The greatest golf show on earth
Yet there is one golf event this month that carries the PGA stamp and generates just as much money as a Tour stop but has little to do with the game’s top exponents. The PGA
Merchandise Show is the biggest event in the golf industry calendar and the 2007 event kicks off in Orlando, Florida, on January 25th.
Since its inception in 1954, the show has served as an important forum for the golf industry’s leaders to convene, discuss the hot topics of the day and do business on a grand scale.
The 2007 PGA Merchandise Show will be no exception with more than 43,000 industry professionals descending on the Orange County Convention Centre to learn about the newest golf merchandise, test the latest equipment and uncover the latest golfing fashion trends that will eventually filter into a pro shop near you. And on an industry-wide footing, the show serves as a talking shop as to how best promote the sport, expand participation in golf, increase the number of rounds played and encourage greater sales in equipment and merchandise.
Mindful of the fact that such events can get a little out of control, the PGA show this year has been shortened to three days and redesigned into a more focused and streamlined convention.
The biggest buzz concerning new equipment from the more than 1200 exhibitors will probably be about the latest line of unusual drivers that are set to go on sale early this year. Since all the major club manufacturers have exhausted the means to maximise the size of drivers within the current USGA and R and A regulations, they are now playing with the geometry of their top sellers. Nike will be showing off their latest creation, the SasQuatch SUMO, the driver with a face that is almost completely square. The guys that equip Tiger Woods have managed to keep the head of their new monster legal sizewise, that is, within the 460cc limit, and still enhance the driver’s stability through impact, the goal being to create longer, more accurate shots from the off-centre hits that mere mortals invariably produce.
As previewed in the Irish Examiner over Christmas, Callaway and Tour Edge are also launching their square clubs at the PGA Merchandise Show later this month, while there will be new oversized drivers on display from the likes of Adams, Cleveland and Nicklaus.
Those attending will also get a chance to try out all the new products on the eve of the show, when the manufacturers take their wares outside for the fifth annual Demo Day.
The Orange County National Golf Centre’s 42-acre practice facility is the venue for this gathering of PGA pros, marketers and buyers. Orange County National general manager Bruce Gerlander will not only be hosting the event at his course, he will be an active participant. He says this is the one event at which you can get an honest feel about the new equipment on display at the show.
“For years we went down the hallways of the convention centre in a suit and tie. We’d pick a club and we’d waggle it a few times and decide then and there if it felt good,” Gerlander said. “That’s no way to buy a club. We wouldn’t try and sell clubs to consumers or our members that way, why would we try and buy clubs when we shop that way, when we’ve got a chance to try them out in real conditions.”
More than 80 companies will be participating at this year’s demo day and that will give PGA members the first crack at trying out new equipment. Each company in attendance will be given a 10ft by 10ft space around a unique circular driving range measuring one mile around.
Nor will there be any let up once the actual show gets under way the following day. Announcements made at the Merchandise Show translate into millions of dollars of business for professionals around the world. This year’s theme is “Earn, learn and grow the game”. There will be daily educational themes, and there will be a new focus on career development and training and one of the main goals will be to enhance the business of teaching the game of golf.
Also expected are announcements from golf apparel manufacturers with the merchandise show doubling as a kind of golf fashion week, complete with runway shows. Golf apparel experts have been primed to expect a new development in sleeve design, with a new raglan sleeve set to take centre stage. The raglan sleeve is driving the golf fashion industry for 2007, enabling a one-piece shirt construction that eliminates shoulder seams and in turn ridding any restrictions during your swing.
There will also be a plethora of new performance fabrics on display in shirts, trousers and even hats, with adidas debuting a new performance driven golf cap with material which makes perspiration dissolve into the fabric.
No industry show would be complete without its fair share of innovation and at times quite frankly oddball products being hurled at an unsuspecting market. The PGA Merchandise Show is no exception.
Among the more bizarre exhibits will be a range of edible golf tees. The Connecticut-based Tasty Golf Tees company begins with a natural, uncoated but sanitised wood tee which it then flavours with mint, cherry, grape or strawberry.
“After making a putt, while walking to the next hole, many players take a fresh tee out of their bag and put it in their mouth,” says company co-founder John Packes. “What if that tee had some flavour?”
Packes says his mint flavoured tee “will knock out the foulest of cigar or beer breath in five seconds”.
He may be right, but will they snuff out the bad odour of relentless sales patter?
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