CharlieMoy
Well-known member
Go getem Donne!!! Did any THPers take you up on the kind offer?
Bridgestone Private Fitting - Cleveland, TN - May 11th (via THP Holiday Cheer)
- Thread starter
- #52
Bear4Ever will be here, but I pretty much forced him to since we work in the same hallway. Between Mother's Day weekend and so many in the Atlanta crew attending the Outing next week, that will pretty much be the THP representation...but hey, I tried.
Maybe we will pick up a few new THPers out of the others invited.
INgolfer
Internet Golfer
I'm pumped to see and hear the details of this event. Wish I could have jumped on the offer to take part in it, that was truly honorable of you to invite any THPers to fill those spots. Take lots of pics Donne!
- Thread starter
- #54
Mike and Trish from Bridgestone have arrived and are setting things up.
Jjmorris
Will Post for Thanks
Can't wait to hear how it goes!
hokiegolfer
@danielvt11
Look forward to hearing all about this!
Damaikis
Fairway Finder
This is sweet Donne. Let us know how it goes!
This looks to be a good day. Have fun.
- Thread starter
- #62
So many cool parts for this day, but they made special hats for the group with both the THP logo and today's date.
ATLGolfer
#ATLClive75
That's what did me in. Really wish that I could have made it up there. You guys are going to have a blast.
Either way, very excellent of you to send out an invite to THPers. Well done, Donne.
Bear4ever
Payne Stewart, 10/25/99
It's a privilege, and some great fun, to have been invited to the Bridgestone Golf Ball fitting party at Donne's hacienda!
- Thread starter
- #66
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Recap time for the Bridgestone Private Fitting won during the THP Holiday Cheer Contest – Editor’s Note – Sorry for the picture quality, the DSLR had some setting going that caused the washed out pictures, which of course wasn’t discovered until after everything was done today. Luckily a few others were snapped on the iPhone.
Four score and six months ago (ok, just seems like a long time ago), I was the lucky winner of the special Albatross Club prize in the THP Holiday Cheer Contest. Specifically for those who may not remember, the prize detail was: "Private ball fitting for winner + 9 friends (For Albatross Club Members) - Bridgestone Golf Ball Fitting Team comes to winner’s home for private ball fitting event (Date TBD- during 2013 season pending Team and winner schedules). Winner receives year’s supply (12 dz) of ball model to which he/she is fit and a personalized Bridgestone mini-staff bag. 9 fitting guests receive BSG goodie bag with hat and dozen balls after fitting. Bridgestone will make it a dinner party and bring the food as well."
After some communication back in early February, today (May 11[SUP]th[/SUP]) was scheduled as the day that Bridgestone would show up at my humble abode and tell me what the best ball was for me. As the day approached, I gathered a group of six or seven guys together and shared the above info, but honestly, I had no more detail than the quoted section above.
At 11AM this morning, my doorbell rings, and the husband and wife fitting team of Mike and Trish are at my door to begin setup. They do fitting events for Bridgestone golf balls across Tennessee, parts of Kentucky, and northern Alabama from March through September, and it was obvious with the speed and efficiency of the whole operation (setup, fitting, and takedown) that they were very good at their jobs. But no, Bridgestone didn’t just send two folks to the house, they sent three. Mike and Trish were soon joined by Sam Fu, Marketing/Tour Support for Bridgestone. Sam maintains a very busy travel schedule, and will be ending next week at some little gathering at Reunion Resort next week doing a ball fitting for what sounds like an awesome group of people.
Sam very quickly showed me the first surprise for the day. While everyone was supposed to get a Bridgestone hat as part of their goodie pack, Bridgestone had taken the time and effort to make some very special hats with the THP logo on one side, and today’s date on the other. That simply blew me away. Not only that, but everyone attending took home both a black one and a white one. Above and beyond…above and beyond.
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Anyway, Mike and Trish setup a very nice launch monitor system (didn’t catch the model) complete with net and tent so that they can see the computer readout. The only problem with a ball fitting at a house is that said house is in the middle of a subdivision and really not the best logistics for people hitting drivers, however, despite my fears, only one ball missed the net, and it landed innocuously in a front yard – still glad it wasn’t me.
