The Players Championship

5/5/10

"Tip of the week"-Here is a little "groove sharpening" tip. Go to your local Lowe's or Home Depot and purchase the "red" Scotchbrite polishing pads. Scrub or polish the groove section from one end of the groove to the other, back and forth. This slight polishing will clean and dress the groove edges! That's all I am going to say! Catch my drift?

Since I was denied on Monday I decided to set up down at the other end of the tee, "where I was supposed to be?" right in front of the "Tour Academy". You might make note of who is in the area.

10 minutes later! Umm the wedge gardening is in full bloom!

I followed good friends Bo Van Pelt and Charles Howell III for a few holes. Here is Bo teeing off of the fourth tee. Keep an eye on Bo he has been playing very well this year since moving from Nike to Titleist.

Charles Howell III getting ready to tee off.

Ditto

Here isTitleist testing several new ball configurations with player Brian Gay.

OK the fun is beginning in the SST Shaft Purring lab. It was rumored last week that the results from the SST Shaft analysis shown Solus to have the highest ball spin rate! The notable others I am sure you can guess? Nonetheless, the proverbial games began. With the release of this information it suddenly has become a huge issue. I tried to confirm with SST the test results with no luck. Accordingly the officials at SST they did not get to test our wedge due to rain conditions. Something funny was going on behind the scenes! My test results were not like company A, B, C and D? My packet had been tampered with! The rumors had already started to fly and I was keeping a low profile. The long and the short of it was just this. Apparently during the testing our FC-10 was tested alongside A, B, C and D but it had rained out the last part of our test which was getting the data from the wedge with the purred shaft. All of the wedges that were tested had the S400 Tour Issue shafts. All were tested in the logo "down" position and compared to the "purred" position. I happened to see a few of these results and the numbers were amazing! I had seen and heard numbers that ranged from a 38% to 42% increase in ball spin rates in the purred position! I also learned that Scratch and Fourteen were not included in this testing! Seemed strange to me? To my surprise I was told once again that the Solus FC-10 produced the highest ball spin rates! This comparison was made from the logo "down" position since that was all the data they had to use! With that said you can imagine what companies A, B, C and D were thinking! The rumors had to be stifled quickly! This kind of rumors can't be flying around here, can they? Solus out spinning A thru D, can't be? Suddenly the powers to be began flexing and bowing up over this situation. It is great press for Solus though! Since we did have the advantage to see the numbers once the shaft had been purred we have to assume we would show an increase as well which really puts some heat on, ya think? This is very good news for us since the players were all hearing the rumors and asking questions. Man you should have heard some of the negative comments that were being made by A thru D, damage control! I think you get the meaning of all of this. A thru D thinks the testing was all BS and meant nothing. Hey the numbers in my books don't lie, it is what it is! In fact the numbers they had produced on the FC-10 pretty much mirrored the test results we produced from our robot testing back in January. Naturally the Taylormade launch monitor was used and away we went. Padrig came into the SST trailer and told him to assemble three wedges with all of the new shafts and grips. He wants to compare one to the one another.

Naturally the first player to go into the SST Pure tour van was Padraig Harrington. He asked the crew which wedges had the highest ball spin rates and they told him Solus, B and C not A. Company A was not happy and raised quite a bit of hell over it. Please note I am taking the high road on this issue and did not mention the other companies throughout this post, but you can pretty much figure it out for yourselves.

Padraig made his request to SST officials so we all scrambled to get things ready. He wanted to test the top three and compare them with his current gamer. I was told that all of the wedges would be spec'd using the DG Spinner wedge shaft. I thought this was kind of unusual at the time but ended up going the same direction as the rest, I thought? At this point this in my mind is a wonderful opportunity for Solus and the FC-10 as long as we were doing an apple to apple comparison. Personally if I would have installed the 6.5 Rifle in all of the wedges since that is what Paddy plays, but who am I to question? Right?

Here I am getting my shaft purred for Paddy. SST said they would build the clubs but I opted to build it on our van since that is where all of Padraig's wedges and for that matter his entire sets are built.

  

First off I had to lighten the head weight slightly to hit his swing weight number of D3. This is a simple and effective way to remove weight and keep the integrity of the design intact. The only other way would be to start grinding on the outside of the club which I didn't want to do. I took the lightest head I had in stock and went from there. No worries!

