From: Dave Collard Sent: Tuesday, October 01, 1996 10:56 AM To: internet!alta-oh.com!rsg-ohio Subject: RSG-OHIO OK, here they are -- Several have asked I post my reports to this list, because of news server delays, so here goes. I hope you all add your thoughts either here or on r.s.g. Also, some asked how to get the email addresses of people on this list. Just send to rsg-ohio-request@alta-oh.com With the single word who in the subject line, you will get an email eventually listing those on the list. Only people on the list can do this, I think. Here are my 3 posts to r.s.g: ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Part 1/3 Howdy, I have broken up the report of RSG-OHIO into 3 postings - one covering the tours of Dynacraft and Golfworks, one on the warmup round at Licking Springs and evenings activities, and one on the RSG-OHIO tournament, Match Play Madness, and More Golf (TM). Here is my report on the tours: ------------------------------------------------------------------------ RSG-OHIO 1996 was held September 27 through 29 in Granville, uh no make that Mt. Vernon, Ohio, and Zanesville, OH. DYNACRAFT TOUR On Friday, in spite of wet, rainy weather, with dire forecasts of more rain, we met at the Pal Joey Pro Shop next to Dynacraft for our tour. Present were Dave Tutelman (New Jersey), Doug Perkins (Columbus), Gary Raines (south of Cincinatti), Fred Stluka (Philadelphia), and myself (Asgard :-). Later we were joined by Mark Georg (Pittsburgh) and Rick Nelson (Columbus). Fred headed off to visit relatives after purchasing a new driver and 6-wood. The rest of us waited while the kind folks at Dynacraft arranged for our tour. Seems the person who had arranged the tour for me no longer works there and didn't let anyone know. Meanwhile, we checked out the golf museum there, which contains many interesting old clubs. Doug was our guide - young, enthusiastic, and eager to help, but not too knowledgeable (insisted that square grooves were illegal, for one). The tour first took us through the classrooms (wish I had a lab like that). We didn't have a club, so when we came to the frequency meter, we measured the frequency of my pencil instead (it came out either 136 or 456 depending on how fast I wiggled it :-). They have several indoor driving nets, complete with swing speed/analysis machines. Doug Perkins attempted to get a reading, but it refused to admit he was really there in spite of us pushing all the buttons in various combinations. We headed over to the packing and shipping areas, where we saw how the orders were packed. It was a typical warehouse atmosphere, with the 1997 Browns team photo (a picture of an empty bench). However, Dave T pointed out one uniqueness, which was the doorstop - a shaft jabbed into the ground. He said that this is the only place you would find such a doorstop. Later, at GolfWorks, he was proven wrong!!! We also went to the showroom and looked at all their components on display - later some would make purchases. As we were heading out, I asked the guide if Jeff was around. Jeff who? Jeff Summit, the author of that shaft book. Sure, do you want to see him? Dave T started drooling at this point, so of course we headed to his office. Jeff was wonderful - spent about a full hour in his lounge talking with us (well, mostly with Dave T and Rick Nelson). I was interested, but not that interested, and followed for a while. But then I noticed that the words were running together and, in fact, did not seem to be words anymore. The thoughts spewing from these minds were too much to contain - glowing mathematical symbols started floating in the air; a mist rose about them as they entered the nether-realm of Torque and Flex and Kick Point. I could no longer follow, so a few of us started to talk about worldly things. I got up to go check out the club collection on the wall, but tripped over a passing differential equation! :=). Jeff eventually left for the PCS show in Lousville, and we headed back to the Pro Shop before lunch. While there we checked out their fancy swing analysis machine that shows you everything about the path of your club - takeaway, swing path, face angle, swing speed, and then shows you a map of a golf hole and the path your ball would have taken, including carry yardage. Doug Perkins again tried and tried, but the machine wouldn't register. We were starting to call him the phantom golfer when the Pal Joey person 'rebooted' the machine and he tried again, and it finally worked. Others tried it out (Mark Georg, I think), then Dave T tried with a Dynacraft Titanium. He hit the ball well, but most of all he worked his magic 'touch' on the club, as I went next and hit a pure drive with 102 mph swing speed, slight draw, 250 yards of carry. Man, if I