Travelers Championship

6/21/10

Good morning! What a lovely Monday, can you imagine I am sitting in Wichita once again at the GMC dealership! No, I am not at the Travelers Championship this morning starting my day out at the tournament site in CT. Why am I once again sitting at the repair shop you ask? The heart in the TAV is giving the repair doctors and ME fits! Let me explain briefly my situation over the past 10 days or so. I know some of you are tired of reading about it as much as I am tired of writing it! Bear with me you need to know the whole tour gig not just the juice. This is just one of things that can happen on the road.

During my return trip from the St Jude’s classic in Memphis the truck gave me a “check engine” light as soon as I headed west for home. I decided I better see what the issue was so I called OnStar. If you had followed me last year at this same event I had a similar situation arise. Well OnStar advised me that the code PO2E7 that set the warning off was related to the drive train, air intake and emission controls. I thought that was pretty general but was advised to take it to the nearest dealer within 7 days. I might notice power loss, reduced performance or even a “protection” feature that protects the motor which takes the truck to a reduced speed. Last year I made it exactly 100 miles from home in the middle of nowhere America traveling Interstate 35 at the top speed of 20mph! Needless to say I was picked up by the Wichita dealer and the TAV was taken home by trailer for the needed repairs.

Given my history and luck scenarios I made the attempt to get back to Wichita once again this year. I decided to buy a lottery ticket since the “warning” lights came on almost to the hour as the same time a year ago. Well guess what? Some things never change including my luck! This time I made it through Ft. Smith, AR 35 miles short of the Muskogee Turnpike. The truck went into the “reduce power” mode and I was traveling at 40mph, but wait it gets better! I made the turn onto the Muskogee turnpike and the truck went to the next power range and I was reduced to 20mph. All I can say is, horrible, horrible and horrible! I spent the next two and half hours trying to make it into Muskogee which proved to be unacceptable to my fellow travelers! I never heard and saw so many horns and hand signals, unbelievable! During my lengthy trip I had several heated discussions with MY OnStar adviser and GM (they suck)! Well long story short they put me in touch with the local GMC dealership and an appointment was made for Thursday morning first thing. Something to make note of, the last time this happened the truck was in the shop for almost 10 days and in fact a GM tech had to be flown into Wichita to assist in rectifying the issue. With that said you know my confidence level wasn’t high at this point….

Let me give you a little side bar action here. I am sure most of you were not aware that I was born right here in Muskogee, OK a short 54 years ago! Hey I am home! Not really! But to get back to golf for a minute, my Dad was the assistant pro at the Muskogee CC before taking the head pro position at the Wichita CC some 51 years ago. He was playing the PGA Tour and playing quite a few mini tour events along the way as well. Pretty cool, don’t ya think?

Well back to the ol repair saga. After 21 gallons of coffee and six donuts later somewhere in the neighborhood of 5 hours the service advisor has now contacted GM for yet another “where do we go from here?” discussion. Now you know I am really pissed! When I check in they told me they had no cars for me to use while waiting, but now they want me to vacate the scene so to speak. I could have filled this whole location with right handed upper cuts! Catch my drift here? So guess what I took the car so I could go to lunch and tour my old homestead. The tech said he had a list of options to perform which was recommended by GM. This would take about 2 to 2-1/2 hours. I went on my way. I stopped a block away in a vacant parking lot to call the office and let them know where I was and what I was doing. During the conversation I attempted to move to another location down the road towards my lunch stop, but! My luck once again surfaced, I could not get the car in gear! Now I am no dummy when it comes to cars and I had done everything I knew to get it to go in gear! No luck, now I am really pissed! I have to walk back to the dealer which they did not see me coming! The first guys didn’t have a chance, didn’t want to hear anymore BS. GET ME A CAR before I put the gloves on!

