PGA Merchandise Show 2017: Some Cool Stuff We Saw

The 2017 PGA Merchandise Show is in the books.  One million square feet of everything golf and a lot of stuff you wouldn’t expect to see at the PGA Merchandise Show.  Overall, the clubs were expensive and shiny, the clothes fancy and expensive.  We searched high and low for some cool, different stuff and today we share with you a couple of things that you might like as well.

The big boys of golf continued to make a huge splash.  Callaway, TaylorMade and Titleist duked it out to see which company could design the most extravagant display areas, more on that later.

The PGA of America uses this as a pseudo annual convention.  It has a center stage and presents continuing programs.  The Golf Channel gets into the act, presenting its Morning Drive show from the exhibition floor and that production draws huge crowds, especially ace instructor Michael Breed.

So let’s get into a few items that caught our eye:

THE GOLF BIKE:  Believe it or not one of the culprits of slow play on golf courses are golf carts.  Too often you see two players riding together, they drive to the first guy’s ball and park there while he goes through his routine then hits, then they drive over to the second guy’s ball where he goes through his routine and hits.  Rarely do you see one guy get out with clubs and go to his ball while the first player is going through his rigmarole.  The Golf Bike could be the cure.  The bright green machine caught our eye and this is the perfect compromise between walking and riding.  Play is fast, the Golf Bike’s site says you burn 2,000 calories in a round as opposed to 1,400 walking and just 750 riding.  The bike is designed to get on and off easy, has a carrier that holds 14 clubs along with pouches for everything else you need including a cooler pouch.

The bike has wide tires to navigate fairways, gears like other bikes, brakes, the whole kit and caboodle.

The golf bike retails for $995 but they’re selling it for $795 on their site right now and that includes free assembly by a local bike shop in your area of the country.  You can check it out at:   www.thegolfbike.com.

NIKON COOLSHOT:  Bushnell has been the dominant force in the world of yardage range finders but this one caught our eye because of its size and ease of use.  The Nikon CoolShot bills itself as the world’s first optical vibration reduction golf laser rangefinder.  Nikon was displaying five models:  CoolShot 80 vr, 80 I vr, CoolShot 40, 40i and the CoolShot 20.  These are really compact units, easy to use.  Found them intriguing.  The vibration reduction technology comes from the Nikon cameras and comes in handy with a range finder.  You can find them at www.Nikon.com.

INCREDIWEAR:   You have to hand it to the companies that understand golf has an aging demographic.  The average golfer in the United States is 54 years old.  So you can understand the need for products that can support players physically.  Enter Incrediwear.  This knee support caught our eye because of the material and the story.  The company says its fabric supports are therapeutic because they are infused with natural elements germanium and carbon.  It says those elements are activated by your body heat and dramatically increase blood flow to the skin and muscles.  We bought one and tried it and it is certainly the most comfortable support we’ve tried and you can wear it all day, no problem.  Provided comfortable support and we think it’s a keeper.  You can check the company out at www.incrediwear.com.

THE GOLF SWING SHIRT:  Now here’s a strange looking swing aid.  You can’t help but notice the Golf Swing Shirt, it’s bright orange and it caught our attention because the good lads at Booth 988 had endorsements from instructor Michael Breed of The Golf Channel and three-time major champion Paddy Harrington.  This “shirt” fits over your torso and has a middle sleeve that you put both your arms into.  Suddenly you look like an elephant’s trunk but the idea is to connect the upper body.  Looks like it has merit and Breed doesn’t endorse just any old product.  You can check it out at www.golfswingshirt.com.  Oh, and yes, they’ll probably laugh at you when you show up on the range wearing one.

OTHER OBSERVATONS:

It’s all-out war by the big boys.  Titleist has launched its newest version of the Pro-V1 and Pro-V1x, promising that these are the best yet.  Titleist does not bring out new equipment every year, only when they make serious improvements to their existing stuff.  What they did bring out as well is the newest in the Contour franchise, the ContourFIT.  This is said to be the best selling golf shoe franchise ever and the new ContourFit looks like it could be a winner.  Titleist clubs continue to have that traditional appeal.

TaylorMade flaunted its staff of professionals more than it flaunted its equipment.  The folks there were especially ga-ga over the signing of Tiger Woods to a four-year deal.  We thought the M1 and M2 irons were intriguing.

Callaway made an all-out push for its new EPIC driver with the “jailbreak” technology.  Everyone’s buyer’s guide for the show was wrapped with a promo sleeve for the driver.  Gotta admit the driver is intriguing.

Also, you are no longer dealing with golf clothes.  That segment of the industry has dubbed itself:  Lifestyle Apparel.  You have the traditionalists like Bobby Jones, Peter Milar and Donald Ross and the hip guys like Travis Matthew and Oakley.  For those of us from the south, Southern Tide and Bald Head Blues scratch that itch.

The place was packed with training aids and stuff you wouldn’t expect at a PGA Merchandise show — guys selling concrete, guys selling bug spray.

This show had it all and then some and why not.  The average golfer spends $2,800 a year on their habit and everyone wants a piece of the action.