by Sam Fried

Imagine the biggest best most humongous candy store for everything golf
and then triple it. Now you are approaching what it is like to attend the
greatest golf show on earth, held annually at the Orange County
Convention Center in Orlando, Florida. Literally a square mile of anything
you ever thought had anything to do with golf and much much more.

As a writer, golfer, golf gear nut and a person generally fascinated by
anything to do with golf, I’ve had the privilege of attending The Show for
the past 15 years. Am I a buyer who is there to explore all the latest merch
for my pro shop? No. Am I a course superintendent looking for all the
latest equipment to improve my course maintenance? No. Am I a pro
who wants to test out the newest gear to take back to his club? No. I just
like to see and maybe try out all the stuff that is there each year, find things
that pique my interest, like new inventions, new exhibitors, new products,
see a bunch of people who I see every year and generally enjoy myself.
Pressure? Nope. Fun? Yes!

I don’t go to The Show to try and cover a lot of ground, although with a
square mile of product, that’s easy to do. After an outdoor “Demo Day”,
where club manufacturers allow you to whack balls at the circular Orange
County National Golf Center driving range, there are two and a half days of
exhibition in the OCCC. I start at home by perusing the published list of
exhibitors, each with a small booth or a huge display area, to see what
interests me and then, with that shortish list in hand, I wander around the
acreage going up and down the aisles of vendors, checking them out. I
always encounter vendors not on my list, but which are equally intriguing
and very much worth a stop to chat and check out their product. The
offerings range from the sublime to the ridiculous, sometimes making me
wonder, “What were they thinking?”, not only developing a crazy product,
but spending the time and money to present it at The Show. The biggest
vendors in golf are there, like most of the club makers, shoe makers, ball
makers, electronic gear makers, glove makers, inventors, optics from
rangefinders to sunglasses, travel destinations, tour operators and a vast
number of apparel makers. Probably the most common new product each
year is putters, because golfers are inveterate tinkerers and are always
trying to invent the “perfect” putter. There is a huge free indoor driving
range, where club manufacturers let you try their products, often with the
aid of a Trackman or equivalent technology, which will invariably
demonstrate that you hit their clubs farther than everyone else’s. Many
booths are occupied by wonderful small companies, some family or
individually owned, trying to catch a break, hoping some tour pro will stop
by, love their product and feature it on TV. Or maybe, a writer might give
them some much desired publicity.

I am not suggesting that the products I mention are the only ones of their
kind at The Show, but here’s a review of the outfits that were my faves,
small and large, in alphabetical order.

Antigua (antiguaapparelshop.com). Founded in 1979, Antigua is one of
the longest-running acts in the golf apparel industry. The hallmark of their
business is “comfort”, which shows itself in the wide range of men’s and
women’s tops that are so ridiculously soft, stretchy, comfortable and so
stylish you want to wear them everywhere.

Bridgestone (bridgestonegolf.com) This company has come a long way
from just making tires. Their golf balls are played by the most elite golfers
in the world, including Tiger Woods, Jason Day and Fred Couples. Woods
even participated in the design of the Bridgestone ball he plays, the Tour B
X TW. Bridgestone always has a large booth kitted out with a hitting bay
and a Trackman. The company’s main pitch is that they will fit you with
their best ball for your swing speed. To prove it, they keep on hand most
of the current ball models so you can hit what you normally play and then
compare the results with the Bridgestone ball they recommend. It’s a
great selling point when they demonstrate that their ball goes further than
yours. Who can pass on that pitch?

Daphne Head Covers (daphneheadcovers.com). If you are a golfer who
likes animals, you may already own one or more of the most cuddly and
adorable head covers ever made, sure to start conversations and make
you feel good, even after a bad drive. In 1979, sixteen-year-old Jane
Spicer was a child entrepreneur designing and making puppets. A
customer suggested that the puppets would make great head covers, so
with the help of her mother, Daphne, their business was born. Now their
highly creative covers can be found all over the world and currently have
108 iterations, ranging from owls and roadrunners to lions, tigers and
bears, Oh my! New designs are often the result of customer suggestions!

