#TheGrandaddy Recap Thread & Special Announcement
Love me some Ethanator!
Accounting final is done, and now I can just focus on my writeup. I will have one ginmorous post going up sometime Saturday or Sunday. Putting it in a Word Document first and then copying and pasting into the thread.
Accounting final is done, and now I can just focus on my writeup. I will have one ginmorous post going up sometime Saturday or Sunday. Putting it in a Word Document first and then copying and pasting into the thread.
tpluff
I <3 GAWLF
#Grandaddy Recap (Part 1)
Lead Up/Prior to Arrival
I was selected in July to embark on this incredible journey. I was beyond excited to become the seventh member of the #DreamTeam, but I had no idea what was about to transpire. The months following the completion of the team were filled with working on my game and making sure I was mentally prepared to get under way. There's a saying that "Loose lips sink ships," and the #Zoocrew pirate ship isn't sinking any time soon. We have no idea what was about to happen or even if it was going to happen until we got our travel itinerary, which we were all very excited to get and made it all that much more real. As time got closer and the #DreamTeam bonded more, we had group texts with 300+ texts a day about anything (and that group text still lives on today). We were just building comradery,, having a meeting in Ohio, on the east cost, and in Iowa. As time got closer, this became all I could think about. My girlfriend got really exhausted by it because I was either talking with my #DreamTeam brothers or talking about it to her. As time drew closer and closer, I got even more excited to get this under way. Near sleepless nights for almost a week before hand, and I'm glad I got accustomed to it!
Sunday Arrival/Dinner
I was fortunate enough to meet with ATL(75) in Phoenix during our layover and have the same flight to San Diego. Right when I met up with him, he ordered me a beer, which was a sign of things to come. The scenery on the approach to San Diego was incredible, from flying right past the city to seeing the ship yards, it was incredible.
It was also a surreal sight seeing some holding a sign with my name on it. I have no idea who "Seth" is, but I enjoyed the ride from the airport to the hotel with ATL.
After the hotel it was a quick turnaround to play a round with TexasHacker at The Crossings. Nice little course there, but just a little taste of things to come.
Gradually the #DreamTeam assembled and we had a fantastic dinner at Twenty/20 at the hotel. Ben (TheAnnihilator) and his wife were able to join us for a short time and it was awesome to meet him in person. The night ended with some more time at the bar and a nice end to an exciting day, but again, only a taste of the things to come!
Lead Up/Prior to Arrival
I was selected in July to embark on this incredible journey. I was beyond excited to become the seventh member of the #DreamTeam, but I had no idea what was about to transpire. The months following the completion of the team were filled with working on my game and making sure I was mentally prepared to get under way. There's a saying that "Loose lips sink ships," and the #Zoocrew pirate ship isn't sinking any time soon. We have no idea what was about to happen or even if it was going to happen until we got our travel itinerary, which we were all very excited to get and made it all that much more real. As time got closer and the #DreamTeam bonded more, we had group texts with 300+ texts a day about anything (and that group text still lives on today). We were just building comradery,, having a meeting in Ohio, on the east cost, and in Iowa. As time got closer, this became all I could think about. My girlfriend got really exhausted by it because I was either talking with my #DreamTeam brothers or talking about it to her. As time drew closer and closer, I got even more excited to get this under way. Near sleepless nights for almost a week before hand, and I'm glad I got accustomed to it!
Sunday Arrival/Dinner
I was fortunate enough to meet with ATL(75) in Phoenix during our layover and have the same flight to San Diego. Right when I met up with him, he ordered me a beer, which was a sign of things to come. The scenery on the approach to San Diego was incredible, from flying right past the city to seeing the ship yards, it was incredible.
It was also a surreal sight seeing some holding a sign with my name on it. I have no idea who "Seth" is, but I enjoyed the ride from the airport to the hotel with ATL.
After the hotel it was a quick turnaround to play a round with TexasHacker at The Crossings. Nice little course there, but just a little taste of things to come.
Gradually the #DreamTeam assembled and we had a fantastic dinner at Twenty/20 at the hotel. Ben (TheAnnihilator) and his wife were able to join us for a short time and it was awesome to meet him in person. The night ended with some more time at the bar and a nice end to an exciting day, but again, only a taste of the things to come!
ATLGolfer
#ATLClive75
I'm sorry. It's now ATLClive75. I'll post in the name change thread shortly.
(Not really)
- Staff
- #331
I might change mine to BfastSliders
ATLGolfer
#ATLClive75
Not a good choice. You'd have everyone trying to eat you, because you are delicious.
