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2015 Wilson Staff Tour For THPers - Staff Proto

SuperStroke
Rusty Casino said:
You were nervous? Imagine hearing your name being paired up with Vrska. Like you said though, it was like a buddies golf game.
And how many regular guys can say they've played with Duffy and Michael Vrska? Pretty cool experience.
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Haha it was a blast playing with the man, myth and legend (Vrska), the pink puma, and my new favorite pilot.

Rusty - looking back its funny that one carts combined handicap was less than each of ours. The fact that I didn't notice this until I'm in the airport just shows how great Dave and Vrska were as partners. #amazingpeopleallaround


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I am long winded and I want to make sure I cover all basis. I had several memorable things this weekend, so if I forget anything, please forgive me!

What. A. Weekend!

Day one traveling in:
Chicago is a big effing airport lugging golf clubs. I hopped of the plane in shear excitement and not knowing what to expect. I walked from Terminal 1 down to 3 to meet Carlos (CMedina). Met up with him after looking like a total creep starring at people wondering if it was him, just to see if they had the same confused look on their face. Boom, spotted a Wilson Staff hat, so we were off and rolling. We had to walk BACK to terminal one to get a shuttle. We hopped on the shuttle to go meet Gary (Molten) at the car rental place... Well it took us a freaking half hour to wait to find a shuttle. Finally got to Thrifty to meet Gary and we got the van. Not just ANY Van, but THE VAN! Think free candy and puppies in the back... Or, think of a flower delivery van. It was not a good look. We pulled back up to the airport to get John and Tom (JohnSinVA and Deuce). Next thing you know, we are five deep in the van and bags are loaded up. We all get checked in to our rooms and here we goooooo!


Round 1, Cog Hill and Meet and Greet:
You could sense the excitement of everyone.. Just to be on the golf course and soon approaching a once in a lifetime golf experience. We had two tee times blocked off and we played Cog Hill #2 Ravines. A lot of good golf was played and there were some great shots. My foursome almost died twice... Shannon (SGbani) drove the freaking green on hole one while we were putting. Our entire foursome loved it, that ball was flat out pounded. Hole two, Shannon smoked another drive and it landed about 10 yards short of the green. When I say, he hits it long... Holy sweet hell. It was a great time had and I think everyone enjoyed themselves. Once we got done, we zoomed over to Geno's East (without showering) to meet JB. We all got there and there was plenty of Deep Dish Pizza ordered. Then walk in this random Canadian, who definitely was lost in the States. Dave (Rusty Casino) comes in and the hockey and curling jokes are flying. Then Colts football comes on and I am zoned in... All while taking ribbing from everyone. Mike, Rob Dean and Winchell all finally get there and we officially have a nice event rocking and rolling. Pizza was sensational, but the laughs were better.


Day 2, Touring headquarters and being fit:
Our morning started by getting to Wilson HQ at 8am to be happily welcomed by the Wilson folks. Lindsey gave us a great tour of several floors explained all kinds of cool information to us about the company. I saw a handful of Colts horseshoes, so I was smiling from ear to ear. We were welcomed with open arms by everyone that we came in contact with. Fast forward a little bit and we are sitting at a square table discussion with the freaking President of Wilson Golf. Holy smokes.. The Wilson guys literally explained everything and went over the 2016 line up (you guys are in for a treat). From golf balls, to clubs, to everything. We had a Q&A and what I enjoyed the most, not a single question was off limits. We had amazing breakfast, a swag bag filled with goodies and a bunch of laughs. But now.... Off to The Glen Club to get fit and demo a bunch of the 2016 line up. We had 3 world class fitters doing a fitting for us. We hit balls of lie boards, let them watch us take plenty of cuts and they had our specs matched to a tee before you know it. They literally had our custom build sheets on a clip board and they were built that freaking day. What an amazing experience hearing Duffy tell me my specs and a couple reasons why I get a certain ball flight and being able to correct it in a matter of 60 seconds. After the fitting was done, we got to grab lunch at The Glen Club. This club house was astonishing and the food was incredible.


Day 2, dinner at Harry Caray's:
Private room and filet mignon. I do not need to say anymore. Heard some cool new things that W/S has in plans and watched Vrska lose his kind over the Cubs. All in all, a wonderful meal for my first time in Chicago. However, the filet was delicious, but getting our custom fit clubs was the even bigger treat!


