FIELDREPORT


Peter Millar, was in attendance, but Orlando veteran Phil Gazeley, founder of Two Thumb Grip, sat out this year’s show.


Amongst other British exhibitors were MD Golf from Northern Ireland, pushing their latest Aston Martin range of products, and Visit Wales, where accessories distributor Asbri was to be found. Completing a Celtic trinity of destinations was Tourism Ireland, well supported by many of the country’s top resorts, but sadly there was a ‘no show’ from the recently launched Golf Tourism England initiative. Hopefully that oversight will be rectified come the 2016 show (from January 27-29).


For me, the week started on Monday, January 19 with the Tour Edge mini-market day at The Legacy Club at Alaqua Lakes, a Tom Fazio track some 20 miles north of downtown Orlando. Apart from the title hosts’ superb Exotics E8 Tour fairway wood, three other products caught my eye – Green Sleeve, a crest-able ball and wedge cleaner that is the brainchild of Hampshire businessman Oliver Nimenko; Cure Putters’ RX series with shaſts that can switch from right-handed to leſt- handed; and Vice, a line of golf balls from Munich, purchasable online, that seriously undercut the leading brands.


down the aisles on motorized GolfBoards without risk of injuring anyone.


At least I enjoyed easier access to the kaleidoscope of goods on display, among them Titleist’s upgraded ProV1 and ProV1x balls, Bridgestone’s revolutionary e-series balls, TaylorMade’s R15 and Aeroburner drivers, Nike’s Vapor Speed irons, PING’s G30 hybrids,


Callaway’s latest Odyssey putting offerings and various other shiny new toys from the likes of Mizuno, Cobra Puma Golf, Yonex and Cleveland/Srixon.


Strolling round the Demo Day, where


manufacturers pitch their tents atop an amphitheatre- shaped practice range, I


concluded that for many visitors this was the show


Formalities teed off in earnest the following morning with the Demo Day at the incredibly- hard-to-find Orange County National Golf Center & Lodge. Masters champion Bubba Watson spearheaded proceedings on behalf of PING and Oakley, as he did the following morning on day one of the show, when fellow Ryder Cupper Jordan Spieth was also on hand. Strolling round the Demo Day, where manufacturers pitch their tents atop an amphitheatre-shaped practice range, I concluded that for many visitors this was the show. Here orders are booked, equipment tested and relationships cultivated. I wondered how many of these buyers, especially from the snowbound northern states, I’d see on the convention centre floor. The answer was not many – aſter all, who wants to trudge round a cluttered, air- conditioned marketplace when more than a hundred immaculate courses beckon within a 25-mile radius?


No matter what the PGA of America’s official line is about visitor figures, the giant human surge that almost swept me off my feet when I first attended this show has thinned to such an extent that boy racers can now whizz up and


24 SGBGOLF


A new product that leſt me cold was the preppy clothing on offer from the Alister MacKenzie Apparel Company. Clearly the owners wish to emulate the success of Donald Ross Sportwear by evoking the name of another of the game’s formative legends. The point, though, is that anyone who has seen pictures of MacKenzie, notably when he was helping Bobby Jones build Augusta National, would know there was nothing sartorially elegant about the good doctor. Overalls and baggy jumpers were his choice of garb! One of the joys of the show is bumping into


old friends. In no special order, I came across… Grahame Jenkins, director of UK/International markets for Bobby Jones who have just teamed up with Miguel Angel Jimenez as the veteran Spaniard’s official apparel partner; John Ennis, GolfBuddy’s head of global sales and marketing who was justifiably excited about the innovative BB5 GPS wristband that comes in six different colours; Lynn McCool, flamboyant director of golf and head professional at luxury Lough Erne Resort in Northern Ireland; Mike Johnson-Hill, who flagged up his imminent retirement as UK & Ireland managing director of Galvin Green; Tim Greenwood, indefatigable England & Wales sales manager for luxury Italian apparel brand Chervo; and Jackie Hitchcock of SkyCaddie who introduced SkyTrak, the game’s first personal launch monitor, in tandem with American company SportTrak, to a ringing endorsement from celebrated instructor Hank Haney.


Haney was one of several household names from the teaching fraternity to work the floor, along with David Leadbetter, Butch Harman, Jim McLean, Stan Utley and Michael Breed, all of whom put in a serious shiſt. On the media front, the Golf Channel and Sirius XM/PGA Tour Radio were wall to wall with eye-candy babes Blair O’Neal and Holly Sonders strutting about like Amanda Holden on a Britain’s Got Talent red carpet.


But it wasn’t all fun and games. Two leading research firms, Golf Datatech from the US and Japan’s Yano, joined forces to come up with a fascinating survey that estimated the worldwide value of the golf industry at almost £6 billion. Intriguingly, they ranked the UK fourth as a market, behind the US (obviously), Japan and Korea (less obviously), and just ahead of Canada. Germany is the largest golf market in continental Europe.


On a personal level, my biggest dilemma was choosing on Thursday night between a gig by country singer Phil Vasser at the House of Blues and Iain Randell’s kind invitation to down a few cold ones with the PGAs of Europe. Alas, Phil will have to wait at least another year to get my undivided attention.


As I ambled around the following morning, when most stands were being prematurely dismantled, I had the eerie feeling I was in a ghost town. Let’s hope I was wrong.


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