3/31/10
Well I pretty much dedicated Wednesday's work day to Rich Beem. I had two clubs to build for mini tour player, Dave Davis. He had requested the 56 and 60. Dave has played the Series 4.1 and Tour 7.1 but now needs conforming grooves. On to Rich Beem.
The morning started around 7:00am. I had slept on Rich Beem's wedge and come up with a plan. On Tuesday he said he needs to make a change with his SW. His main complaint was the inconsistency of his performance in the bunkers. I took a look at his current gamer and discovered the heel contour had been modified and had no bounce. He was complaining about the wedge "digging", well having no bounce in the heel will produce just that! I handed him the FC-10/60 degree and he hit a few shots. The club was working perfect! He asked me to build him one to match his current gamer? This is where my better judgment had to come into play. I agreed I would build him one and would have it ready Wednesday morning, but I what I didn't tell him was what I would build. I took all of the necessary measurements and decided to sleep on it overnight. I almost succumb to the fact and built it as he requested, but decided to think! Scary uhh?
I had to ask myself one question, "why would I build him a wedge identical to the one he has"? This didn't make any sense, the one he has isn't working why duplicate that? So, guess what I built one that was going to solve his problem! The next series of photos are showing the process each step along the way. In the end he was very happy and his new tool worked perfectly! I didn't tell him this but the Big Boy with all of their engineers and R&D support don't always make or suggest the best fit for the player! I won't bore you through all of that again, but I think you catch my drift! You can't pee like a puppy of your if going run with the bigdawg! HIHI...
On one of my several trips to the tee with Rich, I had a good friend and caddie call me over to the putting green. It seems he was eager to show me something. Here said, "take a look at this", see anything familiar here? This was in his players bag that he was looping for this morning in the pro-am. The player said he bought it at one of the major retailers! Some of this crap just never seems to go away! I asked the player why he wouldn't have bought the real thing and guess what his answer was? "I play all Taylormade"! Well there you have it!
On with the real business!
Here is Rich's finished wedge. The stamping of "58" is the new loft number. This way when he goes to grab it he has a little reminder other than that "thing of beauty" look staring back at him! I decided to build him a 56 as opposed to a 60 due to the fact he wanted me to bend some off-set into it like his gamer. I did agree to do this since it was more of a visual thing. In order to get the bounce where I needed it I took a 56 and bent the off-set into it and set the loft and lie angles. This would put me close to 12 degrees of bounce which is exactly what Rich needed. I would have had close to what his current gamer was if I had gone with the 60 degree. It is always best to add loft when wanting more bounce and conversely if you want less bounce you de-loft. There has to be care taken when de-lofting, if not careful you will create a "digger"! Richy didn't need that! He already had that!
Here is a look next to a stock 56 degree, Rich's is on the left. Here you can see the off-set that I put into it. Actually the wedge looks really great, it would make a nice addition to our product line!
On one of my trips to the tee I ran into Henrick Bjornstad. Henrick plays the Nationwide Tour and he had changed over to the Solus in Omaha last year. I thought I would show him our new FC-10. He loved it but said he was pretty much set if you know what I mean? You see the pull the big companies demand on the players? I left the door open for him and told him to call anytime! He is a really nice kid!
My third trip back making last minute adjustments to Rich's wedge. Here he has asked me to square the leading edge up slightly.
Ditto, damn this looks really good! Boy am I good! HIHI....
Side by side with his "new" gamer the FC-10! Notice the heel grind in his old gamer, this is what was causing all of the problem! 
Cookin with gas, baby! Started testing from all over the place!
Problem solved out of the bunker! It worked just like I told him it would! I think he was a little skeptical when I told him I wasn't going to build him one identical to his "old" gamer. Like I said earlier little ol Solus has the tools for the job! Check in with the DAWG!!
Keeps getting better, he hit quite a few quality shots "no digging" here!
Awe putting the ol "tour pose" on it!
One last adjustment for the full shot number and he is good to go! When all was said and done it was around 11:30am. I would love to see a success story come from him this week! He can play but has just fell in a rut and needed a little change! This little change will do nothing but produce positive results! This is very rewarding to me personally I love to help these guys and see good things from the fruit of my labor!We all are off until Hilton Head. I am so glad I am going to have to miss all of the Tiger's "entrance party and welcome back" festivities at Augusta. It will be much more relaxing watching from my easy chair with cold one in my hand! Enjoy the golf!
