Episode 161: Louis Weems

Welcome to the Reel Turf Techs Podcast, Episode 161.

Today we’re talking with Lewis Weems, Equipment Manager at Bellerive Country Club in St. Louis, Missouri. Lewis walks us through his path into the industry — from growing up on a farm in southern Oklahoma to studying aviation at Oklahoma State, working for Kubota, then making the move to St. Louis where he cut his teeth learning reel mowers at a John Deere dealership. After volunteering on the golf course, he found his way into the maintenance operation full time and hasn’t looked back.

Lewis talks about what he enjoys most — seeing the finished product out on the course — and what he enjoys least: relief grinding on Bernhard grinders (even though he’s the first to say how important it is for cut quality). He shares some of his go-to tools for two-stroke work, including his Milwaukee 1/4" impact and a recently added BC Master tool, plus a simple but effective small-engine tip using rope to break clutches loose.

We get into first-year challenges as an equipment manager — time management, trusting your gut, and carrying the weight when things go wrong — along with mentorship lessons that shaped his approach, especially the value of bringing solutions, not just problems. Off the clock, Lewis finds balance fishing and tinkering.

The conversation also dives into robotic mowing and range automation. Lewis shares his experience running a Husqvarna 550 on practice areas and trialing other units, talking mapping, signal struggles, multi-mower coordination, charging logistics, and how ball-deflection and collection workflows are evolving. They wrap with spray buggy reliability talk — roll pins, drivetrain spares, lithium batteries — and finish up with a rapid-fire segment that includes Tombstone and a medium-rare bone-in ribeye.

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Transcript

Trent Manning 1:01

Welcome to the reel turf techs podcast for the technician that wants to get reel follow along. As we talk to industry professionals and address hot topics that we all face along the way we'll learn tips and tricks. I'm your host, Trent. Manning let's have some this episode are real turf techs on golf course industries Superintendent radio network is presented by Foley county a strong supporter of equipment technicians and golf course maintenance departments everywhere Foley county offers a proven solution for above and below the turf for turf professionals To learn more about Foley company's line of real grinders bed knife grinders and the air to G2 family of products or to find a distributor visit www dot Foley C o.com Foley Ready for play

Trent Manning, CTEM 2:02

welcome to the Real Turf Text Podcast, episode 1 61. Today we're talking to Lewis Weems, equipment Manager at Bell Re Country Club in St. Louis, Missouri. Bell Reve is a private 18 hole course that has hosted nine championships, one of them being the 100th PGA championship in 2018. That I was lucky enough to volunteer for. Had a blast there. Let's talk to Lewis. Welcome Lewis to the Real Turf X Podcast. I think I did all that in one take.

Louis Weems 2:35

Yeah,

Trent Manning, CTEM 2:37

I don't, I'm, I impress

Louis Weems 2:38

I thought you recorded all of those, like before the show.

Trent Manning, CTEM 2:41

No I normally record'em three or four times after we record the interview. So yeah, my normal workflow for anybody that's worried about this, normally I just say, welcome Lewis to the Real Turf Text podcast. Thanks for coming on. And then we do our interview, and then after the interview I go back usually because I don't know the episode number. Because I usually try to get, you know, one or two or three in the can, ready to go. And then so that's why I wait till later because I don't know the episode number, but that's not the case today. I know the episode number. So, without further ado, tell us how you got into the turf industry.

Louis Weems 3:25

an accident, I feel like a majority of us are. Grew up on a farm in southern Oklahoma. Kind of took a liking into the equipment side more than ag and cattle and, uh, went to tech school a little bit in high school and for vehicles. And then went to aviation service management, aviation logistics school at Oklahoma State and then left college, don't like airplanes and wanted outta that. And went to work for Kubota, doing more ag stuff skid steerers, and then moved to St. Louis for my then girlfriend, now wife. And she had a family friend that was running the shop at. The local John Deere distributor and he said, oh yeah, we have enough tractors. We will keep you busy on just tractors. And that lasted about three weeks. And he's like, here's a real mower, figure it out.

Trent Manning, CTEM 4:17

That's funny. So yeah. What kinda equipment? It was cab, Kubota, tractors, and what kind of real motors.

Louis Weems 4:24

Kubota tractors was still in Oklahoma. And then I moved to St. Louis and I switched to John here.

Trent Manning, CTEM 4:29

Gotcha. Okay.

Louis Weems 4:31

Yeah.

Trent Manning, CTEM 4:31

So they were the ag and turf

Louis Weems 4:34

Correct.

Trent Manning, CTEM 4:35

for that area.

Louis Weems 4:37

Yep. You, they can sell up to five series tractors, I believe

Trent Manning, CTEM 4:43

Yeah.

Louis Weems 4:43

Not the big ag, no combines or anything like that. But,

Trent Manning, CTEM 4:46

Okay. Yeah. What what was the first reel you worked on?

Louis Weems 4:52

the old 2,500 a, the triangle head.

Trent Manning, CTEM 4:57

the 22 M.

Louis Weems 4:59

There you go.

Trent Manning, CTEM 5:00

that what it was called? I think if my memory serves 22

Louis Weems 5:04

was a great start too. And then and then a lot of ESPs

Trent Manning, CTEM 5:09

yeah. Yeah.

Louis Weems 5:09

lot of municipalities still have still around ESPs,

Trent Manning, CTEM 5:12

Mm-hmm. Was that, did that stand for extra heavy cutting unit hurt your toe if it falls on it, something like that? Yeah. Not a bad real design, but they have come a long way with the quick adjust and all that stuff. Yeah. So, so much better.

Louis Weems 5:31

I was still, I was very thankful to get to Bell Re and be all five inch cutting unit,

Trent Manning, CTEM 5:36

yeah. Yeah. That's a lot easier on your back for

Louis Weems 5:38

Yeah, for sure.

