The Barclays

8/25/10

Well Wednesday turned out to be a miserable work day! I tried to take a few shots of just how miserable it was but the rain doesn't show up. It poured pretty much all day and the temp around 65*. Nothing happening other than Phil going off on #10 and Mr. Woods off on #1 first groups off both nines for the pro-am.

I tried to work the tee early but the morning shotgun pro-am pretty much took the stage. I did get a chance to talk to KJ so it was worth my "soaking"! Let's face it, these are the top players in the world very few are going to change anything right here in the middle of the playoffs unless something breaks or needs adjustment.


Titleist introduced their new fairway woods and hybrids this week but the weather did not yield very good testing conditions.


The whole morning was about Jim Furyk's late arrival. I first reported to you as it happened! Tour Eye Dawg on task!


Although hard to believe some of these guys just don't believe the Solus sole design will work for them due to the bounce. It's not traditional looking! The wedge is the only club in the bag that really hasn't changed with the times. These guys love the looks, but a majority of them will not even see if it would work for them! It is really frustrating and stressful. Granted there isn't a club out here that will fit every player! But at least the player will test it to see if it might be a fit or improvement for them. The same old thought process lingers out here and it has to do with the size of the company. If you are a small company then you don't have the R&D dollars to test and prove your clubs performance. We don't have the engineers, robots and tour departments to support the integrity of the designs. Well I say that is BS! If it were me I would be open and give every new design a test, hell you never know until you try it! Test the product and see, at least take a look! Well not out here! It is almost an insult to approach a player especially as long as I have been out here. Granted the money and brand loyalty play a big part, but why not at least test everything. Obviously we have product in play or we wouldn't be here. This is why I keep preaching to all, that one of the giants should take the Solus design and take it to the next level! The wedge segment has been stagnant for quite some time. I look around every week and I have yet to see a persimmon wood? But I can promise you if this wedge had Titleist on the back they would all be testing it and several would be going right in the bag. Hey it now has the "big" company support and designers, it has to be good? Does it really? Some of the best designers in the world have put out some of the worst looking and performing clubs! Has that stopped the players from taking the money, hell no! Sorry I got off on another dirt road! I was traveling pretty well down the Interstate until I hit that patch of sand. It was a hard left!


I really think that most of these guys don't want to admit how good the FC-10 really is! They don't want to believe it! How can it be that good? How can they support the product? Who does that fat guy think he is? What the hell does he know? Why aren't they advertising? Most still don't or won't understand "HOW THE SOLUS SOLE DESIGN WORKS"! I can grind the bounce necessary to meet the player’s needs. We can set the wedges up for steep swingers as well as sweepers! Hey boys give little ol Solus another look! You’re all leaving money on the ground by not having the utility that this design provides! Hey it's your choice! I am here for you!!! The ol fat boy knows more than you think!! HIHIHI............


Enough of my rambling! That's why we all like going over to the Nationwide Tour, those players are hungry and fighting week to week! That tour is a real battle so these players are trying everything out there looking for an edge. If they like it they will test not only on the range but on the course. If it works and they like what it does for them they put it in play! If not, they return it and explain why it didn't work for them. But wait.... That's only if they can due to the watchful eye of their "Big" boys. Believe me there are new players every week coming onto that tour so there are plenty of opportunities for Solus!


Well enough of my BS, you've read it all! L.P.I.U. boys!!! On to Boston and the next stage of the playoffs! Oh I guess you need me to cipher the L.P.I.U. thing? OK here it is, "Let's Pack It Up" time to move to the next town and set up the midway! I'm on the roller coaster next week!


Have a great weekend!

8/24/10

Congratulations to our friends at Fourteen Golf for their win last week at the Wyndham Championship. The winner had two of their wedges in the bag! Wish it had been Solus though!

The weather here is a pleasant surprise from what we have been working in for the past several weeks. It rained us out on Monday and today it rain on and off pretty much all day. The temp has been running in the high 60's low 70's, nice!!


