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!

HP Byron Nelson Championship

5/19/10

I got to the golf course around 6:00am to check in with Sabo and follow up with Y.E. Yang. Rory needed a last minute grip change and loft adjustment. Tuesday afternoon Rory had me take a head to the KBS Shaft van so they could put together a back up 60* for him. At the time my gut told me this was not the route to go but I did it anyway since it was the request of the player. Well my gut was right! Rory said that the backup that they had built looked like it had 64* of loft? He also wanted his personal grip installed. I took the wedge to our van for adjustments. The loft was a problem, Rory thought the loft was 64* which is his lie angle number. The loft was in fact off it had been set at 65*!

It was a wonder Rory didn't hit himself in the face with this much loft. He said he knew something was wrong with the bounce? This situation could happen to any of us in the heat of the battle, getting numbers confused. Granted it was wrong but we got it fixed and he is all good. This did give me the chance to explain to Rory that I am the point man for Solus. From this point forward I will tend to his equipment needs as far as Solus is concerned, he agreed. I have decided to build 3 more backups for Rory and leave them in storage on the trailer. Since he has put us in play we will see an influx of wedges going out. He will put a fresh set in about every two to three weeks depending on wear and integrity of the grooves. He is good to go! We would love to see him win here back to back! Watch for him on the weekend!

I will follow up with Y.E.Yang next week at the Colonial. He is searching for a new weapon so I want to make sure he has the best available, Solus! HIHIHI.....

I cannot say enough about the short game area here at the TPC. I really wish I had an area to work in like this every week. It doesn't take long to stand here and identify what players need help with their wedge game. As I said last week the conditions have changed since the west coast swing, the greens have gotten firmer and the grass is totally different. The spin issue just magnifies under these conditions. I took an inventory of players that were in the area and as you can see there was quite a bit of activity going on. This area allows players to hit up to a 60 yard shot, the photos really don't do the area justice. The opposite end of this huge green transitions into the putting green. Perfect work area.

I seized the opportunity to provide a few wedges for testing. Here we have five players testing the FC-10/60. Although there will not be a lot of changing going on this late in the game it will give me a new group to work on next week! Rory will spread the Solus word believe me, he is very vocal when it comes to superior equipment and design. It's all good for us!

Next week is the Colonial in Ft Worth. I look forward to this event since they have a pretty good short game area as well. I am heading home for the weekend to attend my daughter’s graduation ceremony from high school! I am so proud of her and really look forward to seeing her and celebrating this great achievement. It is so hard to believe she is done with high school and heading to college! I have to say I am one "proud" Dad she has made to Deans honor role every year with straight "A's" since kindergarten! It is quite an achievement and I had to brag on her! She has been my glue since her birth which seems like two weeks ago. Its hell to get old, time just runs over you! It should be fun! I will travel back to Ft Worth on Monday and will be at the course after lunch. Until then have a wonderful weekend! Bigdog is north bound!

5/18/10

Today the weather was perfect until about 2:00pm and then the heat came back! It was a great day to work the wedges. I set up in the short game area as planned. I was really in the middle of things compared to the tee. I will show you what I mean below!

I built two sets of the Series 4.1's for mini tour players out of Tulsa. The majority of these tours do not recognize the new conforming groove change. I have had quite a few calls in the past several weeks requesting the Series 4.1 and Tour 7.1's just for this reason.

I received the first "Prototype" graphite wedge shaft from Penley Shafts. The shaft came in at 110gr-115gr weight which is ideal for a wedge. I sent a head out to their plant several weeks ago for testing. They player tested it before sending it out here. There player panel consisted of playing pros. The feedback was nothing but positive from their group. They think they have nailed this sample. The club was spec'd to Solus measurements and the swing weight was perfect at D4.5. Here is a look at it. I started walking the tee line this afternoon as soon as it arrived. The initial feedback that I have received today was the weight felt great. It felt a little soft and had a slight vibration at impact. This vibration I have experienced in the past when testing the various graphite prototypes. The vibration comes from the shaft walls being too thin in the tip section. This can be fixed. It is really hard for me to get a real good test out here since there are only two players using graphite in their irons. I will test tomorrow and then ship it over to the Champions Tour for testing. We will get a better feel over there since there are more players playing graphite in their irons. The Penley rep will be at the next tour stop for the Champions and will help Mike test.

