The PGA Merchandise Show is an annual “who’s who” of the golf industry. From the debut of every manufacturer’s new club lines, to all variety of products to make golf better or just plain more fun, here’s the best of what I saw in 2019.
The 2019 PGA Merchandise Show is in the books, and according to the company that hosts, Reed Expo, approximately 40,000 people attended including golf professionals, manufacturers, course owners, sales reps, media and others from around the world, literally.
Several new products were introduced, including Phil Mickelson’s new Callaway driver, the Epic Flash, borrowing from The Flash superhero. The logo for the F in Flash even has a lightning bolt on the bottom of it indicating that you should be able to generate more superhuman clubhead speed. Callaway says it’s “faster than humanly possible,” although, think about it, there can never be a way to prove or disprove that!
Phil's driver. Epic Flash! pic.twitter.com/pFnPFtbo1Y
— Kathy Bissell (@KathyBissell1) January 24, 2019
The Epic Flash has the “jailbreak” technology, which is the weighting behind the club face on either side of the sweet spot, and it includes an adjustable perimeter weight on the back of the sole. There’s a new pattern in the manufacturing in the carbon fiber crown of the club, but no one cares if it’s made from England’s crown jewels or coal from West Virginia if it gives us another 15 yards. Just give us real distance, for amateurs as well as pros.
The Epic Flash did get 20 of 20 stars on the Golf Digest Hot list for 2019.
Flash drivers start at 529.99, and Flash fairway woods start at 299.99.
Rickie Fowler also has a new driver, and it’s called the King F9 Speedback. And while Fowler doesn’t need this extra, you might like the Cobra Connect system Powered by Arccos that is standard with the club. You can get your distance stats that way because Arccos connects via a phone app and it’s like having a personal Shotlink.
Rickie's driver pic.twitter.com/LyCqKNi0lG
— Kathy Bissell (@KathyBissell1) January 25, 2019
The extra speed in Speedback, according to Cobra, comes from the more aerodynamic design of the driver plus the low center of gravity. The low center of gravity has another bonus for you: it helps you get the ball into the air, and if you are already doing that, perhaps you’ll fly farther. ( I, of course, cannot make that promise.)
Titleist has a new ProV1, and honestly, I’m afraid to find out what it does. The last one, in combination with high-tech drivers, pretty much obsoleted a lot of golf courses by making them too short for the best of the best. Unfortunately, the rest of us have not had any problem with courses being too short. We’d welcome ANYTHING for another 10 or 15 yards because we just aren’t that good.
According to Titleist, the new ball has more speed because they made the final layer thicker by fractions of decimal points, and they made the cover thinner by fractions of decimal points. The ProV1x has had similar changes made to the last layer and the cover material.And, guess what. Now you can get them in yellow.
Charles Howell III won last fall’s RSM Classic using the new ball.
There was a real buzz in the clothing area of the Show. In particular, there’s a new “surfy” look that Rickie Fowler will wear for Puma. One had a palm tree frond design, but Puma was not alone in that. It seemed that you couldn’t walk 15 feet without seeing a company that had palm tree print. So, if in doubt for a fashion trend, go with the frond.
New surfy line from Puma. Look for them on Rickie. pic.twitter.com/81FsZ2wyZP
— Kathy Bissell (@KathyBissell1) January 25, 2019
The most fun product at the PGA Show was definitely the Finn cycle made by Sun Mountain. Basically, if you can imagine this, it’s a motorized bike with fat, non-turf injuring tires, similar to the kind used for riding on the beach, with a place for your golf bag to rest between your legs. The bottom of your bag is under the seat and the top is over the handlebars.
Bringing back popular style from Peakvision pic.twitter.com/nLvRyRkWXz
— Kathy Bissell (@KathyBissell1) January 24, 2019
If you are old enough, think Easy Rider does golf. That’s the idea, but with lower handlebars.
A pal of mine who rode it during Demo Day said it was a blast. The really interesting part of riding a Finn Cycle is that according to the Sun Mountain employees, you can play 9 holes in 30 minutes. Yes. You read that right. 30 minutes.
While not available for individual purchase yet, they may be soon. Right now, Sun Mountain is currently doing a shared revenue program for courses that want them. Be prepared for age limitations with them, though, simply for insurance reasons.
Peakvision, according what CEO David Feaser told me, is bringing back one of their early popular styles, the LX2. The design features a wider band earpiece which should give your eyes a little more shade along the periphery. They are available with either black or white frames with the always excellent quality Peakvision lenses.
Bringing back popular style from Peakvision pic.twitter.com/nLvRyRkWXz
— Kathy Bissell (@KathyBissell1) January 24, 2019
Zero Friction, the company that launched the Johnny Miller glove with GPS unit attached to the back, has some new gift packages for their blazingly colorful golf balls. One I like to call the party favor pack because it’s two golf balls and a handful of tees in a screaming color, like hot pick or hot orange or eye-popping green. They call the line Spectra. I think Screaming would be better, but you can get the party favor pack for $9.99.
golf ball party favors -- two-pack o balls plus tees from Zero Friction pic.twitter.com/lnBDYyVNSA
— Kathy Bissell (@KathyBissell1) January 26, 2019
Another fun item from Zero Friction is the tube variety pack, seven different color balls in a plastic tube. It’s kind of like when you used to be able to buy a set of single servings of different cereals, each packed in its own box. You know how it was. Everybody fought over the Raisin Bran.
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Here, will everybody want the orange or the green? $19.99 for each multi-pack tube. And the last of the colorful gift packed items are SuperTubes that have a golf glove, three balls and tees, all in a Spectra color. Just $24.99 each.
But perhaps the most interesting innovation at the PGA Merchandise Show was from Ping. Late last fall, they debuted an adjustable putter line called Sigma 2. The shaft of these putters adjusts from 32 inches to 36 inches in length.
It allows you to change between rounds, if, for instance, your back is bothering you a little more one day. You can go more upright so you don’t have to bend over so much. Look for copycats on the adjustability feature.
There are 10 putters in the Sigma 2 lineup, and all of them are adjustable. From $199 to $219 at Golf Galaxy.
In an unusual move, TaylorMade did not exhibit, adding to the many rumors surrounding the future of the company.