Trent Manning, CTEM 5:40

Trying to remember what I was gonna ask. Oh, why did you not lock airplanes?

Louis Weems 5:46

Uh, a lot more, a lot more weight on your shoulder, shoulders. Truthfully, the work's not as fun. You never see your product, and it's the same thing. Uh, when I was in the dealership. You stare at a wall all day and then a, and then a wall, and then, That's actually, that feeling is what made me start coming out to be Reef. Just volunteered for summer, just wanted to see my, the end product. And at the end of that winter, they offered me a job.

Trent Manning, CTEM 6:11

Oh, that's awesome.

Louis Weems 6:12

Yeah.

Trent Manning, CTEM 6:13

So was it like a intern deal or.

Louis Weems 6:16

I just said I'd come help and they, they let me come help part-time and then, uh, had real, had really had no intentions of working on a golf course.

Trent Manning, CTEM 6:25

Mm-hmm.

Louis Weems 6:26

but. Once you see the light side, it's kinda hard to turn down.

Trent Manning, CTEM 6:31

It's it's definitely something to get out on the course and, you know, just being in nature and I think, I mean, most of the superintendents and technicians that I've met. Are definitely outdoors people. You know, we enjoy the outdoors and like you said, you're working in a shop and that ain't outdoors and working in a golf maintenance shop, I think we have the best of both worlds because if it's really nasty outside, we can work in the shop. But on a nice, beautiful day, we can get out there and ride around, you know, go for a ride. Clear your mind.

Louis Weems 7:09

Yes sir.

Trent Manning, CTEM 7:10

Lot to be said for that. Well, what's your least favorite part of the job?

Louis Weems 7:18

Uh, we actually talked about this a little bit at the show, but relief, grinding. Currently love my burnhard grinders, but the release system's not my favorite.

Trent Manning, CTEM 7:27

Mm-hmm.

Louis Weems 7:29

and looking to do a lot more of it in the future.

Trent Manning, CTEM 7:32

Yeah. Yeah.

Louis Weems 7:33

There's a task, but.

Trent Manning, CTEM 7:36

Yeah, I don't, I mean, from what I've I've experienced anyway, I mean, I'm just, I'm a huge fan of relief and for a long time I was in the group or boat of the people that didn't relief grind five inch reels because most five inch reels have a milled relief, you know, on there. So the blade's not as thick as, you know, especially John Deere, the seven inch reels. Those, I mean, how thick are they? Even, yeah, I mean, it's a quarter inch at least. I mean, it's thick. Once you get through if it doesn't have the mild relief, but you know, I'll just go back every time if it wouldn't necessary. Why is all the manufacturers putting it on there?

Louis Weems 8:21

Right.

Trent Manning, CTEM 8:22

And then, I mean, working, you know, in the industry as long as I have. You know, and I hear people, oh, I got a brand new mower, and man, it just cuts so good. And then they grind it and don't put a relief back in it, and they're like, it just don't cut the same, you know?

Louis Weems 8:42

Yeah, I was gonna say that first mo after you relief crying, you're like, man, how mad, how bad did it mess it up? But then you get that crispy cut and you're like, that's counterintuitive.

Trent Manning, CTEM 8:52

Mm-hmm. Yeah. It really is. When the guy that sold me on relief, grinding the, especially like the 14 bladed reels, and I got Toro walking greens mowers and was Chad Broun. And I was talking to him, I'm like, do you relief, grind your 14 blades? He's like, yeah, I do. I'm like, do you think it's worth it? He said, it's definitely worth it. He said, but don't take my word for it. Just try it. So, and it was summertime. We're top dressing. And I got it set up. And you know, which I think that's one of the biggest things I think that people miss sometimes. And I'm guilty of this too, back in the day, like in the late nineties, we only ground reels once a year and we would put a relief on him and all that stuff, but we basically had to retrain ourself each year. Right.'cause it'd been 12 months since we had done this task. And you don't remember all the little I idiosyncrasies and and setting it up and all the things you do. So with that being said, now you've learned how to set it up and on my greens reels, I'm doing it every other mo I mean every other grind, not mo, sorry. That would be extreme, but, so, and I try to take it down to 40 thousandths, one millimeter land width, and I'll grind it one time after that and that'll take it, you know, it depends on how dull it is or whatever. Maybe it goes to two millimeters, but you still got a significant relief there. And then the next time it comes in, throw another relief on it.'cause it's, it's quick and easy at that point. And on, on my grinders, I mean, I just set it up and run the program and it's good to go. So it doesn't take that long after you get in the practice of doing

Louis Weems 10:46

Right.

Trent Manning, CTEM 10:46

And the main point of all that is when Chad told me to try it, I sent one out with a relief and one just to spin grind and they mowed, you know, about the same amount of sand both machines did. And it was still cutting. And I'm like, no way. And the one that didn't have a relief wouldn't cut so. The next day they go out and same thing. I'm like, okay there's something to this. So I was a believer, you know?

Louis Weems 11:18

When you said that in class, my director looked at me and I was like, I'm gonna be grinding a relief, grinding all of'em.

Trent Manning, CTEM 11:24

Yeah. I mean, just, and I'll tell you, like Chad told me, just try it, you know? And there's plenty of people that say, oh, this doesn't work and it doesn't work for me. And okay, that's fine for them. But I would suggest to anybody just try it and see.

Louis Weems 11:41

work on

Trent Manning, CTEM 11:42

it makes you, yeah, it's worth a try. What's your favorite tool and why?

Louis Weems 11:48

recently just doing all the two stroke backpack blowers, chainsaws, running chainsaws, really heavy. Just bought a Milwaukee quarter inch impact and I put a long torque bid on it and just breaking the steel stuff down. I've never done that and it's a lifesaver. I was actually.