 Here a shot of the finished club by the bag.

See what I mean about the tee? You cannot see one player for all of the reps and engineers. This is a home game for UST shafts and Adams Golf so the rest have to chime in!

Rory came off the course and came straight to the short game area. I followed up to see how things were going. He had decided to re-shaft his FC-10/60 with the KBS Tour shaft. He is playing the KBS in his irons so he wanted them all to be the same. Once again Rory put on a clinic! Here are a few shots! One of the reasons I am making such a big deal out of this is because Rory is one of the top five best wedge players on tour. Additionally, he is the defending Champion here at the Bryon Nelson Championship. Now you know why!

Here he is with his good friend and swing coach hitting one of his signature "flop" shots or what I refer to as an open face cut lob or better yet the "Hobby Lobby" or "Lobster"! He is the king second only to Phil Michelson! Now that's saying something! Phil and he use this shot quite a bit in competition.

Ditto!

Y.E.Yang doing a little wedge shopping of his own! We will work on him tomorrow!

5/17/10

I had a very busy Monday. This is a great event and a good one to work. The facility is awesome for Solus with this great short game facility. Take a look.

One end of this green is for putting and this end for the short game. This area is straight west of the practice tee behind the golf academy.

This small green is at one end of the practice tee. Opportunities abound!

We are back into the "bull pen" situation this week. I set up here for Mondays Pro-am and will move my set up into a different situation on Tuesday, in the short game area.

I needed to build the back up for Rich Beem, build the 60* for Rory Sabbatini and had a meeting with Nationwide player, Alex Carper. Alex has been a strong supporter of Solus for the past several years. He had called me over the week-end and told me he needed help with his set. Alex was first up. He had pulled the shafts out of his Tour 7.1's and installed them in the FC-10's. He claimed something wrong and the clubs felt heavy. Upon assessing the situation I discovered the shafts he pulled from the Tour 7.1's were parallel tip and the hosel bore on the FC-10 are tapered. This was the root of the whole problem. Since the shafts had parallel tips that he had installed in the FC-10's the shafts were not bottoming out at the bottom of the bore, but were actually 1/4" from going all the way in. I explained to Alex and we decided to rebuild both wedges 56 and 60. We went back in with the new DG Spinner shaft and re-set the loft and lie and installed new grips Alex is back on the road!

I got Rory's 60 built and finally found him in the short game area. Rory flat put on a clinic with his new wedge. Rory plays the KBS shaft so I decided to use the Nippon "orange" wedge shaft. Long story short Rory's eye's really rounded out! Rory hits so many quality shots that amazed him. The Nippon "Prototype" shaft performed beautifully in the FC-10. In fact you would have sworn that Rory was hitting a wedge with the old groove configuration. He doesn't really care about launch angle he just wants all the spin he can get! I think I left him somewhat surprised and he really liked the engraving that I had done just for him. Rory continued to hit shots to the amazement of fellow players and onlookers. I told him I think my job is done here! He had me flattened the lie angle one degree and he was good to go. With just a little last minute adjustment this actually improved the ball flight and launch.

Here is Rory in the next five pictures.

Rory gave a little demo to fellow player, Jerrod Turner. I thought I would stick around and watch things unfold.

Curious and at Rory's suggestion Jerrod took the FC-10 through its paces. This is one thing that Rory will do for us and that will be talk it up! I don't think Rory could find a wedge that will stop like this FC-10. I was amazed at what I was witnessing! It was incredible to watch and believe me when I say he put on a clinic, he put on a clinic!

Got Rich Beem's back up finished. Here is a look from the playing position. Rich wants a little off-set so I finished it off. Take a look.

This is the new Nippon shaft that I used in both Rory's and and Rich Beem's wedges. This shaft is amazing.