Last week hundreds of golf companies and thousands of golf industry professionals descended on the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando for the 2018 PGA Merchandise Show. Imagine a golf shop football fields long and filled with the latest and greatest, and you’d only start to envision the scope and scale of the show, which features everything from golf carts tricked out to look like sport cars, to app developers connecting golfers to their facilities through their phones.
That said, Golf Town spent the week scouring the show for the key storylines you need to know, bringing you the trends—what’s hot and what you’ll see on fairways across Canada this year.
Here are some of the top trends we noticed.
The battle of forgiveness
TaylorMade showcased its M3 and M4 drivers with Twist Face, Callaway unleashed Rogue, its successor to GBB Epic, Ping unveiled G400 Max, and Cobra showed off its King F8. What’s the link between all of them? The key narrative for drivers in 2018 is they all are trying to offer more distance on off-centre hits. That means you’ll find more fairways and more distance at the same time. If popularity at the show is any indication, then TaylorMade is in for a big year. At Tuesday’s Demo Day there was a four hour wait to test out Twist Face. Pre-order for M3 and M4 starts February 1 at Golf Town, so this will be your first chance to hit the new drivers in our bays.
Golf is cool
From golf carts that looked like hot rods to the elegance of Scotty Cameron’s latest offerings, the golf industry is pushing forward in a way that is revitalizing the game. Furthermore, star power was evident at the PGA Merchandise Show with pros like Greg Norman and Blair O’Neal at the show, and lineups of people trying to meet Scotty Cameron and wedge king Bob Vokey. Luckily, we were able to catch up with all four of them. You can watch the interviews here.
Big data comes to golf
From putters like TaylorMade’s Spider Interactive Powered by Blast, which sends your stroke data to your phone, or the revitalized Game Golf, which records the data on every shot and can even suggest the way you should play, or Cobra’s drivers that come armed with Arccos sensors to give you the length on your drives, technology was on display in Orlando this week.
Colourful
Pink golf balls, orange golf gloves—you’d find them brightening up the show floor throughout the convention center. From Callaway’s hot Truvis ball through to the blinding options available from Volvik, and new balls from Titleist in three different colours, the notion of a white golf ball seemed, well, very 2017. Don’t be surprised if everyone in your foursome has a differently coloured ball when you tip it up in coming months.
Casual comeback
Après golf: That was the key for apparel at the PGA Merchandise Show. Golf clothing manufacturers like Adidas showed off new lines that are at home on a casual Friday at the office, out for a low-key dinner, or for hitting balls on the range. Adicross Golf from Adidas (coming soon to Golf Town) was a standout, but cool and trendy apparel that’s perfect for on the fairway or lounging at the cottage could be found from several major clothing manufacturers, including Travis Mathew, Lacoste and others.
