Is the "other site" done for good? (Merged)

[br61]

[quote name='Harry Longshanks' post='2046228' date='Nov 4 2009, 07:28 PM']Okay, like I said earlier, I'm not interested in the transgressions of the owners (everyone else, feel free to carry on however) - just the puzzle-aspect of whether a server failure is the real reason why the site is down.

I've NEVER seen a site stay down this long when the owners actually wanted it to be up. Now, I'm definitely not an IT guy, so someone is welcome to enlighten me. But unless BSG actually owned its own server and was hosting out of the owner's basement (i.e., mat's (?) Commadore 64/floppy disk comment) - the server space is actually hosted remotely. I mean, it's not like BSG was big enough to need colocation hosting is it? They would just contract with GoDaddy or whomever, right?

And ever if the site did crash, wouldn't someone put up a single page notice - like when a site is doing an overhaul and they want their customers to know the new site will launch in a few days (I know Burton Snowboards did/does that every August.)

And even so, why not just reload the forum software and keep the forum running while trying to recover the "corrupt" data?

It just makes no sense to me. Instead, it looks more like someone failed to pay to renew the name registration; or someone failed to fay for hosting services and they are just stalling until they can get the money to pay. On the more extreme side, they have been sued, or have filed for bankruptcy.

Anyway, I'm just curious to find out what the real story is because "corrupt data" on both the server and backup server doesn't sound right to me.

(But I think I may be the only one interested in this aspect of the whole thing.)[/quote]

That is a good question and I agreed with you about that they could've put up a temporary page letting everyone know that they'll be back. No server downtime should last this long and I'm sure any decent guy would've fixed whatever the issues seemed to have by now.

Even though I don't approve of the owner's business practices but personally I do like reading many threads in the retail and putter forums and there are many very good members over there that I enjoyed conversing with. Just in case that BSG ceased to exist, I do hope many of them remains active here and elsewhere where they don't just disappear off into cyberspace.

[PreppySlapCut]

To be fair, and my own personal (as a member of both w/ several thousand posts over there since 03) feelings for the way things are done over there aside...

Some GREAT things came out of that site. The relationships that a lot of us have over here started because of BSG. And, to play devil's advocate, would this site even exist if it wasn't for BSG?

[David Hillman]

[quote name='Harry Longshanks' post='2046228' date='Nov 4 2009, 07:28 PM']It just makes no sense to me. Instead, it looks more like someone failed to pay to renew the name registration; or someone failed to fay for hosting services and they are just stalling until they can get the money to pay. On the more extreme side, they have been sued, or have filed for bankruptcy.

Anyway, I'm just curious to find out what the real story is because "corrupt data" on both the server and backup server doesn't sound right to me.

(But I think I may be the only one interested in this aspect of the whole thing.)[/quote]

   The alleged story definitely does not make sense.  I am an IT guy, so I can tell you that their name registration is paid-up through 2014 ( not a big outlay, less than $20/year ).  However, it appears to me that they have not paid for this hosting service and/or connection, based on what I see.  The symptoms I can see remotely are definitely not consistent with corrupt data, or anything similar.

   You alluded to, IMO, the only other plausible scenario; which is that they were sued, and 'yanked the plug from the wall' in a panic.

[ForTourUseOnly]

I will say a few things about BSG, for one yes it is a business and any business wants to make money, however they went at it the wrong way but only offering to a select few that were willing to pay an arm and a leg for tour issue equipment that really wasnt any different that what you can buy off the rack. sure they had some stuff that was unique and couldnt be found anywhere else but the mark up was crazy and unless you are stinkin rich or worked for BSG you couldnt put that product in you bag anyways. also as a person who is pretty loyal to the Titleist brand it always felt like i was an outcast on BSG and i didnt conform to what they saw because i didnt play taylor made products. dont get me wrong there is a lot of good information on that site that whish is the reason i kept going back but i stopped supporting the site with purchases after i found this out....

I was an insider a long time ago and only signed up for a year and decided the next 2 years not to because i didnt feel it was worth it and as a student i had a lot better things to do with $100...i found out as i was signing up to be an insider a couple years after that there were some things on the inside said about me and other members who post a lot and didnt support the site by paying $100 to become an insider...it took them about 5 days to change my my status to an insider because they were goin thru all the inside threads to delete anything that was said about myself and other members. I know this because i was able to log on the inside with another members account to see the posts and then when i was instated all of those posts were gone.

GolfWRX is was more supportive and anyone is welcome and you can talk about pretty much anything


jsut want to note that yes i play Ozik shafts but none of them were purchses thru BSG and i didnt even pay half of what those guys charge for them, i play them because i like them and they have really helped my game, sure some posts on BSG may have influenced that but i would never buy product from them that is way over priced

[robbie91]

BSG sells some cool stuff no doubt but bascially everything the sell can be found for a fraction of the cost they list

i also play oziks and ended up spending $600 less (3 shafts) then the BSG would have charged me through a local dealer, victorycustomgolf, and the BST here for the exact same shafts

unless your obsessed with lime green you can get anything they offer elsewhere -- you jsut have to ask for it

[MimosaToro]

I don't know what to make of all of this. I've been active on BSG for some time, though lately I've slowed the posting as there's not been anything new. Alternatively, the more I've lurked here, the more I've grown to like WRX and the people here.

As someone stated earlier, it's seriously like the member list when I first joined BSG as I look through the users reading this topic. Regardless, nothing about what's going on makes much sense--though I can tell you that he still owns his house in Henderson and hasn't put it on the market, according to their GIS and the MLS, and the title looks good. Who knows--I sure don't, but I'll be keeping an eye out to see what becomes of BSG or if it has just *poof* vanished into thin air...

