PGA Tour Stars Rickie Fowler, Keegan Bradley and others wore “#PC” on their hats the past few days at the Northern Trust Open to honor the passing of Peter Curran, father of FCC honorary member Jon Curran.  Watch the video to hear the on-air commentary regarding “#PC” on Rickie Fowler’s hat during Friday’s second round.

Paul Casey, one of the top ranked players in the world, speaks about the importance of nutrition during a round of golf.  He offeres up some good tips and suggestions for what to carry in your bag to help optimize your performance through proper nutrition and make you feel better coming off the golf course.

MOST OVER-THE-TOP BOOTH:

TaylorMade/Addidas/Ashworth Golf – Their booth was an enormous 81,000 Sq feet which included live entertainment, special guest appearances, 2 driving ranges with 12 hitting stations all armed with Flightscope launch monitors, a large putting green, a large Addidas shoe display,  and a massive buying area for Addidas and Ashworth clothing.  To top it all off the booth was filled with black lighting, strobe lights, fog machines and Rocektballz woods galore.

BEST DRESSED SALES FORCE:

Titleist/Footjoy – Both had booths that were quite large in retrospect to the rest at the show.  On display was Footjoy’s awesome 2012 Fall apparel line and new line-up of footwear. Titleist featured it’s new additions to their golf ball line-up, new belly putters from scotty cameron and the all new Vokey Spin Milled SM4 wegdes.  Did I mention white linen sports coats for Titlesit reps made it easy to identify the people to talk to, while Fooyjoy reps wore a classic grey pant with a nice white dress shirt and purple performance vest on top.

BEST MEN’S FALL APPAREL LINE:

Donald Ross Apparel – Perhaps the best combinations of color and style for men at the show.

BEST OUTERWEAR LINE – MEN & WOMEN:

While Sunice was strong as usual the nod here goes to Zero Restriction.  A completely redesigned line-up of Men’s and Women’s outerwear was highlighted but an awesome new nano puff vest in great colors that screamed high-end Patagonia style…oh yeah, they hired a former Patagonia designer too.

BEST APPAREL BOOTH

POLO Golf and Fairway & Greene – both had very impressive but different booths.  Polo’s bright white booth and incredible merchandising displays brought and otherwise mediocre eruo-inspired fall apparel line to life. Fairway & Greene’s booth was filled with deep mahogany wood and incredible merchandising techniques that made you feel you were in one of the best golf shops in the country.

BEST NEW TRAINING AID:

With out a doubt it has to be the consumer targeted Swing Bite.  This small device attaches onto the shaft of a golf club and connectes via bluetooth to your mobile device or tablet.  Once you download the accompanying app for your device, Swing Bite allows you to record your golf clubs movement in 3D and view the swing path on your mobile device in any orientation.  Although this product is yet to hit the market, the projected $175 dollar price tag will make it a desirable training aid for golfers wanting to improve swing plane.

BEST TOURNAMENT AWARD:

No contest here.  Its the Championship Belt.  See the pictures below.

BEST NEW LADIES LINE:

Again no contest here.  AUR is a new line started by the owners of Sunice.  High quality fabrics and classic styling makes this line a homerun…although I am not sure of the price tag.  I am still yet to receive a catalog with pricing.

BEST NEW MEN’S LINE:

Travis Matthews wins this.  Although they are not exactly new they are finally branching out of California and expanding their reach across the country into golf shops.

BEST JUNIOR GOLF PRODUCT:

I should probably give this to the Junior Orange Whip since it is the most functional training aid for kids I have ever seen but I am going to give it to MiniZoo Golf.  Maybe its because I knew my daughter would love these but I thought the idea of a big stuffed animal as a golf bag slip cover was genius.

BEST NEW FITNESS PRODUCT:

The LifeFitness Training Vest for sure wins this.  It’s pretty amazing that LifeFitness had two booths on site: one booth to show off the Training Vest and one to show off everything else.  This vest is covered in hooks allowing you to attach to a Functional training machine cable and perform a library of exercises with resistance or with assistance of weight.  I tried it and it really was amazing.  It has also been highlighted recently on the Golf Channel’s Golf Fitness Academy.

Now for the good stuff:  Click HERE some of the pictures I took highlighting the product on the show floor.  Enjoy!

Acushnet, MA - Titleist is excited to launch the new NXT Tour, NXT Tour S, Velocity and DT SoLo golf balls. Each has been designed to deliver best in category quality and consistency, while providing a range of performance and preference options for golfers across every skill level of the game.

We are officially unveiling the new Titleist golf balls at the 2012 PGA Merchandise Show.

The New NXT Tour and NXT Tour S deliver the best scoring performance only exceeded by Pro V1 and Pro V1x. Trusted by golfers for over a decade, NXT Tour has been improved for 2012 to deliver even longer distance while retaining its commanding scoring shot performance. New NXT Tour S offers NXT Tour-like performance with a softer compression feel. The all-new Velocity provides explosive distance via the fastest solid core of any Titleist golf ball. Titleist delivers the Softest DT yet in the New DT SoLo. Both NXT Tour S and DT SoLo are offered in optic yellow. New Velocity is also available in double-digit play numbers.

All the best for a successful 2012 golf season.

David Maher

VP – Titleist Sales US

Think that golfers don’t train like athletes…Think again. Heavy ropes make an appearance at 3:05!

TPI Junior Golf Video

We believe that in order to truly understand your golf swing you must first understand your body.  As a result, each student of the Hawk Golf Academy will be evaluated using the TPI functional movement screen.  The screening process is a series of golf specific movements testing a players overall mobility, stability, power and balance.  By screening our clients it helps us understand what physical limitations they may have and subsequently how these limitations will impact golf instruction and the learning process.

Clients will then receive a custom generated TPI workout exercise which includes iphone/ipad/ipod touch friendly tutorial videos for each exercise.  Each workout includes a free all access membership to mytpi.com, the official site of TPI and the world’s leading source of cutting-edge golf instruction and fitness information.

Click the links for more information on our instructors or to book a lesson/clinic reservation.

Winter Specific Golf Programs

Why Take Lessons Indoors? Many people judge the quality of their golf swing by their ball flight trajectory.  Quite often this results in reinforcement of bad habits and inconsistent golf swings to achieve a desired ball flight.  By working on your golf swing indoors, you can begin to develop techniques and movements that cause consistent results without the distractions of ball flight.  This is the most effective learning environment and quickest way to develop a reliable and repeatable golf swing.

How Does it Work?

The initial lesson will consist of a swing evaluation, goal setting, and mapping out an individual plan to achieve those goals.  In addition, each client will be put through a Titleist Performance Institute (TPI) functional movement screen to help assess their body’s limitations and help properly identify the root cause of swing deficiencies.  Each subsequent lesson will be conducted with the student’s goals in mind.  Advanced technology and traditional teaching methods will be used to help each student achieve their winter golf goals.  Our goal is to help each student build a consistent, repeatable golf swing that produces quality results!