Butch Liptak TETA Technician of the Month

Lansing Country Club mechanic Butch Liptak was chosen the January 2012 Technician of the Month by TETA.  Butch has been a member of TETA since the the late 80's.  He is very proud of this honor.  TETA holds monthly meetings that have speakers on subjects related to his field.  This month the topic was reel grinding.

When Will It Freeze?

It almost froze overnight.  With continued warmth, I would expect to break up again.  Check with Dave before venturing out on the ice to fish.  Several inches are needed before we start ice fishing.  The mild winter has meant that the geese are sticking around.  Without snow cover and ice, they will continue to stay.  If you have a dog that needs a run, bring him out and scare the geese away.  Henry, my beagle, is no threat to them.  The mild temperature have also saved some money on the budget.  We've only salted twice and haven't had to plow.  I'm sure that in a week or two, mother nature will try and catch up.

Winter Work

Here Butch is checking a reel as it is ground.  He is also grinding a bedknife in the next picture.  Before grinding, he inspects the entire cutting unit and replaces bearings and seals as needed.  With the help of Jose, all machines receive oil changes and new filters.  Repairs are made to anything that is broken.  This could include hoses, head gaskets etc..

Tee markers, ball washers, garbage cans etc. receive a fresh coat of paint.  This process takes a couple of weeks because we are outside when weather permits.

Tree Removal

3 trees were removed from the ditch on #14.  They were all cottonwoods that had died.  As you can see, it opens up the left side.  We have a couple more to cut over between 11 and  12 in the ditch.

Fall work wrapping up

We had a few late season irrigation leaks this year.  These needed to be fixed before we could blow out the irrigation system.  That was done on Tuesday and Wednesday.  We rent a 375CFM air compressor and it takes about 9 hours to complete.  Jose gets most of the water out through the quick couplers while I blow out the heads.

Most of the leaves have fallen.  Willows and some of the Oaks usually are the last to fall.  The windy weather has really sped up the process.

Course accessories are being brought to the shop.  Tee markers, ball washers, garbage cans, etc.. are sanded and painted.  In the next couple of weeks, I'll explain more on what we do in the winter.

Weekend

We should have a good dry weekend.  Friday, we mowed the greens and changed the cups.  We also mulched leaves.  We're still a bit wet, so be careful with the carts.

This is the wild area behind #14 tee.  We mow this areas down each fall.  It helps keep the weeds and trees from taking over.  In the spring, I usually spray with a herbicide for weed control.  This year I did find some oak trees.  I will mark them so we don't mow them down next fall.

Port a John's and November Work

This is the time of year tha we start getting ready for Winter.  Jose and I will be doing most everything now until the end of March.  Juan will work a couple of days per week until Thanksgiving.  Butch will soon start going over every machine.  Jose and I will bring in the course accessories including benches, tee markers etc..  They will be sanded an painted.  I'll take many pictures over the off season to show what we do.  Just a reminder, the 3 port a johns are going back Friday, November 4.  I purchased our snow mold protection and in a couple of weeks, we'll blow out the irrigation.