Trent Manning, CTEM 12:06

Yeah, it's, it is a game changer. And I don't have the quarter inch impact. I got one of the screwdrivers.

Louis Weems 12:13

Mm-hmm.

Trent Manning, CTEM 12:13

You know, and what I really like about the screwdriver is it's got basically a torque setting on it.

Louis Weems 12:19

Oh yeah. That's

Trent Manning, CTEM 12:20

You know, so you can't, you know, I set it, it goes one to 10, I set it on five or something like that for putting all the screws back in.

Louis Weems 12:28

I was used to all my fuel stuff, having torque settings, and I bought this just. Offline'cause I saw it on sale and it doesn't have the torque settings, but we'll get through it.

Trent Manning, CTEM 12:39

Oh yeah. No, it's fine. Yeah, and I wasn't trying to throw shade on your tool there.'cause I mean, they're awesome tools and if you don't get a six inch, you know, six inch T 27, you know, that goes on that tool. I mean, that's hand down the best way to work on outdoor power equipment.'cause that T 27, I mean it fits all the steel stuff. I think it fits red Max too. Yeah. Yeah. That's what I mean. That's a handy little tool to have in the toolbox. Any other tools?

Louis Weems 13:13

as you know, just bought my BC master today. I'm hoping to play with that.

Trent Manning, CTEM 13:17

All right. Yes. Thank you. Thank you for the. Purchase and the shout out and somebody else bought one today too.

Louis Weems 13:26

the show.

Trent Manning, CTEM 13:27

well now your your buddy will Watson.

Louis Weems 13:30

Oh really?

Trent Manning, CTEM 13:30

Yeah, it was so funny. I shipped them both today.

Louis Weems 13:34

That's awesome.

Trent Manning, CTEM 13:35

Yeah, I mean, it's so cool. Anyway, will I texted him, thanking him for the order just like I did you, and he said it comes with a lifetime warranty, right? And I said, yeah, it is a lifetime warranty and I will come there for any warranty repairs.

Louis Weems 13:50

Yeah, that place is

Trent Manning, CTEM 13:52

Same thing for you. You need a warranty repair, you just call me. We will come work it out. No, thank you for the purchase and I hope you enjoy the tool and like I tell everybody else, I mean, it's just, you know, it's not the end all be all. It's another tool in the toolbox that can add a metric to your arsenal. How do you relax or find your balance?

Louis Weems 14:13

growing up I used to be hunting land's a little bit harder to find in St. Louis than it was in southern Oklahoma. I fish as much as possible but I'm really just a tinker and find anything I can to tinker with.

Trent Manning, CTEM 14:26

what kind of fishing.

Louis Weems 14:28

Usually bass or croppy.

Trent Manning, CTEM 14:29

Okay. All right. That's cool. Nothing wrong with that. I don't, I'm, I, so, I keep saying this, that I quit fishing and I really did. I hadn't fished. I need to sit down and figure out how long it's been. It's probably been close to four years, but before that, I was fishing competitively in tournaments

Louis Weems 14:51

oh, I did not know that.

Trent Manning, CTEM 14:52

and it really turned into work, you know, and I would tell people I have to go fishing. And that's kind of the way I viewed it. And everybody's like, Ooh, yeah, poor you know, whatever. But me and my partner, and he's still, he's hardcore. I went with him I guess for five years, five or six years I fished with him and in the summertime we would fish Monday night, Wednesday night, every other Saturday night. would sink, brush most of the time on Thursday night. So we would go and cut down 20 foot sweet gum trees and Yeah, send, yeah, in the middle of summertime mean it's hot down here. You know, and stay up till one, two o'clock in the morning sink of trees'cause we're doing all at night.'cause that's not necessarily illegal or legal, um, on core of engineer property. So, I mean, really. And then in the wintertime. So the wintertime is from first Sunday in October to the last Sunday in May, we'd fish every Sunday morning, safe light till noon,

Louis Weems 15:59

This is all bass fishing.

Trent Manning, CTEM 16:00

all bass fishing five fish limit, you know? And then it all depend. I mean, normally we'd have 45, 50 boats and they pay one in five or one in seven. So, and I mean, we were pretty successful at it and fun and enjoyed it, but still, when you're doing it that much it's like work.

Louis Weems 16:20

Even when you have to squeeze it in after work, it just takes something away from it. When you have a timeline.

Trent Manning, CTEM 16:26

Yeah. Yeah.

Louis Weems 16:27

I, kind of, I slacked off a lot fishing.

Trent Manning, CTEM 16:29

mm-hmm. I don't. I say all that to say I've been itching a little bit lately and I've been thinking about calling my partner back up and so you need to fill in here and there. Um, yeah, I actually, I talked to the guy that's fishing Sunday mornings with him today, and he's my dentist too. So, I mean, we keep it in the family, you know, it's, this is like the whole fishing community. Like the electrician, he's part of the fishing club. So like, if I need electrical work that's way over my head I sub it out to him. And, you know, we got all the people in the fishing world. There's a lot of tradesmen there. But anyway, I was talking to him today thinking I might need to give him a call because the dentist, um, he misses quite a bit in the winter'cause he is got kids in college and all the things. So he's not able to make it on Sundays. So, I don't know maybe it's my calling. We'll

Louis Weems 17:26

out there.

Trent Manning, CTEM 17:26

Yep. Thank you. What's been your biggest challenge to date?