[kgk]

[quote name='frankis843' post='2045619' date='Nov 4 2009, 01:49 PM'][quote name='stage1350' post='2036115' date='Oct 30 2009, 05:53 PM']Look for the new and improved Todd, age 28, with a new last name... [/quote]

Did Todd really change his name? I've lurked over there since 04 or so and guess I missed this nugget. Can you shed a bit of light?
[/quote]

I heard that Allen is his middle name. I also heard that he hates dogs, waffles, children, and old people, too, though, so take it with a grain of salt. The man is a legend, a myth really.

[bonasa]

Do you all remember way back when Tourstage were the cat's pajamas on BSG?

[Hungsolo]

[quote name='mozart' post='2045902' date='Nov 4 2009, 02:30 PM']A question: given what's been recounted here,is there any possibility of BSG (in any incarnation) being able to return and sell clubs and services?

Are there any people left who would trust them?[/quote]
Sure there is. Nothing new has been posted in this thread except that their site is currently down. Everything else has been posted before here and elsewhere. They still have a few blind customers as they had prior to this thread.

As PT Barnum said, "There's a sucker born every minute."

Edit: Sorry ElRey, I read your PT Barnum quote after I posted. Didn't mean to plagiarize....

[Jayhawk]

[quote name='bonasa' post='2046482' date='Nov 4 2009, 09:35 PM']Do you all remember way back when Tourstage were the cat's pajamas on BSG?[/quote]

also remember how Sonartec was here today and gone tomorrow....

[bladestriker]

Googled Todd Thrun after reading this thread and learned sorta what i had always thought. In the grand scheme of things it really means little to my everyday life, but an interesting read, none the less.

The following is taken from a post at GEA by Caddyjoe77 in a thread about BSG:

ahhh yes...the super secret tour crap that has been proven as tour trash:


"someone"

I know what you mean. Truthfully, I thought it was kind of sad that you were working at a place like Target (please, take no offense), because when I met you, you seemed like a talented guy. I found it hard to believe that was the best job you could find, though I understand they do pay pretty well coming out of school. It's really tough right now. I still have friends from State that can't get decent jobs, and these are guys with good majors and better grades than I had.

Todd's business model is simple - he (well, we) took tour rejected clubs and made them our own. Bear in mind, these clubs are still better than almost any assembled club you'd get "off the rack." They're not exactly junk clubs, but they are not the exact thing that Ernie Els or Sergio Garcia is picking out of the van. Most of them had some kind of flaw - bad internal weighting, incorrect headweights, graphics were off on clubs and some shafts, etc. A lot of times, those gave any tour professional an awful ballflight. Obviously, those heads aren't being tossed into a gutter somewhere, and most companies are eager to make a profit on them. BSG was simply a dumping ground for most of that stuff, and it depended on the flavor of the month on what stuff Todd would push. Clearly, TaylorMade and Callaway are our bread and butter. Titleist stuff is near impossible to get and Cleveland had cut us off prematurely last time with their original HiBore, sending us all "dummy" heads which we sold for barely enough to break even. Todd was too stubborn to give a lot of companies another chance, but he's in bed with the two big guns, and that's what most people want anyway.

The selling point came from the ability to demo. The original Insider demos were built for us by TaylorMade and others, until Todd was convinced he could build them the same way. That R5 Dual Tour you got to hit of mine, with the Diamana Redboard, the one you bombed 30+ yards past your Cleveland that you loved? That was a true tour club, hotter than all get out, built to spec, everything maxed out for maximum distance for players like us and some of the lower swingspeed guys, like Justin Leonard or KJ Choi, and just as capable in the hands of a good amatuer player with decent swingspeed who can hit the ball dead center once in a while, like most of our membership. Whenever we got our bulk shipments, we would get a few heads in each loft that were top notch as well, noted by whichever company was sending them to us. We could use those for demos and build something "similar" for a lot of the membership. You and I both know that 95% of the golfers on the site, including most of their higher profile posters, can't play nearly as well as they claim, even on their best day. How would they ever know the difference when they can't swing the same way 3 times in a row?

Did that make it a "bad club?" Yes and no. But a Porsche is no different than a Kia, if all you want to do is go from A to B. These guys wanted a "tour club." And they got one. Realistically, that Porsche in your garage could be all off-spec, getting terrible gas mileage and have a misconnected piston that's one stray RPM away from having your engine explode. But as far as you know, it's a Porsche. To your buddies, your wife, your friends at the club, you drive a Porsche. Where's the harm in it?

Either way, I'm glad I'm out of that place. Todd has a plan, I'll give him that. But having a plan and getting there are two very different things.

another one

"Someone"

The guys who bought from us are no different than the person who gets a boob job because they think it'll make them happy, or the person who buys an expensive car not because he wanted it, but because he could. Some of our biggest customers would buy bags for their guest houses that would be better than 99% of even our most prolific posters/buyers, and never say a word. There's a great book out now called "Richistan" that discusses the principle of people having multiples of everything, just because they can. It makes living their life, "the life," even easier and more enjoyable.

With my new job, I'm confident that I can sell something to people that will honestly do them good, and has science behind it. That's not something I can say about a lot of what I did at BSG. I feel more comfortable standing behind a product that I know works, instead of putting on an act. I have to say, some of the clubs that I thought were bombers wound up being sold within a few days on BST, and some that I thought would be total duds when I shipped them out wound up getting the best responses from our customers. If I built a poor club for someone (by my own standards), but they still loved it, where is the wrong?

I'm off to check out the mountain nightlife. Peace.

