Brandon Hoag inherited what superintendent Chris Frielinghaus described as "a mess" when he was hired as equipment manager at Glens Falls Country Club. In the two years since then, Hoag has turned things around so dramatically at the club in Queensbury, New York, that Frielinghaus is concerned about being able to hang on to his equipment manager.
"If you need anything fabricated, he is the guy," Frielinghaus said.
"He built a cage to go around and protect an F-150, and it turned out so well some company down south offered him a job just to make those for trucks."
Fortunately for Frielinghaus and golfers at Glens Falls, he was able to convince Hoag to stay. And it wasn't the first time he had to do that. Hoag's predecessor was at Glens Falls only for a short time, but left his mark anyway.
"This place was so disorganized and so messed up that Brandon almost quit at one point because the job was so daunting," Frielinghaus said. "We've picked away at it, and now we are on the right track."
For his ability to turn things around so quickly at Glens Falls, Hoag was named a finalist for the 2020 TurfNet Technician of the Year Award, presented by John Deere.
Much of Hoag's first year on the job was taken up with repairing a constant line of malfunctioning and improperly maintained equipment. He finally has caught up and has all equipment on a preventive maintenance plan that keeps everything running on the golf course and out of the shop.
Hoag came to Glens Falls from a job in a metal-fabricating plant - a skillset that aligns perfectly with that of a golf course equipment manager.
"He takes great pride in building solutions to problems, and he looks forward to creating something unique and being creative," Frielinghaus said.
"He has improved our roller and sprayers with his ingenuity. He solved a recurring problem with axles on Cushman trucksters by designing and building a brace to prevent the axles from bending under heavy loads. He refurbished a used truck that can now be used for winter sanding and in-season projects."
Because he came to Glens Fall from outside the golf business, Hoag had to learn grinding and taught himself just about everything there is to know about it.
"Brandon realized the importance of properly ground reels and bedknives," Frielinghaus said. "He educated himself on the proper setup and operation of our grinders, and he rebuilt both grinders back to factory specifications."
He's just so meticulous. When you want something fixed, he fixes it right the first time.
He has applied the same initiative in taking control of Glens Falls' inventory.
The shop once was a stockpile of little-used parts that can be ordered and delivered on short order, the club now only stocks what it needs on a regular basis.
He also has inventoried and recorded everything that was on hand when he started, including loads of bearings of varying sizes that were scattered around.
"He found huge inventory of different bearings, seals that had never been inventoried," Frielinghaus said. "He saved our budget just from things he found sitting on the shelves that we didn't know we had because the purchases had never been inventoried."
The club's golf course maintenance department also is responsible for clubhouse maintenance, and Hoag fixed a long-recurring plumbing problem in one of the bar areas when he renovated some of the building's drainage.
"The plumbing in this bar would constantly back up and drain slowly," Frielinghaus said. "He was able to design an improved drainage system and built it himself with no additional help. It has functioned flawlessly since his redesign.
"He's just so meticulous. When you want something fixed, he fixes it right the first time."