The 72nd PGA Merchandise Show offered something for everyone during its recent stop in Orlando.
A cornucopia of golf apparel, equipment, game-improvement gadgetry and cutting-edge technology from nearly 1,100 vendors — the most since 2009 — filled more than one million square feet at Orange County Convention, highlighting the recent boom in a $102 billion industry.
Here are some items that caught attention:
Toast of the tee box
David Baker used to chase prospective buyers down the aisles at Orange County Convention Center. Now, the president of Martini Golf Tees Inc. just sits back and listens to satisfied customers.
“They come and tell us their story,” he said. “How they first found a tee and how they love it and their friends love it.”
Since Baker’s first show in 2009, sales have skyrocketed from 30,000 tees to more than 6 million. Additionally, Martini Golf donates 100,000 tees annually to veterans, adaptive golf programs and kids’ golf initiatives.
The colorful, cup-shaped tees are unique, ubiquitous and useful.
The larger cup allows the tee a 20% forward tilt to facilitate a cleaner strike and longer roll out.
“It’s almost floating in this cup — it improves the smash factor,” Baker explains.
The tees’ durability and vibrant colors stand out, while the consistent teeing height of Martini’s popular step-up model is a key selling point.
Baker’s success story began in Ann Arbor, Mich., where he worked in advertising and his father in plastics. A business associate’s idea for a better tee and untimely 2007 death led the Bakers to purchase his idea, make alterations and enter the market.
Martini Tees have since become the toast of the tee box.
Grip it and rip it
Developed to help golfers battling arthritis and decreased grip strength, JumboMax Golf grips expanded to improve the inconsistency and inaccuracy that ails golfers of all ages.
A specialty brand soon expanded. It entered the mainstream when Bryson Dechambeau won the 2024 U.S. Open using JumboMax grips.
But after John Daly — the father of “grip-it and rip-it” — gushed about the grip once he hit the long-hitting Dechambeau’s driver a mile on YouTube, the company could not meet demand.
“We sold six months of grips in two weeks,” vice president Dale Rehus said.
Daly’s message: “Go get fitted for grips. Nobody does that. The bigger the grip is, the better you’re going to play.”
A stable, secure grip reduces grip pressure to help the hands out of the equation.
“Now the club’s going to release,” Rehus said. “You’re going to get a nice pop at the bottom of your swing. That’s how people pick up yardage and keep the face of the club square longer. “
Started 15 years ago in Indiana, JumboMax, now based in North Palm Beach, offers eight sizes while offering different weights and tapering to provide more than three dozen fitting options.
“It benefits all golfers,” Rehus said.
Cure for ‘cart-path only’
Clark Norris knows choosing the right club can lead to either a birdie or a double bogey. During his caddying days at a stuffy country club in Illinois, poor club selection could cost him his job.
These days, CaddyTalk’s Cube model ($369) helps eliminate guesswork. The device is particularly handy when golf carts are restricted from fairways, common during Florida’s wetter months and on many par-3s.
In “caddy” mode, the device measures the distance from the cart path to the ball, and then to the pin before delivering the difference a golfer can use to select a club. This eliminates the need to carry multiple clubs and a distance finder to calculate the next shot.
“It’s figures out the math,” Norris said.
The Cube also measures temperature and humidity.
CaddyTalk’s upcoming Windy model ($359) will soon measure wind direction and speed — vital in changing conditions. Other models include the Minimi NR ($279), a traditional rangefinder, and the Minion ($199), a more compact version.
Each offers fast, precise readings and clearer optics than many competitors. Norris realizes most golfers aren’t confident in exact distances, but notes, “It’s nice to know.”
Future of ballstriking has arrived
If you want the future of irons, COBRA Golf believes it has it. It’ll be an investment.
Mike Yagley, head of COBRA’s innovation team, likens the Limit3D irons to the groundbreaking technology of early flat-screen TVs, claiming the club offers revolutionary performance akin to Callaway’s Big Bertha drivers or Titleist’s Pro V1 balls.
“I swear to God, it’s right up there,” he said.
A bold claim, yet Yagley insists Cobra’s 3D irons can back it up.
The 3D irons combine the look and feel of a forged blade with the forgiveness and ball speed of a game-improvement iron. The key innovation is a hollow head, created through a 24-hour 3D printing process and a lattice structure inside the club.
The unique construction fosters strategic, 33% weight shift to improve stability and places 100 grams of Tungsten in the heel and toe to lower the center of gravity for higher launch.
“It feels like a blade, it looks like a blade, but it doesn’t perform like a blade,” Yagley said.
Radically advancing irons isn’t easy, Yagley said, given their compact structure and weight constraints (275 grams).
Sticker shock is the next hurdle.
The process is costly, with expensive materials and machines needed to print each club head. Similar to how TV prices gradually dropped, Yagley believes Cobra’s cost will decrease as the tech becomes more widely available.
“The TV on your wall used to cost $10,000, now it’s like $1,500 at Costco,” he said.
Walk in the park
Golf doesn’t have to be a good walk spoiled, as Mark Twain once quipped. ECCO shoes make any day on the course a comfortable stroll.
The innovators of the spikeless golf shoe honor the natural anatomy of the foot, rather than forcing it to conform to the shoe. ECCO Golf creates a aluminum mold, with polyurethane then forming soles that follow its curves.
Up to 50 pieces of leather, each stitched by hand for hours at the company’s tanneries, form the top of the shoe. Rather than glue the the upper and sole, ECCO bonds them with Fluidform technology to create a seamless and durable connection.
Around 200 people are involved in the processs.