-D

Someone"

Hope you had a nice weekend. I was on a retreat for work - out at a testing facility for supplemental instruction and implementation. The great thing about my new job is that they fit me for everything my body needs: what my fitness goals are, what my body lacks, what my habits are, workout schedule, dietary needs, everything. Nutrition is just as big as golf when it comes to specialization, though I don't have to tell you that. It's nice to have a company that will take care of you. As far as my pay increase, it's big. It's not enough to make me rich, but for a guy my age with no baggage or female attachment, it's plenty to create a nice lifestyle. Todd's pay plan was definitely not his priority, unless it was for himself, and even then, he's not spending any of it wisely. Those car "pet projects" are each worth some kind of great retirement fund for any Joe Sixpack and, aside from the Lamborghini, most of them will be worth 10% of what he paid for them within a decade. He's not exactly a "plan-for-the-future" type of guy.

-D

"Someone"

They were one of the reasons I saw the light at the end with BSG. Todd is trying his best to get people fitted into those putters because he's paying 1/4th to get those heads as what he pays for any new driver. If he could sell a $400 putter at a 750% guaranteed markup or a $500 driver at only 500% markup, he's going to make more money every single time using the putters, even if they're less sexy. But that lack of sex appeal is why they sat, day after day, while people would sit at home with 10 drivers. It's ironic that most of these guys wanted to buy a better game, but the place they could really do that (the putter) is the least likely place they'd spend money. He's definitely feeling the credit crunch right now, I'm sure of it. So is my industry, for that matter, but when you've signed on for a salary instead of hourly, you tend to sleep a little better at night!

-D

[golfjester]

I was a member of BSG for years (still am but rarely ever post anymore) and I was also banned for awhile for comments about how quickly a topic was locked when anyone said anything negative about the website.It has been great to hear from some of the "old crew" that I haven't thought about in years.Does anyone know whatever happened to NYknuckleballer? Some of the arguements that he got into with Todd and DTown were priceless.
WRX is a great website and I think I will start posting more now that I know I can have an opinion and not get banned for it.This site now seems alot like BSG was in the early days (minus the sales factor) and I can't tell you how great it is to have many of the old gang here as well.

[Hungsolo]

Wow, fsmith84 in the house up there....

[quote name='golfjester' post='2046543' date='Nov 4 2009, 08:06 PM']I was a member of BSG for years (still am but rarely ever post anymore) and I was also banned for awhile for comments about how quickly a topic was locked when anyone said anything negative about the website.It has been great to hear from some of the "old crew" that I haven't thought about in years.Does anyone know whatever happened to NYknuckleballer? Some of the arguements that he got into with Todd and DTown were priceless.
WRX is a great website and I think I will start posting more now that I know I can have an opinion and not get banned for it.This site now seems alot like BSG was in the early days (minus the sales factor) and I can't tell you how great it is to have many of the old gang here as well.[/quote]
NYK is around. He posts here and a couple of other places.

[ksavy17]

[quote name='bladestriker' post='2046522' date='Nov 4 2009, 09:54 PM']Googled Todd Thrun after reading this thread and learned sorta what i had always thought. In the grand scheme of things it really means little to my everyday life, but an interesting read, none the less.

The following is taken from a post at GEA by Caddyjoe77 in a thread about BSG:

ahhh yes...the super secret tour crap that has been proven as tour trash:


"someone"

I know what you mean. Truthfully, I thought it was kind of sad that you were working at a place like Target (please, take no offense), because when I met you, you seemed like a talented guy. I found it hard to believe that was the best job you could find, though I understand they do pay pretty well coming out of school. It's really tough right now. I still have friends from State that can't get decent jobs, and these are guys with good majors and better grades than I had.

Todd's business model is simple - he (well, we) took tour rejected clubs and made them our own. Bear in mind, these clubs are still better than almost any assembled club you'd get "off the rack." They're not exactly junk clubs, but they are not the exact thing that Ernie Els or Sergio Garcia is picking out of the van. Most of them had some kind of flaw - bad internal weighting, incorrect headweights, graphics were off on clubs and some shafts, etc. A lot of times, those gave any tour professional an awful ballflight. Obviously, those heads aren't being tossed into a gutter somewhere, and most companies are eager to make a profit on them. BSG was simply a dumping ground for most of that stuff, and it depended on the flavor of the month on what stuff Todd would push. Clearly, TaylorMade and Callaway are our bread and butter. Titleist stuff is near impossible to get and Cleveland had cut us off prematurely last time with their original HiBore, sending us all "dummy" heads which we sold for barely enough to break even. Todd was too stubborn to give a lot of companies another chance, but he's in bed with the two big guns, and that's what most people want anyway.

The selling point came from the ability to demo. The original Insider demos were built for us by TaylorMade and others, until Todd was convinced he could build them the same way. That R5 Dual Tour you got to hit of mine, with the Diamana Redboard, the one you bombed 30+ yards past your Cleveland that you loved? That was a true tour club, hotter than all get out, built to spec, everything maxed out for maximum distance for players like us and some of the lower swingspeed guys, like Justin Leonard or KJ Choi, and just as capable in the hands of a good amatuer player with decent swingspeed who can hit the ball dead center once in a while, like most of our membership. Whenever we got our bulk shipments, we would get a few heads in each loft that were top notch as well, noted by whichever company was sending them to us. We could use those for demos and build something "similar" for a lot of the membership. You and I both know that 95% of the golfers on the site, including most of their higher profile posters, can't play nearly as well as they claim, even on their best day. How would they ever know the difference when they can't swing the same way 3 times in a row?

Did that make it a "bad club?" Yes and no. But a Porsche is no different than a Kia, if all you want to do is go from A to B. These guys wanted a "tour club." And they got one. Realistically, that Porsche in your garage could be all off-spec, getting terrible gas mileage and have a misconnected piston that's one stray RPM away from having your engine explode. But as far as you know, it's a Porsche. To your buddies, your wife, your friends at the club, you drive a Porsche. Where's the harm in it?

