The golf industry enjoyed rocket-ship-like growth in 2021, with rounds, number of players and revenue all showing strong growth compared to pre-pandemic days. But, thanks to the Omicron variant, the industry’s largest trade show has still not seen a rebound in terms of numbers.
Only 15,000 attendees descended on Orlando last week for the annual PGA Golf Show. That is down almost 66% from 2020 when 40,000 people were in attendance. The number of exhibitors also took a hit — down from 1,000 to 600.
There were some conspicuous absentees at the 69th annual event. Most of the major golf equipment companies like Callaway and TaylorMade were absent at the popular Demo & Fitting Day that kicked off the show Jan.. 24 at Orange County National Golf Center.
During the three days of trade-show activity at the Orange County Convention Center, Orlando’s massive venue missed having many of golf’s perennial high-profile vendors from Ping to Titleist and Nike. Nevertheless, this global golf affair still featured major golf suppliers such as Bridgestone, Club Car and E-Z-GO, and several leading media organizations from the Golf Channel to CBS Sports HQ and SiriusXM PGA Tour Radio network.
Read more at GolfMagazine.com
