Someone always wants to learn

“What is the benefit for me and my equipment manager/technician?”

I hear that question a lot at local chapter events. As the equipment manager liaison for the Northern Ohio Golf Course Superintendents Association, I can answer it many ways.

I started my tenure as the EM liaison in January 2024. Our chapter was reeling coming out of COVID and I thought education could be a grab for the EM and ET members. There were three of us. We could try to grow and start to gain traction within our group. We had a meeting of the membership in March, three guys, getting together with the same frame of mind: we wanted to grow our group and be able to put a team together who could help one another.

We met at a local club and thought about all the things we could possibly do. One thing came to mind for us: we discussed possibly conducting educational meetings but making them optional and we hit the ground running. We began to put blasts out to the membership, to the superintendents and to other equipment people — including our supplier partners, who go see possible new members and let them all know we will be conducting educational classes that will provide beneficial meaning to their clubs and the superintendents.

We also met a few times, impromptu, throughout the summer of 2024, trying to gain membership. We were slowly growing. Fall came and we had nine members. They were feeling like we could handle this education task.

We started in January 2025, with a meeting at Jerry Pate Century Equipment in Twinsburg, Ohio. Al Kaserman and Tim Hughes talked about the benefits of joining our group, Actual Height of Cut, After Cut Appearance and the evolutions of mowing patterns and mower setups. Our partners give us support in wanting us to grow. They don’t necessarily look at the specific equipment they carry or service. We wrapped up the meeting with a shop tour and questions for the technicians in the shop.

In February, we traveled to Sharon Golf Club, where Gary Bogdanski, the 2023 Edwin Budding Award winner, hosted us with his superintendent, David Wilmot. We invited partners from Wellington Implement and Case IH, along with a Shell Oil representative to discuss oil viscosity, the benefits of using different types of oil with aging equipment, the benefits of greasing, and how much to use when working through preventative maintenance programs. Wellington Implement brought a salesman to answer questions about what services they can provide for the turf industry. In the afternoon, we had a Wellington representative discuss Power Take Off equipment safety and maintenance. We gathered 13 technicians that day.

In March, we concluded the main educational points with help from our partner Baker Vehicle at Portage Country Club and superintendent host Derek Trenchard. One Baker representative discussed how they evolved from superintendent and wrenching on their own equipment. This increased awareness about how to approach shop maintenance. It also let our EMs and ETs know they are not alone. The salesmen in our industry are sometimes the best people to talk with if you have a here-and-now topic or a one-off question.

Next, we had the service manager discuss how our shops could build a strong, working relationship with the parts industry. He stressed it’s important for us to know who we are calling, what the part is and the lead time it takes to receive parts. This will be advantageous in helping receive parts in a timely manner. In the afternoon, we wrapped up with technicians from Murphy Tractor, who explained the new Tremble and Topcon technology used to map out trenching for drainage or irrigation systems. This further explained the technology and products for course projects and provided a valuable lesson in the role of as-builts as work progresses.

By providing just snippets of education during the offseason, our network has grown to more than 25 — and it’s still growing. Equipment people in our industry are hearing about what we are doing. They are getting excited to continue things in their chapters. Taking time to add tools to the toolbox is a definite advantage to helping people feel important and making them want to stay in our profession. Finding people who want to work on golf course equipment is tough. They seem to be a dying breed. But we think differently in Northern Ohio. We focus on our initiative of “Bring a friend.” There is always someone who wants to learn — and we want to bridge the gap from their world to ours.

Kevin Kline is the equipment manager at Westfield Country Club in Westfield Center, Ohio, and the equipment manager liaison for the Northern Ohio Golf Course Superintendents Association. The thoughts and beliefs in this article are of the author and have nothing bearing from his employer.