Either way, I'm glad I'm out of that place. Todd has a plan, I'll give him that. But having a plan and getting there are two very different things.

another one

"Someone"

The guys who bought from us are no different than the person who gets a boob job because they think it'll make them happy, or the person who buys an expensive car not because he wanted it, but because he could. Some of our biggest customers would buy bags for their guest houses that would be better than 99% of even our most prolific posters/buyers, and never say a word. There's a great book out now called "Richistan" that discusses the principle of people having multiples of everything, just because they can. It makes living their life, "the life," even easier and more enjoyable.

With my new job, I'm confident that I can sell something to people that will honestly do them good, and has science behind it. That's not something I can say about a lot of what I did at BSG. I feel more comfortable standing behind a product that I know works, instead of putting on an act. I have to say, some of the clubs that I thought were bombers wound up being sold within a few days on BST, and some that I thought would be total duds when I shipped them out wound up getting the best responses from our customers. If I built a poor club for someone (by my own standards), but they still loved it, where is the wrong?

I'm off to check out the mountain nightlife. Peace.

-D

Someone"

Hope you had a nice weekend. I was on a retreat for work - out at a testing facility for supplemental instruction and implementation. The great thing about my new job is that they fit me for everything my body needs: what my fitness goals are, what my body lacks, what my habits are, workout schedule, dietary needs, everything. Nutrition is just as big as golf when it comes to specialization, though I don't have to tell you that. It's nice to have a company that will take care of you. As far as my pay increase, it's big. It's not enough to make me rich, but for a guy my age with no baggage or female attachment, it's plenty to create a nice lifestyle. Todd's pay plan was definitely not his priority, unless it was for himself, and even then, he's not spending any of it wisely. Those car "pet projects" are each worth some kind of great retirement fund for any Joe Sixpack and, aside from the Lamborghini, most of them will be worth 10% of what he paid for them within a decade. He's not exactly a "plan-for-the-future" type of guy.

-D

"Someone"

They were one of the reasons I saw the light at the end with BSG. Todd is trying his best to get people fitted into those putters because he's paying 1/4th to get those heads as what he pays for any new driver. If he could sell a $400 putter at a 750% guaranteed markup or a $500 driver at only 500% markup, he's going to make more money every single time using the putters, even if they're less sexy. But that lack of sex appeal is why they sat, day after day, while people would sit at home with 10 drivers. It's ironic that most of these guys wanted to buy a better game, but the place they could really do that (the putter) is the least likely place they'd spend money. He's definitely feeling the credit crunch right now, I'm sure of it. So is my industry, for that matter, but when you've signed on for a salary instead of hourly, you tend to sleep a little better at night!

-D[/quote]
whose remarks are these?? DTowns???

[golfjester]

That's who I am betting on!

[Dr. Bombay]

[quote name='bladestriker' post='2046522' date='Nov 4 2009, 11:54 PM']Googled Todd Thrun after reading this thread and learned sorta what i had always thought. In the grand scheme of things it really means little to my everyday life, but an interesting read, none the less.

The following is taken from a post at GEA by Caddyjoe77 in a thread about BSG:

ahhh yes...the super secret tour crap that has been proven as tour trash:


"someone"

I know what you mean. Truthfully, I thought it was kind of sad that you were working at a place like Target (please, take no offense), because when I met you, you seemed like a talented guy. I found it hard to believe that was the best job you could find, though I understand they do pay pretty well coming out of school. It's really tough right now. I still have friends from State that can't get decent jobs, and these are guys with good majors and better grades than I had.

Todd's business model is simple - he (well, we) took tour rejected clubs and made them our own. Bear in mind, these clubs are still better than almost any assembled club you'd get "off the rack." They're not exactly junk clubs, but they are not the exact thing that Ernie Els or Sergio Garcia is picking out of the van. Most of them had some kind of flaw - bad internal weighting, incorrect headweights, graphics were off on clubs and some shafts, etc. A lot of times, those gave any tour professional an awful ballflight. Obviously, those heads aren't being tossed into a gutter somewhere, and most companies are eager to make a profit on them. BSG was simply a dumping ground for most of that stuff, and it depended on the flavor of the month on what stuff Todd would push. Clearly, TaylorMade and Callaway are our bread and butter. Titleist stuff is near impossible to get and Cleveland had cut us off prematurely last time with their original HiBore, sending us all "dummy" heads which we sold for barely enough to break even. Todd was too stubborn to give a lot of companies another chance, but he's in bed with the two big guns, and that's what most people want anyway.

The selling point came from the ability to demo. The original Insider demos were built for us by TaylorMade and others, until Todd was convinced he could build them the same way. That R5 Dual Tour you got to hit of mine, with the Diamana Redboard, the one you bombed 30+ yards past your Cleveland that you loved? That was a true tour club, hotter than all get out, built to spec, everything maxed out for maximum distance for players like us and some of the lower swingspeed guys, like Justin Leonard or KJ Choi, and just as capable in the hands of a good amatuer player with decent swingspeed who can hit the ball dead center once in a while, like most of our membership. Whenever we got our bulk shipments, we would get a few heads in each loft that were top notch as well, noted by whichever company was sending them to us. We could use those for demos and build something "similar" for a lot of the membership. You and I both know that 95% of the golfers on the site, including most of their higher profile posters, can't play nearly as well as they claim, even on their best day. How would they ever know the difference when they can't swing the same way 3 times in a row?

Did that make it a "bad club?" Yes and no. But a Porsche is no different than a Kia, if all you want to do is go from A to B. These guys wanted a "tour club." And they got one. Realistically, that Porsche in your garage could be all off-spec, getting terrible gas mileage and have a misconnected piston that's one stray RPM away from having your engine explode. But as far as you know, it's a Porsche. To your buddies, your wife, your friends at the club, you drive a Porsche. Where's the harm in it?

