Educating the EMs

Bryan Epland and Jordan Roth organized a gathering for Nebraska equipment managers in 2022 at ArborLinks in Nebraska City. Only two peers joined them. The quartet, which included Country Club of Lincoln’s Mark Thomas and Stone Creek Golf Course’s Brandon Andelt, munched on club-provided cheeseburgers as they brainstormed ideas for more formal mechanical-focused learning opportunities. 

“I was ecstatic that four people showed up,” says Epland, the ArborLinks equipment manager. “I would have been happy if it was just Jordan and I having a beer that afternoon.”

It didn’t take the duo long to turn their foursome into a sizable outing. More than two dozen equipment managers developed and bonded as part of the 2024 Nebraska GCSA Turf Symposium programming.

Equipment managers led discussions during the opening morning of the two-day gathering at the Country Club of Lincoln. The first day of the symposium was conducted in a modern, bright, spacious cold storage room inside a four-year-old Country Club of Lincoln maintenance building. The podium holding the technology for the presentations proved as fitting as the venue: a metal work bench adjusted to belt level.

The four attendees at ArborLinks in 2022 played prominent roles in the 2024 symposium. Epland and Roth organized sessions, Andelt gave a presentation about going from industry rookie to Certified Turf Equipment Manager, and Thomas helped superintendent Ryan Krings and the Country Club of Lincoln team host the event for a second straight year.

The Nebraska GCSA offers a model for integrating equipment managers into the larger industry educational and networking ecosystem. Chapter-organized educational sessions commenced in fall 2022 at Champions Run, a private club in Omaha where Roth works as equipment manager. Equipment managers learned alongside superintendents and assistant superintendents from courses in and around the state’s largest city. Epland, Roth and the Nebraska GCSA engaged vendors to help cover costs. The gathering moved to the Country Club of Lincoln in 2023 as part of the symposium.

The Nebraska GCSA board of directors — including current president Ryan Shea and past-president Tory Lorenz, and executive director Katy Boggs — demonstrate unyielding support in helping raise the profile of equipment managers. They have also helped obtain grant money to secure speakers from outside the state. This year, Town and Country Club’s Chad Braun traveled from Minnesota to present about keeping equipment clean. Last year, Ansley Golf Club’s Trent Manning flew in from Atlanta to educate peers. Braun and Manning toured multiple maintenance facilities while in the Cornhusker State.

The Nebraska GCSA also leans on its own members to guide sessions and discussions. In addition to Roth and Andelt, Happy Hollow Club’s Bryan Poole approached the makeshift podium and shared insight into training equipment technicians. For some facilities that operate without the equipment manager position, the symposium represents a rare chance to educate superintendents and other full-time turf employees about mechanical matters and mindsets.

“With the way technology is going, you’re going to have to have these sessions,” Epland says. “With electrical diagrams, miles and miles of wires, GPS systems and all these things, the technology is advancing a lot faster than even the education. It’s really important to have these types of events.”

Nebraska currently boasts the second-most CTEMs, trailing only Florida, a state with nearly five times more golf facilities. The GCSAA launched the CTEM program in 2022, the same year four Nebraska equipment managers met at ArborLinks. Equipment managers from other regions have contacted Epland and Roth for guidance on creating educational opportunities within GCSA chapter infrastructures. They are hopeful chapters will follow Nebraska’s template and offer more opportunities to share mechanical knowledge.

“Back in the day, it almost felt like secrets were locked up and the key was thrown away,” Roth says. “I think there’s been this massive shift in culture and how we approach this, and it feels like we’re in this together. Everybody seems more willing to help the next person out because it gets reciprocated on the back end.”

And it didn’t require cheeseburgers to bring peers together this year. Lunch discussions occurred over pizza and salad.

“The support is there,” Epland says, “and it will continue to grow.”