This event is the start of the "Playoffs"! There is only 125 players in the field this week. After this week the field will be cut to I believe the top 90 for the Boston event. The cut next week will be to take the field to the top 60 and then the field will be cut at the BMW Championship to the top 30 which will then head to the Tour Championship.


With that said these guys are not changing anything. I have approached four players today and once again tried to get KJ Choi's attention. I will try him again tomorrow if possible before the pro-ams head out. Everybody is a little tender right now!


Sabo asked me if I could get him new wedges with a more aggressive face milling. I had to tell him no, without breaking the rules! The USGA will not pass anything that is more aggressive than our current milling. This area is very sensitive to me. Over the past several weeks I have seen evidence of the inconsistencies of the USGA approval process in regards to the face milling. I know firsthand since we have been rejected with some of our first submission samples. We now have face millings that are hardly noticeable without really inspecting the face closely. While on the other hand I have seen wedges over the past several weeks on the Nationwide Tour that are unbelievable when it comes to the residual mill marks on the face. Something isn't right and in fact I think a few of the big companies are getting away what I call aggressive milling. Hell they look more aggressive than our flagship model Series 4.1! All I know there are some inconsistencies out here that are really suspect. I chose to take the high road and not cross the lines of what is approved. Even to the level of possibly losing a player like Rory. Oh don't get me wrong, we could make him a wedge just the way he wants it! Do we want to risk that? No!


Well this was the month for Cobra to make the split with Titleist since the sale to Puma. Cobra is now on our trailer for the balance of the year. Puma will keep the "Cobra" brand name and have retained three staff players.

I was approached by Matrix Shaft Co to test their new graphite wedge shaft. Here a look at them before installation. These companies are developing some really good wedge shafts. They are searching for the extra spin shaft dynamics while developing a more aggressive launch angle. The UST shaft is really good in its second configuration. We will test this shaft over the next two events.

Tomorrow is another day!

8/23/10

Well, I am finally headed back out on the road and started making my way back to the PGA Tour. I will be working the next three events which include the Barclay's in NJ, Deutsche Bank in Boston and the BMW Championship in Lemont outside of Chicago. It should be fun!

As you know I don't hold anything back when it comes to sharing ALL of my experiences along with the trials and tribulations of my journey! This adventure is no different. As you know I moved my daughter up to KSU this past Thursday and Friday. We were very excited and anxious to get her in and finished up before the on slot of students which were due to arrive on the official "move in" day which was Saturday. She was allowed to move in on Friday since she had signed up to attend an Honors Retreat leaving Saturday morning. Luckily we were there on Thursday night before and were allowed to start moving in! Perfect you say! Yes it was!


Well I won't bore you with all of the details but things went off without a glitch, so I thought! Megan is sharing a room with one of her high school classmates and she was heading up on Friday to spend the night and be ready to move on Saturday. Well long story short the "Mother of the Year" or wait the "Mother from Hell" assaulted the area, took charge and started pushing, shoving and changing everything! I have always taught my daughter to always take the high road, in the end this posturing will always play into her favor. Well in good faith she took all of the undesirable locations in the room to possibly make things a little more workable with her new situation, like being away from home and having a roommate! She took the top bunk, the bottom drawers in the dresser and the corner closet. This should show that she has compromised for the betterment of her roommate, right? Wrong, the Mother of the year didn't care one bit. She had been through this drill before and by golly she will bring this situation to closure! Well, that didn't sit too well with the "Dad of the Year", me! This wasn't the first room I would have to fill with uppercuts and probably won't be the last! This woman managed to piss off just about everyone she looked at! With my daughter in the middle and the high road insight I thought it best to retreat and let the dust settle. Well it ended here and I made a few strategic moves of my own and the word "compromise" finally came into the equation! Enough said, I could go on but select not to which you should thank me since this has absolutely nothing to do with golf! She is in, happy and all is good, NOW! Perfect, yes!