I recruited the help of Padraig's rep, Ron Graham. Ron handles all of Paddy's club requests and is the rep for Wilson which is on our van. Paddy has an unusual grip and position of installation and Ron is the only one trusted to get this right!

  

Here you can see what I am talking about. The grip is clocked on the club in a "weak" or what's considered an "open" position. The grip is a Victory undersized being what we call a "62 ribbed" as opposed to a "58 round" the 58 being larger in diameter and ribbed meaning it has a built in reminder which rides in the finger tips of the player. He is the only one that I know out here that uses this small of a grip.

This is the new DG Spinner wedge shaft.

  

All was good until I arrived at the tee and seen that the testing was going to be done by company A. I thought SST would at least be present for the testing. The problem with any test like this is the fact the testing can be always be swayed one way or the other. I think you know what I mean? As I looked at the other wedges I made note that Paddy's gamer and company A's both had the Rifle 6.5 not the DG Spinner. For a split second I thought, pick the FC-10 out and wait until another time. The reason being these two shafts are light years apart from one another which will not be an apple to apple comparison to each other. I thought to myself I have a 50/50 chance here and the other two wedges have the DG Spinner. Given Paddy's swing the DG Spinner is not the right shaft for him period! But not to make a scene I stay in the testing. You know hind sight is 20/20 well I was right. Company A's wedge out-performed the rest of us, naturally! Oh by the way this shaft is great for some players but not Padraig.

Here is a shot of Padraig testing the FC-10. He loves the shape and sole contour but we failed the test with this shaft. By now, I'm pissed as you can imagine so company A made their point. So what!! Once the testing was over and oh by the way I wasn't privy to the test data, duh........Ron told me after it was all said and done the test results failed all three of the wedges SST had tested as the highest spinning. As you can imagine I had to "walk it off" so to speak so I didn't say anything I would regret later. After the smell was gone I had a conversation with Ron and put together a plan to re-test the FC-10 with Paddy at the Bryon Nelson. I built two wedges for him to test, one is a direct spec copy of his current gamer and the second one I installed a new Nippon Proto wedge shaft. This shaft has not been player tested but is designed to have the weight and performance to increase ball spin while lowering the flight. It should prove to be perfect! I have a internal motto of my own, never give up, never give in and never quit trying! Thus I will continue to pursue Mr. Harrington! I will show him a thing or two of my own!

The reasoning for all of this testing is the fact the players are really starting to feel the effects of this groove change. The course conditions from the west coast to the east coast are night and day. Different grasses and softer greens on the west coast didn't really test the new grooves, but here it is a different story. Hard, dry, fast greens and thick bladed rough conditions all produce different results. The quest to master the new grooves continues.

On to other things! I thought I would introduce to you the principals behind the Darrell Survey. Here is John Minkley and Susan Naylor taking the count in Jim Furyk's bag. Yes that is "Fluff" his caddy.

I headed over to the famous 17th hole here at the TPC.

The crowds are not as big as years past. Normally the banks are full since this is the day the caddies take shots at the green.

Here's a look.

Here I am on the 17th tee getting ready to put on a little clinic for the boys and gallery! HIHIHI!!!

Great friend and fellow rep Jerry Walter's thought it was about time my photo show up in the Solus blog. Hey I think I'm ready!

I am not so sure why the cooler is so important to Jerry?

Like I said not sure why? Here it is again!

I think I am going to hit a little "Bobby Locke" knock down, hooded, 3/4 52 degree shot! HIHI...

Looking good in the neighborhood! Suck it up, big boy! I wasn't breathing at this point! Jerry had a laugh on me!

Once the player hits his shot the caddy then proceeds over to the wagering table which is located about 20 yards closer to the hole. The player makes a wager, which today looked like $100.00 that his caddy's shot will be the closest to the hole. At the end of the day the caddy that is closest to the hole wins the pot. This week the caddies and players have pooled monies together to honor and assist the family of Greg Rite. Greg had a brain tumor and passed away recently. The winning caddy will donate the closest to the hole pot to his fund to help the family in this time of need. Greg was a great friend to us all and will be missed dearly out here. Our thoughts and prayers go out to Greg's family during this difficult time.