Louis Weems 17:31

Well, this is year one for me as a equipment manager. So,

Trent Manning, CTEM 17:34

awesome, man. It is. That's very

Louis Weems 17:36

thank, end of last summer. I don't know that I would've agreed with you a hundred percent, but, uh, I'd say managing your own time and, uh, trusting your gut. When it gets put on you to make the call even little stuff, just like hide cut and stuff like that, you're, you think about it a little bit more when everything's on your shoulders than you do as an assistant or, you know, whatever it might be. And then with turf, if something goes wrong, somebody's coming to talk to the equip manager. So yeah, just fronting that and experiencing that for the first time.

Trent Manning, CTEM 18:12

So I don't, but I think I missed that a little bit. What was it about if something goes wrong, they come talk to the equipment manager?

Louis Weems 18:19

Yeah, just, um, if anything goes wrong in the course the crew manager's the first person usually to hear about it. And I know the book knowledge and then applying it in the field is, to me is very different.

Trent Manning, CTEM 18:30

Mm-hmm.

Louis Weems 18:31

I'd say that was my biggest challenge.

Trent Manning, CTEM 18:33

Okay. I mean, that, that makes sense. Yeah. Yeah. What's the strangest thing you've seen around the golf course?

Louis Weems 18:42

it'd be in year one. I feel like I got some room to grow in this area. I've seen some triplexes upside down in creeks and such, but nothing too strange.

Trent Manning, CTEM 18:51

Y'all, y'all do have some rough terrain out there, if I

Louis Weems 18:54

is Some turning.

Trent Manning, CTEM 18:55

of those

Louis Weems 18:56

Yeah.

Trent Manning, CTEM 18:57

creeks running through there, for sure. Do you have a mentor in the industry? I.

Louis Weems 19:04

Um, like I mentioned when I was at the dealership, I kind of was self-taught, but our director here I got in the cart with one day and he sold me a career and ever since then he is given me stepping stones how to advance my career and move this equipment manager role. Forward. Um, that's been huge for me and he trusts me

Trent Manning, CTEM 19:25

Yeah. Yeah, that's huge.

Louis Weems 19:27

it's huge.

Trent Manning, CTEM 19:28

Very huge.

Louis Weems 19:30

and then one other person I'll mention in my Kubota days, I walked into the office and this guy's high energy. Great. In all facets, great speaker. I walked in complaining. I gave him three problems and he goes, he came in here with zero solutions and he is like, go back out and figure out a solution and come back and talk to me. And that has stuck with me every day.

Trent Manning, CTEM 19:54

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's a really good thing.

Louis Weems 19:58

Yeah.

Trent Manning, CTEM 19:58

Yeah, that's that's really good because I, I think it's easy, and I mean, I'm just as guilty as anybody else is. We just wanna talk about all the problems, but the guy's right, let's, it's on us to come up with some solutions For these problems instead of, I mean, anybody can jump on the bandwagon and complain about. Your workplace or what's happening, you know, in your personal life, you know, whatever it is. But it takes a better person to say, how can I fix this?

Louis Weems 20:33

for

Trent Manning, CTEM 20:34

What is the solution to this? So I like, I love it. That's really good. What would be your dream job or opportunity?

Louis Weems 20:41

maybe coming down your way just a little bit southeast coast, maybe not Florida, but just terrain wise. Um, I also thought just somewhere closer to, a little bit closer to my family, right now, I'm about eight hours from my family. So,

Trent Manning, CTEM 20:55

where's your family?

Louis Weems 20:57

They're still in southern Oklahoma.

Trent Manning, CTEM 20:58

Okay,

Louis Weems 20:59

Yeah.

Trent Manning, CTEM 21:00

I got you. Yeah, I mean there's,

Louis Weems 21:03

What Texas is that?

Trent Manning, CTEM 21:04

yeah, Texas is hot. So it was Florida.

Louis Weems 21:07

Yeah.

Trent Manning, CTEM 21:08

for sure.

Louis Weems 21:09

I'd like to be on a course also even just for a little bit, if it wasn't Zoia. Might be cool to.

Trent Manning, CTEM 21:17

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, more experience you can get the better it is. The one thing about Zuora that I do like, I mean it is more abrasive on the blades, but we don't have to mow it as frequently.

Louis Weems 21:32

Right.

Trent Manning, CTEM 21:32

As you know, we did with Bermuda and especially, I mean Bermuda, we were over seeding Bermuda and in the spring over-seed rye grass, we would mow seven days a week. Yeah. Seven days a week. I mean every single day. Rolling fairway mowers. And we're 18 hole core, or eight, yeah, 18 hole course, and we're putting over 500 hours on four fairway units. So 2000 hours a year, mowing fairways. I mean, that's a lot of hours, on a fairway unit to not be in Florida or somewhere, you know? And I asked the boss one time, I said, why can't you put some PGR or something on this grass? It's like, it don't work that way, you know, like you can with Zoya and Bermuda. So

Louis Weems 22:23

Are you source your code?

Trent Manning, CTEM 22:25

yes. So the course in Midtown has been zoia for the last, I don't know how long, at least 15 years, if not longer than that. And that's when, I think I've talked about this before, but I kind of got away from back laughing because Bermuda is easy. You know, you can back lab and it's fine. But the Zuora and I don't know that. I would say, I don't know that I was being proactive enough with the back lapping and I was laughing more, trying to get the edge back after it was gone on the zoia, which is not good.

Louis Weems 23:05

Yep.

Trent Manning, CTEM 23:06

you know, I mean, I'm still learning too. I've been doing this stuff since the nineties and you know, I'm still learning.

Louis Weems 23:12

You said

Trent Manning, CTEM 23:13

that's, what you get, say again?

Louis Weems 23:16

you said something in class the other day about getting lazy on the grinding at your top face. You see it not go anywhere, so you just grind it outta the front face. And I, I kind of chuckled in class and he called me out. But the picture you showed with that, talking about the same shortening the bed knife and then you showed a picture, I'm like, again, I looked at my direction. We've definitely seen that on our collar or our cleanup mower, just stuff like that. And I learned it in the field through trial and error. And then just to see you say the same thing.

