The 2014 PGA Show has begun this week. Yesterday was the outdoor Demo Day portion and we got to look behind the scenes with Ping Golf. Today and tomorrow will feature indoor booths and displays from all of golf’s biggest companies as well as up and comers. In this post, we’ll go through some of the highlights from Day 1 at the PGA Show. Above, you’ll see how the day went for PING Golf!
Perhaps the most impressive booth display this year came from Callaway Golf. In addition to a wrap around screen that projected the company’s promotional videos, they had a full sized, 106,000 lb. M60A3 tank at the centre to promote the new Odyssey Tank putters! The Odyssey Tank putters feature counter-balance stability weighting, a heavier shaft (150g) with a tour preferred balance point and a heavier head (400g). High contrast alignment highlights also make sure you’re putting it straight at impact too! We’ll feature this series of putter in more detail later! Of course, the Big Bertha drivers, X2 Hot equipment and Apex irons were also on hand! Take a look at some of the photos of the Callaway booth though – it’s a show stopper!
Taylormade Golf also had one of the biggest booths at the PGA Show this year and had some surprises for the golfing public. They had their Tour Preferred CB, MC and MB irons on hand as well as the SLDR drivers to promote their #LOFTUP campaign and Tour Preferred golf balls. Equipment wise, lofting up is probably their biggest message this year – just take a look at the photo below at some of their tour pros new driver lofts and the increase in distance they’ve gained!
The surprise that they had though are the new Tour Preferred wedges (photos above), which will be available around April/May with Standard Soles (50 – 60 degrees) or the ATV sole (54 – 60 degrees). There was also the new Ghost Spider SI putter! In addition to equipment, Taylormade is really trying to grow the game of golf, with a collaborative campaign called Hack Golf, which is more or less like an open source community to share thoughts on growing the game and identifying problem areas.
Titleist introduced their updated and reformulated line of golf balls including the NXT TOUR, NXT TOUR S, Velocity and DT SoLo. Perhaps the biggest news was the release of the new Vokey SM5 wedges for 2014. These wedges will be in stores by mid-March and forged from 8620 carbon steel for soft feel at impact. The SM5’s also feature a unique, face-roughening treatment to enhance spin. The biggest development compared to the SM4 wedges though are the new TX3 grooves, which are deeper, narrower and 7 percent larger in volume. The grooves channel away more grass, sand and debris and the edges of the SM5 can grip the ball more effectively when hitting from rough, increasing spin. In total, there will be 21 combinations of loft, sole and bounce available for the SM5’s. We’ll feature these in more detail later as well!
We also noticed some really cool and colourful golf gloves from gFORE golf and also new gloves and shoes from FootJoy! The GolfBoard was also at the PGA Show, a product that has been tested at Chambers Bay Golf Course, host of the 2015 US Open and one that we’ve featured on our online magazine too! We’ll be sure to update you on all the coolest products from the PGA Show over the next couple days!
Source: PGA Show
