To My Good Friends at U.S. Air, Thank You.

In my last post I wasn't entirely honest with you. Well, no, that's not right. I just left out one critical tidbit. I played without what is arguably the best club in my bag, my driver.

I wasn't trying to replicate Tiger's 2006 British Open win. Not at all. This one was courtesy of my good friends at U.S. Air.

I went up to New Hampshire last weekend and stayed in a house near Hale's Location Country Club. It was a great little 9-hole track that I could sneak out at any time of the day for $24 bucks. It was very scenic, had a great layout, and was in great shape. The best part though was that I could play two balls so I could get in "18 holes" in just over two hours.

But I'm not writing about that course, I am writing about what happened in between that course in Washington D.C. I took the shuttle flight from Boston to DC and they broke my damn driver. When I went to pull my golf bag out of my soft cover case, the head cover fell to the ground with a thud. WTF? The head of the driver was still in the cover and there was a cracked, frayed, angry-looking graphite shaft pointing right back at me.

In case you had any delusions about the airline industry, their customer service still sucks. I couldn't file a complaint online so I called them. Then, I couldn't file a complaint over the phone so I had to go back to the airport. Fortunately I decided to do this right away (channel my frustrations...) because US Air will only accept your claim if it is filed within FOUR HOURS of your landing. Thankfully I was able to make it back with at least 45 minutes to spare.

When I got there, for some god forsaken reason I was expecting to be helped by the attendants in the baggage area. It turns out that they only give you a reference number then give you a form that you have to FAX to the hub in Phoenix. Who still uses fax machines? obviously the airlines would.

So I call the next day to see if there has been any progress or if they had any questions about my case. The representative nicely confirms that they have my form and that they will get back to me within the next FOUR WEEKS. ARE YOU KIDDING ME? I not so politely confirm that I had FOUR HOURS to report that they screwed up but that they have FOUR WEEKS to do something about it.

My hopes aren't high that they will actually do anything, but who knows.

On a high note, I did put a call into Taylormade customer service to see if they would be able to do anything. They were exceptionally helpful, honest, and straightforward. They said that they weren't sure if this was something that they would replace out of warranty, but it was worth going to my closest retailer to find out. I got the idea from an old Golf.com article that I found online at golf.com.

Anyway for now, I'm short a driver and in the market for a replacement. The odds on favorite is the new Taylormade Superfast, I've never actually hit the club, but I love the look and have been hooked on their drivers for 7 years now.

I guess I have already written off corporate responsibility but who knows. Ill keep you updated.