Transitions Championship, Innisbrook Resort - Copperhead, Palm Harbor, Florida

3/18/10

I really need to get the new FC-10 in front of every player I can. A lot of these guys were surprised at the changes we made with the FC-10. Several players thought we were out with the Tour 7.1 with the new groove configuration.

I did get Justin Rose thinking! There might still be a chance!

Although I haven’t a prayer to get into Sergio or Kenny P’s bag they both are in that mode and had several positive comments. Hey it’s a long shot since they both have full bag deals with Taylormade but like I said yesterday you just never know!

Adam Barr said the footage he did on me came out great! He said when he was done editing it he would give me the link to go look at it! I will share this with you when I get it! Please standby! HIHI…

It appears the S400 “Tour Issue” is the wedge shaft of choice. The “Tour Issue” part goes through a rigorous weight sorting and QC program and from what I understand these shaft are available at retail to selected/qualified dealers. I am not sure what the dealer has to go through to get qualified to sell and install these shafts?

3/17/10

This little spot is a favorite stop on tour for breakfast! Nana's is the best locally owned little "diamond in the rough"! Awesome! I like sharing these fav's with you all, you never know when you might be traveling through here and want a delicious home cooked breakfast or lunch! I will highlight "hot" spots on tour for your files! Here is Don and myself favorite little breakfast muffin, bacon, egg and American cheese grilled on homemade sourdough bread! This is absolutely unbelievable, especially with that little cup of sauce! UMMM!!!

Wednesday is usually one of the biggest pro-ams of the week. The first wave of tee times starts around 7:30am and finish up around 10:00am. This allows a window of practice tee time for the pros that are not playing the pro-am to practice. The pros that are not in the Pro-am for that day are not allowed to practice until the break between morning and afternoon tee times. The second round usually starts at 12:30pm and ends up around 2:00pm. This gives the players a last minute to check up or make any adjustments before we pull out. You might make note, there are no equipment bags out during this time. It seems the amateur players like going through the manufacturers equipment kind of like a golf club buffet if you will. It is nothing to lose equipment during this time. Thus nobody brings their bags out until the pro-am has gone off!

Bridgestone Golf has a Japanese division known as TourStage Golf. This is new to me and to my knowledge is the first time year on the PGA Tour. At least I haven't seen it out here?

Good friend Omar Uresti made it in the field this week from the alternate list. Omar played the Tour 7.1/60 last year. I made sure I took the new FC-10 over for his viewing. He really likes the new wedge, but he has an equipment deal with Adam's Golf! I told him to keep Solus in mind, he will be back!

Today was the Player/Rep appreciation luncheon hosted by the PTCA. I took a few photos when I went down for lunch.

SST Shaft Pure wanted to test our new FC-10 wedge against the Titleist, Cleveland and Taylormade. We have a close relationship with Dick Weiss and his company. I sent two wedges in for testing the 56 and 60. They will go out to the National Testing Labs in California. I sent both wedges shafted with the new KBS Tour Hi-Rev. All test results will be sent to us for our records and use. They are compiling data to see what effects shaft pureeing has on increasing ball spin rates with the new groove configuration. We participated in this same testing with the Series 4.1 a few years past. The testing during that period proved positive. This testing will be very positive for our new FC-10. It should give us something to brag on and validate the design and technology with. This will give me more "ammo" to take to the players!

3/16/10

First thing Tuesday morning I ran into Charles Howell III. He was very anxious to see the new FC-10. He had nothing but positive things to say about the wedge. He wanted to start with a 60 built to his spec. Great way to start the day on a positive note with a very good friend! Here's a shot of the final build. As you can see over the few wedges that I have put out I am personalizing each one. I put that little touch on CH3's new wedge!

I left a little message in his locker on one of my business cards. I thought I would share it with you. CH3 has nicknamed me "The Mayor" this is a long story but it comes from a little experience I had in New Orleans! Someday I will share this with you but not now! I will leave you wondering a bit! HIHIHI.....

After I made my way to the locker room I went by "Caddie Central" to renew our PTCA (Professional Tour Caddies Assn) dues for 2010. As a manufacturer's rep I use this trailer for quite a few meals during my travels. This trailer is sponsored by the PGA Tour and players. It provides dining for the week, three squares a day! Awesome food plus we get a great place to meet with players and caddies. I have always made sure Solus has supported this association, cause and service. There are a few that don't think it is necessary but I strongly disagree! This is one cause that is well worth the support. We receive a money clip each year you join the association. These monies also support a lot of programs for the caddies. One of the first things we did when coming out on tour with Solus was to join. We have made a lot of friends through this organization. These caddies have the player’s ear, something to always remember when trying to get clubs in play! Wednesday there will be the annual "Manufacturers Appreciation" luncheon. I will take a few photos to give you an idea of how big our family is out here! We also support them by donating clubs to various charities and caddie events during the season.

Heres a couple of looks inside the trailer, one is looking towards the kitchen and the other is looking in the opposite direction.

Things got a little busier on the tee around 10:30am. 

