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| A Look Back: Dec. 19 1954: Ed Furgol, who won the U.S. Open earlier in the year, wins the PGA Player of the Year honor. Dutch Harrison wins the Vardon Trophy with a 70.41 stroke average. 1964: Lorie Kane, who has four LPGA victories since the start of the 2000 season, is born in Prince Edward Island, Canada. 1976: Chi Chi Rodriguez teams with JoAnn Washam to win the Pepsi Cola Mixed Team tournament. 1982: British golf writer Pat Ward-Thomas dies. 1993: Larry Mize wins the Johnnie Walker World Championship by 10 strokes. |
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Apparel
The
Darrell Survey ranks clothing manufacturer Ashworth as the top golf shirt
maker among golf consumers. Ashworth's market share in the annual survey was 12.6
percent, nearly double that of the company's closest competitor.
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Associations
The Professional
Caddies Association plans to move its Hall of Fame to St Augustine, Fla.,
in January and is soliciting sponsorships and donations of unsold equipment to
assist with the move and help loopers. Along with the hall, members would like
to open a Golf Museum and learning center to train youth in caddying and life
skills.
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more...
Public Relations
Buffalo
Communications and equipment manufacturer Graphite Design International
sign a contract extension for Buffalo's continued representation of GDI as its
publicity agency. Buffalo was initially retained by GDI in May 2001, and since
that time, GDI experienced a 350 percent sales growth.
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more...
Media
Award-winning
television show Inside Golf films in Florida for the month of January,
featuring Falcon's Fire, Metro West, Champions Gate and Innisbrook. Inside Golf
airs on Comcast SportsNet in the Philadelphia area each Saturday.
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more...
Sponsorship
Allianz
Life Insurance Company of North America agrees to sponsor Tim Herron,
a three-time winner on the PGA Tour. Company CEO Robert MacDonald hired a young
Herron as his caddie many years ago, and the two have been friendly since.
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more...
Technology
Worldwide
Hole-in-One Society, a club for golfers who have achieved an ace, signs a
two-year contract with Interliant, an application service provider, for
outsourced hosting of its Web site. The Web site will facilitate communication,
provide news, and promote events and merchandise sales to the club's 10,000 members.
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more...
People
Carbite
Golf names Russell Lewis as the newest member of its Board of Directors.
Lewis is the President and CEO of Rhino Linings USA, a privately-held company
based in San Diego that markets sprayed-on polyurethane truck bed linings.
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Business
Apparel
maker Sport-Haley's Board of Directors authorizes the company to buy back
more than 400,000 shares of common stock as part of a stock repurchase program.
Those shares represent about 14 percent of the company's outstanding stock issued
to date.
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Equipment
No.
1 male golfer Tiger Woods and No. 1 female golfer Annika Sorenstam both wear CHAMP
spikes in their shoes and were using the cleats during their victories in 2001,
the company reports.
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more...
|
The 19th Hole As usual this time of year, there are plenty of lists being checked. So The Wire thought it would check one of its own. We want to know what/who you, the reader, think is (1) the best course in the United States; (2) the course you most want to play; (3) the best course designer -- past or present. Send your picks to stuart@gpagolf.com with RE: Poll in the subject line and the results will be published in The Wire in early January. |
Commentary
Cutting Back Beats
Bowing Out of PGA Show
The overwhelming size and scope of the PGA Merchandise Show held yearly in Orlando is not just too much for the buyers and media representatives who walk the 12 miles of aisles in the Orange County Convention Center. It's apparently getting to be too much for some exhibitors.
Last week, we learned that Women's Golf Unlimited, makers of equipment and apparel under the Square Two, NancyLopezGolf and Lady Fairway brands, would not be exhibiting at the upcoming show Jan. 24-27.
"Quite simply, the favorable results associated with our participation do not measure up to the escalating costs of exhibiting," said company president and COO Douglas Buffington in a statement. "Further, we have for some years noticed a disconnect between the show's structure, which tends to emphasize booth size and appearance, and our marketplace philosophy, which emphasizes product and service quality."
Then, one of the giants in the equipment industry, PING, announced plans to stop exhibiting following this year's show.
"We want to work closer with our customers to educate them about our innovations and processes so that they're better prepared to sell our product," said chairman and CEO John Solheim, also in a release. "We'll bring more customers to Phoenix. We'll conduct more product and fitting seminars around the world."
It seems that the great party known as the PGA Merchandise Show is falling short for at least these two companies. If the economy continues to look troubled, it's likely that more firms will tell Reed Exhibitions, which runs the show, a polite good-bye.
But more than economic problems are at fault. Both Women's Golf Unlimited and PING indicated that the show was just too big, too impersonal, to allow them to sit down one-on-one with customers and make the kinds of sales pitches they wished to make.
However, it seems a shame for companies to bow out of the January show. The golf industry as a whole has been less than enthusiastic about its smaller, more personal option -- the Fall Expo in Las Vegas. In recent years a cycle of fewer buyers attending because fewer companies are exhibiting has weakened that convention. Reed took steps, such as limiting booth size, moving the show around the West Coast and creating demo opportunities at local courses, but because of the Sept. 11 attacks and the show's subsequent cancellation, there wasn't an opportunity to decide if those measures helped.
In the big pond of Orlando, a lot of little fish get a shot at the spotlight, introducing buyers and media to new and lesser-known products. In addition, attendees get an opportunity to compare similar products and decide what's right for their retail areas -- something that can't be done in one-on-one meetings. If bigger exhibitors leave, those advantages will be lost.
Instead of dropping out completely, we'd just like to see an end to the escalating booth size and costs. Let's see a large exhibitor say, "We don't want the expense and hassle of setting a huge booth with lights, music and a three-ring circus. But we want to support the industry and the show. We're planning to exhibit our new products in a smaller booth, without hosting a rock concert or can't-miss party every evening, and focus on establishing and maintaining personal relationships with our buyers."
That would be refreshing.