I'm a little late, but wanted to share some of my thoughts on the show this year. This was my first year visiting the PGA show and it was like being in Golf wonderland. So many things to see and so many things to do :)
I started out at the Demo day and was astounded at the sheer size of the range at Orange County. Imagine all the manufacturers and vendors in a circle and they are all hitting to the center. Players like Bubba Watson (who put on a nice clinic), were hitting massive drives from one side and as we counted 1,2,3,4,5,6,7 seconds later, they landed with plenty of room to spare on the other side.
Large displays from OEM's with music, DJ's and in some cases, food and drink were offered. You could wander around the circle all day for hours hitting the newest clubs, working with Vokey wedges, putting with Cameron putters as well as being fit for 915's on a launch monitor.
Opening day was Wednesday and Titleist kicked off the PGA show with a really nice overview of our philosophy, introduced the new 2015 Prov1 and Prov1x golf balls, and talked about our new 915 club offerings. Jordan Spieth then came out on stage and talked about his partnership with Titleist, how and why he chooses the ball he plays and how extensively he tested both the driver and the ball at our Oceanside Test facility before he put them into play.
The results spoke for themselves as he won twice after putting them in play. He talked about how he had confidence that he could swing the driver and that he could control his ball around the greens. It was a great start to the show and several thousand pros attended the Titleist opening.
Bob Vokey and Scotty Cameron also gave talks about the creative process that goes into the wedges and putters and Titleist conducted seminars on the performance of the new ball (with Jordan, his coach, our golf ball gurus), and another on the process and technologies that went into our new 915 metalwoods.
I also attended two coaching seminars. The first was with Claude Harmon III, Cameron McCormick and Mark Blackburn and they talked about coaching their tour players and developing young talent such as a Jordan. The second was a wonderful session with Butch Harmon talking about teaching, coaching and the future for PGA club pros. He emphasized caring and giving to each and every one of his students and encouraged all the pros to give their all everytime they walked out to the lesson tee or represented the PGA. Great sessions......
In between seminars, I wandered around the show checking out all the new gear, clothes, clubs and gadgets. There were so many things to see and hear. People talking about their products, celebrity pop-ups....Bob Vokey talking to players in the Vokey area, Scotty signing autographs and talking about his putters in the Cameron section, Michael Breed at Golf Pride, Butch at Winn, the LPGA players on the fashion stage.....Even had my picture taken with Scotty, Jordan and Bubba :)
Several blisters, sore feet and days later, it was all over and I am plotting my trip for next year. More organization, comfortable shoes and making sure I see everything! Here are a couple of pictures that I took:
The stage ready for the Titleist kick off!
Titleist Tour Bags at the Titleist Booth and Staff fitting at Demo Day
Jordan talking about why and how he chooses his ball and equipoment, and his coach showing him swinging at 12 yo
Butch talking to a packed auditorium of PGA pros.