn't necessarily my first,'cause I started volunteering at East Lake like a long time ago when David ERs was still there. But that was, you know, not the full experience as going to a PGA championship and all the volunteers they had there and merchandise tent, and, you know, all that stuff. Just crazy.

John Borsos 57:55

I think like the one thing about volunteering too is just like whenever you go to show is that you meet more than just mechanics, EMS technicians. It's like just the amount of people, like I know just from networking already that were there and even like I said, my boss saying like, how the heck do you know that person? I'm like, long story. But i, you know, it's like I have a social media presence and it's I meet people at show'cause I go to show he fi, he actually, he signed up to try to get into Melrose for the superintendent side

Trent Manning 58:29

Oh, nice.

John Borsos 58:30

So hopefully, you know, he gets a chance. Maybe. I told him, I, he on telling him, just come to the show. I'm like, you get a free, like a free entrance Membership as it is. I'm like, it's Orlando. I mean, I know your kids want to go to Disney, so come down, go to the show for a couple days, go to Disney, make a vacation out of it. And I'm like, like my wife comes down, you know, she'll hang around the show.

Trent Manning 58:55

Yep. Yeah. Why not? I don't, I think this year is gonna be crazy how many people's there, you know?'cause Orlando or San Diego was a record, and Orlando's always bigger, so I think it's gonna be craziness in

John Borsos 59:14

like I said all the people I've told you know, if you wanna try to get a show and you know, can't get through to Melrose or your club isn't gonna send you Orlando is to me the place to go because there's so many options for like rooms and yeah, of course food's gonna be more expensive than anything. It's just how it is anywhere we go now. But I'm like, it's probably one of the easier shows to get to. And then you know, if you wanna make a mini vacation outta it, you can, you don't have to be at every single event. But it's definitely nice. That's, you know, why we go down is to be there for everything, but

Trent Manning 59:49

Well, and the other thing this year is the 100th for

John Borsos 59:52

Yeah.

Trent Manning 59:53

the G-C-S-A-A. So I'm sure there's gonna be a big party for the 100.

John Borsos 59:59

I think it's I think, yeah, I think it was the the wife asking if I knew the schedule yet. I'm like, gosh, a little too early to

Trent Manning 1:00:05

Yeah. Yeah. Not quite. Not

John Borsos 1:00:06

not there yet. Like we are. You, we know the dates. It's not what everything's going on yet. We kind of, it's always a

Trent Manning 1:00:12

but they usually have that out in another month, in October, mid-October or something like that. And they'll have most everything out and ready getting people signed up. Yeah, I'm be doing a couple classes. I can't wait.

John Borsos 1:00:28

We'll have to sit in a few.

Trent Manning 1:00:30

yeah, do it. All right. Thank you again for being on, I've really enjoyed this. Always enjoy hanging out and catching up with you. And I appreciate your friendship too over the years. It's it's been good,

John Borsos 1:00:44

always fun and good to work with you out there, and always good to talk to you. I enjoy seeing you down in Orlando again, so

Trent Manning 1:00:53

That's right.

John Borsos 1:00:54

yeah, fun times.

Trent Manning 1:01:07

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.