Ah, Central Florida, home to sunshine, attractions, theme parks and …….one of the coldest and windiest January days to experience Demo Day!
The PGA Merchandise Show is basically broken up into two parts; the one that many people look forward to is Demo Day held at the Orange County National Golf Course. This is the day that the attendees can walk around and experience everything from hitting the new clubs, to trying the new golf carts, to anything in between. The biggest challenge for this day however wasn’t how far I could hit the new Cobra SpeedZone clubs, but how long we could stand outside before seeking shelter. There were banners and manufacturer’s flags and signs just flying all over the place. Seriously, if it was snowing it would have been a white out!
All in all though, it was still a great day. All the vendors were set up in a giant circle around OCN’s huge practice range. There were representatives from new startups to the big established companies. Everything from golf tees to high end tracking systems and golf carts. You want to try on the newest technology in golf gloves? Check. Can’t swing a club anymore but still want to play? Check. The newest clubs from Cobra (my personal favorite), Titleist and others? Again,check. It took the full day just to make it around the loop and talk to the wonderful people representing their products. The assorted smackrels along the way didn’t hurt either! So, look forward to the upcoming individual reviews of what impressed us most.
The second part of the PGA Merchandise Show is held at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando. This lasts for three days and believe me, it takes all of that time to go through the ‘ten miles’ of aisles where the exhibitor booths are set up. Yes, I did say, ‘ten miles’.
The exhibitors are basically divided into two main sections. One is for product and the other is for apparel. The apparel section is where a lot of the buyers come and choose the latest in golf wear for their shops or country clubs. It was an experience to see the buzz between the buyers and sellers happening in almost every booth.
Samples, you ask? In abundance! We ended up with hats, balls, bags, tees and other goodies all graciously supplied by vendors both large and small. You will be reading some reviews of the great products that we came upon as time goes on. There were also many hands on demo areas. Some were just too full for us to experience. Others were just plain fun.
One thing that was very noticeable was the abundance of CBD companies. All very friendly staffers manning the booth giving advice and reasons why you should prefer their product. One way to cure those yips I guess. We’ll just have to see how that works out on the tour for the players.
So, in closing we highly recommend you reaching out and coming to the 2021 show next year. Great staff, friendly people, some of the superstars of all facets of golf, and of course lots to see and do. Make sure that you let us know you’re coming and we’ll meet you there!
Go to their website for the 2021 PGA Merchandise Show and find out who will be there and how you can attend. Make sure you mention SeniorGolfDigest.com sent you!