I'm taking a shot at making those this weekend. I hope I can get close.
mikedean441
6X HOF
Hawk's recap of the Zoocrew is MUST READ!
AMart
#TheGrindIsReal
Really wanna stay on lunch an finish reading these recaps! Cat wait to get home and caught up.
golf4life
Grip n rip
Guys, awesome recaps so far. Hawk, LOVED your match recap. Made me feel like a spectator, awesome!!!
The more I read, the more jealous I am that I wasn't there, but also more pumped for the 8 of you (and Morgan and JB) that got to experience it. And paved the way for many more to come (thanks for not desoiling the Hideaway).
The more I read, the more jealous I am that I wasn't there, but also more pumped for the 8 of you (and Morgan and JB) that got to experience it. And paved the way for many more to come (thanks for not desoiling the Hideaway).
- Staff
- #337
Ely Callaway Performance Center – aka An Internet Golfer’s *** dream
We knew were going to ECPC, though that wasn’t until pretty close to the trip. I’d assumed we’d be at Cally HQ for Monday at first.
ECPC is very unique. You’re just driving down a road, when a dead end comes up and there’s this sign.
Then you take a left and everything is gated off. It's not an easy place to find or get into. When you finally get in, you start to see why. They have their own giant driving range. Oh, and a huge putting green and short game area if you're into those sorts of things. Here's what we saw when we peeked at the range...
From there, Harry and Finley welcome us, let us drop our stuff down and we head inside. We get a little background on the center and why it's where it is. Apparently, before companies could just create protos they'd rely on the aerospace industry to help them bring their designs to life. Very cool stuff.
There's a ton of pictures and memorabilia around at every corner worth looking at.
The thing is, the ECPC isn't just there for good looks and to amaze internet golfers. It's there to test and design equipment for both pros and ams and fit the best players in the world. The whole place is set up to do those things. During the day, we saw numerous 'regular' people - some male and some female - at a separate spot from the range. They were just hitting balls on trackman, so I asked what they were doing. Answer was that they were testing equipment.
Stopped by the club building room. What's this? Oh, not much. Just the wheel Roger Cleveland grinds wedges on...
There's a great putter lab with every Odyssey you can imagine and a fitting station. Can't share a pic since it's got some unreleased stuff in it. Sorry!
There's an Iron Byron and it's there to test launch conditions for new equipment, whether it's using a swing like Phil's or a swing like ATL75's.
After that we open the swag bags of awesome stuff, including the new X-Cage shoe and a bunch of shirts, hats, and a pullover.
The shoes are awesome. I wore them for 8-12 hours three days in a row and they stayed comfortable the entire time. Love those shoes! The cool thing about the hats is that not only were there three colors, there were both structured and unstructured - to make sure we got something that looked good and felt good. #aboveandbeyond
Upstairs, we signed NDA's and went over our itinerary. This is when Harry dropped the 14 club bomb on us. I was sitting right across from jlukes and he looked like he had been huffing the dentist's laughing gas. Huge goofy grin lol.
From there, we hit balls. All day long it felt like. Everything in the new line was there to hit, and if it wasn't they tried to get it for us. I'll talk about the equipment in the equipment threads, but needless to say it was a fantastic experience and there is a club out there for almost everybody in the new lines.
After that, a sit down with the R&D brains behind the products and they let us ask anything we wanted, even if it was a little controversial/pointed. I respected their ability to just open up like they did and came away smarter than when I sat down. Win!
Hungry? Oh no problem. We'll just bring in a humongous spread of mexican food to eat! Lunch was good, but we had to get back outside to get the last few guys fit.
Oh, did I mention that one of the guys fitting people was PHIL's PERSONAL FITTER? Seriously, the knowledge these guys had of the equipment and the swing was remarkable and I know that the guys learned more about their swings and what type of equipment they needed than they ever expected.
CPC was awesome. A true hidden gem.
We knew were going to ECPC, though that wasn’t until pretty close to the trip. I’d assumed we’d be at Cally HQ for Monday at first.
ECPC is very unique. You’re just driving down a road, when a dead end comes up and there’s this sign.
Then you take a left and everything is gated off. It's not an easy place to find or get into. When you finally get in, you start to see why. They have their own giant driving range. Oh, and a huge putting green and short game area if you're into those sorts of things. Here's what we saw when we peeked at the range...
From there, Harry and Finley welcome us, let us drop our stuff down and we head inside. We get a little background on the center and why it's where it is. Apparently, before companies could just create protos they'd rely on the aerospace industry to help them bring their designs to life. Very cool stuff.
