I thought the members would like an insight to my recent trip to Florida and the PGA Merchandise Show. The trip consisted of three goals, first and most important was to support Diane Conti’s wonderful achievement and recognition from Paula Creamer and Precept golf. Second, find an Assistant Golf Professional to join Brock and myself to better serve the membership. Lastly, to sit down with golf shop interior design companies to get their input on the best way to lay out your Pro Shop.
Day 1: This is the Demo Day; all the major golf companies are out in full force with the newest and greatest in equipment for 2009. Orange County Golf Club has an amazing driving range. It is a big full circle where the golfers hit into the middle. Each company set up with their tents and launch monitors to allow all the PGA members to test out what is new for 2009. My hot list and top five drivers based on performance and price are the following. Number one, Callaway’s Big Bertha Diablo, number two, Ping G-10, number three Cleveland’s ’09 Launcher, number four ( a little pricy) Callaway FT-9 and number five (also pricey) Ping Rapture. We will soon be scheduling all these companies to come to the Trace for Demo Days so you can try each of these products. Remember the members own the Pro Shop and I will be happy to match any price you find on new product somewhere else. It only makes sense to support you own shop. In addition, Masters champion Trevor Immelman, performed a clinic for Nike Golf. He demonstrated how to drive the ball straight and far and provided some great tips for improving your short game.
Day 2: The first day of the PGA show started with continuing education for me. My 8:00 class was a teaching class on how to improve your club head speed. The class provided ways outside of golf to teach you to swing the club faster and hit it longer. The speakers where from the Titleist Performance Institute and there specific goal is to combine fitness and golf. Great class very well attended. My 9:15 class was on Pro Shop renovation. This was taught by AGM (Association of Golf Shop Merchandisers) and provide many ideas and direction on how to create a lay out for the new Pro Shop. My 10:30 class was taught by Andrew Wood and was about how to bring more members to the club. Very interesting seminar, I learned how important our website is to prospective members. I was very proud to see that Sara O’Leary, our Marketing Director, is doing many of these programs now. During the show I took Sara to the booth of the speaker and soon new members will be knocking down the door to join your club. My last class was on Special Orders. This gave me some new ideas on how to efficiently order, track and turn over special orders in a quicker manner. This means better products and service to the members. I spent the remainder of the day visiting several PGM schools to drop off a job description and visited Pro Shop fixture and display companies. I interviewed three wonderful young men and hope to have someone working by the first week in March. The Pro Shop design and display companies where very helpful. I found three companies which gratefully will design the interior of the new Pro Shop at no cost. This is normally a charge of $3.00 to $4.00 per square foot. Since I have been home I have emailed them the blue prints and can’t wait to see their ideas.
Day 3: This day was all about Diane Conti. Close to 100 people gathered around the Precept booth to see Paula Creamer present her with an achievement award. Diane was recognized for all the holes in one she has made over the years. She plays with Precept golf balls. Several present and past Trace members made the trip to support Diane. This was a truly remarkable moment for Diane and Carolina Trace County Club. Diane, Sara O’Leary and I spent the rest of the day visiting different booths. We were very fortunate to see Nancy Lopez and get her autograph. The size of the PGA show is overwhelming, just ask those who visited. I hope this gives you an idea what happens at the PGA show. Please feel free to stop in and talk with me about the whole experience.