Either way, I'm glad I'm out of that place. Todd has a plan, I'll give him that. But having a plan and getting there are two very different things.

another one

"Someone"

The guys who bought from us are no different than the person who gets a boob job because they think it'll make them happy, or the person who buys an expensive car not because he wanted it, but because he could. Some of our biggest customers would buy bags for their guest houses that would be better than 99% of even our most prolific posters/buyers, and never say a word. There's a great book out now called "Richistan" that discusses the principle of people having multiples of everything, just because they can. It makes living their life, "the life," even easier and more enjoyable.

With my new job, I'm confident that I can sell something to people that will honestly do them good, and has science behind it. That's not something I can say about a lot of what I did at BSG. I feel more comfortable standing behind a product that I know works, instead of putting on an act. I have to say, some of the clubs that I thought were bombers wound up being sold within a few days on BST, and some that I thought would be total duds when I shipped them out wound up getting the best responses from our customers. If I built a poor club for someone (by my own standards), but they still loved it, where is the wrong?

I'm off to check out the mountain nightlife. Peace.

-D

Someone"

Hope you had a nice weekend. I was on a retreat for work - out at a testing facility for supplemental instruction and implementation. The great thing about my new job is that they fit me for everything my body needs: what my fitness goals are, what my body lacks, what my habits are, workout schedule, dietary needs, everything. Nutrition is just as big as golf when it comes to specialization, though I don't have to tell you that. It's nice to have a company that will take care of you. As far as my pay increase, it's big. It's not enough to make me rich, but for a guy my age with no baggage or female attachment, it's plenty to create a nice lifestyle. Todd's pay plan was definitely not his priority, unless it was for himself, and even then, he's not spending any of it wisely. Those car "pet projects" are each worth some kind of great retirement fund for any Joe Sixpack and, aside from the Lamborghini, most of them will be worth 10% of what he paid for them within a decade. He's not exactly a "plan-for-the-future" type of guy.

-D

"Someone"

They were one of the reasons I saw the light at the end with BSG. Todd is trying his best to get people fitted into those putters because he's paying 1/4th to get those heads as what he pays for any new driver. If he could sell a $400 putter at a 750% guaranteed markup or a $500 driver at only 500% markup, he's going to make more money every single time using the putters, even if they're less sexy. But that lack of sex appeal is why they sat, day after day, while people would sit at home with 10 drivers. It's ironic that most of these guys wanted to buy a better game, but the place they could really do that (the putter) is the least likely place they'd spend money. He's definitely feeling the credit crunch right now, I'm sure of it. So is my industry, for that matter, but when you've signed on for a salary instead of hourly, you tend to sleep a little better at night!

-D[/quote]


Makes perfect sense. There were a few times when I almost pulled the trigger on a BSG tour head offering and I asked Toad to grab me something very specific in terms of loft and face angle and it was if I was speaking to a brick wall. On the flipside, my boy in Long Beach would go out and hand pick anything I was intersted in...hence one 540TP, two 580XDTPs, one R7TP Shallow, and a few 3-wood heads too, all from the same guy.

[TheVelvetCat]

[quote name='rebels68' post='2044393' date='Nov 3 2009, 09:41 PM'][quote name='TheVelvetCat' post='2044389' date='Nov 3 2009, 10:39 PM'][quote name='rebels68' post='2044323' date='Nov 3 2009, 09:01 PM']You're right on a number of accounts here.[/quote]

You're right, I am. Thank you.
[/quote]

You're welcome.
[/quote]

Oh, no no, thank you.

And just for accuracy, your petter7 account wasn't officially registered on BSG until August 26th, 2005. I'm not sure how you "discovered" BSG without prior registration to participate in the forums dating back to the spring of '04, but this thread is full of interesting memories, nonetheless. :guy friend chest bump without getting too close below the belt in an awkward way:

Now, let's go buy that beer you promised.

[mosesgolf]

[quote name='Dr. Bombay' post='2046565' date='Nov 4 2009, 11:18 PM'][quote name='bladestriker' post='2046522' date='Nov 4 2009, 11:54 PM']Googled Todd Thrun after reading this thread and learned sorta what i had always thought. In the grand scheme of things it really means little to my everyday life, but an interesting read, none the less.

The following is taken from a post at GEA by Caddyjoe77 in a thread about BSG:

ahhh yes...the super secret tour crap that has been proven as tour trash:


"someone"

I know what you mean. Truthfully, I thought it was kind of sad that you were working at a place like Target (please, take no offense), because when I met you, you seemed like a talented guy. I found it hard to believe that was the best job you could find, though I understand they do pay pretty well coming out of school. It's really tough right now. I still have friends from State that can't get decent jobs, and these are guys with good majors and better grades than I had.

Todd's business model is simple - he (well, we) took tour rejected clubs and made them our own. Bear in mind, these clubs are still better than almost any assembled club you'd get "off the rack." They're not exactly junk clubs, but they are not the exact thing that Ernie Els or Sergio Garcia is picking out of the van. Most of them had some kind of flaw - bad internal weighting, incorrect headweights, graphics were off on clubs and some shafts, etc. A lot of times, those gave any tour professional an awful ballflight. Obviously, those heads aren't being tossed into a gutter somewhere, and most companies are eager to make a profit on them. BSG was simply a dumping ground for most of that stuff, and it depended on the flavor of the month on what stuff Todd would push. Clearly, TaylorMade and Callaway are our bread and butter. Titleist stuff is near impossible to get and Cleveland had cut us off prematurely last time with their original HiBore, sending us all "dummy" heads which we sold for barely enough to break even. Todd was too stubborn to give a lot of companies another chance, but he's in bed with the two big guns, and that's what most people want anyway.