3/30/10
Well Don's truck was broken into overnight right in front of the Crown Plaza! As you can see they punched the lock set in to gain entrance. I had the same thing happen to me a couple of years ago in Atlanta! Don lost all of his clothes and a $300.00 rain suit along with various personal items. The trailer got broken into here as well a few years back. The side window was broken out and the every company lost their tour stock but Solus! We think this was an inside job since there was a security guard on duty in the lot. Solus was the last bag to go and was full of wedges which made it really heavy, we think this is why they left it behind! Long story short the equipment was tracked through and E Bay account and a raid was conducted not too far from here where most of the equipment was recovered. I am staying down the street from Don so I will probably get an hour of sleep tonight!
I ran into a really close friend of mine, Bryan Gathright. Bryan and I worked on a couple of other "golf" related projects a few years back and it has been some time since I have seen him. Bryan is a well known instructor in this area. Here is a shot of Bryan working with Jimmy Walker.
Ok we all normally line our bags up in single file on the tee and stay pretty organized. Take a look how Callaway set-up their little cluster, they are now bringing out four staff bags and most recently set a bag of wedges out as well! UMM.......
Here is another comparison to the FC-10. This shot is a 56 degree Mizuno on the left next to ours.
I ran into a real good friend from Wichita looping for Woody Austin, Rod Nuckolls. Rod has been an accomplished PGA Tour player himself and now plays a few Champions Tour events a year. Rod and his brother Rick are very close friends of the family. Rod's older brother Rick worked under my Dad as assistant pro and Rod took over as head pro for my Dad when he retired. So needless to say we are close. Woody has just invested in the two brothers golf course in Wichita. Since Woody is from Wichita himself he supports their efforts. Rod was also roommates with Freddy Couples at the U of Houston! Small world in this business!
Good friends of Solus, Rick George(inset in the navy sport coat, rt side) joined us all on the tee for a BBQ lunch catered in for players, caddies and reps by the Houston Golf Assn. Rick always makes it over to say hi regardless of his schedule. Rick is the Chief Operating Officer for the PGA Tour. He previously held the same position for the Champions Tour before being promoted to this tour. He is a really nice guy and well liked by all!
I built a new set of the FC-10 56/60 for Brian Mitchell, here is his caddie with the clubs and hats I gave him. Brian missed the qualifier for this event but will play in New Orleans in a few weeks. Brian also plays the mini-tours and the Nationwide and has been a Solus player for a few years.
The next few photos are of Rich Beem's gamer 58 degree. He is struggling of late and I decided to see if Solus could help. Naturally he has a tough build. The club needs to have a swing weight of D0 which is part of the problem. The club is light due to the fact it is 1/2" under standard length.
He has changed to the Nippon 1150 Prototype shafts. No problem Nippon is on our van!
Naturally he wants "off-set" which is another problem. This much off-set will cause pulled shots especially in partial shot situations around the green unless he really holds on with his hands. This is really all the off-set in my mind is good for. Some swear by it, but I for one do not! Sorry he asked me for help! 
Ditto the dreaded off-set!
Here is Padraig Harrington working on the launch monitor. His caddie is on the ground working Paddy's personal launch monitor which is right next to Taylormade's on the left. Paddy worked on his game all day long. You can really tell who is tuning up for the Masters!
Ol friend Doug Sanders spotted me coming from the van. He wanted to know how my Dad was getting along but more importantly put an eye on the FC-10. Here is his putting is touch to it! Doug as you all know is a tour veteran and in fact my Dad played with him on the PGA Tour back in the 60's! Boy was I young! He still remembers and will always look me up here in Houston! It is always good to see him!
Today was a tough day! It seemed nobody wanted to talk to me! I have these sort of days but really I didn't need one today.... I tried to follow up with Charles Howell, not once but three different times! Not once, did he act like he wanted anything to do with me! I was just trying to check and see how the 60 degree I got to him in Tampa was working. I had the same luck with Brandt Snedecker. Oh well, some days are like that!
You know I have given this tour thing some really heavy thought as of late. I think these players are so brain washed with big brands to the point they ignore or won't look at the equipment that is available at their finger tips, such as Solus. I think these players think we do not know what we are doing or know anything about technology due to our size. They know we don't have the monies to invest in big contracts nor the R&D budget or support as does the big boys. So how could we possibly have a better product than that of Titleist, Callaway, Taylormade that have a plant full of equipment, pay players to play and test the equipment and all of the big money to support this cause?
