Ocean State Golf

On Jan. 27-30 the 57^th PGA Merchandise Show was held in Orlando, Fla. This event kicks off the new year for golf manufacturers, small golf businesses looking to make inroads into the giant golf market and the over 40,000 people who attended.

The PGA Merchandise Show event starts with a giant Outdoor Demo Day at Orange County National Golf Center in Winter Garden. This huge complex with over 100 hitting bays was attended by thousands of PGA members, media members and buyers from around the world. David Toms, Justin Leonard and PGA teaching professional Rick Smith were there to provide tips and instruction.

The actual PGA Merchandise Show runs Thursday through Saturday and thousands were lined up to get into the Orange County Convention Center on Thursday morning. There were almost 1,000 booths set up (down from previous years) and they ranged from 10 by 10 up to massive spaces for Titleist, Callaway, Tour Edge, Cleveland/Srixon, Bridgestone, SkyCaddie, Club Car and many others.

The event is not open to the public. “It is really for all the stakeholders in the business,” said Ed Several, VP of PGA Golf Exhibitions, and Jim Remy of Okemo, Vt., President of the PGA. The largest contingent of attendees is PGA pros from around the world that take classes, attend seminars and make purchases during the event. Course owners, buyers and general managers make up a huge part of the crowd and there are hundreds of media folks from around the world in attendance.

Bridgestone and Clevand/Srixon each hosted a media breakfast to introduce new products. “We figured we could get your attention if we fed you,” said Dan Murphy of Bridgestone as they talked about their new golf balls and their golf ball fitting equipment. “We hope to do 40,000 ball fittings around the country this year,” he added.

Cleveland Golf talked about their new wedges. “We think we are going to have our best year ever, because these wedges can be kept in your bag until 2024 if you are an amateur,” said a representative of Cleveland/Srixon. They also talked about the Srixon ball that is by far the number one ball in Japan.

Peter Broome of Titleist

Titleist hosted a large group in the auditorium to talk about the Titleist Experience that included the Titleist Performance Institute (TPI), seminars they were hosting on club fitting and meetings with Scotty Cameron and Bob Vokey. “We approach the Show as an opportunity to better connect with our partners,” said Peter Broome, vice president of business partnerships for Acushnet Company and a resident of Barrington. “The feedback from our partners has been extremely positive,” he added.

Golfing celebrities abound at the event. We saw Butch Harmon, Jim Furyk, Natalie Gulbis, Brittany Lang, Paula Creamer, David Leadbetter, Peter Jacobsen, Hank Haney, Tom Watson, Nancy Lopez, Christina Kim, John O’Hurley (Peterman), Annika Sorenstam and many others during the three days of the PGA Merchandise Show.

Ralph Darling from Massachusetts, who has the training aide called Thumb Caddy, had a booth. “We’re really trying to go big time, even though this is a big expense,” said Darling from his booth on Thursday.

Look for a pictorial of the Show and many stories in the May issue of Ocean State Golf.

Have any inside scoop on Golf Merchandise?  We’d love to hear from you, so leave a comment below…