The Green Fee There is always a bunch of cool stuff at the PGA Show but some stuff stands out above everything else. To set the best from the rest its time for The Green Fee PGA Show Awards.
Best Accessory
3) Blue Tees Player+ GPS Speaker– A beautiful piece of engineering. Large Touch screen + App+Speaker brings some awesome stuff to the GPS game
2) CMC Designs Bazooka Gum Headcover– It felt like high quality and the bubble gum pink cover is just awesome.
1) Duck & Cover Golf– Probably the nicest headcover I felt all week. I went into the show in the market for a headcover so I was paying close attention to what was being offered. The Duck & Cover was the best looking and feeling one out of them all. I expect to have one covering my 3 wood pretty soon!
Best Training Aid
3) Aero Swing– Uses an attachment called a “pineapple” to create air resistance which should help increase swing speed and tempo.
2) Tour Aim 2.0– I signed up for the waiting list for this product. It uses a block of plastic to create everything from putting gates all the way to plane trainers.
1) The One Club– I actually bought this one on the floor. I didnt join a presale or anything. It is literally shipped on its way to me. Its a smaller speed trainer and swing trainer. It uses elastic bands and weights to create a dynamic weight training plan.
Biggest Surprise
3) Zebra Golf– The classic brand is back and to my surprise they are not pieces of junk. A solid putter. $249 is a little pricey but it is a great putter. Their competition wont be new putters. At 249 they are competing in the used Toulon or higher end PING range. I hope they get some play though. They are at least worth a look.
2) 2Thumb Golf– A classic brand that redid their grips to make them lighter and decicded to offer some new styles as well. Feels really good in the hands.
1) Grit Golf– I wont lie I set an appointment with Grit because I thought the idea they had was interesting. Wasnt totally sold on it but as soon as I saw it I could see a high quality product and a product that was a fresh idea on how to make a golf bag.
Best Value
3) Scratch Stick– For 99 bucks you get a ton of features. A putting mirror, alignment sticks, putting stick, and my favorite part a magnet that goes on the scratch stick so you can set it up to record your swing. Its a beautiful piece of equipment as well.
2) Meridian Putters– An all milled putter for $249? Hell yes. Sign me up. The putters were beautiful. My favorite part of the show was seeing Meridian Putters set up next to another small putter company selling putters for 699.
1) Snake Eyes– Honestly the whole brand is back and it is really nice feeling and looking stuff. The $79 wedge cant be beat. It didnt look cheap like I expected. It didnt feel like a dud either. The irons felt as good as anything on the range and at a 699 price point for the midsize iron it cant be beat. Just like Zebra their competition will be used irons not necessarily the new stuff from OEMS.
Best Clubs
3) Callaway Paradym– Look its a good set of irons and woods. Callaway doesnt make a crap product and the Paradym is no different. Do I think its worth upgrading from last year… probably not but it is good
2) Snake Eyes– Look I know I named them best value but they truly deserve a position here. I only hit one other companies clubs that made me go “damn thats good” as much as the Snake Eyes did.
1) PING G430 and i230– The entire PING lineup this year is absolutely insane. I didnt think youd be able to upgrade over the 425 series driver but they made it sound 100x better. The G430 irons looked amazing and the ball just felt awesome coming off the face. I have always avoided G series irons because they were high launch, massive offset, spinny monsters. Not anymore. Those things were amazing. I mentioned to the fitter that the i20 was my favorite iron ever so he grabbed the new i230 for me. I dont know if I have the game to play them anymore but damn if I didnt want them after the first swing. just an incredible club.
Final Thoughts
Thats the wrap up. Make sure you check out some of these awesome companies. You can find some awesome stuff if you just look outside the normal big brands!