Day 3, round at The Highlands of Elgin:
All of the THP'ers, along with Vrska, Duffy and Doug from Wilson Staff were out there! Warmed up on the range with our new sticks and before you knew it, we were standing on the first tee with everyone watching. My foursome consisted of Doug, from W/S (genuinely one of the nicest guys I have ever met and one of the most approachable human beings as well), Shannon and John! We had plenty of laughs and some really good shots!! Shannon bombs it.. Plain and simple.. John makes such good ball contact! The laugh of the day was on 15 when John thought he could jump out of a moving cart to chase a flock of geese away from us. Needless to say, I hope you have a good explanation for your wife and all of those grass stains on your pants. Before you realized, we were driving up the 18th fairway with my first THP event coming to an end. It was bittersweet.. It was a lot of fun and I built some great friendships with these guys. I played solid golf (82, 83), but that was an after thought.

Final thoughts:
Thank you Wilson Staff and THP for a memorable trip... JB and Morgan, thank you guys for the site and the events you put together. They give us average golfers a chance to feel special. Thank you Carlos for being an awesome roommate. I laughed til I almost pissed my britches and I cannot wait to do it again. If you are ever in VA, my friend, you have a place to stay! Gary, thank you for driving everywhere, eff the tolls! It was a pleasure hanging out with you and just laughing at everything. You are going to be a special patent lawyer buddy! Deuce, your smile after being fit summed up the entire trip. Thanks for the booster seat, maybe your Sooners needed a sippy cup against the Longhorns! John S, your 360 tumble out of the cart fit your perfectly. It was great riding along with you in the cart and getting those fist bumps after a good shot. Dave, you are the coolest Canadian I've ever hung around with, even though I've only ever hung around one of you! Ha, honestly one of the most genuine guys I've met. Shannon, it was a pleasure to watch you hit a driver my man and great to talk golf with you. Mike Dean, does everyone give you crap at all events... If so, just remember 3 time hall of famer and best par 3 shot of the day on 15! Nuff said! Winchell, your outfit was well worn and watching you hit a golf ball, you could have came out there in a dress and beat all of us combined. Rob Dean, we didn't get to chat it up much, but was that a love seat as a putter head and did Duffy give you crap all round? Chicago was a blast and until next time. I am sorry for writing a freaking novel, but I wanted to make sure I covered everything in case there is another 1st time event go'er that is skeptical or nervous about going. Those strangers you meet for the first time, will quickly make you feel like friends.

Cheers to you guys!
 
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I wish everyone safe travels on their way home. Thank you to JohnSinVA and deuce for letting me crash in your room a couple nights. To all my playing partners: cmedina84, manlai, JohnSinVA, sanzabar, Doug @W/S, you made the rounds memorable and fun. Great shots by everyone. Loved seeing Sanzabar hitting the flagstick with his approach on 11th at Elgin; JohnSinVA chasing geese and crushing some iron shots; Doug chipping it real close, and Doug and I being 'cart consistent' with our drives in the same section of weeds too often.

Rusty Casino, it was great to meet you, glad you had a blast and hoped you liked the 'scenic' routes we took.

My first THP event and first time playing with THPers, it was simply amazing. Everyone were class acts. Not enough words.

To everyone at W/S, JB, GolferGal, you did a tremendous job at organizing probably the best golf experiences of my life.

The 2016 new products from W/S are a 'must consider'. I was pounding the F5 fairway woods on Friday. Great sound, goes far. The hybrids are just as nice.
(Vrska saw my old beat-up Wilson 3W and said "time for an upgrade". The F5 is on my list for next year.)

W/S is taking it to a new level; so glad to see the insights at a great company.
 
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JB said:
Forgiveness?
How about hitting two balls at once, side by side (on purpose) and having them both land on the green 145 yards away? #HeelToePower
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Film this commercial now!


