Demo Day At The PGA Show 2025

Demo Day At The PGA Show 2025

This week, I’m checking an item off my golf bucket list by attending the PGA Show in Orlando, Florida.

The PGA Show is an industry-only event, with more than ten miles of exhibits in the Orange Country Convention Center. The primary audience of the show are the PGA Professionals who are there for educational seminars and to evaluate the new apparel, equipment and other gear for their members. There are lots of folk there to evaluate and place orders for their retail operations as well. It is, of course, also a big media event, giving golf media the chance to view, test and evaluate the latest and greatest.

The show is not open to the general public. I’m in attendance as a member of the golf media.

The first day for media at the show is “Demo Day” on Tuesday. Demo Day is held at Orange County National in Winter Garden. To get there, I caught one of the complementary buses running from the convention center (I am staying at a hotel just about a mile from the convention center).

Demo Day consists of dozens of manufacturers showing their wares from tents set up around Orange County National’s immense circular diving range. Almost all have some sort of area set up where you can hit balls with their latest gear. Several putter manufacturers also had tents set up next to a large putting green.

I made a conscious decision not to stand in any of the lines for an opportunity to hit balls. It was raining, and by Florida standards, it was cold. Even in good weather I don’t think demo day would be the sort of environment in which I could learn anything of importance.

My one exception to this rule was that I tried some of the putters. I liked the forthcoming Ping Anser 4, as well as the Cobra Sport-40 blade. I was sinking putt after putt with both of these.

Cobra had a lot going on. In addition to hitting bays, they had a DJ, a giant inflatable castle where they were serving up beverages, and a grandstand. At one point, a celebrity was hitting balls. The crowd was thick enough that I coud not see who it was; the couple of people I asked also had no idea. I am certain it was some sort of celebrity because of the dense surounding mob with their phones high in the air, trying to record video.

Perhaps the coolest thing I saw all day was at the Cobra pavilion. They were showcasing a new 3-D printed set of irons called the 3DP Tour. The pitch was that the irons offer game improvement performance in a players iron design. The rep called it the holy grail of club design.

Vice Golf, which is primarily known for its well-priced balls, was showing off its line of clubs. Their rep said that they’re designed with an eye for playability. They are priced with the same eye to value as their golf balls.

I’m a fan of Vice’s balls. I’d like to give their clubs an extended test drive.

XXIO had its line of over-the-top, ultralight Royal Edition clubs. They were certainly the flashiest things I saw.

For what it’s worth, I really liked the XXIO X irons I tested a couple of years back. Their ultralight club design really rewards a smooth, slower swing.

XXIO is part of the Dunlop group, which also includes Srixon and Cleveland. I love my Srixon Z585 irons and Srixon ZX5 MKII Driver.

The Srixon-XXIO-Cleveland encampment also had a DJ, who was playing some classic rock. I didn’t recognize anything the Cobra guy was playing.

I was surprised to see Yonex with a line of clubs. That’s a brand I have not thought about in quite some time. Somewhere in my shed, I have a Yonex fairway “wood” with a head made of some sort of carbon, graphite or resin material.

Rapsodo had a really neat portable launch monitor — the MLM2Pro that feeds you all the data you will ever need, while also enabling you to play some 30,000 different golf courses on a screen. It sounds like exactly the sort of thing I need to practice my game during the Michigan winters.

Ping had a booth as did Mizuno. Both booths were very busy. Noticably absent was Titleist.

I had a nice conversation with the folk from MGI, who were showing a new powered push cart with built in GPS. I really liked the MGI Zip Navigator AT I tested and reviewed last summer.

MotoCaddy also was there, but their reps didn’t seem interested in showing me their wares. Maybe I don’t look like the kind of guy who would walk the couse. Or maybe they were just sick of the rain and were ready to pack it all up.

I also had a nice conversation with the folks at JumboMax. Their rep had a phone app that measured your hand for a grip fitting. By the end of our conversation the rep had me convinced that I should at least give their grips a try on my driver.

To keep the Demo Day attendees fed and enegized, there was a food truck court. I visited the Columbian Street Food truck and ordered Emanadas and a mysterious canned beverage, which turned out to taste a bit like cream soda. Both were delicious, and I would order them again, given the chance.

While I was disappointed that the weather wasn’t better, I still am happy that I had the chance to visit the legendary Demo Day I’ve seen on The Golf Channel over the years.

I’ll have more on my trip in the coming days