During all of this havoc and hysteria GM Customer Service gave me another one of their courtesy calls! This call is for the determination they made with my case. Well guess what they did! Nothing! That's right, NOTHING!! The warranty on the truck has been cancelled and the $2000.00 Customer Appreciation Voucher was it, period! No explanation, no nothing! They backed out the big load all over me and kick us to the curb, that simple! So here we sit with a truck with no warranty and no solution to the problem! They know it and this was an easy way out for them. They know damn good and well I wouldn't pursuit the big giant GM! Well I was in the mode to dump a little of my own BS on the person at the other end, which I did! It felt good but fell on deaf ears! You know, me and my family have been customers of GM our entire life, which by the way is a long time! They have always built quality cars. This just so happens to be the model they are struggling with and we aren't the only ones that have been treated this way. Regardless, I was really surprised hearing that GM has paid back all of the government loans and is in the process of offering a new IPO! I know most of you know what "IPO" stands for, but let me clarify it from my house. IPO stands for "I'M PISSED OFF" and does it make any difference to them, hell no! Sure they paid the loans back! How, you ask? By screwing their customer, that’s how! I am not finished but have to put the issue on the back burner and go to work.

With that said take a look at what we have been reduced to for this next tour swing! Yes, we had to rent a vehicle. I practice what I preach, I took the high road and elected to take the smaller SUV because it saved us quite a bit of money for the 22 day trip. Although a little tight and I somewhat feel like everyone can see all of my business up my skirt, it will work! But wait! Not without a little hassle known as the A/C defalcation. I got all loaded and started down the road and the A/C decided "I'm not going to make this trip"! So I had to return to the car to the rental company for a replacement but not after driving about 96 miles up the road. Ok got reloaded and back on the road! This journey will be about 3400 mile turnaround, so away I went. Not yet, there's more! I got to Effingham, Il and the A/C on this truck said no, but then decided to give me a couple of shots of cool air every once an while. At this point I am tired and really don't care! Once I got up into West Virginia and PA it cooled off, now the windows can go down.

I called and made arrangements to have the A/C fixed and made it into NJ around 10:00am this morning. The course is shut down and it is pouring rain, perfect! Nothing going on! I decided to check into my motel and catch up on a few phone calls. I understand now the range will close down around 2:00pm. Hell, why not!


You know I quit looking at my horoscope but have decided to take another look today. It said I am finally heading downhill and things will start going in the right direction! One can only hope! My luck has been running around a 1 on the 1-10 scale as you know!


I am going to get my ass to work! Everybody have a great week! Until tomorrow................

3M Championship

8/10/10

Well the Nationwide Tour swing is over sadly to say! I am a little disappointed in the fact the money, contracts and player loyalty has continued to set its roots out here. It seems just as I am warming up to the new faces and old it is time to go back to the big show. I was able to go back to several Solus players and show the new wedge to but with no avail. The wedge is good and the players know it and they know Solus is here to provide the equipment and service they need. The feedback was very rewarding though! But like I said earlier this week and last, it is very difficult to ask a player to change if we cannot be out here to provide service and protect our stake or turf. Granted there are phones, texts and emails but nothing can replace the actual body here week to week to adjust and tweak the equipment. The players are all looking for the edge but the money seems to be the only edge they have to gamble on, this doesn’t help a little company like Solus. The pressure that is applied on these players either with money, equipment or both is enormous as well as intimidating. It’s a hard line to cross for most.

I will give you an example. I followed up with a REAL close friend that is a teaching pro from “up north” that used to play the Solus wedges and has for at least three years. I approached him around the practice green to just see how he was doing and chew the fat, so to speak. Please keep in mind he is not a regular player out here full time but Callaway provides him equipment and service. The pressure was so bad that he started looking around to see if anyone from especially Callaway was watching us. He’s a friend but I started to get sucked into the black hole! I ask if he was uncomfortable and he said yes! For obvious reasons the Callaway tour van was at the top of the hill overlooking this green. He is a full Callaway staffer and he would not even look or glance over at the new wedge. He asked me to come out on the course and he would look at it there… This is just one of many that I followed up with over these past several weeks and they all had the same attitude. It’s just too bad it has come down to this.


