ORLANDO – Sure, there’s a buzz here, but it’s a dull one. No spectacular product rollouts, no revolutionary advances in club technology. It’s been more about best practices in business and instruction, not new toys. With all the great stuff of the past 10 years or so, maybe the golf industry needed to take a breather. Or there’s little left to discover. At least one apparel exec begs to differ. Patricia “Tiss” Dahan, Senior Director-Global Apparel for TaylorMade-adidas Golf, dragged me down the hall of the company’s department store-like exhibit and pointed at the shirt collars of ...

ORLANDO – Solar golf bags … it makes perfect sense! Heck, if I’m ever going to “Go Green,” now was the time as I wandered aimlessly around the exhibits after lunch Friday. I literally stumbled into the G24 Innovations booth … and there it was. A good-looking golf bag with a solar panel built into it. You can scoff, but I’m thinking this thing might work. You can discreetly plug in and charge your cell phone, GPS yardage device, iPod, Blackberry or whatever (connectors are available from G24). It needs four ...

ORLANDO – Guys wearing mini-backpacks with antennae sticking up wandered around the SkyCaddie exhibit Friday. Kinda weird, because you got the feeling they might zap you with a stun gun or something. But the GPS device wars are heating up, and SkyCaddie brought out the ground troops to illustrate why they are the top dog. These are the mappers, the ones who use survey equipment and walk and measure every inch of the 30,000 courses the company says will be in its database by the end of this year. Apparently none of SkyCaddie’s competitors do it this ...

ORLANDO – The Pro V1 brand owns 40% of the ball market, so what the heck is Titleist doing trying to tinker with the people’s choice of balls? The Titleist crew explained it at a slick presentation in the Chapin Auditorium this morning. Cutting through the technical stuff, here’s how they did it: Pro V1 … It’s not part of the marketing campaign, but from talking to people, I’m told you can get about 5 more yards with the new model. It’s got more spin, has a lower trajectory and slightly different dimple dimensions. Pro V1x ...

ORLANDO - It’s a tie when it comes to the new irons between Callaway’s X 22 and Cleveland Golf‘s CG7 (both classic cavity-backed designs). I’m not sure how to break this deadlock, but the Project X shaft might give Callaway the edge. Still withholding judgment, though. The X 22 continues that line of clubs, which have been best-sellers for years. (I had a set of X 12s I played for seven years, before switching to Ping and then TaylorMade). Callaway has again made a great iron. Cleveland’s CG7 has a great offset look and a yellow injected molding to lessen vibration. ...

ORLANDO – The golf industry convened here to discuss business and unveil products for 2009. An hour or so ago, we received an update on the game’s single BIGGEST industry. That would be Tiger Woods, who according to his coach Hank Haney has nearly worked himself back into top form following last year’s surgery on his left knee. “He’s still a little shocked – and I am too – at the rust that was there,” Haney said. “But he’s played only one time in nine months.” Haney appeared at the PGA Equipment Forum Stage and was ...

ORLANDO – Rarely does a sequel match the original. Maybe that’s why Cleveland Golf waited so long to re-launch its Launcher driver. But after the geometrically challenged Hi-Bore models didn’t become as popular as hoped, the company tapped back into its star player for 2009. No gadget wrenches or funky shaft tips or adjustable weights. The new Launcher has a semi-cone shaped head, but at address it looks like a traditional driver. Cleveland also has one of the best shaft-fitting systems in the business (remember the green aldila in the orginal Launcher?). “It had quite ...

ORLANDO – Remember the golf shoes that looked like wing tips? Or the ones that were spiffy enough you could wear them with a tuxedo? Gone, thankfully, and the trend toward models looking like athletic or running shoes marches on, albeit with high-tech engineering and nods toward fashion. Adidas golf has taken huge chunks of the shoe market in recent years. In 2003, they had a 4% share of the market; last year, they jumped to 18% and passed Nike for No. 2 in the U.S. and Europe behind FootJoy. In Asia, Australia and pretty much ...