could only do that every time! Or even once a round! Dave, will you be my caddy? We chose Mexican, because Coops wasn't there to get us lost, and I knew of a place down the road. We headed over there and, due to an accident of some sort, got stuck in the left-turn lane one block too early, and so turned into and parked in a dentist office parking lot, walking over to the restaurant next door. After eating, I said that was the most enjoyable trip to the dentist I ever had. :-) GOLFWORKS TOUR Off we headed to GolfWorks in the rain. Some doubters were worrying about the forecasts for rain on Saturday, but they would learn that it helps being Thor. GolfWorks is a much bigger spread than Dynacraft, as they do so much more. Steve Gilligan met us in the Pro Shop, and we started with discussions on GolfWorks' new deal with Maxfli - they are going to make and design all of Maxfli's new clubs. We watched in fascination as real craftsmen worked on persimmon club-heads. The old ways of doing things are always so much more interesting. Metal-heads are made in factories, while wood-heads still require much manual labor. We also saw a set of clubs get gripped with leather. This skilled person probably did that whole set in the time it takes me to get the tape on one club. GolfWorks makes most of their own tools - swingweight scales, shaft removal tools, etc. So it really is a factory, with the accompanying noise levels. We saw a huge rotating bin where they finish certain kinds of iron heads. This contains pyramidal shapes and stones, with abrasives in them, very similar to a rock-tumbler for finishing gems. I have one pyramidal stone as a souvenir! Then, we headed over to the club-fitting and testing area. We all wanted one of those in our house. Imagine a large garage. One wall completely missing, and that side is aimed at a driving range with flags every 50 yards in a perfectly straight line. Party time! I want one! They had a LONG club there - 56 inches, which they use for demonstration purposes. Only Dave T had even a marginally successful swing with that club. He said he had to swing slower than when he did his Harvey Penick exercise, swinging in ultra slow motion. They also had a club with a gripless shaft! This was neat! The shaft increases in diameter where the grip would be, and you just hold the bare metal. Weird, but it did not feel like it would slip. Steve then showed us some top-secret stuff. We got to see next years new lines of driver and iron heads. I could tell you about them, but then I would have to kill you. Back to the Pro Shop where we picked up the prizes for the RSG-OHIO tournament. Thanks Steve Gilligan - great tour! I also got the scoop >from him on their web page - they have big plans - putting their catalog on the web page, periodic articles about clubmaking, clubmaking reference material - keep checking it out at http://www.golfworks.com/ Next: The Warmup Round ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Part 2/3 Howdy, I have broken up the report of RSG-OHIO into 3 postings - one covering the tours of Dynacraft and Golfworks, one on the warmup round at Licking Springs and evenings activities, and one on the RSG-OHIO tournament, Match Play Madness, and More Golf (TM). Here is my report on the warmup round: ------------------------------------------------------------------------ RSG-OHIO 1996 was held September 27 through 29 in Granville, uh no make that Mt. Vernon, Ohio, and Zanesville, OH. WARMUP ROUND After the GolfWorks tour, it was still raining, but the group of 6 sturdy rsgers had come to play golf, so we headed to Licking Springs Trout and Country Club. This course is just outside of Newark, and is a GREAT DEAL. We played 9 holes for only 7.50 - 18 would be 13.00! Fabulous course for that price - you can read about the course in the current Mid-Ohio Golfer magazine that was waiting for me at home. The course is just off of route 13, which GolfWorks is on, so we just headed up 13 in a caravan of 5 cars. Route 13 must have 20 turns through Newark, so, as Dave T said (we were the first car), we were a little dog wagging a long tail. We got near the course and saw a big sign at a corner so turned right, just then seeing the arrow on the sign that says to go straight. At the first side street we do a U-turn, with 5 following vehicles also doing U-turns, and a pickup truck that had been following us with a confused-looking driver as he waited for us all to turn around. Dave T and I were laughing until it hurt!!! We parked. Got out of our cars. The rain immediately stopped (see!). We paid, we played. This is a beautiful course - not in great shape, but passable, and for the price, I would definitely go back. It was still very windy, so it was a lot of fun, especially 530 