Thoughts from "The Show"

I have just returned from Orlando, where the weather was predictable, the food at International Drive restaurants better than ever (no, really) and the food inside the cavernous hall impossibly bad and expensive. And quite why Reed Exhibitions and the Convention Center still seem incapable of providing more than 16 chairs for the 42,000 visitors to sit down is still a mystery. Okay, enough of the rant - It was a great show!

There was a real buzz around the hall this year and that augers well for the forthcoming golf season. There were really 2 shows this year. Nine hundred and ninety nine exhibitors were in the aircraft hanger know as Orange County Convention Center and TaylorMade Adidas Golf were in a "booth" that was big enough to have its own zip code. Once inside the TMaG extravaganza, having been scanned (actually Compuserv did a first class job of misprinting 90% of the badges, so I doubt anyone was scanned correctly!) visitors were treated to a veritable feast of fun golf activities and shopping opportunities. Mark King, the CEO of TMaG was clearly making a statement about the company's intentions for the year and he is continuing to build off the stellar year of the white R11 driver. Although I don't like the Rocketballz name (I do like RBZ) the 3 wood, hybrid and driver are great looking and at a $100-$150 cheaper price point than the R11 they are going to shift container loads of them.

On the cool products side I saw a hosts of good things including the TRUE Linkswear shoes, Callaway copper finish wedges, G-Fore golf gloves, Smathers and Branson belts and hats, Seamus Golf headcovers and new designs of Tin Cups.

Of course I also saw the usual array of products worthy of a spot on "the ridiculist"- a piece of cloth you stick on your head to stop sweat getting onto your golf cap, a golf tee that you stick in the ground and then unscrew to the correct height, a rubber mat with a logo that you jump up and down on to make a logo in the bunker. It will be surprising if any of these will be at the 2013 show and yet one has to admire the spirit and passion with which these inventors enter the golf business.

Let's hope the buzz at this years show continues through the sell in to the trade and to the season's real opener in April!

The year of the Trues!

Truly, it was the years of the shoes shown above, TRUE Linkswear. A terrible pun, but the best new shoes on the market!

These are shoes you can actually use straight out of the box without getting blisters and they feel like your old slippers from the first tee to the eighteenth green. I've been a Footjoy Classics (now Icon) user for 25 years, but 2011 has changed all that.

First came Freddie at the Masters and the Ecco Street shoes. I bought them, I liked them but the white suede "tips" proved to be a nightmare to keep clean. I hoped someone could do better and they did! I had high hope for TRUES as I know Rob Rigg from his great efforts to encourage golfers to get walking again through thewalkinggolfer.com.

The TRUE booth at the January PGA Merchandise Show was a zoo which augured well for them in 2011. So, I tried the black and white version and they were a revelation. Comfortable right out of the box and allowing me to "feel" the golf course. I swear my bunker play is better now I can actually feel (that word again) the sand.

I just returned from 5 days golf and wore my TRUES every day through rain and shine - including 36 holes at Winged Foot in 5 hours and 40 minutes! They were perfect, so much so that I ordered a white pair (above) for the last couple of games of the year and next season. At $159 they are exceptional value.

So good on you Rob (and Sean), you have created something very special. The fact that all the big boys are jumping on the bandwagon and creating "me toos" confirms you have a success on your hands. 

Let 2012 be the year of continued walking in TRUES! ....And my Classics? Gone....all of them to goodwill or into the trash, anywhere but on my feet! You can read more here on their website.