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FIELDREPORT


OrlandoGloom? T


Aſter attending his 15th PGA Merchandise Show since 1995, Paul Trow returned from Florida cautiously optimistic for the future of the game only to have his hopes dashed by some depressing news on this side of the Atlantic


hey say the United States and United Kingdom are nations divided by a common language. But during my


recent visit to the Orange County Convention Center, it did sound like the golf trade on each side of the pond was warbling from the same song sheet. Following the British Golf Industry Association’s lead, the US golf trade is now waking up to the fact that the game needs a shiſt in focus, specifically towards recruiting and retaining more female participants. Accordingly, the 62nd PGA Merchandise Show was all about the girls. Wherever you looked, they were the priority, with many of the 1,000- plus exhibitors bending over backwards to put ladies first. Eye-catching LPGA stars like Paula Creamer,


Cristie Kerr, Lexi Thompson, Jessica Korda and Natalie Gulbis were working overtime, preaching the virtues of their Tour in particular and the game as a rewarding pastime for women in general. On a corporate level, Suzy Whaley, recently


elected as PGA of America secretary (the highest rank a woman has ever achieved), moderated a panel of fellow female big hitters – KPMG partner Lynne Doughtie, Golf Channel producer Molly Solomon, businesswoman and former basketball pro Donna Orender, and LPGA player and occasional broadcaster Paige Mackenzie – with the daunting brief: ‘Inspire Greatness’. If all goes according to plan, Whaley, a 47-year-


old teaching pro from Connecticut, will become the PGA of America’s first woman president in November 2018. Come the 2020 Ryder Cup at Whistling Straits, there will be no Ted Bishop- style Twitter gaffes from her, mark my words.


22 SGBGOLF


The game has few classier individuals, and she displayed her poise and judgment by steering the discussion illuminatingly through a mire of complex issues. Among those present were two soon-to-


retire chief executives – the R&A’s Peter Dawson and the European Tour’s George O’Grady. Both men are rightly proud of the role they played in helping to put golf back on the menu for next year’s Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. During an Olympic Golf forum, Dawson declared: “The growth of the game is worldwide. Golf in the Olympics will lead to extra exposure and extra government support for the game.” With Suzann Pettersen, Graeme McDowell


and Olympic course designer Gil Hanse in the chorus line, Dawson’s words carried weight and optimism – although, with most participants likely to come from established nations, I wondered how much of an impact this really will have on the game’s growth in places as diverse as Malawi, Sri Lanka or Western Samoa. That aside, spare a thought for the UK golf


trade, less than a month later, following the kick-in-the-stomach news that its biggest USP,


the Open Championship, has been sold down the river to Sky. All the BBC will get from 2017 onwards is a two-hour prime-time highlights package that will inevitably be eclipsed each night by Eastenders, Coronation Street and (irony intended) Casualty. In one swipe of a pen, the R&A has signed away British golf’s primary asset. Contrast Dawson’s words in Orlando with the


real legacy of his reign over the Open. The merchandise tent, once a major showcase for all golf’s leading companies, has been reduced to a tiny handful of apparel brands. The beloved Bollinger tent, an essential port of call for everyone who works in the game, has been priced off the premises. And now the whole event will be subject to a daytime terrestrial-TV blackout. Henry Cotton and Henry Longhurst must be turning in their graves. All this puts into sharp relief the efforts made


by the gallant corps of British exhibitors, buyers and visitors who pitched up in Orlando, though their numbers were relatively small in the context of an overall turnout of 41,000 people from 79 countries. The BGIA, represented by Nigel Freemantle,


Ciara Morgan and Jane Montgomery, again hosted a British pavilion having secured export grants for 25 companies to attend. Other BGIA-supported names included Explanar, Power Tee, Hatton Textiles, L$D Golf Clubs, Golphinforkids, several brands on the VisitScotland stand and first-time exhibitors Stewart Golf, who raked in orders galore for their X9 Follow electric trolley. There was also an element of nostalgia


attached to two of the BGIA flock, both now under new ownership. Bob Smith, who recently sold the UK licence for apparel brand


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