Upon my return the service advisor explained they had got it fixed but the repairs were not covered under the 100,000 mile GM drive train warranty. Now I am coming unglued at the seams of my neck and navel! Well $384.00 and 7 ½ hours later I was on my way home. OK it took 75 to 80 miles for me to calm myself down and settle in for the remainder of my trip. Remember my situation last year (above)? Guess what? Yes I once again had the “check engine” light come on. At this point I had to vent so I called the dealer back in Muskogee and released a little tension! Man at this point I could have ate gravel! I decided my only option was to do it the old fashion way, haul ass! I made the turn onto I-35 exactly 99 miles from Wichita and yes you are right the truck went yet again into the “reduced power” mode. Thank God I have friends in Wichita, once again I had go home via trailer! So not all is lost, I have a week before heading for CT for the Travelers Championship since it was impossible to make the US Open on the west coast. Repairs could be made and back on my way. Our friends at Scholfield’s GMC once again took care of the Dawg. They replaced the PCM (program control module) which had failed and appeared to be the only thing not replaced. Not only did they get the truck running and back on the road, they process a refund from the dealer in Muskogee since their repairs failed to fix the problem! All good, no worries, it was beer 30 for all of us! Hey I am ready to go! The truck has had everything under the sun done to the ‘heart” of the TAV, it’s ready, so away we go!

I said my goodbyes to family and hit the road last Friday heading for CT. I am flying along with no worries. I made the turn through KC and hit highway 70 towards St Louis. Now you know how things have been running for me, yes the damn light came on yet again! I am speechless…. I contact my friends at OnStar and ask for assistance with yet another “check engine” light. Guess what it’s THE SAME DAMN CODE! Not again? Here we go I am 40 miles west of St Louis, it is 4:00pm Friday afternoon and all the mechanics in the area are winding down for the week. The folks at OnStar locate a dealer in St Peters, MO which was 28 miles from my location on I-70. I made it to this dealer where I was told the diesel mechanic had just went home and would not be back until Monday. OnStar had told me this dealer was open on Saturday until noon and was the only one in the area that was. The service advisor said he was booked solid for Saturday but would try to have one of the other mechanics take a look at It, but no promises. Saturday at first light I am sitting at the front door. Now you need to keep something in mind here I am at their mercy. The only option I have is the truck needs to be fixed since I have everything in it that I own along with head stock of the new FC-10’s which is all we have right now. I cannot go off and leave the truck nor off load it into a rental since I am not due back through here for close to three weeks, the truck has to go! Decision has been made!

Another four hours later the advisor and mechanic came looking for me to explain what they had found; they too had already talked to the GM tech’s. The exhaust valve was bad and needed to be replaced and yes there wasn’t a part available in inventory naturally! This part is a direct buy from GM and could not be ordered until Monday and would be available Tuesday afternoon. The event in CT was not an option and this really hurts! You see the emission controls on this diesel motor controls the amount of “soot” that comes out of the tail pipe. If the truck is unable to regenerate or burn the soot off it plugs up the exhaust filter and goes into the “save” mode. The computer is showing the particulate exhaust filter plugged so it sends the warning and engine control to eliminate damage. The build of soot comes from in town driving or prolong periods at idle, this isn’t the case with me! I had just driven close to seven hours without turning the motor off, so there can’t be any soot! The mechanic tried to clear the code and force the regeneration process with no luck. Decision time once again! I really had no option other than to call my boys in Wichita and head that way. I pulled out and the mechanic said “don’t turn it off; I think you can make it!” No other options were at my disposal! I had over 200 miles back to KC and then another 170 on into Wichita, oh boy… I got down the road and ran into the strangest storm I had been in yet, naturally my luck. As you can see on Facebook the clouds didn’t look good. I had to pull off at one point due to 75mph winds which felt like the truck could be swept off the highway at anytime. I made it almost to my magic number of 100 miles from home and yet again we went into reduce power mode! Yes it did! What can I say? Thank God for my peeps in Wichita for once again I am going home on a hook!

So, no I will not be in CT for the Travelers Championship instead here in Wichita at the GMC dealership once again. My luck you say? Yep, my luck!! I have let my cup run over with complaints to GM and staff and have puked all over anyone in my path with displeasure. I am ready to dawn the boxing gloves and start in! HIHIHI……Upper cuts for all!!!