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2015 Wilson Staff Tour For THPers - Staff Proto

My wife is here in Chicago and we are touring around for a couple of days so I'll do my recap in a couple of days.
I will say quickly that THP and W/S did a great job of selecting the 8 other THPers that were invited. All superstars. What a great bunch of guys.
441, thanks for cheering me on when I made a putt over 6 inches. That was a tough day on the greens. You're a good man.
JB, thanks for breaking the ice and immediately start making fun of the Canadian. It set the tone for the entire event and it was a blast. Enjoy the Gibsons.
Vrska, thanks for making the round enjoyable. Very positive from the beginning. I know you saw some Streelman like abilities in me. We'll talk about my endorsement.
Duffy, I want to see your ID. No way you're 31. Thanks for the awesome sticks and congrats on being such an accomplished fitter at such a young age. Awesome to see.
Anyways, back to sightseeing in Chicago.
Recap coming soon.

Rusty "The Canadian" Casino.
 
Looking forward to the wrist healing up and getting some more swings in with these irons. Absolutely loves what i saw with my 8I range time yesterday
 
mikedean441 said:
Looking forward to the wrist healing up and getting some more swings in with these irons. Absolutely loves what i saw with my 8I range time yesterday
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How about some photos for us unable to attend?
 
I'll get my review up tomorrow. My knees and back are killing me today. Trying to get some rest before back to work tomorrow aka when I'll be writing my summary! Thank you again THP and Wilson Staff for an amazing weekend. Looking forward to more events!


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2015 Wilson Staff Proto Event Recap:

This event was just a great experience of a game I love so much! I can tend to ramble a lot and I'll do my best not to but there was just so much that I can't help it!:

Day 1:

My day started during the ungodly hours of the day. It didn't help much that on Wednesday night I was up until 12:30am working on our house but on Thursday morning I was up at 3:30am to catch my 6am flight! Process through to my gate went smoothly with the exception of the old lady behind me saying the TSA guys needed to stop acting cute and open more lines. I wasn't about to let her whining get my day off on the wrong foot because I was heading out to my very first THP event! I got in to O'hare 20 minutes early, WIN!!! Nothing like getting in early as a perk to the trip I was on. Immediately, reached out to my roommate for the the weekend, Brian aka Sanzabar. It wasn't hard to spot Brian because we both had grins on our face dragging our huge golf bags around looking around as if we were lost, which we kind of were? Brian and I were the exact same people. We both started this game late, and when we both started it we immediately were hooked! Our desire to always want to strike the ball well and score low was there after we both picked up our first club. However, Brian showed the proof of his fantastic ability to strike the ball well, myself, not so much this weekend! If you're ever in New England area my door is open and you can crash with us! Once we made our way out of the airport we waited for the eternity shuttle for Thrifty Car Rental where we were to meet Gary aka Molten. I am pretty sure the shuttle they have at Thrifty circles the airport once every 24 hours because it took FOREVER for that van to pick us up! Eventually we got to Thrifty and we met Gary. He came out and said he "got the biggest van they had." I thought man we're gonna have this huge Econoline and I sure hope he can drive it.....thought wrong! Instead, we got the coolest van that possessed an awesome amount of character! This is pretty much what it looked like...except a more passenger friendly version....
ford-transit-chicago1-630.jpg


As we rolled out of the rental place and back to hell aka Chicago O'hare airport, to pick up Tom aka Deuce and John aka JohnSinVa, we got to know a little more about Gary. Gary's a patent lawyer and a badass because he drives a Tesla, which immediately made me fill with jealousy and envy because it's a reach out dream car for me but then again we were rolling in a box van so the ride was pretty comparable! After we picked up Tom and John it was off to Cog Hill! Let's say that was an interesting ride there. Apparently the state of Illinois enjoys collecting tolls every mile! Gary set the tone of how we were going to handle keeping .60-.80 cents of exact change for these stupid tolls.....method: Eff it! This style proved to be the easiest way of keeping exact change. Take that I-pass! Once we got to Cog Hill we met up with Shannon aka Sgbani. Let me tell you, if you're ever in the Chicago area, hit up this course! The facility is HUGEEEEEE! We all took to the putting green for a brief moment then off it was! We were playing course 32 Ravines. I was paired with Shannon and a fellow THP'er Sam aka manlai. Sam was a great guy to play with and shared some of his stories of the different THP events he attended. The first hole started off just right! 2 of the 3 of us (myself and sam) hit the fairway and were off to a good start. Sgbani unfortunately had some issues to worry about off the tee box.....and those issues weren't about hitting in the rough or in the woods, they were actually worrying if he was going to kill someone on the green! The guy drops BOMBS on the golf ball! He landed the first green (305+ yards) as the first group of THP'ers were walking off it! You can't appreciate the fluidity, smoothness, and power of his swing unless you play with it. He is a true example of how a nice smooth swing will deliver all the power you need! I got off to an ok start on teh first few holes but started to fade fast! I was forcing the ball to go distances I can't reach instead of just putting a good hit on it, but that didn't stop me from having fun! I was just glad I was there, on a beautiful day enjoying a game I love with some great people.

