By: Brian Albertson

TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services

As a Class A member of the PGA, I attend the annual PGA merchandise show for various reasons.

This year marked my 30th trip to Orlando for the show. The show is always the launchpad for the newest, most innovative products in the golf industry.

For PGA members, this is also an opportunity for mandatory continuing education credits, and networking with fellow professionals from around the world.

But for the average golfer the PGA show is almost beyond words in size and scope. This year marked the largest turnout in 15 years as over 33,000 golf industry professionals from every state and nearly 100 countries came together again in Orlando to view displays and booths from over 1,100 golf industry vendors.

The Orange County Convention Center covers many acres, and the show floor is divided into three distinct categories of vendors.

It is traditional that the far right of the building is the apparel showcase with every brand of golf clothing, headwear and accessories that you have ever heard of and many new lines.

Honestly, PGA professionals and buyers for their respective golf shops are most likely seen in the apparel section meeting with their apparel reps for personal viewings of their favorite lines. It is also easy to stroll by every company to see if something catches your interest. As the show is in January, the apparel companies are primarily showing fall and holiday offerings for the same year.

The middle of the show floor highlights golf industry needs such as carts, range, trophies, travel, teaching, clubhouse, software.

This is where I spent most of my time this year comparing all the different launch monitors for teaching in club fitting. We have recently expanded our Golf learning center to three bays, and I was charged to properly outfit our facility with the newest technology. I have used Trackman and Flightscope in the past but fell in love with the new Foresight equipment this year.

Lastly, the left side of the show floor is where you find all the golf clubs and ball companies with massive displays of every product that they offer.

Each major golf club company has a booth the size of a grocery store. This is where all the fun happens and where most of the general golf enthusiasts’ traffic is during the PGA show.

If you were at the show, we all love the game and we all can’t wait to see the new products that launch the week of the PGA merchandise show.

This year did not disappoint as Callaway launched their new Elyte family of clubs. Titleist introduced their new version of the ProV 1 golf ball and Vokey wedges. The new pings, Taylor maids and Mizuno were all popular with the Mizuno STZ driver coming in at the best value of $299.

If you’ve never been to the PGA merchandise show, I highly recommend it. You will not be disappointed, and it is always exciting. I hope to see you all In Orlando next January!!!

In the meantime, happy golfing.