“We always like to say from cow to shoe,” said Timo Vollrath, the head of marketing.
Established in 1996, ECCO Golf got its big break at the 2010 Masters when 51-year-old fan favorite Fred Couples seized the first-round lead wearing brown leather ECCO’s Street 10 shoes with bright orange, spikeless soles.
“That changed everything for us,” Vollrath said.
Set for upcoming re-release, the shoes have plenty of competition. ECCO’s robust line of shoes come at a premium price ($190-$260) because of time and cost.
Out-of-the-box comfort sells for a company fourth in the market worldwide.
“When you go into our shoes, it feels like we have been wearing them for two years,” Vollrath said.
Sun up, you better take care
For golfers, few things beat a sunny day out on the course. But it can come at a cost SParms aims to alleviate.
The Australian brand in its 15th year has established itself as a leader in athletic apparel anchored in sun protection. Based in Queensland — home to one of the world’s highest melanoma rates — SParms offers a wearable alternative to sunscreen.
Featuring UPF 50+ and providing 99.8% sun protection, their sleeves are commonly seen on professional tours globally, led by the LPGA. South Korean golfers have worn them for some time and their success has increased SParms popularity and appeal.
“Now kids wear them because they see the LPGA players wearing them,” founder and CEO Mimi Lee said. “They’ve been great ambassadors for sun protection, not just SParms, but sun safety, which is excellent.”
Roughly 800 golfers on tours worldwide wear the sleeves.
Besides keeping the sun at bay, SParms lower the temperature by up to 10 degrees on a hot day.
During Florida’s 2023 run to the national title in sweltering Scottsdale, Ariz., four of five players donned ones featuring the Gators logo. Hall of Famer Ernie Els recently won a PGA Champions Tour event in Hawaii wearing SParms.
Lee’s target audience, though, are coming up in the game.
“The damage is done when you are a kid,” she said. “We really want to make it part of their lifestyle.”
Getting the shaft
Aki Yorihiro, co-founder of Newton Shafts, just might have coaxed his product’s namesake from the apple tree to the tee box. Yorihiro applies Sir Issac’s work in physics and gravity into a product combining cutting-edge design with reasonable affordability, allowing everyday golfers access to high-performance golf shafts.
Available in 28 options based on a golfer’s swing speed and strength, Newton Shafts feature a unique “Symmetry360” design and “Elongated Bend Profile” to ensure smooth, consistent energy transfer along the length of the shaft. Unlike traditional shafts with a spine and defined kick point, Newton’s design encourages the entire shaft to load and release energy, creating a whip effect for improved power and accuracy.
“It’s going to hold a lot more potential energy and allow you to release it smoothly and through the entire shaft,” said Ben Kassman, a teaching professional, club fitter and long drive competitor who hails from Jacksonville.
Rather than offer a flex rating (senior, regular or stiff), Newton employs a seven-dot system, with the lightest (Dot 1) weighing 48 grams and the heaviest (Dot 7) weighing 79 grams. Priced at $275, Newton Shafts, which are designed in St. Louis, are reasonable compared with high-end models used by Tour players.
Shafts are available to fit all major brands of drivers and fairway woods. A fitting process is required to select the ideal shaft for a golfer’s ability.
“What we want to do is we want to be able to have the consumers be able to afford what a Tour player is using,” Kassman said.
Show and tell
Rapsodo’s launch monitors offers the best of both worlds through convenient, cutting-edge technology that’s portable and affordable. Two devices — the MLM and MLM2Pro — combine radar and camera technology for precise shot tracking.
“Most launch monitors are either radar based or camera based. We have both technologies,” Rapsodo community manager Justin Bryant said. “We leverage those to track every shot accurately.”
Each device produces 13 data points per swing, but Bryant suggests focusing on 1-3 of them to avoid paralysis by analysis.
For those who frequent the practice range, the MLM model ($299) fits easily in a golf bag. While set up 6 feet behind a golfer, the device tracks every shot, records key data (club head speed, launch angle, carry distance) and offers video replay and Shot Tracer for instant visual feedback. Yet, Bryant notes, the MLM is available only for Apple products.
The MLM2Pro ($699) provides the similar metrics, but also includes 30,000 simulated courses available to play. After a free 45-day trial to simulated courses expires, an annual subscription ($199) or lifetime subscription ($499) is available to continue the immersive, entertaining experience.
The device integrates seamlessly with a phone, tablet, computer or TV, displaying each shot struck from a hitting mat into a net at home.
“We see all kinds of different setups,” Bryant said.
Growing the game
Joel Farmer stumbled upon the RightSize Adjustable Putter while seeking to make golf fun and accessible for his kids.
Farmer wanted to encourage their interest and eliminate their struggle with oversized equipment. He decided to cut down a putter, add a modified tripod and glue it together, allowing his kids, now ages 7, 6 and 2, to adjust the height and share.
“It worked really well, and we had a good time with it, but the glue would fall off,” he said. “So I decided to just have it manufactured.”
“Go For it Golf” was born.
Farmer and his brother Darius, the Hershey, Pa., company’s director of operations, made an impression at their first PGA show. The International Network of Golf panelists selected the Farmers as one of five presenters of new products among more than 30 applicants.
The putter is available in three colors, retails for $40 and ranges 17-35 inches, allowing it to grow with young golfers. An adult also could travel with one during a business trip or miniature golf courses might reduce their inventory of flat sticks.
Farmer, though, has kids in mind.
“Kids want to blast it off a tee or putt on the green,” he said.
Edgar Thompson can be reached at egthompson@orlandosentinel.com
