Orlando’s PGA Merchandise Show
Was Like a Philadelphia Reunion

By Tony Leodora

Somewhere in the neighborhood of 15,000 people per day visited the close-to-1,000 exhibitors at this year’s PGA Merchandise Show in the vast Orange County Convention Center in Orlando. It sounds like it would be easy to get lost in a place like that.

On the contrary, it was impossible to get lost – because everywhere you looked you saw a familiar face from the Philadelphia area. Some were just walking the floor, as I was, but many more seemed to be stationed in a booth.

One of the first I saw was Frank Carroll, the Torresdale-Frankford CC member who has his manufacturing plant in Northeast Philadelphia. Carroll is the originator of the Greenkeeper soft spike, and a number of other golf accessories. But, his new Four Yards More golf tee, that debuted at last year’s show, really kept him hopping this year.

He had a very prominent position on a busy corner of main aisles and grinned when he reported, “We’ve been slammed every minute since the show opened.”

Busy, in a different way, was Dave Ostrow, of the Conshohocken-based Body Balance for Performance golf fitness program. He was stationed in the Golf Fitness magazine booth, with his stretching table and all of his little toys to help golfers play better golf.

He also was in demand because of a recent article featuring him and his Body Balance theories in Golfweek. The story, penned by well-known writer Jim Achenbach, credited Ostrow with innovative techniques for getting injured golfers back into playing shape, and keeping them in shape.

On the fashion front, two local companies were getting a lot of attention in the women’s apparel section of the Show.

Jo-Fit, a line of athletic-looking and performing women’s golf clothing, is the brainchild of Joanne Cloak of Bucks County. The company had one of the brightest booths in the apparel section, in part due to the bright colors of the entire line. Cloak, who was a gym teacher before getting into the garment world, reported that the secret to her success was “women like to look and feel like an athlete.”

Jill LaPierre bases her Glamorous Golfer jewelry business in Elmhurst, Pennsylvania, about 20 miles outside Scranton. Not only is her line of colorful golf bracelets beautiful, but the pieces are functional. The beads move and help women keep score.

Even though Debbie (Lafayette Hill, Pa.) and Spike (Linwood, N.J.) Smith have been out of the Philly area for some time, they are still familiar to a lot of people in local golf circles. Their Classic Golf Gifts business, based in Pinehurst, makes elegantly embroidered awards for tournaments and presentations. Their products are the coveted item at many member-guest tournaments in the area.

The only time I couldn’t find a familiar face all week was at night, in one of the local watering holes, when I was looking for someone to buy me a drink.