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!