Trent Manning, CTEM 23:49

Yeah. Yeah.

Louis Weems 23:49

cool,

Trent Manning, CTEM 23:50

Well, I mean, that's the thing. A lot of us have been taught by other people that didn't really know what was going on, you know, and no fault to them, and no fault to us. We just didn't know any better. So, you know, we're still figuring it out as we go. So, yeah, it's a learning process.

Louis Weems 24:10

For sure.

Trent Manning, CTEM 24:11

Well, and I mean, that's what I love about what we do too, is we're learning all the time. You know, it's not just working on an assembly line where we're putting, you know, bolt A and slop B and all those things. It's the same thing every day. That's what makes it fun. On what technician would you like to work with for a day?

Louis Weems 24:34

Um, I'd like to go see Cory run that mill from Cory Phillips, run that mill.

Trent Manning, CTEM 24:38

Okay.

Louis Weems 24:39

he gets his lathe. I like, I'd like to see the machining side. That's something I've never gotten to do.

Trent Manning, CTEM 24:43

Yeah. Yeah.

Louis Weems 24:46

John Patterson talked to me shortly I wanna say in San Diego, and he went so far over my head pretty quick. I'd like to delve into some more stuff with him

Trent Manning, CTEM 24:55

Mm-hmm.

Louis Weems 24:56

and then also yourself.

Trent Manning, CTEM 24:58

Well, thank you for that. But yeah, I mean, Corey, John, I mean, this industry is.

Louis Weems 25:03

stole all the talent. In Atlanta.

Trent Manning, CTEM 25:06

We did. Why don't me and Corey got, I don't, let's see. So Corey's originally from Alabama outside. He's from Barry, Alabama, which is outside of Tuscaloosa, where the University of Alabama is. John Patterson, I, I can't remember where he is from. He's from up north, but he made it to Florida and spent a bunch of time in Florida, and then he came up. I don't know. I mean, it's probably been close to 10 years ago, at least eight years ago. He came up to the athletic club. And then I met Corey when I went to work for Jerry Pate, the Toro distributor down here. Corey was the only road tech for them. This was like, oh. 2008. He was the only road tech and he had only been a road tech for maybe three months. And then he was showing me the ropes, you know, on how to be a road tech. And me and him had the whole state of Georgia. But and we had so much windshield time, we would talk every day. On the phone, you know, just driving around or whatever. But I love Corey. Awesome guy. And I mean, super smart guy. And same thing with John Patterson, and I mean, there's just so many I can go on and on about all the other people I know in the industry that's, you know, just as smart. Uh, Jeff Quinn out in San Francisco was an F 16 crew chief. I mean, just, and he had, you know, like all the subsystems underneath that. So they got an engine guy, electronic guy, you know, all the things underneath that, you know, and he was doing that. But he's working at Cal Club now as a golf course, mc, you know, it's just crazy how,

Louis Weems 26:47

my degree and I'll crack a joke. I'm like, yep. Now I run a fleet of lawn mowers.

Trent Manning, CTEM 26:51

Well, right? Yeah. Well, and somebody was posted on the video guy that helps me put out a short on the granite surface plate and it blew up which is a good thing for the channel and all that. But people were saying, oh, you don't know how accurate that is until you've had it certified. And I said, there's plenty accurate enough for a lawnmower.

Louis Weems 27:14

Yeah.

Trent Manning, CTEM 27:14

You know, I mean, I was trying to like dumb it down a little bit, but you know, it's the lawnmower. We're mowing grass. We're not sending it to the moon.

Louis Weems 27:22

Show me the greens you're worried about.

Trent Manning, CTEM 27:24

Right? Yes.

Louis Weems 27:25

Yeah,

Trent Manning, CTEM 27:26

exactly. Exactly. So yeah, you definitely gotta keep it in perspective. But I know Corey and John and myself, if you come to Atlanta, we'll make a trip. I'll personally take you to every one of the shops.

Louis Weems 27:40

Awesome.

Trent Manning, CTEM 27:41

yeah, any, anytime. And I mean, I loved doing that stuff too. I had Chad Broun down a few years ago. He spoke at the Georgia thing and we went by John Shop and we went by Cory shop. You know,'cause we're all, we're about 30, 40 minutes away from each other. So, yeah, it it was really cool. What do you know now you wish you'd known on day one?

Louis Weems 28:03

sometimes you can't beat the weather. Okay. And accepting that was harder for me. And then the work's gonna be there tomorrow.

Trent Manning, CTEM 28:16

Yeah, that's

Louis Weems 28:17

Yep.

Trent Manning, CTEM 28:18

that's one I need to hear a little bit more.'cause sometimes I just, I have trouble leaving.

Louis Weems 28:24

Yeah.

Trent Manning, CTEM 28:25

And

Louis Weems 28:25

when I do leave, I think about it when I get home, and that's just. I can't pour from an empty cup,

Trent Manning, CTEM 28:31

Right. No, that's a good quote right there. Yep. Gotta keep your cup full. Do you have any of that person around your place? How do you deal with that person?

Louis Weems 28:41

I don't think anybody, uh, with ill intent. We have some Ethiopians, there's a language barrier.

Trent Manning, CTEM 28:46

Mm-hmm.

Louis Weems 28:47

but just with anyone, none of us were born knowing what we do, and I just tried to approach everything from that mindset and we have no issues.

Trent Manning, CTEM 28:56

That's, I mean, that's a really good mindset to try to keep for sure, because Yeah, no, nobody knows at all.

Louis Weems 29:03

Six years ago I was standing in a Sudan field, so I can't preach. Be perfect on turf. Just got here.