There's a ton of pictures and memorabilia around at every corner worth looking at.
The thing is, the ECPC isn't just there for good looks and to amaze internet golfers. It's there to test and design equipment for both pros and ams and fit the best players in the world. The whole place is set up to do those things. During the day, we saw numerous 'regular' people - some male and some female - at a separate spot from the range. They were just hitting balls on trackman, so I asked what they were doing. Answer was that they were testing equipment.
Stopped by the club building room. What's this? Oh, not much. Just the wheel Roger Cleveland grinds wedges on...
There's a great putter lab with every Odyssey you can imagine and a fitting station. Can't share a pic since it's got some unreleased stuff in it. Sorry!
There's an Iron Byron and it's there to test launch conditions for new equipment, whether it's using a swing like Phil's or a swing like ATL75's.
After that we open the swag bags of awesome stuff, including the new X-Cage shoe and a bunch of shirts, hats, and a pullover.
The shoes are awesome. I wore them for 8-12 hours three days in a row and they stayed comfortable the entire time. Love those shoes! The cool thing about the hats is that not only were there three colors, there were both structured and unstructured - to make sure we got something that looked good and felt good. #aboveandbeyond
Upstairs, we signed NDA's and went over our itinerary. This is when Harry dropped the 14 club bomb on us. I was sitting right across from jlukes and he looked like he had been huffing the dentist's laughing gas. Huge goofy grin lol.
From there, we hit balls. All day long it felt like. Everything in the new line was there to hit, and if it wasn't they tried to get it for us. I'll talk about the equipment in the equipment threads, but needless to say it was a fantastic experience and there is a club out there for almost everybody in the new lines.
After that, a sit down with the R&D brains behind the products and they let us ask anything we wanted, even if it was a little controversial/pointed. I respected their ability to just open up like they did and came away smarter than when I sat down. Win!
Hungry? Oh no problem. We'll just bring in a humongous spread of mexican food to eat! Lunch was good, but we had to get back outside to get the last few guys fit.
Oh, did I mention that one of the guys fitting people was PHIL's PERSONAL FITTER? Seriously, the knowledge these guys had of the equipment and the swing was remarkable and I know that the guys learned more about their swings and what type of equipment they needed than they ever expected.
CPC was awesome. A true hidden gem.
T2GRN18
Active member
This was our introduction to Callaway Up close and personal. This was one of the things that I looked forward to from the day I was selected. I'm not going to rehash all the details that have been talked about by Gregdan, this is going to be from my eyes, the perceptions, and thoughts that really hit home for me.
Meeting Harry, Jason and the rest of the people that clearly have the pulse of what goes on at Callaway was something i will never forget. During the tour of the facility, I found my self thinking things like. This is where all the magic on tour starts! All the awesome shot making we see from the Callaway Staffer starts right here. We set out on a tour of the facility with some pretty awesome things to be seen. Getting to see the club building room, the indoor fitting studio, the putting studio and everything around that building really cemented how awesome this was going to be. Our first bit of swag was presented to us on the tour, and we were all pretty darned excited to receive everthing. Blown away! The swag we were given really filled us out as a team, wearing the same shirts and hats just felt so cool! We went up stairs and took care of a few logistic and legal matters. This is when Harry dropped the major bomb about the 14 club fitting. We were off to the outdoors fitting area and range.
I remember this vividly, we had all made our way out to the range, I stopped at my luggage to put away the things that I was wearing upon arrival. I turned around and just stood there, I wanted to take it all in. Looking out at the range, smelling the air, feeling the chill in the air. I was so amazing. I was here; I was about to embark on something that was so huge!
I made my way down to the range to my bag, took a few swings with a wedge to loosen up a bit. There was equipment everywhere, and they were pulling more out. I was just amazing! The guys that were doing the fitting were awesome. Knowledge levels that I'm sure you only find at those kinds of fitting centers. I spent a bunch of time picking their brains about what would be best for my game.
It was time to get into the fitting; Garret asked me what I wanted to test out. My words were "I have no preconceived notions of what clubs I want, I just want what’s going to be best for me and my game" He watched me hit a few irons shots with my current gamers to get an idea of what I was working with. His recommendation was to go with the APEX Pro's, pretty much all standard loft and lie, which didn't shock me to much. But, because I'm a little wristy in my swing he recommended I have them bent to the stronger side of to help flight the ball down. At that point I headed over to work on the top end of the bag to get a feel for what was there. Played around with wedges, and getting inside for a little putter action. Just that fast, time was up for our morning session and we were headed for our "working lunch"
During the lunch session with the people from R&D. They were awesome, answering questions, talking equipment, how things work differently between here and the Asian market. There was not one question asked that didn't get answered. It was amazing to hear them talk about what they do. Each and every one of them had Passion resonating in the words they spoke.
