Hello bear369,
toro zero turn 76601? You gave us minimal information to work with. The product label numbers and the engine label numbers are very important. It reduces assumptions and confusion for the folks out here trying to assist you.
Otherwise, we are left to "spitball" some answers and see if anything sticks.
I have seen spark plugs do some strange things like this in the past. Resistor style plugs are prone to develop some cracks internally. Never trust spark plugs from Amazon, too many defective cheap copycats.
Have you tried using the choke briefly during a hot restart? Sometimes that helps. With age and wear, they can tend to need the choke at every start regardless of being cold or hot.