After our rounds, which I didn't keep score off because I was just struggling so much, we headed straight to Genos East for my first experience with deep dish pizza and meet and greets! As we got there in came strolling a random stranger who eh, was named Dave eh, aka Rusty Casino eh. Boy did the canadian jokes come flying in! The guy is a trooper and took it well but all in all is a great guy with a great positive energy! He has some great stories from a mile above the ground so if you ever get to meet him, chat with him because he's a pilot and knows all the behind the scenes stories and has some good ones to share! Apparently I was the only one at Genos Easty who was able to put down a whole deep dish pizza, along with a dozen spinach and mozzarella sticks. What can I say, I like to eat! After dinner we all decided to call it quits for the night and prep for the following day!

Day 2:

Sanzabar and I were up and awake early running on pure excitement of what awaited us. We met up with Deuce and JohnSinVA in the lobby and we all had our grins of excitement displayed on our faces. Molten was kind enough to pick us up in the creepy van filled with puppies and candy, and cart us around all week. He was running a few minutes late to pick us up because apparently from our previous day of travel and golf we left the van smelling like fresh roses and dying roadkill. Molten was able to keep it together and not pass out from the sudden punch in the nose. We arrived at Wilson HQ and from the outside it just looks like your typical industrial complex with tall buildings, it was inside where the surprises await you! If you haven't seen the pictures during the live thread, go back and take a look. This place is amazing! I can't believe the folks at Wilson HQ call this place work! From all the memorabilia, to all the gear both new and protoype, to their break rooms. The Wilson HQ is just stunning! After our tour, it was pedal to the metal! We grabbed some breakfast and hopped in a conference room where we got to meet the Wilson Staff team. It was there we were wowed from the start! The entire Wilson HQ team was genuine and so down to earth! We even had an open Q&A with THE president of Wilson Staff, Tim Clarke. They run a very tight ship at Wilson Staff and have plans to keep on making their run to the top of the golf industry! Based on their presentation of the direction they are heading, Wilson Staff will be going nowhere but up in the golf market!

After the presentations and hands on preview of the 2016 line of irons, we were fired up and ready to hit the Glen Club driving range to test these bad boys out! We arrived to a Wilson Staff tent set up with clip boards lined up and ready to be logged with our information for how our clubs were to be built. It was there we met with the fitting professionals of Wilson Staff Duffy, Steve, and John. We were able to get warmed up by trying out some of the new irons they had in store for 2016. They also had bags full of the new drivers, fairways, and hybrid clubs ready to be tried too, however, because I am a lefty there was nothing for me to demo when it came to the drivers, fairways, and hybrids.

Skip forward a little bit to my fitting. I wish I had my best game going but out of the blue, not sure if it was nerves or over excitement, I developed a case of the dreaded S word. John was my fitter for the day. John's patience with me is what stook out! It takes a very professional and genuine person to be able to stick it out and work with me when I start to hit like that. He took his time to get me out of the funk and get in some good shots and took in my thoughts on whether that shot was how i usually hit or was just shear luck. After finally stringing along some good shots, John got my specs written and ready to be processed and taken by Duffy for build. After fitting it was in to the Glen Club dining room where lunch was kindly provided by Wilson Staff. Man it was delicious! They don't kid around when they feed you at these events! I tip my hat to you guys because you really know how to feed us right!

