Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial

5/27/10

These last five weeks have been a busy time for me. I attended two graduations in ten days. My sister's daughter graduated from the University of Texas, Dallas and my daughter from high school! Both events proved to be real tear jerker’s for me and we had a great time! With my daughter graduating this past Sunday I didn't get to the Colonial until Tuesday since I had to travel home for the event. Mondays at the Colonial are usually quiet and a good time to get caught up on the daily chores. Monday they have a British Open qualifier and an off-site pro-am so it was good timing for the graduations. I am very proud of both girls and cannot believe they have both hit this milestone so close together! Pretty cool though! Needless to say I had a lot to get done on Tuesday and Wednesday.

I checked in on Rory and he is all good and has the 60 in play. He would like me to go through my 60 degree inventory and see if I have any wedges that might have a more aggressive "milling" application on the face. He also suggested that we send the USGA another sample this time with a more "textured" milling. He feels this adds to the performance of the club as long as it is within the rules. He thought I should maximize the grooves and milling. This is a very difficult thing to achieve and stay within the manufacturing tolerances for approval. We are at that point right now! Like I told you in the last several blogs entries, the grooves are really a factor in these dry hard conditions. I have spoken to our manufacturer rep to see how to go about running a few parts for testing. I will keep you posted.

Rich Beem called and needed his backup 60 over-nighted to him in Austin on Tuesday. Rich had said he would come by and pick it up at the Bryon but didn't make it.

I had one club request from the LPGA Tour this week which I built and shipped.

I received communications that the FC-10/52's are once again delayed! I was really looking forward to receiving these heads and getting the request filled. This will be the third delay regarding these parts. I really think and believe that one more time we were shuffled back in the production due to a bigger company’s immediate needs. There is a pecking order that exists within this little problem. Solus is not the only company getting this treatment. Scratch Golf has an order for 20,000 heads that they have been waiting for. That is a pretty sizable order to get delayed don't ya think? If that order will be delayed we damn sure will experience a delay!

I tried to get in front of YE Yang but had no luck. I will pick him back up in Memphis. He was surrounded by a media frenzy! Not really sure why.

My next order of business was my good friend John Daly. I had his heads laser engraved with his "Lions" head and signature. Additionally John has requested a new wedge shaft for testing from UST. I will install this new prototype for testing. Take a first look at the 454JD. I am sure you know what the "JD" stands for? This shaft is slightly softer than an "R" flex. My only concerns are the full shots might launch a little erratically since the tip section is so soft. John is having the same trouble that a lot of players are having with the new grooves. We shall see once it is tested. Take a look.

Ditto. Pretty cool don't ya think?

I began the difficult task of spec-ing his wedge out. It is one of the more difficult builds I have encounter and will consume most of my time in the morning. The biggest hurdle is John's grip. He uses a Mastergrip leather wrap which has the JD Lion logo. He has gone from a buildup of six wraps to seven plus an extra in the right hand. Hell his grip is almost as heavy as the club head at the other end! In the end he wants a D4 swing weight! Well good luck with that! The only way to offset the ginormous grip and buildup is to add weight to the club head. I started out with the heaviest head I had. In this photo I am "dry" assembling the club to see what I have to do to get the weight up.

Here I have hand cut several lead tape pieces that will have to be added to the club head to achieve the desired swing weight. Yes, it is going to take almost all of these! Are you with me so far?

During the "dry" build I had to add this weight to the head and check the scale for the proper swing weight. Pretty ridiculous don't you think?

Here is a shot after I had installed the lead tape. I had to be careful not to cover the Solus logo but try to maintain the CG of the club as well. Hang on!

I also needed to keep the tape from forming a false "bounce" on the back of the flange.

 

Here is the first look at a new prototype wedge for Jose Maria Olazabal.

With any luck this will be transformed into a new Solus wedge for Jose!

Jose likes a little off-set as you can see.

Last one!

Well I finally finished JD wedge and it came it pretty good!

It only took three hours to build! I will keep you posted on our testing it should be interesting.

This was a quick week but I am in need of some downtime! It has been almost six weeks from home and close to 5400 mile turn around on the road this swing. I am taking next week off and will head to Memphis next Sunday for the St Jude's Classic. I plan on playing a little golf over the Memorial week-end and spending time with my family. You all have a safe and wonderful holiday! This Dawg is north bound for home!