My next trip will be this Friday heading to PA for the AT&T National and you can bet your last dollar I will be taking a little road trip to test the TAV when it is done before heading that far again. GM has a tech coming in to assist in this repair and I have now discovered this issue has been a problem with all of the 08 diesels! Oh, now you tell me, short of a new engine everything has been replaced to my knowledge. Well “pissed” is the word of the day! Onward and upward it’s almost beer thirty! Did I say that out loud?

I had a busy schedule this week at the Travelers and had to call in a few favors from fellow reps. First order of the day was to follow up with Rory Sabbatini and see if he needed any help this week. As you recall he had me ship heads out to Pebble so he would have fresh grooves for the week. Our friends at Taylormade built the clubs in my absence so I needed to check in with him first thing.

Secondly, Y.E. Yang was to be my next target and is ready to test the FC-10’s. I will have to put this project on hold until the AT&T. Retief Goosen is also interested and I need to get with him as soon as possible. My good friend and fellow rep, Rusty (Fourteen Golf) will follow up with both and explain my situation. The guys (reps) on our trailer work as a team and we all pitch in to help each other which this is extremely valuable during these kinds of situations. Nobody has a hidden agenda within this group we are all small companies following the dream! Don Parker (the head dawg) has also told me that he would follow up with Rory and will build him whatever he needs. I keep all of my records in the van for just this kind of emergency, so he can build out whatever the players need in my absence.

Thirdly, I had spoke to the rep from Wilson who services Padraig Harrington about testing a new 60* wedge this week. This wedge is my response to the testing that went on during the Players Championship a few weeks back only this time I built the wedge to match his current gamer. My good friend Ron Graham said it would be great this week especially after the Open and before the British. I really want to be there for the testing but Ron knows him the best and will do whatever he can to help him test it if the time is right. If not I will follow up next week in PA.

Since we got the 52* FC-10’s in the Champions Tour players are making the requests. Steve Thomas got the first one and say he has thrown his Vokey’s to the curb! He says the FC-10’s are outstanding and he wants me to spec him a back up 56* to match his new 52*. The swing weight with his current gamer 56 is lighter that the 52* so I can fix that but I need to be on the van to do so. I hate putting players off. Keith Fergus is next in line for a custom build.

Also, I have submitted samples of the 52* to the USGA for approval. I received notice last Friday that all samples that are submitted for inspection will now need to be accompanied by a credit card number for the charge of $150.00 per club evaluation! The same holds true with the R&A. So I need to resubmit the proper form this morning to get the samples evaluated. Man what else? There is good news here, the PGA Tour has already OK’d the 52* for tour play and it is on the log! Nice!

Hey don’t forget to watch the Golf Channel’s Big Break show tonight. Taryn Durham is on the show and has the Solus wedges in play! She has been with us for quite awhile and loves our wedges! All the best for Taryn, good luck! She’s a great ambassador for the Solus brand! The show airs at 9:00 pm EST tonight (Monday)!

Stay tuned I will keep you posted on the outcome of the latest repair saga!

2nd Post

I know everybody’s is over the truck dilemma however I’m not! I spent my entire Monday at the dealer here in Wichita, some nine hours. I know some are asking, why would I sit there that long? To be quite honest I wanted to witness what is going on and who’s performing the repairs. I really thought the repairs would only take a couple of hours, after all this is GM! Low and behold they were finished around noon, NOT! I went out got in the truck and made a small circle out the south exit back in the north service aisle! As soon as I moved it the “check engine” light once again came on and the truck went back into the “reduced power” mode. Puzzled was the word for the day! Back into the shop it went. Around 2:30pm they said they finally got it, so once again I drove out the exit back in the service aisle. I am splitting at the seams and now I have lost all faith in the thing getting repaired. Everything from the front to the rear that has to do with the engine has been replaced short of a new motor. I saw the truck leave the parking lot once again around 4:30pm for testing. Upon return the truck was pulled up in front and once again they told me they finally got it fixed, no light, no worries! So at 5:15pm I got into the truck so I could get the hell out of here! I should be on the payroll here! My third attempt didn’t require any movement of the vehicle, the light came right back on as soon as I reached for the shift lever! I had had it for the day and agreed to go. They made the arrangements for another vehicle and I got the hell out of there. They have no idea what or why things are going on here. Tomorrow is another day! Ok that’s all for Monday!