Trent Manning, CTEM 29:12

Right, right, right, right. I got you. I hear you. I hear you. That's good stuff.

Trent Manning 29:16

Get ready for tips and tricks

Trent Manning, CTEM 29:19

Tips and tricks.

Louis Weems 29:20

I don't know if I have anything worth sharing currently. I.

Trent Manning, CTEM 29:24

I think you got something worth sharing. There's something up there and yeah, don't, definitely don't. Think it's gotta be something new or something that we've never heard of. I mean, I'm game for anything.

Louis Weems 29:39

I think someone's mentioned this before on the podcast, but I learned from one of our assistants in passing by, you could shove rope in a two cycle to break the clutches loose.

Trent Manning, CTEM 29:50

I

Louis Weems 29:51

good for me. Been to tech school for all kinds of stuff and never knew that.

Trent Manning, CTEM 29:55

really, okay. Yeah. No, that's a good one. I learned that from Kent. Carson. He's a good friend of mine. Or we've become friends over the last 15 years, probably. And he's a heck of a two stroke guy, and he showed me that. And the other thing I don't, you weren't in my tips and tricks class.

Louis Weems 30:17

I was

Trent Manning, CTEM 30:17

No. Okay. So in the tips and tricks class. I got a slide in there about counting your hole spacing on a Procore 6 48 and the way to average the holes is you take your tape measure and you measure 11 holes. You don't count the first one, and then you count 10, and then wherever the 10th hole is, whatever that lines up with. So let's say it's 15 inches, that's a 1.5 hole spacing. And I tell you all this to say, where did I learn that? The operator's manual.

Louis Weems 30:58

No way.

Trent Manning, CTEM 30:59

Yeah. So, and I mean, I love telling that story and you know, in the class, because I'm guilty. I've been doing this a long time. I don't need to read an operator's manual. You know, I mean, there's plenty of us that say that, and that's just not true. You know, everybody needs to read the operator's manual. It doesn't matter how long you've been doing it. So get off the high horse and go read the Operator's manual. A lot of really good information in there.

Louis Weems 31:28

I just broke down actually right before we got on here. We got electric, John Deere triplexes, the all electric ones, they just showed up right before I left for the show and I'm like, that's something I've never gotten to touch Most of the stuff out here. I've done engines, electrical, all of it. But that thing is completely due to me.

Trent Manning, CTEM 31:47

Mm-hmm.

Louis Weems 31:48

I think I'm gonna break that manual up.

Trent Manning, CTEM 31:50

There you go. There you go. Do it. You heard it here on the real turf text. Read your operator's manual.

Louis Weems 31:55

Start there for

Trent Manning, CTEM 31:56

Yeah. Yeah, definitely. Start there. What else you wanna talk about?

Louis Weems 32:00

You wanna talk about robots?

Trent Manning, CTEM 32:02

Yeah, let's talk, yeah, let's talk about robots. Yeah. Before we started recording here, I was asked in Louis, or telling Louis about my day and I've been researching robots and the way I research robots is I call all the other equipment managers I know and ask them what they're using and what they're doing.

Louis Weems 32:23

Right.

Trent Manning, CTEM 32:24

Because I mean, just like you kind of were leading to, I mean, there's a lot of really smart people in this industry and there's no point in me trying to recreate the wheel, Right. When these guys like John Patterson and Terry Apple and Dan Hackston, as the three people I talk to today that's been dealing with robots for the last, I mean, I think four years. Something like that. So they've got quite a bit of experience. What is your experience with the robots?

Louis Weems 32:57

so we bought a five 50 Husqvarna two and a half years ago, three years ago.

Trent Manning, CTEM 33:02

Okay.

Louis Weems 33:03

It's been running mowing practice areas behind the putting green. And we try to do high presentation areas, just see how the members get along with it. And it does great for those areas. If you have trees, dropping limbs, oak, gall, stuff like that, you're just, you're gonna see issues. And it's a lot of chasing it down just to restart it and then problem solve.

Trent Manning, CTEM 33:28

So, yeah, what happens when it. Encounters a tree lamp,

Louis Weems 33:33

So the five 50 is only a pressure sensor. So they have eight pounds of pressure of spring loaded pressure sensors. And so if anything hits the body, they will stop and then you have to go remove the foreign object or remove the from the situation. It gets a little bit frustrating and. Once you get your map dialed and you really know where the problem areas are, it gets dramatically easier. And that was with, that was across all the brands.

Trent Manning, CTEM 33:59

Other brands have you tried?

Louis Weems 34:01

we've tried Crest, Nexmo, Toro Echo. I think that's it.

Trent Manning, CTEM 34:12

Huh? Well, I mean that's, that covers covers most of'em for sure.

Louis Weems 34:16

we definitely wanted to, before we made a decision, financially we want to cover the bases.

Trent Manning, CTEM 34:20

Mm-hmm.

Louis Weems 34:21

The crest was by far the easiest mapping. You take the GPS unit off the top of the mower, put it on a little two wheel cart and walk around and zip around with it and create your maps. The husk of arney. You self-drive, little cumbersome, but you get by, you get used to it. The crest, we just struggle. We love the cut quality and everything. We just struggled signal

Trent Manning, CTEM 34:43

Oh, okay.

Louis Weems 34:43

That could be a very local, local thing here in St. Louis. Um,

Trent Manning, CTEM 34:48

a lot of trees on the property?

Louis Weems 34:50

quite a few.

Trent Manning, CTEM 34:51

Quite a few. Yeah?

Louis Weems 34:53

That one is RTK based. So there's no base station either. No local base station. So if you have clear property, it might be, that might be the best bet. The nmos had a great feature. You can drop in Mo, so if you have a map you can take. Five of the mowers per se, and they will all tackle that that portion of the land together.

