Quail Hollow Championship

4/28/10

Wednesday turned out to be a beautiful day! I started off the morning by heading to the PGA Tour Rules office to pick up the 60 degree heads I dropped off on Tuesday. I want to make sure we were on the tour log for approved grooves along with a randomly checking our tour stock. No real reason other than to give me a piece of mind.

With Tiger in the field this place was a zoo! When you have not only the Tiger man but Michael Jordon, Jimmy Johnson and Dan Marino among others it becomes a who's who today to watch!

This week I had more interaction with the gallery than I did players! I had more than a couple requests to explain how I bend off-set into a wedge. With that said I took a few photos of the process for our blog. I needed to build a set for the Champions Tour for the players to look at and test. I stamped the heads with "OS" which stands for no less "Off-Set"! Pretty ingenious don't you think?

I also snapped a few photos of the shaft analysis equipment inside the SST Pure Tour Lab van. I have done this in the past but for those of you that missed it here it is again! I decided to review this process since we might have a little interesting news next week regarding this ball spin! Stay tuned!

With Tiger here the media was restricted to stay within a roped off area. Now they know how it feels to be "all pinned up!"

This is the machine that measures and aligns the shafts on SST Pure Tour van.

Ditto (below)

Here is two shafts that have been purred. Make note of the alignment tape at the tip of the shaft. Once installed this line will run parallel to the leading edge of the club giving it maximum performance and consistency.

Here are the players that took advantage of this process in 2009.

Here is Brian the technician for SST.

Here is a shaft in process for Omar Uresti. (right)

Here entering player information into the computer.

(left)

Here the shaft being processed. (right)

The next several photos will step you through the basic process of bending "off-set" into a wedge. This is a 56 FC-10 in what I call step one. The wedge is chucked in the loft/lie machine and I start by pulling the shaft towards me at approximately 45* angle to the inside of the face which will add about 70-75 degrees loft. This is the biggest adjustment within moving the leading edge back creating the off-set. This bending needs to be done as low on the hosel as possible.






Here I am making the second adjustment which is moving the top of the hosel back from the leading edge. This adjustment needs to be made as high on the hosel as possible. Once this bend is made then the wedge needs to be set into register with the machine and the loft/lie adjusted to proper spec.

Here I am bending the FC-10/60 here. I use a piece of a grip or something that will reduce the damage the bending bar will make during the adjustment.










I know this angle is somewhat scured since I am holding the camera and the bending bar, but I am on the hosel at approx 45* making the first bend.

Setting the loft and lie angles.

Here are the finished off-sets. The amount of off-set is how much the leading edge has been moved back towards the shafts center line in the address or playing position. I bent the 56 back approx 1/4 shaft. The 60 was moved back 1/8 shaft. I did these two for the Champions Tour players to look at and use as a gage if they desire off-set. The off-set situation is more apparent on the Champions Tour but rarely do I have these kinds of requests on the PGA Tour. The more off-set the better the chance the shot will be "pulled" if the player doesn't hold on to the shot with the hands.

Here they are in the playing position. Make note of the leading edge as it is referenced to the hosel. When I refer to 1/4 shaft this is the width of the shaft that the leading edge has been moved behind the ball side of the hosel. The club on the left is the 56 which is what is considered 1/8 shaft back and the 60 is 1/4 shaft back. The more off-set the more "gooseneck" the hosel will look.

This should give you a feel of the sold out crowds since the Tiger man is in the house. (right)

I had lunch with the CBS crew today. Here is the chow wagon. (left) The food is awesome!

I just snapped a shot of the broadcast control trailers after I had lunch. (right) Not sure why but here it is! HIHIHI.....

Next stop The Player's Championship at Ponte Verde, FL next week. Have a great week-end!

4/27/10

Taylormade has a history of introducing a new product or products right after the Master’s. Here the first looks at their new line of “Ghost” putters. They know how to do it when introducing new products! They had made a model for each player on their staff that matches their current gamer! They instantly have product in play and have caused the “buzz” prior to entry into the market! This line of putters has been inspired by staff player Dave Stockton.

The weather played a big factor today. The day started out beautiful and then the rain and thunderstorm started rolling in. The second rain delay I took cover in the locker room with a handful of wedges. This was a great opportunity to talk to the pros and have a little fun! The second delay was around 3:00pm. Pretty much all of the players were in the locker room since they have a mandatory player meeting that starts at 5:00pm.