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Another unexpected part of the day was that Mike and Trish brought out three bags full of Bridgestone equipment that we could fiddle around with. A couple guys took a late opportunity to hit a J40 driver on the monitor, and both of them came away pretty impressed. For me, it is always a joy to get to lay hands on the great J40 line since so many stores still don’t carry it.
With the setup all in place, we each took a turn going through the ball fitting process. The first step was a brief conversation on what ball we were currently using and what we thought of it’s characteristics versus what we would like to have in a ball. At this point, they would let us hit whatever our current ball is (they must have had 40-50 different sleeves of competitors balls as a testing control), let us look at the numbers generated, then they would suggest a Bridgestone ball, let us hit a few, and see the numbers with that ball. Where a few guys were between Bridgestone models, they would let us hit both and see what the better fit was. At the end of the session, they wrote the numbers down of the ones we tried so that we could see/keep those handy. Then as the second surprise of the day, they handed each and every one of the people TWO dozen of the ball they were fit for. It was supposed to be just one.
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As the host, I was supposed to be fit to a ball and get 12 dozen of that ball. Sam told me early on that I would get those mailed to me (as will the bag since it wasn’t ready to bring with him this morning). Much to my surprise, when I got done with my fitting, he handed me two dozen B330-RX as well, on top of the ones I will get mailed later. As he was loading up at the end of the day, he handed me a few more dozen RX and a dozen RXS to try as well…so before I even get my actual “year’s” supply, I made out like a bandit.
Even beyond the generosity to me, there were several other things like that which took place out there. My wife was going to hit balls since we didn’t have all nine guests, but chickened out. She was talking to Sam, and he asked her what kind of golf balls she liked…her response “Pink Ones”. To which Sam walks back to the SUV, and brings back 2 dozen Pink e6s that they’ve made in a limited run for Mother’s Day. The funnier story was that one of my neighbors (who I had never met before ) just showed up and asked what was going on, and Sam handed him two dozen balls. Marketing (and kindness) at its finest.
As we were all getting started going through the fitting process, Sam ran back into town and came back with pizza, hot wings, soda, and beer. Does it really get much better than friends, golf, and food? Kind of sounds like a normal THP event.
While this whole process was going on, my boys were running around the yard like they had never been outside before, with my almost 5-year old wanting to stand by Trish and “help” her read the computer readout even though he had no clue what any of it meant. Even they had so much fun that he broke down into tears when they were all leaving and made me promise to take him to the fitting the next time they were in the area.
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With all that said in recap, it really was a day I won’t forget. Thanks doesn’t seem like a strong enough words in cases like this, but everyone at Bridgestone has gone overboard with both the original prize not to mention all the extra stuff I mentioned above. I was in Sam’s ear multiple times today, thanking him for all the support Bridgestone has shown THP between prizes like this or the Invitationals, the cool stuff they are doing at the Outing next week, the continued Morgan Cup support, and just the support of the community in general.
On top of that, another huge thanks to THP HQ for providing all of us opportunities to experience things that make us feel beyond special. Several in my group today had never heard of THP, but over the several hours, I certainly talked their ears off about all the exciting things that happen here more often than any of us have any right to expect.
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- Admin
- #68
AD,
That is awesome and a great write up. If you dont mind, would you create a new thread and copy and paste that post in it? Its so good, I want to make sure everybody sees how awesome that was.
That is awesome and a great write up. If you dont mind, would you create a new thread and copy and paste that post in it? Its so good, I want to make sure everybody sees how awesome that was.
Great recap Donne! Sounds like you had a great time!
Bridgestone is a great company and it just shows with all the great prizes and generosity they showed everyone. Glad everyone had a great time and got some cool swag to take with them to remember such a cool day.
Bridgestone is a great company and it just shows with all the great prizes and generosity they showed everyone. Glad everyone had a great time and got some cool swag to take with them to remember such a cool day.
golfinFF
Active member
Awesome write up Donne and sounds like you had one heck of a time!
