The PGA Tour schedule has started, but for many in the golf industry, the season starts the third week of January with the PGA Merchandise show.
This year, Golf Town will take you inside the Orange Country Convention Center, bringing you the latest trends in golf equipment, technology, apparel and accessories. We’ll be talking to research and development professionals, catching up with LPGA Superstars Brooke Henderson and Lexi Thompson, learning how to smash the ball with Canadian Long Drive Champions Lisa “Longball” and Jamie Sadlowski and more! Follow along on our blog, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or YouTube Channel for all of the breaking stories.
This is hands-down golf’s biggest trade show. You’ll find hundreds of exhibitors, golf professionals from all over the world, and golf enthusiasts, who come to the show to see the latest and greatest, with more than 1,100 booths displaying everything from the latest clubs to tee time reservation systems. Pretty much, if it involves golf, it’ll be at the show.
Like it does every year, the show kicks off with Demo Day on Tuesday at the Orange County National, a multi-course facility with one of the biggest driving ranges in the world. It needs it, as golfers descend on the range to hit the latest clubs from PING, Cobra, Titleist, Callaway and others, smashing balls until the sun sets or their hands are calloused.
One notable company passing on the show this year is TaylorMade, which recently launched its M5 and M6 drivers. Citing costs and a desire to take a different approach to launching its latest equipment, the company bowed out. However, two notables—Bridgestone and Mizuno—are returning to the show.
And as is the case every year, the show will be filled with inventors looking to strike golfing gold with a product they’ve dreamed up in their garage. Are they the next inventor to follow in the footsteps of PING’s Karsten Solheim and create something timeless? Potentially, which is why hundreds show up at the show each year, and compete for mindshare among hundreds of multi-national companies.