yard #8 which played directly into the wind, and has a huge hill in the middle of it that you are supposed to drive onto. But with this wind - I really connected on my drive and didn't make the plateau. Then pured a 3-wood to about 140 yards, but was too far right for a shot at the green due to some trees. Then, one of my favorite shots of the weekend, I hit a low fade that curled hard around the trees and sat on the edge of the green. I was proud, because it is hard for me to intentionally fade the ball (I can hook it better). Two putts for a par that felt like a birdie! I had a really good 9, and wish I could have played as well at RSG-OHIO the next day. It did not rain the entire round except for a few sprinkles as the second threesome was putting out on the last green! Then we got in our cars and started through the rain for the get-together at Brews. GET TOGETHER AT BREWS We headed to Granville, and Brews, which is a great place to sample different beers, as they have over 200. I tried to sample them all, but only got to 6 or 7 (no I wasn't driving). Their sandwiches however, are not down to par, as mine was mostly bread, and the wrong kind. Coops, too bad you didn't get there - I think you would have really enjoyed it. Fred Stluka met us back there, and drove us to our cheapskate hotel while the rest headed to Howard Johnson's for the night. I called on my powers to bring on the rain through the night so it could be dry the next day for the tournament, but as you will see, maybe I overdid it. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Part 3/3 Howdy, I have broken up the report of RSG-OHIO into 3 postings - one covering the tours of Dynacraft and Golfworks, one on the warmup round at Licking Springs and evenings activities, and one on the RSG-OHIO tournament, Match Play Madness, and More Golf (TM). Here is my report on the tournament and other golfing events: ------------------------------------------------------------------------ RSG-OHIO 1996 was held September 27 through 29 in Granville, uh no make that Mt. Vernon, Ohio, and Zanesville, OH. THE MAIN EVENT Saturday morning woke up about 6:00 am, still raining hard. Got dressed, showered, drove to Granville Golf Course. We arrived at the course and the rain immediately quit (OF COURSE :-). However, we saw large puddles on the fairways, and hurried to the pro shop only the hear that they would be closed for the day. 16 hardy golfers from several states met in the overhang of the clubhouse looking out over a great golf course that we could not play. Only 3 nonbelievers stayed home, as we had 19 signed up. The woman in the clubhouse made a few calls and found us a golf course that would let us play - Chapel Hill near Mt Vernon, about 20 minutes drive north. This is a new course and was not in perfect shape, but the greens were fantastic, and the course drains very quickly. Beautiful setting up in the hills, a variety of holes, and will be a great place to play in a couple of years. There is one huge hike to 4 holes that are sort of separated >from the rest of the course, but otherwise it is easy to walk. We had one golfer waver as he looked out at the intermittent rain and finally lost faith. Shawn, too bad, because it didn't rain on us at all except for a sprinkle on about a half a hole - next time you will know. Plus, we really needed you on Ohio's team for Match Play Madness! And this course is high in the hills and really does drain well in most places. By the afternoon, it was unbelievably dry. However, they still need to grow some grass, and we had a lot of tough lies, but we played the ball down (yay guys - I am proud of you), so had some pretty high scores. It was a blast! The winners: First - Jim Hoskins won a driver. Second - Fred Stluka (lost the tiebreaker) won a driver. Third - Guy Cooper won a 6-wood. Fourth - Tom Kiihr (lost the tiebreaker) won a T-shirt. We also had a prize for lowest number of putts - Fred Stluka won with only 26 putts (tells you something about the condition of the greens). John Griffin got a prize for second place with 27. Other prizes were GolfWorks hats and balls: #3 Closest to the Pin - Thor #6 Long Drive - Thor #8 Closest to the Pin - Nobody (210 yard par 3 into the wind). #9 Long Putt - Tom Kiihr #12 Closest to the Pin - Jim Hoskins #14 Longest Drive - Thor #16 Closest to the Pin - Mark Georg #18 Longest Putt - Fred Stluka and his magic putter Dave, Pete Hope, and John Griffin each won a skin in the gross skins pot. It was a great event and, although disappointed that we could not play Granville, I had such a good time. I was amazed that we had 15 golfers show up in the rain - and I think they were all glad that they did. MATCH PLAY MADNESS We were going to play this at Links at Echo