The selling point came from the ability to demo. The original Insider demos were built for us by TaylorMade and others, until Todd was convinced he could build them the same way. That R5 Dual Tour you got to hit of mine, with the Diamana Redboard, the one you bombed 30+ yards past your Cleveland that you loved? That was a true tour club, hotter than all get out, built to spec, everything maxed out for maximum distance for players like us and some of the lower swingspeed guys, like Justin Leonard or KJ Choi, and just as capable in the hands of a good amatuer player with decent swingspeed who can hit the ball dead center once in a while, like most of our membership. Whenever we got our bulk shipments, we would get a few heads in each loft that were top notch as well, noted by whichever company was sending them to us. We could use those for demos and build something "similar" for a lot of the membership. You and I both know that 95% of the golfers on the site, including most of their higher profile posters, can't play nearly as well as they claim, even on their best day. How would they ever know the difference when they can't swing the same way 3 times in a row?

Did that make it a "bad club?" Yes and no. But a Porsche is no different than a Kia, if all you want to do is go from A to B. These guys wanted a "tour club." And they got one. Realistically, that Porsche in your garage could be all off-spec, getting terrible gas mileage and have a misconnected piston that's one stray RPM away from having your engine explode. But as far as you know, it's a Porsche. To your buddies, your wife, your friends at the club, you drive a Porsche. Where's the harm in it?

Either way, I'm glad I'm out of that place. Todd has a plan, I'll give him that. But having a plan and getting there are two very different things.

another one

"Someone"

The guys who bought from us are no different than the person who gets a boob job because they think it'll make them happy, or the person who buys an expensive car not because he wanted it, but because he could. Some of our biggest customers would buy bags for their guest houses that would be better than 99% of even our most prolific posters/buyers, and never say a word. There's a great book out now called "Richistan" that discusses the principle of people having multiples of everything, just because they can. It makes living their life, "the life," even easier and more enjoyable.

With my new job, I'm confident that I can sell something to people that will honestly do them good, and has science behind it. That's not something I can say about a lot of what I did at BSG. I feel more comfortable standing behind a product that I know works, instead of putting on an act. I have to say, some of the clubs that I thought were bombers wound up being sold within a few days on BST, and some that I thought would be total duds when I shipped them out wound up getting the best responses from our customers. If I built a poor club for someone (by my own standards), but they still loved it, where is the wrong?

I'm off to check out the mountain nightlife. Peace.

-D

Someone"

Hope you had a nice weekend. I was on a retreat for work - out at a testing facility for supplemental instruction and implementation. The great thing about my new job is that they fit me for everything my body needs: what my fitness goals are, what my body lacks, what my habits are, workout schedule, dietary needs, everything. Nutrition is just as big as golf when it comes to specialization, though I don't have to tell you that. It's nice to have a company that will take care of you. As far as my pay increase, it's big. It's not enough to make me rich, but for a guy my age with no baggage or female attachment, it's plenty to create a nice lifestyle. Todd's pay plan was definitely not his priority, unless it was for himself, and even then, he's not spending any of it wisely. Those car "pet projects" are each worth some kind of great retirement fund for any Joe Sixpack and, aside from the Lamborghini, most of them will be worth 10% of what he paid for them within a decade. He's not exactly a "plan-for-the-future" type of guy.

-D

"Someone"

They were one of the reasons I saw the light at the end with BSG. Todd is trying his best to get people fitted into those putters because he's paying 1/4th to get those heads as what he pays for any new driver. If he could sell a $400 putter at a 750% guaranteed markup or a $500 driver at only 500% markup, he's going to make more money every single time using the putters, even if they're less sexy. But that lack of sex appeal is why they sat, day after day, while people would sit at home with 10 drivers. It's ironic that most of these guys wanted to buy a better game, but the place they could really do that (the putter) is the least likely place they'd spend money. He's definitely feeling the credit crunch right now, I'm sure of it. So is my industry, for that matter, but when you've signed on for a salary instead of hourly, you tend to sleep a little better at night!

-D[/quote]


Makes perfect sense. There were a few times when I almost pulled the trigger on a BSG tour head offering and I asked Toad to grab me something very specific in terms of loft and face angle and it was if I was speaking to a brick wall. On the flipside, my boy in Long Beach would go out and hand pick anything I was intersted in...hence one 540TP, two 580XDTPs, one R7TP Shallow, and a few 3-wood heads too, all from the same guy.
[/quote]

That wasn't DTown who wrote that but someone impersonating DTown.

[homerthedog]

This thread is better than the original Melrose Place. I think Todd would be Kimberly, the red head that everyone loved to hate. Hoss would be Billy, the guy that you wanted to cheer for but was just too dumb for his own good. Jose Miraflor is the Heather Locklear of the group - the one that you assumed was being blackmailed by the producers since there is no way she would be associated with the show otherwise.

[weighoverpar]

Has anyone checked on Allamricn?

[Hungsolo]

[quote name='weighoverpar' post='2046655' date='Nov 4 2009, 09:10 PM']Has anyone checked on Allamricn?[/quote]
Pretty sure this is what he'd say.

[petter7]

[quote name='TheVelvetCat' post='2046566' date='Nov 4 2009, 11:19 PM'][quote name='rebels68' post='2044393' date='Nov 3 2009, 09:41 PM'][quote name='TheVelvetCat' post='2044389' date='Nov 3 2009, 10:39 PM'][quote name='rebels68' post='2044323' date='Nov 3 2009, 09:01 PM']You're right on a number of accounts here.[/quote]

You're right, I am. Thank you.
[/quote]

You're welcome.
[/quote]

Oh, no no, thank you.