Believe me when I say this there are players that look at me like I have three heads! How can this fat guy know what my short game needs? Well I will tell you why? Because the stats don't lie and if the player was playing the best possible equipment which has undergone all of the engineering and relentless testing and support, still can't get the ball up and down. Because all of this hype doesn't make it will be the best equipment for maybe this particular player? Agree? So given that, why would a struggling player not try or look for alternatives? I will tell you, money and loyalty! Contracts can be an evil thing. The field this week has several players that are virtually holding on or on the way to losing their status. Believe you me brother there will be no contract if you don't perform! No ifs, ands or buts! I am always looking at everything available and I am not out here. But I can promise you I would never shut the door on a product until I have tried it all, you just never know? The Solus could put a few of these players back on the map, but they will never know because they are stuck in the big game of brand loyalty. Where will this loyalty be when they loss their status? They will walk as fast as they came! True!!!
There is no equipment out here regardless of size made to fit every player! Just as Solus is not for everyone, but then again it is for some! It's my job to put the two together. So in the long run it has nothing to do with size but playability for particular players not ALL players. We specialize in one segment of this game which allows us to focus on one thing and one thing only, which we think we can do it better than most! Just a little rambling! Sorry!! Needed to clear the air! Hey nobody would talk to me today so I thought I would keep you here reading about me!! HIHIHI.....
3/29/10 Part 2
Ok, here are a few more comparisons for you to look at. Here is the FC-10/56 next to a 56 degree from Fourteen.
Here we are on the left, next to the 56 degree from Scratch Golf. We still look the best to my eye!
Here is a great short game practice area at the end of the range. I was keeping an eye on Chad Campbell. I wanted to get our wedge in his hands. 
Well I got the new wedge in his hands and that is as far as I got. He looked at them and said a few nice things and that was about it. He was playing with the Vokeys and in my mind struggling with distance control and ball spin rates. This is tough enough as it is but for a player to not try something regardless of club or manufacturer is pretty common. Once they get use to something and have an idea what the club will do under pressure it is hard to get it out of their hands, especially the money clubs such as the wedge. This is the case regardless of performance. The driver is one thing but yet a whole other animal. The wedge is so tough to get them to at least try! You would think that a player that is struggling would be willing to try anything under the sun to get back up to speed. I offered and that is all I could do to help at this point.
Here's a couple of shots of Paidraig making his weekly adjustments to his wedges. No he does this every week he plays in competition. Here he is making his requests to the Wilson rep. Paddy uses a lie board to make his adjustments from.
He tweaks his whole bag from time to time. This week it seems to be wedges and hybrid shafts.
Here is a shot of good friend Rich Beem testing the FC-10/60. He wants me to build him one to match his current gamer on Tuesday. He naturally wants a loft that I do not have yet, 58 degree. Naturally! We will hop right on this and adjust the 60 to 58!
I spotted another good friend on the putting green, Brennen Pappas. I took a stroll by his bag to discover all of this. It doesn't look for good for me. He is apparently under the grips of TM. I will still check just to make sure. He has played the Solus in years past so it only made sense to follow up and display our wears!
Here is Brian Bingham checking out his new set of FC-10's. Brian plays the Nationwide and various mini-tour events. He tried to qualify today for this event and missed the cut. He said he needed the new wedge!
3/29/10
Take a look at this shoe! Large and in charge! I sit it on the floor to compare it to my own, whew!! I could put my foot in my shoe down into this unit! I have never seen a shoe this big! It fits a big man..... 
We all had fun just looking at this thing! It is a size 22 and we think the pair is for Shaq! This pair comes in two boxes! Big boxes!!
I am experimenting with a few ways to ID our tour clubs. I like to have an internal tracking code. In years past I have used a "T" which naturally stood for "Tour" in various locations on the club head. Here is one of my first thoughts. I put a "punch" mark just under the loft number. One punch would be PGA Tour, two punches would be Champions Tour and three punches for the Nationwide. They are just enough for me to see. This method could change! I really don't like this position!
Another look, bad photo! Sorry!
I decided to check in with Billy Mayfair this morning. He is still working with the FC-10. I just wanted him to know I haven't forgotten him!The API had to be finished today due to bad weather that moved into Orlando on Sunday.
I told you last week I would give you a look at Bernhard's FC-10/56 once I finished it. Take a look at the off-set that I bent into the club. It's not hard to see but his is on the right.He wants the leading edge back even with the ball side of the hosel. I wanted to show you how detailed his spec is.
Bernhard plays a Green Victory Cord grip that is ribbed. Some call these grips reminders. It basically feels like a piece of coat hanger that has been put underneath the grip creating a raised area that is supposed to ride in the finger tips of both hands. These reminder grips are pretty common when installed in the square or neutral position which looks like the one on the left. Bernhard is a little different due to his being installed in a "weak" position or what we consider the "10:00" position. Here you can see the install compared to the square position.
Well my tour marking or ID position has changed! I will punch the club right next to the FC-10 on the hosel. It is out of the way and just as easy to see. I will stay with the punch marks though.
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