Springs, but we were already at Chapel Hill, and they said replays were free, so we stayed here. Good choice for match play madness - the rules were that you tee the ball up and you don't touch it until you pick it up out of the hole. No unplayable lies, no casual water (this meant something on this day!). Hit it out of bounds and you can't win the hole, same thing for lost ball, or hit it into a pond if you can't play it. Your opponent still has to finish the hole unless you concede it. You can't mark your ball on the green unless you are asked, and then no cleaning the mud off of the ball. And, if you were caught talking or speculating on your total score, then you automatically lose your match. It was Ohio v the Rest of the World, and Ohio was soundly beaten. But, this was my favorite part of the weekend. I think this is a better game than the way we usually play. I got beaten badly but had a blast! I had two favorite shots that normally wouldn't have occured. The first was out of water greenside - my ball was completely submerged, at least an inch under the water in a little gully. I had to really squat and hit the ball cleanly and punched it out - just a little too hard, over the green but stopped on the far fringe. I got soaked, but it was worth it when Chuck Sedlacko said "Thor, you are now my hero". My other shot was when my ball was right next to the cart path on a par 5. I was 3 holes down with 4 to play and had to win this hole - had a very long drive cutting the corner, but had to stand on the cart path. I was wearing spikes, so I took them off and played in my socks. Unfortunately, I blew the shot and hit it fat and lost the hole anyway, but it was fun trying. DAMONS We all headed to Damon's for dinner - ribs and more. Tales were told, songs were sung, and a prize for the best tale goes to Bill Lovell, even though he was not present. Chuck Sedlacko related the tale of Bill and the Hay Bale Hole from Hell. Then to bed to get ready for EagleSticks, rated #1 public course in Ohio, 1993. EAGLESTICKS Sunday was a beautiful day, and EagleSticks is a beautiful course in a beautiful setting. Great views, flowers, scenery, with sweeping vistas of the rolling hills. Spectacular. I would like to play golf there sometime :-) Really, this is a grand place to be, but we were forced to take carts and remain on the cart paths. I just don't know how you can play this way. I have never tried it before, as I am a confirmed walker. You can walk this course, but not weekend mornings. It took us almost 6 hours to play, and I always felt in a hurry. I am sure I could have walked it in 4, played better, and lost fewer balls (actually, I only lost two, one in a hazard, the other in the rough). However, the course is in incredible shape. Even a hacker like me can take a Tom Kite divot in those soft fairways. But it is a *tough* course - a shotmakers course. The rough was 4-6 inches and longer, and coming off the cart path at a 90 degree angle did not make it any easier to find the damn ball in it. I ended up just grabbing my bag off the cart half the time - the other half Fred did the same thing. The greens are impossible - crazy slopes at crazy speeds. Dave T had the quote of the day when he said, in all seriousness, "I had 4 good putts on that hole!!!" Everybody in our group had at least 1 4-putt green. But I managed to have a good time anyway, and, although I will not return on a weekend morning unless they change their policy, did enjoy playing on a course in tip top shape. However, I would choose the subtleties of Donald Ross in Granville over the artificial feel of EagleSticks any day. It was a blast, I hope you all had as much fun as I, and maybe next year? We have a reluctant possible volunteer in Chuck Sedlacko so maybe I will see you all in Dayton next year. It was great to meet the people in person who I have talked to on the net, and I am now suffering post rsg-ohio depression as I have looked forward to it for so long!! :-) Have Fun! -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- -= Thor (David Thor Collard) | Be the tree rooted. -= thor@alta-oh.com | http://www.alta-oh.com/~thor/ -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- -= What no one seems to comprehend is that there is only one battle, -= and that we are compelled by our nature and the nature of reality -= to fight it again and again. -= Rannulph Junah in "The Legend of Bagger Vance" by Steve Pressfield -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- ----------------------------------------------------------------------- - To unsubscribe yourself from this list, send email to - rsg-ohio-request@alta-oh.com with the one word message UNSUBSCRIBE -----------------------------------------------------------------------