And just for accuracy, your petter7 account wasn't officially registered on BSG until August 26th, 2005. I'm not sure how you "discovered" BSG without prior registration to participate in the forums dating back to the spring of '04, but this thread is full of interesting memories, nonetheless. :guy friend chest bump without getting too close below the belt in an awkward way:

Now, let's go buy that beer you promised.
[/quote]

Anytime on the beer Cat.

FYI, the first time I saw BSG was on 5/04. Didn't register until 8/05 and didn't make my first post unit 10/06.

Just to be accurate.

[petter7]

Aaahhhh!!!! CANDY LIME METALLIC w/gold rain graphics!!!!!

 

Gobble it up WRX'ers!! :lol:

 

 

[tourdeep]

Aaahhhh!!!! CANDY LIME METALLIC w/gold rain graphics!!!!!

 

Gobble it up WRX'ers!! :lol:

 

 

I will say, I've always thought the Lime Oziks looked bad a**! I also like that with every post that pops up the value of them online drops! LOL

 

BTW nice to see you posting pics again Petter7.

[smithjohnjr]

[quote name='MattTitleist' post='2046362' date='Nov 4 2009, 09:32 PM']I will say a few things about BSG, for one yes it is a business and any business wants to make money, however they went at it the wrong way but only offering to a select few that were willing to pay an arm and a leg for tour issue equipment that really wasnt any different that what you can buy off the rack. sure they had some stuff that was unique and couldnt be found anywhere else but the mark up was crazy and unless you are stinkin rich or worked for BSG you couldnt put that product in you bag anyways. also as a person who is pretty loyal to the Titleist brand it always felt like i was an outcast on BSG and i didnt conform to what they saw because i didnt play taylor made products. dont get me wrong there is a lot of good information on that site that whish is the reason i kept going back but i stopped supporting the site with purchases after i found this out....

I was an insider a long time ago and only signed up for a year and decided the next 2 years not to because i didnt feel it was worth it and as a student i had a lot better things to do with $100...[b]i found out as i was signing up to be an insider a couple years after that there were some things on the inside said about me and other members who post a lot and didnt support the site by paying $100 to become an insider...it took them about 5 days to change my my status to an insider because they were goin thru all the inside threads to delete anything that was said about myself [/b]and other members. I know this because i was able to log on the inside with another members account to see the posts and then when i was instated all of those posts were gone.

GolfWRX is was more supportive and anyone is welcome and you can talk about pretty much anything


jsut want to note that yes i play Ozik shafts but none of them were purchses thru BSG and i didnt even pay half of what those guys charge for them, i play them because i like them and they have really helped my game, sure some posts on BSG may have influenced that but i would never buy product from them that is way over priced[/quote]
The "Insider Forum" was worse than a bunch of High School girls in a locker room.. No offense to some of the members still insiders. There were more threads trashing people that werent insiders than there were posts about anything else. I had the same problem. signed up to be an Insider pretty much just to see the Green Shoes thread to find I was being dicussed in at least 3 topics. When I confronted everyone by posting in a topic, suddenly all the topics were deleted. 1 topic about me, was discussing my credibility and how I came by certain shafts. I had a connection with Aldila at the time and could get VS protos and Cinnamons regularly and this was when they were hard to come by and very HOT. DClown was in there talking about me, asking if anyone bought anything and all sorts of stuff. He also PM'ed me one evening saying he would like to buy a cinnamon but never came through on the funds nor did he ever respond to any PM's.

It was amazing how much trash they talked about other people behind their backs. It was like a huddle room where they would get all fired up and then go back out in the open and just flame people. CDBomb was usually a pretty big target. If he had ever signed up to be an insider, who knows how would have felt seeing some of the things people said about him. Quite sad actually...

[Roland]

It went from a great community with lots of great people to a 75 member crap shoot. All of the things that were mentioned in this thread happened some where inbetween. Like others I was a member there and contributed a large amount. Unfortunatley Todd & Mods got rid of me but I have not regretted that other than the sour, incorrect way I was given a 2034 sentence The guy is a crook I feel it. Don't ask me why. I can't 100% answer that because I just don't know.

Wrx is a more hospitable place with great information and unbiased ownership & Moderation. It's everything that bsg needed to be with 10 x the active membership and more.

I've moved on now, I'm now onto cars and car mods. Buying a new supra off some guy called VegasSE, anyone know him?

[MiGolf]

[quote name='bladestriker' post='2046522' date='Nov 4 2009, 10:54 PM']Googled Todd Thrun after reading this thread and learned sorta what i had always thought. In the grand scheme of things it really means little to my everyday life, but an interesting read, none the less.

The following is taken from a post at GEA by Caddyjoe77 in a thread about BSG:

ahhh yes...the super secret tour crap that has been proven as tour trash:


"someone"

I know what you mean. Truthfully, I thought it was kind of sad that you were working at a place like Target (please, take no offense), because when I met you, you seemed like a talented guy. I found it hard to believe that was the best job you could find, though I understand they do pay pretty well coming out of school. It's really tough right now. I still have friends from State that can't get decent jobs, and these are guys with good majors and better grades than I had.

Todd's business model is simple - he (well, we) took tour rejected clubs and made them our own. Bear in mind, these clubs are still better than almost any assembled club you'd get "off the rack." They're not exactly junk clubs, but they are not the exact thing that Ernie Els or Sergio Garcia is picking out of the van. Most of them had some kind of flaw - bad internal weighting, incorrect headweights, graphics were off on clubs and some shafts, etc. A lot of times, those gave any tour professional an awful ballflight. Obviously, those heads aren't being tossed into a gutter somewhere, and most companies are eager to make a profit on them. BSG was simply a dumping ground for most of that stuff, and it depended on the flavor of the month on what stuff Todd would push. Clearly, TaylorMade and Callaway are our bread and butter. Titleist stuff is near impossible to get and Cleveland had cut us off prematurely last time with their original HiBore, sending us all "dummy" heads which we sold for barely enough to break even. Todd was too stubborn to give a lot of companies another chance, but he's in bed with the two big guns, and that's what most people want anyway.

