2017 PGA Show – 6 More Standout Products

We’ve been walking around the 2017 PGA Merchandise Show in Orlando for a few days and we’re overwhelmed as usual with the sheer size of it and the volume of information that is available to attendees. Day two at the show was more of the same. With over 1000 companies exhibiting their products & services it’s impossible to see everything, but we managed to highlight 6 companies on day one and for day two we’re drawing attention to 6 more that made an impression on us.

Hole More Putts

All the way from Dublin, Ireland, Hole More Putts has designed an ingenious tablet device that analyzes your putting stroke, calculates a score based on five key metrics and even shows you specific drills to help work on your weaknesses. The technology is similar to something I’ve used before called the SAM Putt Lab but is far more affordable, portable and easy to use. This product will have a significant impact for avid golfers and golf instructors and deserves a feature length review, which we will have right here very soon!

EVNROLL

Mad scientist Guerin Rife has been designing putters for years, and his latest endeavor is going to make big waves. You may recognize the name from his former company Rife Golf. Rife was the first to put grooves on the face of a putter over 20 years ago – a design that is copied all over golf now. Having moved on from Rife Golf, he started EVNROLL in 2015 and is now making some of the best performing putters in golf. EVNROLL’s unique milled grooves use gear effect to actually steer mis-hit putts back on line with dramatic results.

Golf Buddy WTX

Golf Buddy has been one of my favorite gadget companies in recent years, and they continue to innovate and make easy and fun to use distance measuring devices for golf. The Golf Buddy PT4 is one of the best full screen handheld GPS devices on the market, with a bright color screen and lots of cool features. This year Golf Buddy gives us the WTX watch. The only GPS watch that gives you a hole layout view in color along with plenty of other info. It comes pre-loaded with 38,000 courses, syncs with your smartphone and even adjusts the green view based on the golfer’s position. I can’t wait to try this one out.

Frogger Latch-it Ecosystem

I’ve known Frogger Golf founder and CEO Jeremiah Bohannon for about 5 years. He’s one of the good guys in the golf industry, and just happens to make very high quality golf accessories. With the digital revolution that led to golfers having all manner of gadgets, people need a way to manage them all. Frogger has solved the issue with their clever Latch-It ecosystem. It enables you to quickly mount and unmount your GPS, laser rangefinder, towel, brush and smartphone to your golf cart, bag or even yourself. It uses a magnetic closure system and locks into place with a dynamic lock so it won’t fall off. I stopped by Frogger’s booth this year to thank Jeremiah personally for this product, and the very next day it was named Best New Product at the 2017 PGA Show. Clearly he’s doing something right!

Chef’s Cut jerky

Tucked away in some of the less travelled back aisles of the PGA Show was Chef’s Cut Jerky, but you couldn’t tell they were in a small booth by the size of the lines out front to sample their amazing jerky. After sampling their many flavors of jerky and meat sticks, I found myself coming back again and again like that one house on Halloween when I was a kid that used to give out full cans of coke. While Chef’s Cut jerky isn’t a “golf” product, it was born on the golf course and became a huge hit because of golf. As far as a mid-round snack it works well. Low in fat and high in protein, jerky is my favorite snack, and now Chef’s Cut if my favorite jerky.

PerryGolf

If you’ve ever wanted to spend a week playing golf in Scotland or Ireland, then PerryGolf is a good place to start looking. They are probably the number one tour company in golf, offering cruises and guided trips for guys, gals and couples to destinations all over the world. New for 2018 are guided trips to Argentina. The 11 night vacation includes six rounds of golf and plenty of activities to make your vacation a truly memorable one. A week of golf in Scotland is still at the top of my personal bucket list. Perhaps with the help of PerryGolf I’ll make it a reality very soon!