WINTER GARDEN, Fla. – The PGA Merchandise Show’s Demo Day was like a state fair, only without a Ferris wheel and bumper cars. Still, amid the crowd’s hum and cracking noise of the latest drivers and fairway metals, how could you not overhear this conversation at the Cleatskins Golf exhibit. “Has anybody told you before that looks like a condom?” said somebody who should have been home taking his afternoon nap. “Hard to believe, but that’s not really the first time I’ve heard that,” company spokeswoman Rachel Kay said as nicely as possible. The Cleatskins I saw fit ...

WINTER GARDEN, Fla. – Beginning, say, RIGHT NOW, if you can’t fit yourself into a Titleist Vokey wedge, just pick up your ball and don’t bother playing from 100 yards in. Vokey wedges used to stop at 60 degrees loft, covering every inch of yardage gap beyond standard pitching wedges. Among its new line, Titleist has added a 62 and 64 degree club, which throws even more shots into your arsenal (if you own that kind of game) around the greens. “The days of having just a sand wedge in your bag are long over,” says ...

WINTER GARDEN, Fla. – I came here to hit golf balls, not grip the football like Edgerrin James or catch passes like Anquan Boldin. According to Cutters Gloves, I can now do both. Talk about a bonus twist of fate. Cutters Gloves, which has made football gloves for years and counts 90 or so NFL players as clients, is making its first foray into the golf business. And Sunday, James and Boldin of the Arizona Cardinals will be wearing Cutters gear in Super Bowl XLIII down the road in Tampa. Dave Venneri, VP of Sales & ...

So what’s hot and shiny and new for golf this year? Heck if I know, that’s why I’m headed to Orlando for the PGA Merchandise Show (click for preview story). First stop … Demo Day at Orange County National Golf Center and Lodge (more than 90 companies are expected to play their wares there), and I’m curious about a few things I’ve already heard … Has Titleist really improved the Pro V1? What about this new Nike ball? What’s the deal with Cleveland Golf re-launching its popular Launcher driver after all these ...

Congrats to Pat Perez. My condolences to Arnold Palmer. Yeah, I know the Bob Hope Classic isn’t a major, and the four La Quinta, Calif., golf courses they used won’t be confused with TPC Sawgrass’ Stadium Course and Bethpage Black. They played five rounds, too, and Perez notched his first career victory Sunday with a 69 for a 33-under total of 327. That’s right … 33 under!! Ridiculous. Palmer, one of the game’s greatest competitors and grinders who made a special appearance to host the tournament’s 50th anniversary, shouldn’t have had to endure such goofy golf. I would have ...

Resort destinations typically carry a theme throughout their numerous golf courses. Watch the Bob Hope Classic this weekend in La Quinta, Calif., and you’ll see shot after shot with desert and mountains as backdrops. At Amelia Island Plantation tucked in northeast corner of Florida, I had the best of both the seaside and inland worlds this week while playing Ocean Links and Oak Marsh. It was like going to the beach one day and taking a nature hike through a tidal marsh the following morning. It’s a rare mix, having two distinctly different courses next to each other. ...

Usually it’s a no-brainer filling out my World Golf Hall of Fame ballots. Each year, a Vijay Singh or a Raymond Floyd or Se Ri Pak tops the list, and debate centers around one or two candidates. That hasn’t been the case the past couple years. It probably won’t be clear cut again until Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods become eligible when they turn 40. We’ve hit a patch of divots with this era of candidates (I‘ve got until March 2 to make my picks for the November, 2009 induction ceremony at World Golf Village in ...

I was in the midst of breaking down the economic stimulus package over morning coffee and getting ready to call President Obama with the solution when this story came across the wire. Actually, it was buried in my email. But one look at the headline for the GolfWorld piece dated Monday, Jan. 19, caused me to turn off the calculator and put down the phone. “Golf courses were among FDR’s public works projects in the ’30s, and President Obama should include them in the economic stimulus mix” Eureka! Problem solved! Why didn’t I think ...

Even the King thinks kids today need to work harder. Specifically, the PGA Tour’s other 150 or so guys most people couldn’t name without Google-ing Wikipedia. Assuming they even had a page there. Arnold Palmer, didn’t actually call out players for being lazy in trying to at least make Tiger Woods notice them in his rear view mirror. But in a recent interview in advance of next week’s Bob Hope Classic, Palmer suggested this might be a good time to ramp up their work ethic as Woods makes his comeback after a long layoff following knee surgery. Reports are that ...