Golfish (golfish.com) is a new, very small apparel company, the vision of
five brothers who grew up in Ireland golfing and fishing. Their logo is a fish
swinging a golf club, embodying the brothers’ belief that golf and fishing
are similar pursuits. If you ever watch fly-casting and compare it to the
smooth swing of a golf club, you will immediately agree.

Ireland. (tourismireland.com) There are a number of countries, well-known
for golf, that exhibit at The Show, but none have the same exuberance as
the Irish vendors. Call it craic if you will, but it is just fun to stop by the
Ireland area, chat with the reps from all the individual courses, those from
Tourism Ireland, the hotels and the like. And as it gets late in the day and
everyone has gotten tired of standing, tired of talking, tired of saying the
same thing all day, the whiskey comes out. Just a wee dram, of course.

Mileseey Golf (mileseeygolf.com). As technology develops, so do new
products. This year, there were a number of combined bluetooth speaker
and GPS units being offered. I liked Mileseey’s the best because the 40W
speaker provided high quality sound and attached to the golf cart with a
VERY powerful built-in magnet. But what separates this unit from the field
is the easily detachable color GPS unit that can be carried in a pocket if
desired. It provides so much information that the old wristwatch style GPS
unit gets left in the dust. The rechargeable battery lasts forever and the
unit comes preloaded with over 43,000 courses with no subscription fee.

Ocean City, Maryland (ococean.com/things-to-do/sports-recreation/golf/)
Made its debut to promote the area’s fine assortment of courses. I’ll be
playing several of the best this fall, so more to come on this lightly visited
portion of the Delmarva Peninsula.. You can also contact Megan Godfrey
at megangodfreyPR@gmail.com for more info.

PXG. (pxg.com) The brash upstart of the club manufacturing industry
made its debut at The Show in 2026. Only selling clubs since 2015, it is an
infant compared to the giants of the industry, like Titleist, Callaway,
Taylormade and Ping. Parsons Xtreme Golf (PXG) was founded “to create
the world’s finest, no-compromise golf equipment. To provide better
performance, the brand focuses on high-end, custom-fitted clubs, utilizing
a direct-to-consumer, non-traditional retail model.” Of course, while every
manufacturer claims that their gear is the best, the longest, the straightest,
does PXG come through on their claims? I spoke with their two chief
designers and hit a bunch of balls with the Gen 8 irons. These forged
clubs have a soft, buttery feel on a good strike and I gained almost 10 per
cent on distance. Iron shots go high, can be worked even by a midhandicapper like me and stop on a dime. What more could you want?

Titeeyewear (titeeyewear.com). Call me naive, but this new company
showed me the power of brown tinted sunglasses. Their exceptionally
lightweight and sharp lenses made every green color pop, and the
contours of the greens became more apparent.

Uneekor (uneekor.com). I was very intrigued by the notion of an easily
transportable and reasonably priced launch monitor, that could be taken to
the driving range as well as used with a simulator screen in your basement
or garage (or living room, depending on whether or not your spouse/
partner is a golfer). The display screen shows carry distance, ball speed,
side and back spin, launch angle, smash factor, clubbed speed, club path
and attack angle. The unit comes in a VERY protective, foam-lined carry
case and has a long-lasting battery for multiple uses withoutrecharging.

Wallaroo Hats (wallaroohats.com). This small Colorado company found
its inspiration in Australian-style headgear designed to fashionably offer a
high degree of sun protection. All their fedora and wide brim hats are
beautifully made from palm fibers woven by craftsmen in Mexico and are
all at least UPF 50+ rated. The hats are completely crushable without
losing their shape, making them perfect for travel or stuffing in the back of
your ride. Every hat has an interior adjustable fit band and a hidden
magnet in the hatband for your ball marker. Want to look dapper on the
course and not dopey like Joel Dahmen? Go Wallaroo!

Note: The Show is not open to the public, but only those in the golf
industry.