I did get a little refreshing look from an old Solus player Nathan Tyler. Naturally he is now with Nike and they are supplying him with everything from sunglasses to underwear! So you can see the writing on the wall, can’t you? He like the rest are very courteous and very apologetic when approached. I offered Nathan a look but he was getting ready for the afternoon pro-am, so I handed him a business card and told him to call if he needed anything. He said he really missed the Solus wedges while looking down at his full bouquet of Nike equipment in his vase or wait, his bag! It’s just very disappointing for me. Of course I am on this side of the fence! I will say one thing when I was taking my stab out here the money wasn’t here and you starved week to week trying to make cuts and pay entry fees. I was playing against the likes of Tom Lehman and David Duval just to mention a few. These guys have all broke the code on survival by taking the dangling carrot, money! Money talks and BS walks thus my journey on the dark side, the tour grunt! Hey there is still light at the end of the tunnel though brief and fleeting and that’s the Monday qualifiers and mini tour players that still have to buy their equipment in most cases. We also have college teams that have hundreds of players that would love to play the Solus! I guess we should be tilling some new soil up stream instead of trying to grow a garden that has no fruits or veggies! Boy that’s kind of deep don’t you agree? I got stuck there for a second! HIHI….


Oh by the way, I waited for the player or players that picked up the two wedges out of the bag without me knowing to come back. Not! Hopefully they went in the bag under the radar and watchful eyes of the “big boys”! I will research and brief you later!


Hopefully I have given you a little insight on how things are operating out here for us. Not much going on and that can be mostly blamed on the heat and oh, did I mention MONEY? I hope you all have a great weekend and always remember to golf your ball where the mower runs it’s easier to find! So they tell me, HIHIHIHi..


My next round of travel starts in about 10 days back on the PGA Tour for the Barclay’s. Until then take care and be safe!

8/9/10

Solus takes a T18 and T28 at the 3M Championship in Minnesota!

Mike put a few more clubs in play this week. Jack Ferenz took the 56* wedge that we built for Steve Thomas. Steve has gone awol for the past several weeks.


Dana Quigley had a 60* bent to 62* and adjusted the lie angle 3* flat. Dana is a new player for Solus!


Good friend, Fuzzy Zoeller picked up a 56* and had it set at 55* while adjusting the lie angle 4* flat. Quite frankly I am not sure how a wedge can possibly perform the way the design was meant. But these guys all have their own little quirks and who I am to question? They are out here and I am sitting here writing these blogs!


Bruce Fleisher has a bag full of Solus equipment that is in the wedge department! He put a new 52* in and had his old 60 adjusted to 58* and his new 60 bent to 63 for bunkers. Now there’s a combo! Keith Fergus adjusted his 52* to 53* and had the lie angle set 3* upright. There was a lot of adjustments this week!

Price Cutter Charity Championship

8/10/10

We are continuing to test another version of the UST "Proto Spin" wedge shaft. The balance point was too high making it difficult to "trap" the ball without swing the wedge to hard. You want to be able to let the wedge do the work and trying to hit a wedge at 90-100% of your full swing speed will not produce many favorable shots. The wedge should be swung in the neighborhood of 60-70% of the players full swing speed. The objective is control! As you can see UST has decided to tip the shaft and move the shaft profile within the uncut blank shaft. We are still player testing, so far I think they are close. The jury is still out. UST is using Solus and Fourteen for this testing. I have tried the shaft myself and this version is much better and has a little softer feel which I personally think is critical in executing quality wedge shots.