Here is Justin Rose hitting a few wedge shots. Justin has played the Solus in the past and really had a lot of good things to say about the new FC-10. At this point I don't have a prayer of getting into his bag due to his Taylormade contract. I keep the attitude that you never burn a bridge because things could change in a moment’s notice. Solus will always be there to pick up the pieces!

Here is good friend Alex Cejka testing the FC-10/60. He could not believe how good the club looked and felt. He said it would be perfect if it had Callaway stamped on it! He naturally is with Callaway as you can see. You just never know though! Never say never! He was with Srixon for the past two years.

Here's Big John Daly's new bag! I made several attempts to get John's attention with no luck, even standing this close. He was very pre-occupied to say the least. Hey, I am trying to help him but he didn't seem to have the time of day for me today! He is in the field this week on a sponsor exemption. This might be the last time he is out until later this year. He was more worried over getting his logo'd putter covers ready for the Master's. He goes down and sells memorabilia and sign autographs during Master's week.

He is warming up hitting a few wedges. I finally said to hell with this and walked away! I don't have time if he don't!

I watch CH3/Taylormade performing some launch monitor tests on the new wedge!

 Charles had come back to the tee after his morning practice round and decided to test a few wedges!

 The testing equipment is on the far left of the photo behind Tim Petrovic in the brown sweater.

Here they are reviewing the test results and inspecting his wedge and the grooves! I opted to stay back and let things play out.

 Now we are cookin with charcoal! This is how busy it should be on Tuesday afternoon! This photo was taken around 3:00pm.

 We all decided to go to a new spot to wind down not too far from Innesbrook. (below) The name speaks for itself! We had a pretty good size group of reps and players. Great place! Very relaxing and more than ample BS!

 











3/15/10
 

Here is a closer look at the True Temper "Spinner" wedge shaft. I installed one for testing this morning.  I wasn't sure you could see the cell phone photos I sent from the WGC last week. The shaft is lighter in weight coming in at 122gr full length before trimming. This unique step pattern is designed to increase ball spin rates while "knocking" or "Lowering" the launch angle. This should be a win win for Solus since our design parallels the same design features and performance.

 Here is the build line up for Monday morning. I am building some bag stock for testing. I am building the one True Temper (56) and two (56 and 60) of the new KBS Tour wedge shafts. 64 We finished up both Sally Little and Jose Alverez wedge sets for shipping. Here is the finished product on both sets below.  First thing Monday our Tour tech swings into action with building up my requests for the week. We had four customs and then eight for bag stock inventory and testing.

Here is a look from the playing position of the True Temper shaft left. This gives you a look at how it tapers down. The featured section has a unique step pattern which falls in right below the grip and then returns to the normal step pattern of the S400 Tour Issue shaft. Real bad photo of the new KBS Tour wedge shaft right. I am blind as you can see! Hey I didn't say I was a photographer! Oh, OK there bad but here it is anyway maybe you can focus on it! Hell it was so bad I took three of them! I think you get the idea at least of the label! The biggest difference in this shaft for 2010 has been developed from the FST Hi-Rev wedge and is now known as the KBS Tour Wedge. The original FST Hi-Rev was step less and the new KBS Hi-Rev Tour has a more traditional step pattern. This shaft comes in closer to tour weight at 134gr at full length. I will begin testing on Tuesday and will give you an update on my findings.

I had another question from a couple of Solus players in the stands. They wanted to know if we are going to offer the current Series 4.1 and Tour 7.1's with the new grooves or are these models going away? Currently we are in discussions on this issue. Since we can only continue to produce the old groove configuration through the end of this year plus, we have to sell anything and everything we produce this year! End of story. Stay tuned for updates on the blog.

Hopefully more players will make it in from Puerto Rico since they finished the tournament up today. The players that missed the cut on Sunday traveled today which made for a long day, very slow.

Adam Barr formally with the Golf Channel is now producing his own segment called "Golf Gear Guide". We got a little love from Adam this afternoon. Although caught off guard Adam shot a little segment featuring the FC-10 and our technology. I am very critical of myself and really didn't think I did very well. He said he would be back out on the tee Tuesday morning and we could button up any loose ends. It has been so long without any love, I had a little rust on the old think tank so I stumbled around a bit! Stay tuned and I will give you the heads up to where to go to view Adams new venture. I think it will be very pretty cool.

3/14/10

Over the next several events I am going to attempt to educate you on this “Tour Gig” and how it all comes together for a small company like Solus. I think I touched on it in the past but I have decided to go to the next level. Keep an eye on the “Solus Blog” for updates.

The PGA Tour event that parallels the WGC/CA Championship this week in Puerto Rico has been under a rain delay and will be finished up on Monday which means the balance of the players will not be in here at Tampa until Tuesday afternoon. It will be a pretty quite Monday and Tuesday. The Transitions will be my first full field event. Even with delay!

Monday morning will give me a chance to build tour stock for Mike and get two custom orders built and shipped. I have orders from Sally Little (LPGA) and Jose Alverez (Nationwide). I will build up a few wedges for testing with the new True Temper “Spinner” shaft and the FST Hi-Rev wedge shaft.

John Daly will be in the field this week. I want to spec a new set of FC-10’s for him. It will be tight since the pro-am is on Wednesday.