My favorite quote was "IF YOU BUILD COOL SH!T, PEOPLE WILL BUY IT"
There was one point during the talks that I looked back at the Table where Jason Finley, Harry, and Doc Hoc were sitting and we were talking all Callaway Golf, but there were several MacBooks Open in front of them. For me there was a parallel right there infront of me. Apple and Callaway. Both companies treat their employees well, appreciate what they do for the company, and empower their employees to get it done!
After lunch we headed back out to the range for more demo and fitting work. I was fitted into the Big Bertha Alpha with Fubuki K60 shaft, and the Fairway woods I’m going with Fubuki K70 tipped 1 ½ inches. While talking to Garret about the 3Deep I told him I Had on in the bag already, and he said let me see you hit it. I took a few swings with it, hit it well, but he wanted to see if we could bring the ball down a little bit and add a little distance. He said how about I put the shaft in it we’re putting in you 2Deep so at least they will all match! Blown away again! So he did just that, came back out with, we let it set up a bit and took it for a few swings. Amazing the difference, while he had in the Club build room he also changed the loft from 14.5 to straight up 14. Just so awesome. It was time to swap out the bags, and load up the party bus for Palm Desert.
- Joined
- Sep 11, 2013
- Messages
- 75,975
- Reaction score
- 90,520
- Location
- Ponte Vedra, Florida
- Handicap
- 11.9
Awesome recaps of this tryly special and one of a kind events. While reading each and every one if these I drifted off to Sunny California and seemed to be drifting in the sky while the Grandaddy unfolded. That's what this place can do to you. Living through other golfer's while being immersed in their experiences.
Like so many others that have gone before me, I am now locked in this journey with all of you. Being fairly new still I have had the pleasure of making some unique friendships.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Like so many others that have gone before me, I am now locked in this journey with all of you. Being fairly new still I have had the pleasure of making some unique friendships.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
CAA_Beat
Active member
Hawk...Great bio of each of the #Zoocrew, really drives home the fact that while we may look up to them for the positions they hold (that we all dream about) they are just normal people that love golf like we do. Really good personal insight!!
TP..nice recap. I remember you being named, I'm pretty sure it was your birthday (21st?) and how overwhelmed you were...rightfully so. I had only been a member here for about a month at that time, and that was one of the things that first told me what was this community was going to be like.
So happy for all you guys to experience that.
TP..nice recap. I remember you being named, I'm pretty sure it was your birthday (21st?) and how overwhelmed you were...rightfully so. I had only been a member here for about a month at that time, and that was one of the things that first told me what was this community was going to be like.
So happy for all you guys to experience that.
CAA_Beat
Active member
Just think, this time next year, we'll be reading your recap...I would love to be mentioned in it
uman
Oldest guy in the room
- Joined
- Apr 20, 2012
- Messages
- 1,163
- Reaction score
- 50
- Location
- Lake Saint Louis, Missouri
- Handicap
- back srg'y
Wow, such a special read here. The first GRANDADDY was clearly a week of perfection. Thanks to the Dream Teamers and JB, for capturing the great stuff that took place, and thanks to the Zoo Crew and Callaway for being perfect hosts.
Nebgolfer
Active member
I am loving this thread, and so thankful that I happened to take today off work so I can read it all without worrying about my boss catching me. I am just floored by how amazing this event was for all of you, and continue to be blown away by Callaway. Prior to joining THP they weren't on my radar at all for equipment or anything, and now they are dead freaking center because not only do they produce cool and innovative products, but they do all the non-equipment things so right as well. Thanks for sharing these recaps, and I can't wait to read everything else as you all have time to get it out of your head and onto a keyboard.
Agreed, gives you a great insight into an incredible group of golf industry professionals, it's so cool they all took time out of their schedules to compete and interact, I've got a ton of respect for Callaway as a whole and the Zoo Crew. Big kudos to them all!
- Staff
- #349
What people don't realize (we certainly didn't at first) was that these guys were just as excited as us. Apparently those who weren't lucky enough to go were getting tired of hearing how excited everybody else was lol. Though they work in the industry, hitting up one of the most exclusive clubs in the planet for a crazy two days of RC style golf, drinking, and eating is definitely a rare treat.
To them, this was as much a magical trip as it was for us. No doubt about that.
To them, this was as much a magical trip as it was for us. No doubt about that.