The heat today continues to punish us all! It was 106* on the tee. This heat has the players working on the course early and then going inside for the balance of the day. There will be caddies as well as players go down this week due to the heat. The only saving grace is towards Saturday the temp will move into the lower 90's! Wow what a cool front! This clock is very accurate on any of the measurements but take a look at the tee during this time. Any other time this tee would be full on Tuesday afternoon. Nobody wants to do much which was understandable!

I came back to the bag after lunch and discovered two wedges had been picked up. I am hoping the player will come back and let me know. At least I am keeping a positive attitude about it right now. You just never know. Although the players out here are so honest and up front that it would really surprise me if I didn't hear anything by tomorrow afternoon.


I followed with Luke List to see if he had had a chance to test the new set I built him in Wichita. He hasn't had time but will after this week. I tried to persuade him to test them while I am out here in case something had to be tweaked. No luck. He has a pretty strong tie to the Titleist brand if you catch my drift!

I am not sure you need to know or see this kind of thing but I have not kept anything from you as of this point! I had surgery to remove skin cancer from my left shin. The biopsy came back positive. I had to return this past Thursday for a checkup and it was discovered I had another spot showing up. Well the Doc said I had to have it removed and so we opted to do it while I was there since I wasn't on the road. Well I got to my motel room this evening and took a shower as I always do. I am not sure what is going on with this but it doesn't look good! I covered the spot with a small Band-Aid but the rest of it looks a little suspect! Ya think? Hey it the hazards of being out in the sun and comes with the territory. It is a sad story but it had to be told!

On to more important things at hand. We have had several requests since we started the blog, Facebook and Twitter. The request was to share my favorite hot spots to eat on the PGA Tour during my travels. Well here is a little bit of heaven on the ground in Springfield! It is a must stop if you are in this area and like thin crust pizza. The PGA Tour rules officials recommended this as a "hot" spot to dine. I have a soft spot for thin crust pizza so I gave it a try. The 417 Thin Crust Pizza is the bomb and is the best thin crust pizza I have ever had! The 417 happens to be the area code for this area in Springfield! Clever! I had the "Meats" with jalapenos and onions, perfect! You have to try it! Awesome! Like I said it is the "best"! Good friend a fellow rep ordered a rather unusual combination, sausage, jalapenos and green olives! I know, I know it doesn't sound that good but when he shared a piece I was really surprised! It was really good! I may have to do a drive by on my way home tomorrow and pick one up for the road! I should have taken a pic of the product! Well, I will remember next time!

If that isn't enough desert is just a wedge shot away! Andy's Frozen Custard is top shelf! I had the Carmel pecan concrete. Simply put it was to die for! I had to frequent both places again but this time I had same pizza and backed it up with a key lime pie concrete. There is a whole piece of key lime pie blended right in to the concrete. Hey no calories here! Come on now I would not steer you wrong and after all this was your idea!

Upon completing my concrete I made my way back to the truck. I happened to over look this little barber shop! Your first cut is free! One stop shop, perfect!

Hey I will try to include hot spots as I find them from time to time, but
they have to past the "Dawg" test! HIHIHI.......

8/9/10

Solus takes a T8 at the Turning Stone Resort Championship in NY! The FC-10/60 was in play!

This week’s Price Cutter Charity Classic will be the last Nationwide event on this swing. I will be returning to the PGA Tour on the 23rd for the Barclay’s.


The heat continues to plague the players and especially guys like me! The extra pounds don’t help in this heat but seem to “melt” somewhat under the extreme heat! The heat is forecasted to be in the triple digits for the week. This event hosts 20 pro-ams! Can you believe it? Good friend Keoke Cotner came in as did several other pros to play in the pro-ams. Keoke will not be in the field but has signed up to play seven of the twenty pro-ams! That is a lot of pro-ams for one week. The only benefit is that players are allowed to take their caddies and use carts, so it’s good for both! With this heat and humidity there will be several caddies going down.


We are continuing to test the UST “proto” wedge shaft this week. We assembled a new sample that has been tipped 1” which should move the balance point somewhat while firming the shaft up. This was the main complaint last week during testing. We will go back to the same players for testing this new sample.