I did a little survey on my own in regards to “groove” count down the face. In other words how many grooves does each wedge out here have in comparison to Solus? Here is what I found out: Solus-15, Wilson-14, Scratch-15, Vokey-14, Taylormade-16, Cleveland-15, Fourteen-15, Mizuno-14 and last but not least Callaway with 22. Do you see anything wrong here? I am going to do a little research on the Callaway design. The USGA mandate is pretty clear, however obviously there is something wrong or they are interpreting the new rule differently? I am going to call the USGA and find out. Keep in mind the grooves they have on the face are really small almost a score line verses a groove. I will keep you posted.

Since Tiger is in the field the Quail Hollow event is now sold out and the galleries are large! Tiger has not been seen Monday or today, but will play in the Pro-am on Wednesday. It is a zoo here!

I took two 60 degree FC-10’s to the PGA Tour Rules office for a spot check. I just wanted to make sure that the grooves are still running within spec throughout our tour inventory.

I will go into the SST Shaft Pure trailer tomorrow and take a few photos so you can see the equipment that is used to pure the tour shafts.

The air about this event is cold and stiff. I realize the purse is huge but it seems every player is grinding and not making very many changes. I approached seven players today and had no luck. It might be the “Tiger” factor not sure!

4/26/10

Today was a busy day for me since I haven't been out for the last two events. I spent the day getting Mike's inventory ready for the Champions Tour and building a few customs.

I had finally seen the sun! I was so happy that I snap a shot making my way through Nashville! What a beautiful town! Awesome site since I hadn't really seen anything but pouring rain in my face!

Built a custom set of FC-10's for the winner of mygolfspy.com drawing. Here's a look at the custom set.

The lucky winner will be the first consumer to receive and test the new FC-10. The new club has only been offered to tour players. I installed the KBS Black Nickel Tour wedge shaft and Golf Pride blk./wht. Dual Decade grips! While I was at it I had the shafts aligned and purred by SST Pure. The whole enchilada!

The next custom order I had to build was a set for Taryn Durham who plays on the Futures Tour and LPGA! Here is a look at Taryn's.

Although an awful photo I installed the new True Temper DG Spinner wedge shaft! She was looking for a light shaft and I thought this would be a perfect fit. Taryn played for Middle Tennessee State and has had the Solus in the bag along the way. This will be a real success story someday for Solus and Taryn! Sorry for the photo, but hell I am blind and can't see the "smart window" on my camera to make sure it is focused!!! :-(

Once again sorry for the blind man's eye!! This is a shot of a shaft after it has been aligned or purred. I was told today unofficially that the new FC-10 was number one in a recent independent robot test conducted by SST Pure. The test was to show the ball spin rate comparisons once the shaft has been purred or aligned. The new FC-10 had the highest ball spin rates of all of the manufacturers on tour. I have not seen the results but I will keep you informed as I get the information. I was told it would be announced next week at the Player's Championship.

I built a purred set for testing. Here you can see the orientation of the shaft once it has been installed. Look closely at the shaft bands. When the shafts are purred they are installed in such a way to optimize the shafts performance in it strongest position. This positioning has always been a grey area within wedge shafts. The greater performance is happening in driver and fairway shafts as well as iron sets. Until now! I will share with you the results of the test once I receive them. From what I heard today it was pretty significant! I do not want to speculate until I see the actual results! Great news for us though!

Here is a look at the shaft analysis of the above set. This data comes with each shaft. The three pages show at the bottom how the shaft was rotated and position for optimum performance! I thought you might enjoy seeing this. I think it is at least a little more focused?

HIHIHI..............

4/25/10

This trip has been the toughest drive I have thus far in my tour travels. If it wasn’t tornados and hail it was road conditions and delays.

I got up early this morning expecting the worst with weather. It stormed all night long! I took off and at day break it turned out to be sunny and perfect for driving! So I thought?

I came through Tennessee from Illinois and got all the way to the Tennessee/ NC border to discover Highway 40 had been closed due to a rock slide. The rock slide had occurred during the tornados last night and was blamed on a lightening strike. I had to back track 68 miles and take a detour through a winding road through the mountains. Scenic drive!

Once I got through that I finally made my way to Asheville, NC where I was met with an traffic stand still. It was an hour into the delay when I finally found out what the delay was? The President of the USA, Obama! Apparently his plane was staged for take off and traffic had to be interrupted until he left the ground! I finally made it into Charlotte around 7:00pm. This made for a long 13 hours on the road!