Trent Manning, CTEM 35:13

Oh, that's kind of cool.

Louis Weems 35:15

That is really cool to see. And you can move'em where it fits your schedule. I don't think anybody else is doing that. And they also have intelligent chargers, so they'll share a charger and keep two mowers running or five mowers running, however it works.

Trent Manning, CTEM 35:29

Ah, that's, yeah. That's pretty cool. Yeah. Yeah.

Louis Weems 35:32

so they had some interesting stuff and then with Toro and Echos kind of the same unit from what I could tell. When I trialed both of those, they were different software versions. So I got the Toro a few weeks back and we used the ball picker as well. The Toro, to my knowledge, is the only one that has a ball deflector

Trent Manning, CTEM 35:53

Oh,

Louis Weems 35:54

which automated range. Okay. Before anything else

Trent Manning, CTEM 35:59

Mm-hmm.

Louis Weems 36:00

scarring up the balls is a bigger issue,

Trent Manning, CTEM 36:03

Yeah. Yeah.

Louis Weems 36:04

That Toro actually did a pretty good job deflecting the balls and then it puts'em in a, not a perfect line, but it makes it a little easier for the ball picker to come through and clean pick,

Trent Manning, CTEM 36:14

And does it have a picker too? Toro?

Louis Weems 36:18

It's a separate unit,

Trent Manning, CTEM 36:20

Yeah, but they do have one that'll pick the balls up and that stuff. Okay.

Louis Weems 36:24

They say 19,000 balls a day on paper, but our tour rep said they've seen it do 16 in a day.

Trent Manning, CTEM 36:32

Mm-hmm. Wow. Okay.

Louis Weems 36:34

Yeah.

Trent Manning, CTEM 36:35

That's a lot of golf balls. Yeah. And does it automatically dump'em?

Louis Weems 36:40

Yeah. So we, they offered for the demo to set up a, a demo dump site and. It was just kind of awkward and cumbersome and I said, I'll take a pit. So I dug a pit underneath it and it comes and drops at the charging station. And we're not hitting enough balls right now. It's so cold in St. Louis,

Trent Manning, CTEM 36:58

Yeah. Yeah.

Louis Weems 37:00

to get a true demo, but once I dug the pit, it worked great.

Trent Manning, CTEM 37:04

Okay. That's cool. Yeah, I don't, I mean, what are they gonna think of next?

Louis Weems 37:09

I know

Trent Manning, CTEM 37:10

I mean, it's pretty crazy. And seeing the.

Louis Weems 37:12

oh, go ahead.

Trent Manning, CTEM 37:13

Seeing the autonomous bunker rakes and that kind of stuff, like that's kind of interesting.

Louis Weems 37:19

Well I saw that the Frost sprayer with a big remote control. Did you see that at the show?

Trent Manning, CTEM 37:24

Yeah.

Louis Weems 37:25

Yeah,

Trent Manning, CTEM 37:26

Yeah. I was asking about that, and they're like, well, we're gonna test it this summer and then we'll see about releasing it. I'm like, okay.

Louis Weems 37:34

yep,

Trent Manning, CTEM 37:34

us all excited for nothing.

Louis Weems 37:36

do y'all use small sprayers like that

Trent Manning, CTEM 37:38

we, yeah, we got two of the Han Spray bugs.

Louis Weems 37:42

Okay.

Trent Manning, CTEM 37:43

Brandon Polk, I think is his name. Kind of runs that and he was there at the show and I've talked to him a good bit. Yeah, we've had ours for three years, I think. And I mean, we love'em, but. We kinda love to hate him sometimes too because, uh, just the first year, not a single problem. Second year, quite a few problems. And the third year is just like problem after problem. And he was a, he was like, so what is your biggest problem? I'm like, I can't tell you.'cause every week we use it, it is something different. But it's usually something with the drive, train, drive, train. Sometimes it's something with the pump. You know, I don't, it's just frustrating.

Louis Weems 38:28

experience. Yeah. Roll pins.

Trent Manning, CTEM 38:31

Oh, okay. Yep. Roll pins. Yep.

Louis Weems 38:34

factory for your roll pins. And then

Trent Manning, CTEM 38:36

I don't, hang on. So have you tried the stainless steel roll pin?

Louis Weems 38:41

I've been using hairpin stainless steel hairpin clips.

Trent Manning, CTEM 38:45

Oh, okay.

Louis Weems 38:46

It's actually really been working out for me. If you can find one short enough with that, a thick enough diameter, and then it's much easier to grab onto Beside that motor.

Trent Manning, CTEM 38:55

yeah. Ah, I like it. That's a good idea.

Louis Weems 38:59

And it's quick in the field.

Trent Manning, CTEM 39:01

well, yeah, that's the thing. So, Jerry, Cara, he's a white oak super sharp guy, but he's got five of the spray bugs, and I went by his shop. He's in, yulee Florida, north of Jacksonville. And I went by his shop on my way back home since I drove. And he's got, two drawers dedicated to spray bug parts and he has a complete transaxle or not, you know, motor axle

Louis Weems 39:31

I

Trent Manning, CTEM 39:31

baron's on it. I mean, the gear's on the end of it. He's got the whole thing that he can just drop in.

Louis Weems 39:37

yep,

Trent Manning, CTEM 39:38

Do you got the same thing?

Louis Weems 39:39

I do.

Trent Manning, CTEM 39:40

Okay. Yep. I guess I'm gonna have to get on board and do that.

Louis Weems 39:45

And then I also, lithium, I put lithium batteries on mine

Trent Manning, CTEM 39:49

I did too.

Louis Weems 39:50

at the run time. Yeah.

Trent Manning, CTEM 39:51

and I got'em off Amazon for super cheap. Yeah. I was talking to Brandon.