The selling point came from the ability to demo. The original Insider demos were built for us by TaylorMade and others, until Todd was convinced he could build them the same way. That R5 Dual Tour you got to hit of mine, with the Diamana Redboard, the one you bombed 30+ yards past your Cleveland that you loved? That was a true tour club, hotter than all get out, built to spec, everything maxed out for maximum distance for players like us and some of the lower swingspeed guys, like Justin Leonard or KJ Choi, and just as capable in the hands of a good amatuer player with decent swingspeed who can hit the ball dead center once in a while, like most of our membership. Whenever we got our bulk shipments, we would get a few heads in each loft that were top notch as well, noted by whichever company was sending them to us. We could use those for demos and build something "similar" for a lot of the membership. You and I both know that 95% of the golfers on the site, including most of their higher profile posters, can't play nearly as well as they claim, even on their best day. How would they ever know the difference when they can't swing the same way 3 times in a row?

Did that make it a "bad club?" Yes and no. But a Porsche is no different than a Kia, if all you want to do is go from A to B. These guys wanted a "tour club." And they got one. Realistically, that Porsche in your garage could be all off-spec, getting terrible gas mileage and have a misconnected piston that's one stray RPM away from having your engine explode. But as far as you know, it's a Porsche. To your buddies, your wife, your friends at the club, you drive a Porsche. Where's the harm in it?

Either way, I'm glad I'm out of that place. Todd has a plan, I'll give him that. But having a plan and getting there are two very different things.

another one

"Someone"

The guys who bought from us are no different than the person who gets a boob job because they think it'll make them happy, or the person who buys an expensive car not because he wanted it, but because he could. Some of our biggest customers would buy bags for their guest houses that would be better than 99% of even our most prolific posters/buyers, and never say a word. There's a great book out now called "Richistan" that discusses the principle of people having multiples of everything, just because they can. It makes living their life, "the life," even easier and more enjoyable.

With my new job, I'm confident that I can sell something to people that will honestly do them good, and has science behind it. That's not something I can say about a lot of what I did at BSG. I feel more comfortable standing behind a product that I know works, instead of putting on an act. I have to say, some of the clubs that I thought were bombers wound up being sold within a few days on BST, and some that I thought would be total duds when I shipped them out wound up getting the best responses from our customers. If I built a poor club for someone (by my own standards), but they still loved it, where is the wrong?

I'm off to check out the mountain nightlife. Peace.

-D

Someone"

Hope you had a nice weekend. I was on a retreat for work - out at a testing facility for supplemental instruction and implementation. The great thing about my new job is that they fit me for everything my body needs: what my fitness goals are, what my body lacks, what my habits are, workout schedule, dietary needs, everything. Nutrition is just as big as golf when it comes to specialization, though I don't have to tell you that. It's nice to have a company that will take care of you. As far as my pay increase, it's big. It's not enough to make me rich, but for a guy my age with no baggage or female attachment, it's plenty to create a nice lifestyle. Todd's pay plan was definitely not his priority, unless it was for himself, and even then, he's not spending any of it wisely. Those car "pet projects" are each worth some kind of great retirement fund for any Joe Sixpack and, aside from the Lamborghini, most of them will be worth 10% of what he paid for them within a decade. He's not exactly a "plan-for-the-future" type of guy.

-D

"Someone"

They were one of the reasons I saw the light at the end with BSG. Todd is trying his best to get people fitted into those putters because he's paying 1/4th to get those heads as what he pays for any new driver. If he could sell a $400 putter at a 750% guaranteed markup or a $500 driver at only 500% markup, he's going to make more money every single time using the putters, even if they're less sexy. But that lack of sex appeal is why they sat, day after day, while people would sit at home with 10 drivers. It's ironic that most of these guys wanted to buy a better game, but the place they could really do that (the putter) is the least likely place they'd spend money. He's definitely feeling the credit crunch right now, I'm sure of it. So is my industry, for that matter, but when you've signed on for a salary instead of hourly, you tend to sleep a little better at night!

-D[/quote]
Is this who I think it is? Or not?

[jimbonecrusher]

DClown is a ****** that thinks that he is this big, fitness, supplements salesman now.

Todd Thrun is a joke within Vegas. He thinks that he can live the Vegas lifestyle, but is the laughing stock of the town. Whether it be cars or golf, the dude does not know a thing about either. He tried to sell a Mustang for an outrageous price that was riding on a stock suspension. Everybody who knows cars knows that it is more important to have a top notch suspension setup to get the power to the ground versus a huge amount of power that can't be put to good use.

I challenged all three of those goofs to a round on any course of their choice for $1000 a hole. Derek, Todd, and the club mangler Marcus never accepted. You would think that guys with "+" handicaps would have quickly taken on a challenge for a 1 handicap.

I am glad that they are offline now. The only thing better would have been if they would have been busted by the feds. It is a federal crime when you sell goods across state lines that are not what you advertised them as being.

[smithjohnjr]

A friend brought up an interesting point - if their data has been corrupted, how do they have some email addresses to send people notifications of why they are down?

[elrey23]

[quote name='smithjohnjr' post='2046992' date='Nov 5 2009, 07:47 AM']A friend brought up an interesting point - if their data has been corrupted, how do they have some email addresses to send people notifications of why they are down?[/quote]

That's a good point. I haven't heard anyone else say they received an email from them but myself. I'm curious to know of the people who were members over there, who received an email?