Stress, stress and more stress! Nothing a few brewski’s and plate of hot wings won’t fix! HIHIHI………

Champions Tour Stops

9/6/10

Mike had a productive week at Pebble beach this week for the First Tee Open. This event is unique format where each player is paired with a First Tee junior golfer. I think this is really neat and a great opportunity for a junior golfer to play with a legend of this great game!

 

Hal Sutton put a 52 degree in the bag. He liked this wedge since it had the KBS Hi-Rev shaft in it. Larry Nelson has played the Solus and is still showing a little love by putting a 60 degree in play. He adjusted it two degrees flat.


Jerry Pate took a 52 to test this week. Mike was not sure as of yesterday if he would put it in play this week. He will keep us posted. Mike had a little mishap with Jerry on Wednesday. Mike was testing a new wedge shaft out of the bunker and caught one shot this hitting Jerry! It bounced once and hit him in the crotch! Everyone had a good laugh at Jerry and Mike’s expense.


Tommy Armour is showing a little renewed interest in Solus this week. He told Mike if our 60 had 12 degrees of bounce on it he would put it right in play. Tommy took a 56 and loves it. His caddy is responsible for Tommy’s new vision of Solus. His caddy reminded him that Mickelson’s wedges had the same sole design and he thought Tommy should give them another look. Tommy agreed and is slowly coming around. He can be approached now that he is on the Champions Tour.


I had a real reliable source and fellow experience some of the same situations on the Champions Tour. When I say situations I mean things are different when these players are over on the Champions Tour. They are more accessible and will treat you completely different than on the PGA Tour. He has one of the top players on the Champions Tour using his club and had a real good relationship with him out there but when the player came back over to the PGA Tour he acted like he didn’t know him! Does that some familiar? Oh yes big brotha is watching!!!!!


Mike is scheduled to travel to Korea for this next event. If you remember the sponsor has charted a 747 for players, wives, caddies and reps for no charge. Mike had to just take care of his food and hotel. At this point Korea doesn’t have the accommodations to hold everyone going. Mike is on standby and will know something on Saturday morning when they are scheduled to depart whether he is a go or not. As of today he is 60% no go so he is in a holding pattern. I guess some of the first players are backing out which might make room for Mike. We will keep you posted.

8/30/10

Mike's week was pretty quiet for this time of year! Mike doesn’t report much week to week other than what clubs he has distributed. This week he had a request from Hal Sutton to add a FC-10/52 to his arsenal.

Our friend John Jacobs decided it was time for a new 56 so Mike got him fixed up!


Keith Clearwater and my good friend Billy Glasson both put in a new 60 degree! Perfect!


Mike is getting ready for his trip to Korea. Solus will get a little “International” exposure!

4/24/10

Mike followed up with me this morning regarding the adjustments they made to Bruce Fleisher’s 56. I told him that Bruce would probably not like the club once he de-lofted from 56 to 52. Well once again I was surprised to find out the results were positive once Bruce tested the wedge. Bruce was looking for a club that he could hit 105 yards so they adjusted it to that yardage. Surprisingly Bruce loved it and it went right in play next to his 60! It just goes to show you anything is possible on the PGA Tour!

4/20/10

This week Mike worked the Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf in Savannah, GA. This event is fun one since all of the legends come out and play! Such as Billy Casper, Dow Finsterwald, Doug Sanders and Don January just to name a few. It is a fun event to watch since they are playing a two man team event format.

We continue to get requests for the 52 and 54 degree FC-10’s. Not having these lofts really put us behind! Hopefully we will soon have the balance of the lofts done and on the way! The players are already trying to get these lofts which in some cases circumvent the design. Bruce Fleisher is testing a 56 that he has de-lofted to 52. Bruce’s swing is steep and making the kinds of adjustments will not produce the desired results Bruce is looking for. The de-lofting adjustment “rocks” the bounce angles forward which will create a “digging” situation in Bruce’s case. He said he would let me know how it worked out. I can tell him how and tried to talk him out of it, but he insisted on testing! He all you can do is lead them to the water! He will figure out his cup has a hole in it!

A couple of the Legends got the first look at the new FC-10, Billy Casper and Tony Jacklin both picked up a 56 degree.

Mike actually ran out of wedges this week and will need to be reloaded before his next event in Mississippi.

I am hitting the road to Charlotte tomorrow morning, until next week have a good one!