Did you guys see the photo of the new “TAV”? I found it sitting on a trailer over here in Springfield! I personally think it’s perfect! I am sure you will agree! HIHIHI…… Take a look on our Facebook page!

Preferred Health Systems Wichita Open

8/4/10

 Wednesday turned out to be another record setting heat day! Very hot! I followed up with Luke List to see if he had the new wedges in the bag, not! I thought he was going to take them out and test them during the pro-am. He was pretty “Luke” warm so to speak. I know why it the Titleist factor. He doesn’t want to rock wagon. These manufacturers do put pressure on these guys if they even sniff another brand! I know this first hand as you know!

I did make my way around to a few players that I noticed didn’t have staff bags. These guys are normally Monday qualifiers or players that have not settled on an equipment contract while a possible 1 or 2 coming in as a sponsor’s exemptions. I mainly wanted to introduce myself and the wedge, more of a courteous call since it is Wednesday. The thought that one of these guys changing today was out of the question.


I sat back and watched the Fourteen rep jump and run to get new equipment (wedges) to Mike Lavery. The little display that he put on in front of the boys was pretty impressive so it put the pressure on Fourteen to go into salvage mode. This isn’t a wedge war, YET! But if I were out here more it would be! The available targets are so few and far between that we are like vultures on road kill!


I continued working over the phone with two mini-tour players getting them adjusted. Both Alex Carper and David Huffman are struggling with shaft changes. We are working with Nippon and True Temper to get the problems resolved. I have shafts on the way that should help both players.


I wanted to thank Max Evenson at Pro Link Golf for helping me with my club needs this week and use of his shop. Max and I have been friends for several years. His shop is fully equipped for club building and repair. Solus doesn’t have a tour van contract with the Nationwide Tour, it is just not cost effective when I will only be out here 4-5 events. This makes Max’s shop my “tour van” for this swing. It very handy and a huge asset! Thank you, Max!!


Oh as a little sidebar: Gm came back with their final “Word” on the truck and guess what that was? Not only did they sign off on it they CANCELLED the warranty on the truck! They said I was using an aftermarket tuner which voids the warranty! Well guess what they sold it to me! They are looking for a way out of this one due to the ol “Lemon Law”. It states that after three strikes you are out! They were in the sixth inning! But please make note the tuner had not been installed during this down time and if fact when I broke down the first time in the ‘Bermuda Triangle” they told me to use the tuner to reset the computer and cancel the “check engine” light code. This was suggested by GM to get me back home. This is all horses@*t!!! I will not stand and take anymore of the BS. Enough said just a little update! So let it be written, so let it be done! HIHIHI……. On to Springfield, MO! Yes in the truck! Let it ride baby!

8/3/10

Well Tuesday was a record for Wichita temp wise. We were under an extreme temp advisory and the temp did not let us down topping out at 107! Jee-ma-nee it was hot! I need to say this out loud! HOT!

Man check this little set up out! It was perfect for wedge testing! Great set-up for the ol local boy!

Here's a look of the Skychaser from Cessna. They flew this little piece into this location landing it on the 18th fairway! It came in over the tree line from the west to the east and needed to be steered into the dogleg of the hole to stop! Not sure how they will get it back out of here but it should be interesting!

Here's a look at the set I built for Luke List. Although on the Titleist staff he has agreed to test them and see how they do in the hay. He will test tomorrow in the pro-am and will be in Springfield next week so I can follow up. He picked them up this morning. He has room in the bag! The putter and hybrids are the clubs he is rotating in and out. He really like the look of the wedge and was quite surprised, I think.

Good friend Gavin Cole came by the green to take a look at the new Fc-10's. Gavin has been on my player panel giving me feedback as I went along in refining the design. He said it only took me two years but he believes that we have finally arrived with the new product! Gavin would like a 54 and 58 when the time is right.

Here is a look at my DWA (designated work area) this afternoon. Even though the heat was unbearable there were still a few brave souls!