On to Texas for the "Texas Swing"! San Antonio is the first stop of three through Texas. The Texas Valero Open will be contested on a new TPC venue, AT&T Oaks Course next week. Then on to the Bryon and Colonial to complete the swing!

5/3/10

I am really not sure why I took these 2 shots other than I was sort of pumped over the parking situation! Not often are we so close to the trailers!

Dittio! This is really nice! Front row parking, Love it!

This is the short game area that I tried to set up in! Perfect for the wedge program don't you think? Of course I was denied by one of the officials!

I have taken this photo before, but for the few newcomers here it is again! The object in the photo is the tip of my ball point pen. The pin is directly over the area that the staff bags and trailers are. My vantage point is right in front of the pro shop looking back to the other end! It is quite a hike from down there all the way back here! Don't forget I am not light on my feet! Tough walk! Hot!

Today was the hottest day I have worked in quite some time! The humidity almost matched the temp! HOT, HOT and more HOT!

One of my really good friends, Pat McCoy passed on a few nice comments regarding our new "Tour Blog". He said he had been following it and keeping updated with my every move and thought the blog was very good and well written! He said he really enjoyed the reading it and the website was very professional! Pat is a representative of Fujikura Shaft Company. I really appreciate this kind of feedback especially from one of my peers such as Pat. I have great respect for Pat and he does an excellent job for Fuji! Thanks Pat!

PING has brought out their new "Forged" wedges this week. I wondered how long it would take PING to come out with a forged club? You knew it had to happen sooner or later! I will try to get a photo or two the new product if I can.

I ran into a good friend Scott Hend. Scott is a tour player playing the Italian Tour and is back in the states visiting. We had a little time to discuss wedges and his needs. He loved the look of the new FC-10's. He said he was having a lot of trouble with his 60, the ball flight and launch is too high. This problem I hear almost daily. The new grooves cause the ball to walk up the face before launching? This is part of the wedge design and the other the groove configuration. The problem can be addressed to a point. The player can de-loft the club to achieve the desired ball flight of work with the proper shaft for his particular swing. Either one will work and address the issues at hand! I gave him a card and told him to call me with his specs. Scott is a great ball striker and has been out on this tour for several years!

Long Drive Champion, Jerry James came by to take a look at the new wedges. He lives right here at Sawgrass. He missed the Champions Tour School qualifying for 2009 and is getting ready to try again this year. I am going to build him a 52 and 60 to his specs on Tuesday am! This might be a Cinderella story you just never know!

I still have people look at me, like what? Then I tell them what I do, or for that matter what we all do on the tours Monday through Wednesday? Simply put, we are "Tour Representatives" for a particular golf manufacturing company. Our work days consist of daylight to dusk Monday through Wednesday. This is the time for the players to fix, adjust or change and test equipment. We are not selling our product to the pros! The pros get whatever they ask for when they ask for it. This segment of the business is a cost center not a profit center! This segment validates and gives the particular product "credibility" as well as provides an R&D lab to finalize and design equipment. If you are on the PGA Tour you have paid the price and your product is "Tour Proven and tested" regardless of how many clubs or products are in play. You have arrived. The companies then use this information as a marketing tool. That's it plain and simple!

If you happen to be a rep for a big company you may be nothing more than a service technician. Seeing to it all of the staff players have what they need for that particular event. The rest of us little guys all fend for ourselves trying to get our products into the player’s hands for testing and hopefully in play! Please refer back to my "Tour Gig" segment for a more detailed description beyond this. The general public does not realize all this is going on behind the scenes until you tell them. Once told, they think, man you have got it made! No, not so fast! If it is usually too good to be true, it more than likely is! This is a very difficult, competitive job which brings a lot stress and rejection, as does everything else! This job is no different!

5/2/10

I still have quite a few people that don’t quite understand the “Tour Operations” purpose. Although I have posted what I believed to be a good explanation the tour game called the “Tour Gig”, I will briefly post a simple scaled down layout this next week at The Player’s Championship.

I still confusion in some eyes that think or perceive that I am out here on Tour selling clubs or “Fuller Brushing” my wares! Not so! I don’t sell anything out here much less to the tour pros.

With that said stay tuned next week for a brief explanation.