After our lunch and fitting it was back to the hotel for some rest and digesting both what we experienced and all the food we ate. After relaxing it was off to Harray Carray's for some dinner provided by THP. I have no words for this place. Only word I have is Wow! This food was just amazing but the company was even more amazing! Harray Carray's is a must go to if you're in the area looking for some good food! Thank you JB, Morgan, and all of THP for providing us with this amazing dinner! The highlight of dinner was Duffy telling us had had our clubs built and ready to be passed on to us. It was Christmas morning all over for us! When it was time to leave the restaurant we all hovered around Duffy and followed him to our cars. There they were, Wilson Staff boxes with our names on them. The excitement and appreciation everyone had was pouring out from us! Once our clubs were in hand, we parted ways back to our hotels to prep our bags with our new clubs for our Saturday morning round at The Highlands of Elgin golf course.

Day 3:

We all started the morning off by grabbing some breakfast on the way to the golf course. We all caught up and talked about our fittings and how we thought things went and what we hoped for out of these clubs. Although 45 minutes away, as soon as you pull up to The Highlands of Elgin, you are just blown away. The course is just stunning! It makes that 45 minute drive verrrrryyyy much worth it! We got to the range and boom starting hitting these clubs! I was very impressed! With all the new technology Wilson Staff has in store for 2016, everyone is going to be blown away! The feel, the control, the distance, and the forgiveness of these clubs are going to have people posting their old irons in the market place! For my round I was paird up with Tom (Deuce), Rob (Robman7), and the man himself Duffy! I have no words for the round. My tee box game wasn't strong but the amount of laughs and jokes we had on the course made it feel like I shot par. Duffy is HYSTERICAL! Rob, was the target of the round. Between his putter sounding like a ping pong match to Duffy saying he had hands as soft and stable as a Civil War surgeon, he took it all like a champ and is a very funny guy on the course! I highly recommend you pair yourself with him too! During the round I got to know Tom more too as we both were cart mates. Tom and I hopefully can meet up next time I'm in myrtle beach and play some golf together! I'm usually down there 2 times a year so we plan on getting together for a few rounds next time I'm in the area! The overall round wasn't a good score for me and I decided to put scoring aside and just let loose and have fun because really, that's what these events are all about! I for sure was paired with a great group who focused on fun and couldn't be any more thankful for it all! Duffy can blast a ball! He easily has to be pushing 320+ even on a windy day like we had!

After the round it was time for all of us to part ways. In the parking lot, none of us could express how grateful we were for everything THP and Wilson Staff had done for us the whole weekend. Words cannot express how exciting and amazing this weekend was. Thank you to all of you at THP for coordinating this event and selecting me as Wilson Staff's golfer for these new irons! Thank you to Wilson Staff for giving us this opportunity to be the very first members to possess and review these irons! I can't wait to release images and my review come January 1st! My mind is racing with ideas for the review. To all the guys who were there with me at this event, thank you for the awesome time! From Cog Hill to Top Golf to designating ourselves at the hosel tester and club toe tester the laughs and fun were endless! Hope all of you had time to rest and soak it all in! I look forward to seeing you guys at other THP events! For those of you who are along the route to Myrtle Beach I hope on my way down I can catch a round with you! If any of you come to the New England area please reach out to me, I'd love to catch up and get a round in! Thank you again all involved for such great memories! See you soon! Until then, hit them far and as straight as you can!
 
It was great meeting you CM.
 
Great recap, it was awesome meeting you and Im glad you had such a great weekend!
 
Great recap loved all the details.

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THP'ers... Truly a great time for me and the Wilson Staff team. I enjoyed getting to know 9 golf nerds, just like me, who I now consider friends.

I am glad to see that the lucky #StaffProto invitees enjoyed it and it looks like all of you following this thread enjoyed it almost as much. Just wait till January when the real posting fireworks begins!

We are looking forward to and planning on an even bigger and better event next year. I will be there... Will you? I hope so. And thanks again for all the THP love and support.

Michael Vrska (vgolfman)
 
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Excellent recap Carlos! Was a pleasure to be your cart mate for the Saturday round. You can bomb that mini too. We'll tee it up again soon brother!
 
vgolfman said:
THP'ers... Truly a great time for me and the Wilson Staff team. I enjoyed getting to know 9 golf nerds, just like me, who I now consider friends.

I am glad to see that the lucky #StaffProto invitees enjoyed it and it looks like all of you following this thread enjoyed it almost as much. Just wait till January when the real posting fireworks begins!