Louis Weems 39:57

since

Trent Manning, CTEM 39:59

Say that again.

Louis Weems 39:59

ran all 18 and come back at 12.3 and ready to go.

Trent Manning, CTEM 40:04

Mm-hmm. I was talking to Brandon about that and I told him I got'em off Amazon and he's like, yeah, I just, I can't do that as a distributor, you know, take the chance because I have, I had one of'em die that I got four of them off Amazon and one of'em lasted. It lasted a year though, and it was a little over a hundred bucks or whatever, you know, it's like, can't go wrong with that. But he said he has better luck out of the stainless steel. Roll pins and he's installing'em with lock tie. But like you're saying, I mean that hairpin, that sounds like the way to go.'cause the roll pins are such a pain. And lucky for me, a guy that worked for me in the shop for four years ago or so, he took a punch. It was actually a brass punch now that matters. But the punch is. I don't know, it was probably eight inches long and he drilled in the center of it. So you can put a roll pin punch in this punch and then it's got like a set screw that you can tighten up and it holds the punch in there. So it's basically a 12 or 14 inch roll pin punch. And that works really good on

Louis Weems 41:26

beside that motor is a bad place to be. If you got a short the mac,

Trent Manning, CTEM 41:30

Oh

Louis Weems 41:31

a bad place.

Trent Manning, CTEM 41:32

Yep. I need to need to take a picture of that or do a little video on what JJ made there.'cause it's a super handy tool to have and the reason he built it was, I think it's when we were working on the Toro Flex 21 hundreds. Kind of the same thing. Cumbersome spot to get to that you needed a long reach. And he rigged that up and we still got in the toolbox and used it quite regular. All right. You ready to do some, you got anything else you wanna talk about? Thanks for talking about the robots. That's

Louis Weems 42:11

Yeah, no problem. Yeah. No, I think I'm good.

Trent Manning, CTEM 42:15

All right, let's do some,

Louis Weems 42:16

we'll see you after the tournament.

Trent Manning, CTEM 42:19

Yes. Yeah. Yeah. Might have. Might have more stuff to say. Let's do some rapid fire.

Louis Weems 42:29

Yes, sir.

Trent Manning, CTEM 42:30

What's your favorite movie?

Louis Weems 42:32

Tombstone.

Trent Manning, CTEM 42:33

Oh, I love it, man. I'm right there with you. That is

Louis Weems 42:37

I said that to my, he's like, I've never finished that movie all the way through. And I'm like, you started and you didn't finish

Trent Manning, CTEM 42:44

Who's this?

Louis Weems 42:45

my assistant.

Trent Manning, CTEM 42:46

I don't. You might have to get a new assistant.

Louis Weems 42:49

Yeah.

Trent Manning, CTEM 42:50

Is this the guy that emailed me about having you on?

Louis Weems 42:53

yeah,

Trent Manning, CTEM 42:54

Okay. I'm gonna send him an email when we get off here and

Louis Weems 42:57

a

Trent Manning, CTEM 42:57

him out for that. That's

Louis Weems 42:58

criminal.

Trent Manning, CTEM 42:59

yeah, it is. That is criminal. No, I love it. That's yeah, definitely one of my favorite movies. What would be your last meal?

Louis Weems 43:07

Bone in ribeye and baked potato.

Trent Manning, CTEM 43:11

I'm right there with you, vet. I love it. Yeah. How do you have the ribeye.

Louis Weems 43:15

Medium rare.

Trent Manning, CTEM 43:17

Ah, yeah. Next time I'm in St. Louis, we're gonna go get a steak. I forget I stopped at a barbecue place in St. Louis when I was driving through there. I don't remember the name of it. It was really good

Louis Weems 43:28

Salt and smoke.

Trent Manning, CTEM 43:31

Maybe, I don't know. It wasn't too far off the interstate,

Louis Weems 43:37

Yeah, it's probably salt and smoke. The local spots are all downtown. It's kind of hard to get to, kind of hard to find

Trent Manning, CTEM 43:43

Okay.

Louis Weems 43:44

salt smoke. They're, they're branching out. There's quite a few of'em now and they are very good.

Trent Manning, CTEM 43:49

Yeah. I don't, I like some barbecue. Doesn't matter. Kansas City, St. Louis, Georgia,

Louis Weems 43:54

I'm the same way.

Trent Manning, CTEM 43:56

any of

Louis Weems 43:56

I dunno about the South Carolina stuff, but,

Trent Manning, CTEM 43:59

And not a vinegar based guy.

Louis Weems 44:01

I'm out.

Trent Manning, CTEM 44:02

I That's all right. It's okay. What are you most proud of beside your family?

Louis Weems 44:09

I don't think I'm the, the most confident person, probably not the smartest person in a lot of rooms, but, i'm definitely the most persistent and that's done well by me.

Trent Manning, CTEM 44:19

That's good, man. Yeah, you gotta be proud of yourself. I mean, look at where you're at,

Louis Weems 44:25

Yep.

Trent Manning, CTEM 44:25

right? I mean, yeah.

Louis Weems 44:27

working.

Trent Manning, CTEM 44:27

I mean, I get it.'cause yeah, I've definitely struggled with lack of confidence and self-esteem. I'm not saying you're struggling with that, but personally I have. And you know, it's easier said than done, but just set back and, you know, look at where you're at and where you've been, and you know how far you come. You know, so be proud of yourself. I'm proud of you. That's awesome man. It is. It's good stuff. Well, thank you so much Lewis for being on. It's been a pleasure as always.

Trent Manning 45:04

thank you so much for listening to the Reel turf techs podcast. I hope you learned something today. Don't forget to subscribe. If you have any topics you'd like to discuss, or you'd like to be a guest, find us on Twitter at Reel turf techs.