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“For a golf school, we would concen-
trate on products used on greens and
fairways, and those things of particular
interest in a golf setting for that group
of customers,” Peterson says. “For
example, golf school might focus more
on reel-type cutting units. Some of the
most lively discussions we have at any
golf school will surround the subject of
reel-type cutting units.”
Tailoring the presentation material to
keep it pertinent and interesting is vital
when your goal is to offer truly useful
material to those in attendance. Toro
firmly believes in the value of making
information available to the people who
need it. We also believe in putting that
information to good use.
“At the end of the day, merely learn-
ing is not the goal; behavior change is
the goal, and learning is how we get
there,” Peterson says. “We want to
make sure that whenever we get into a
certain topic or subject, that the partic-
ipant is able to make that leap, where
they’ve learned something new and now
they can take that and use it. We want
them to be able to do something more
efficiently, or do it in a new way that
improves their skills and abilities as a
service technician,” he says.
“Helping them to personally grow in
their occupation is what this is really all
about,” Peterson adds, “and it’s going to
benefit everybody if we can do that.”
Next Session Sept. 16–18
An upcoming Toro Factory Service
School is scheduled for September
16–18, 2002. Some of the planned top-
ics for the program include an intro-
duction to the ACE System to aid in
troubleshooting, and a seminar called
“Cutting System Dynamics,” which
addresses the design, set-up and adjust-
ment of cutting units. The cost of
attending is $600 US per person, which
includes three nights’ lodging, meals,
local transportation and all classroom
materials.
If you would like to attend a Factory
Service School, or want to obtain more
information about it, please contact
your local Toro distributor.
“I’m glad that I went, and I would
love to go again,” says Paré. “There’s
still a lot to learn.”
7
TOROfor
you
R
ick Paré and Mike
Koopman both have good
things to say about their
trips to Toro’s Factory School, but their
experiences there will undoubtedly be
forever fixed in their memories for other
reasons: they were attending their ses-
sions on Tuesday, September 11, when
the horrible terrorist attacks hit America.
“We were going through the plant, in
the special operations area, and that’s
when we heard about the plane crashes,”
recalls Paré. “So it got cut short, and we
didn’t get to see everything we would
have liked to, but they did the best they
could with the situation the way it was.”
“I was scheduled to fly out on
Thursday, but didn’t end up leaving until
Saturday,” adds Koopman. “We had to
stay all those extra nights, but Toro said,
‘Don’t worry, we’ll take care of it.’ On
Tuesday, I’m sure those Toro guys would
have liked to go home to their families,
too, but they stayed there with us. They
could have just sent us back to the hotel
for two or three days, but I don’t think
that crossed their minds,” he says. “I was
impressed with that.”
Paré was actually able to head back
home to Oregon shortly after the attacks,
but it required some fortunate coinci-
dences.
“On September 11th, the airlines were
shut down,” he explains, “but my wife
got me connected with a salesman from
her company who was in Minneapolis
for a convention. He happened to run
into another guy from our area and a
friend of his from Boise. He told me,
‘I’ve got room for one more,’ so I hitch-
hiked a ride home with them. It was 30
hours… not the way I wanted to see the
country,” he says.
“But I feel so strongly about the Toro
program and wanting to return, that I
would hitchhike back!”
A Memorable Trip Becomes Truly Unforgettable
Michael Koopman upholds high standards
for the quality of his maintenance facility.
The equipment facility at Old Collier Golf
Club, Naples, Florida.
Michael Koopman services almost exclusive-
ly Toro Equipment at Old Collier Golf Club.