We are looking forward to and planning on an even bigger and better event next year. I will be there... Will you? I hope so. And thanks again for all the TPH love and support.

Michael Vrska (vgolfman)
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I can safely say I will be too.
We have something very cool planned.
 
First off let me begin by thanking everyone at THP and Wilson Staff who worked to take this idea and bring it to fruition. I won't try to name all the names of the people who worked hard to put together a fantastic weekend and experience for 9 fortunate THPers because I will invariably leave someone out. There simply aren't enough ajectives in the English language to describe the experience or to express my gratitude for this opportunity. #StaffProto truly was an unforgettable event and I look forward to seeing what THP and Wilson Staff have in store for the future.

Thursday, 8 Oct:

My flight was delayed by thirty minutes but I still managed to get to O'Hare in time to meet up with several fellow THPers. Having walked what seemed like a mile from my terminal to terminal 1 I had just missed CMedina84 and Sanzabar, who caught the rental shuttle over to meet Molten. I stayed behind to catch up with deuce who was just a few minutes behind me, having endured both the monsoon which hit South Carolina and his connection in Atlanta. Timing couldn't have been better since Molten was waiting with his rental right after we caught up. And what a rental it was! A nice boxy van with beautiful champagne colored paint. The paint and the fact that the passenger doors had windows were the only things that differentiated this van from one that might be used to perform a kidnapping in a movie. Van jokes began early and were plentiful throughout the weekend.

We were able to get early check-in at our hotel and headed directly for Cog Hill and caught up sgbani who stopped on his way down from Madison, and manlai who lives in the area and joined us for the round. The pictures and descriptions anyone who followed the Gauntlet threads saw don't really do this place justice. Aside from the four eighteens, if there is any aspect of your golf game you want to work on, Cog Hill has a place for you to do it. It really is an incredible facility. We also paid what was a very reasonable rate for the course we played, Ravines, and the facility in general. Ravines is a very nice track which provides challenging holes where shot placement is important, but also offers plenty of scoring opportunities. It also eats golf balls. I went off in the first group and rode with deuce while Molten and Sanzabar took the lead. My tee shot on the first hole hit a tree on the left and everyone on the tee (which was all seven THPers at the time) saw it come down, somewhere. Needless to say, it went undiscovered and in the interests of getting play moving I dropped and continued on to the green, only to be assaulted by sgbani's first tee shot which arrived as we were headed off. Four impressed guys moved on, hit some good shots, some dungers, but had a great time playing a really fun and challenging course. If you play there, by all means bring your putting A game, you'll need it. It was also great meeting manlai - always good to meet a fellow THPer.

The meet and greet was filled with plenty of great food and laughs. JB was glad to meet us all but I think he was taken slightly aback by our electing to come directly to Geno's from Cog Hill rather than stopping to shower beforehand. We caught up with Rusty Casino when we arrived and were finally joined by the contingent from Ohio: Robman7, DavidWinchell, and 441. Chicago deep dish is everything it's said to be. I prefaced mine with an antipasto salad to get some roughage into my system before indulging. CMedina84 gets the award for the evening, however, by throwing down an order of mozzarella sticks and his entire pie. Rusty Casino finished his as well, sans appetizer, while the rest of us left at least one slice behind. It pained me to leave a slice on deck but I just didn't have it in me to finish the job.

To be continued...
 
Friday, 9 Oct:

Molten's party van had us at Wilson HQ just after 0800. Just walking around and seeing the amount of sports history that the Wilson brand has been a part of left me in awe. Each sport's area was decorated using a theme related to that sport. My particular favorite was the entrance to the Tennis area, which had gingerbread style "siding" made out of tennis balls. Way cool. Needless to say the second floor is my kind of break area, certainly conducive to stress relief.

We had a tasty breakfast awaiting and sat down to a video presentation. Q&A was pretty much weapons free with everyone in the room, including the division president. They were genuinely interested in our questions and comments and, speaking as a consumer, this was not lost on me and very much appreciated. This group is definitely passionate about the game and their products and have a very strong desire to put Wilson Staff back among the leaders in the golf industry.