I think picking up the tab last night at Hooters really paid off today. My new friends came by today for a look at the new wedges! This kind of thing now and then really brings them over once the ice is broke!

UST FedEx their new proto wedge shafts into today for testing. I built a 52 and 60 for players testing. Preliminary testing shown the kick point or balance point was too high. In other words the shaft is too stiff in the grip section to allow the player to "trap" or "pinch" the ball against the turf. I didn't get any "oh no's" which was nice for a change! We will continue to test tomorrow and provide the feedback to UST. There will need to be some adjustments needed in the overall profile. They painted the shaft to look like chrome so it has the appearance of a steel shaft. During testing today I didn't mention to the players that the shaft was graphite. There are some players that have preconceived thoughts that graphite means "senior" and is not as macho as steel. Funny isn't it!

I had one of my caddie friends (Dennis) introduce me to Mike Lavery. Mike qualified for the Wichita Open and is the current leading money leader on the Hooter's Tour. We had talked about him looking at the wedges today. Dennis (the caddie) has been a friend and supporter of Solus and in fact his son is playing the new FC-10's. Here Mike is testing the wedges. He wants to change to a four wedge set-up. Since I didn't have the lofts he was looking for we tested the 52, 56 and 60 to see how the change might affect his wedge play strategy. He was very impressed and in fact thinks he might go ahead and make the change. If I had a 48 degree I think we have a real chance of four going right into play. This player has a wedge game. He knows where his hands are and can hit any shot that is called up. Now as luck would have it he is currently playing three wedges from Fourteen Golf. The rep was keeping an eye on what was going on. Fourteen is a small company a lot like Solus so taking these four out really hurts. With as many contracts out here what are the chances of me getting a player that has equipment from another small company as opposed to Titleist or Cleveland. The rep started the damage control as soon as I finished up with him which is SOP on tour. Oh, SOP stands for Standard Operating Procedure!! HIHIHI....

8/2/10

Well this week is a home game for me! I get to sleep in my own bed and drive right to work, of course in a rental car but all good! The heat is a real factor and will be for the next two weeks. It made it to 105* today and the forecast calls for 107*-109* tomorrow. Believe me it is HOT!

My Monday started out with three players approaching me to tell me they had heard Solus was going out of business? Puzzled at what I heard from the first player only getting better after I had heard it for the third time around. I am not sure where this rumor is coming from but it is as far from the truth than anyone can get! It’s all the nature of the beast! I think this is starting over on the PGA Tour. But why? I do not know.

If that isn’t enough I had all this hit at once!

I heard from a couple of players that they had been looking for me but stopped since the TRUCK isn’t here. I was really surprised to find out some of the players were at least looking for me and expected to see me on this swing. Although we will continue to trudge along and see if we can actually make a difference, my hopes are not high. If I do get clubs in play the chances of those clubs staying in is slim to none. There needs to be a rep out here to service week to week. These players get that now from all of the big companies so that service alone is enough to keep these players loyal to the brand.

I have the set built and ready for Luke List. I will probably see him on Tuesday.

I headed out after a hot, hot day and went to have a couple of brews with the boys. We all converged on Hooters and had a great time trying to cool off! This outing gave me a little time to talk to a few of the pros about contracts. I discovered there was maybe a few more opportunities than I once thought. I talked to a pro that doesn’t have a contract but plays one of the big companies’ equipment. Even at this level the intimidation factor is still in play and evident. Although the player didn’t have a full bag contract he is still being serviced with equipment and clothing coming to them at no charge. In some respects this is a contract. Most of these guys without a contract are expecting one in the future. Still the big four prevail anyway you look at it! Brand loyalty, that’s what it’s all about!

I got the set for Kevin Smith finished and delivered. I also have another caddy checking out the equipment for his player. He said he would be by the bag in the morning to pick up a couple for testing.

Did I mention it was hot? Hey it’s hot out here!