We headed out to Glen Club for fittings and we got the chance to hit some of their newest offerings. I hit the new F5 driver and was getting a nice boring trajectory with plenty of carry, something that I don't see very often with my current driver. I spent some time with the fairway and hybrid offerings as well. Both were incredibly solid, with good flight and more foreivness than one would expect of clubs in the better player classification. Duffy, John, and Steve began taking guys aside for their fittings and in the meantime I began to get acquainted with the latest better player iron offerings. These really are excellent performing and very good looking irons. Despite me being a mid-high handicapper, I got along with them quite nicely.

My turn came to get fit in the prototypes and Steve and I shook hands and found a nearby vacant tee box. Steve started me off with the KBS Tour 90 in Regular flex, Standard L/L/L. I threw out some chunked shots that we ignored but after a few swings hit a decent groove. Steve then switched me to a stiff since he was concerned that my transition was a bit strong for regular. I was getting good ball flight but was missing out toward the toe. He adjusted length and lie a few times and pretty soon had me at 1/2" short and 2* flat, something that I would never have imagined and all the more reason to go through a fitting with an open mind. At that setting I still had a bit of toe bias but was dialed in close to the sweet spot. Afterward, the folks at Wilson treated us to a delicious lunch inside. On our way back to the hotel I suggested we hit Portillo's for chocolate cake shakes. It didn't take much convincing and we stopped off and everyone got a shake. Thanks again to Sanzabar for picking them up. Delicious!

Later that evening we convened at Harry Caray's for dinner. The menu offerings all looked quite appealing and we enjoyed great conversation along with great food. There was plenty of talk on all subjects and more than a few Canadian jokes thrown in Rusty Casino's direction, all of which he took in stride. The only slight damper on the evening was a loss suffered by the hometown Cubs, which was quickly fogotten when Duffy announced that he had boxes with our names on them (literally) for us in his vehicle and that we could take our freshly built prototypes with us that evening. Once we arrived back at our hotel we delayed re-arranging our bags only to conduct some people watching as there were quite a few other events going on at the hotel which were being attended by a particularly interesting subset of humanity. Once that was done, we headed down for a nightcap at the hotel bar. The combination of an early start to the day, fittings, and a gluttonous portion of superb food and drink finally took their toll on me and I dozed off at the table, fat, dumb, happy, and not a bit ashamed to show my age and lack of stamina.

Saturday, 10 Oct:

At roughly who knows how early I awoke and heard a rustling from across the room, followed by some footsteps and the door opening and closing as one of my roommates exited. I was horrified by the thought that the copious amount of food and drink I had consumed the day before was causing me to snore with a noise remeniscent of a wood chipper with failing bearings and that I had kept the rest of the room awake to the point of frustration. I turned over and covered my head with pillows as best as I could without self-asphyxiating and returned to what was, hopefully, more quiet slumber. At about 0530 I was awake again with no hope of returning to sleep. I stirred and saw deuce looking at his cellphone which immediately indicated to me that my pillow experiment was a failure and the other remaining person was still wide awake. I quietly got out of bed and dressed to go to the lobby for coffee. I went unacknowledged so I could only assume I had pi$$ed off not only deuce, but also sgbani, who was obviously the one who had left the room however long before. I walked out quietly, head hung in shame, and went to the lobby for coffee. With my first cup in hand I went out to sgbani's car and peeked in the windows to see if he was sleeping there. I felt some slight relief when I saw that his car was empty. When I finally saw him before we left, sgbani explained that he couldn't sleep and went out to work off some nervous energy. deuce also said I wasn't making a racket, but I still think they may have just been saying that to be kind and were in reality one step away from binding and gagging me so that they could rest.

I hopped into the kidnapper special along with Sanzabar and CMedina84, while sgbani took deuce and Rusty, with The Highlands of Elgin awaiting. But first, several somehow hungry stomachs needed a morning recharge and we made our way to Millie's Pancake Shoppe for breakfast. sgbani and I were scoping out potential stops along the way the evening before and he concluded that Millie's looked like the best option. After he read the menu, I quickly agreed and the measure was passed with no dissenting votes. At Millie's, CMedina84 once again demonstrated his food prowess by ordering the banana pecan pancakes. His order arrived on what I can only describe as a meat platter, and "pancakes" turned out to be one enormous pecan laden pancake flopped over calzone style to cover what appeared to be at least two whole bananas. Why he did not finish the monster remains a mystery, given the absolute hurting he put on anything placed in front of him Thursday night. I can only conclude that it must have been due to excitement plus residuals from dinner the night before.

We left Millie's and about twenty minutes later pulled into the Highlands of Elgin, a magnificent course which used to be a quarry in a prior life. The views from pretty much anywhere on the course were fantastic and the course was well designed with plenty of risk/reward as well as bail out options. My group consisted of Sanzabar and myself in one cart, and sgbani and Doug Thiel from Wilson in the other. Doug is an incredibly friendly and approachable guy and I had an absolute blast playing with him. Playing the new irons made things that much more interesting. I had some idea what to play where but to be safe I selected clubs based on what I would normally play, distance wise, in my old set. It worked out well given we played with a brisk wind throughout the round. Aside from an incredibly lame first tee shot, which I topped so badly the ball drove the tee into the ground like a nail and bounced weakly off the tee box (there's always one at every event I suppose), I hit the ball fairly well. The new gap wedge quickly became my favorite club and I used it for everything inside 130. My putting A game was absent at Ravines, and I needed it even more at HofE, but like Jeb Stuart during the opening of Lee's Gettysburg campaign, it remained missing and unaccounted for. Despite that, I managed to go around in a respectable 48/42 and kept losses to a minimum with only one of my shiny #StaffProto labelled Duos going missing - a victim of my errant bunker shot and the tall grass. Just for future reference, if anyone finds themselves in a cart with Sanzabar as the driver, apparently "slow down" actually means "floor it". Following the round we saw off Robman7, DavidWinchell, and 441 in the lot at Highlands. Gentlemen, I didn't get to talk with you all much but hopefully will get the chance to at future events.

On our way back home we stopped at Portillo's again for a late lunch. Only one of us, namely me, had the fortitude to get another chocolate cake shake, or "ccs" as was written on the order. Having sworn I was only going to get a regular, the others waited patiently outside as I ordered. I returned with a large, and under cross examination from Molten I testified that I had in fact ordered and paid for only a regular. It was all for naught however since I did not consume the entire shake and for the second time in three days had to feel bad about leaving a native delicacy unfinished. Saturday evening sgbani said goodbye and headed back home. I went down to the lobby to print my boarding pass for my flight the next morning and I saw Rusty Casino standing there with a striking lady who, to my disbelief, turned out to be Mrs. Rusty Casino. I wished them both well and began to wonder about RC's powers of persuasion until I was joined by the rest of the crew and headed out to TopGolf. Given my performance the night before, I elected to drink caffeinated soda rather than beer as we waited for a bay to open to prevent myself from nodding off yet again. During that time, CMedina84 must have had some sort of revelation, since once we began playing his shanks went away and he was beating the top golf rocks high, straight, and on target.

We said our farewells to Molten after he dropped us off and deuce and I said so long to Sanzabar and CMedina84 when we went to our respective rooms. deuce and I rode the shuttle to the airport the next morning and parted ways there, bringing my first official THP event (with hopefully many more to come) to an end. As I waited for my plane I thought back on the weekend and while the gear and meals were outstanding and very much appreciated, it was the personal interactions with fellow THPers and the Wilson folks that I enjoyed most. Leaving the event, to me, was not unlike leaving a weekend get together with my old college buddies, having had a great time for a few days but knowing work and life were awaiting the next day. Gentlemen, it was my honor to meet you all and I look forward to the opportunity to attend another event and meet even more great guys (and gals)!

In parting, let me say that having been shown what Wilson Staff has in store, equipment-wise, for the future, I strongly encourage every golf enthusiast, from new player to grizzled veteran, to watch closely and give their gear a good long look. Find that W/S shield and give it an honest head-to-head against your favorite brand. In the end you may not choose W/S as the best product for you, but I believe you will come away impressed with their efforts to build high-quality and competitive gear for players of all skill levels.
 
vgolfman said:
We are looking forward to and planning on an even bigger and better event next year. I will be there... Will you? I hope so. And thanks again for all the THP love and support.
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I hope so! Will do my darndest to get back next year. This was, by far, the best golf experience I have ever been a part of. Loved every minute. You guys are top notch and the experience was priceless. Thanks for hosting us!
 
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