PGA Merchandise Show showcases smarter golf tech, game improvement, healthier on-course options

ORLANDO, Fla. — The 73rd PGA Merchandise Show offered something for every golfer — serious, casual or curious — during its recent stop in Orlando.

A panoply of golf apparel, equipment, edibles and beverages, and cutting-edge technology from nearly 1,200 vendors at Orange County Convention — up from 1,000 in 2025 and the most since 2009 — continued to highlight the health of a $100-plus billion industry.

These items caught our attention:

Smarter putting

You don’t have to be Einstein to understand a simple golf truth: fewer putts mean lower scores. With roughly 40% of all strokes taken on the greens, putting is where rounds are decided.

Enter the GENIUS golf ball.

Endorsed by Dave Stockton Sr., a two-time major champion and Ryder Cup captain, and his sons Ron and Dave Stockton Jr., the GENIUS ball is a high-tech training tool helping putters improve courtesy of tangible, practical feedback. An embedded chip inside the ball pairs with a mobile app to measure key data, including skid, pace and even a green’s Stimpmeter speed.

Putters gain immediate insight into whether a putt is struck squarely, losing speed or drifting off line — and if so, why.

“You get to connect feel to performance,” Ron Stockton said. “Once you feel a stroke and see the numbers, you know what to take to the golf course with confidence.”

Each ball lasts 10,000 putts — or about 18 months of use. The ball and app diagnoses flaws and then provides a putter personalized video drills.

“You don’t have to waste time going, ‘I don’t know what I’m doing wrong.’ The ball will tell you what you’re doing,” Stockton said. “‘Well, I don’t know how to fix it.’ The app will have video lessons that will tell you how.”

One of the game’s top short-game instructors, Dave Stockton believes the impact can be immediate.

“If I play 18 holes with somebody at a pro-am, I’m going to improve them by three or four shots almost instantly,” he said. “Nobody works enough at putting.”

Priced at $240 (three balls, $120 annual subscription), the GENIUS ball does the heavy lifting while reducing three-putts, improving pace and shaving strokes.

A better mousetrap — and a better fit

Makefield putters was founded by Everett Farr, an avid golfer with an inventor’s spirit who found unexpected inspiration during the COVID shutdown. After hours on YouTube studying putter design and technology, Farr came to a conclusion.

“I can build a better mousetrap,” Makefield director of fitting Mike Dynda recalled.

Five years later, this American-made putter focuses on customization and proper fitting — an area golfers often overlook.

“No one fits for a putter,” Dynda said. “Are you and I the same height or with the same width? I wouldn’t buy the same jacket as you would. Same thing for putting. You don’t want to buy an off-the-rack putter if it doesn’t fit you or your style.”

Standard putters stand 35 inches and have a lie angle of 72 degrees. Yet golfers vary in height, posture and stance — some bend more while others flex their knees and some stand upright, Dynda noted.

Makefield’s fitting process determines ideal length and lie angle, typically ranging from 65 to 75 degrees, while using a mirror to ensure eyes are properly positioned over the putter.

Facilities, including one located in Delray Beach, offer a fitting cart, interchangeable heads and shafts — double-bend, plumber’s neck, slant neck or center shaft.

“Blonde, brunette, redhead — they’re all good,” Dynda said.

Standard models are priced around $400, with options for additional personalization.

Fourteen-time PGA Tour winner Hal Sutton was sold and now serves as the brand’s ambassador.

Sutton once famously said while beating Tiger Woods at the 2000 Players Championship: “Be the right club to-DAY.” The right fit with Makefield could be a winner.

“I’ve never endorsed a putter before,” Sutton said. “I never wanted to — until now.”

Leadbetter tees up smarter snacks

Hally Leadbetter has spent her entire life around golf, but her passions extend beyond the fairways. The self-described foodie and snacker set a new course to avoid hunger pangs and unhealthy options.

Leadbetter, the daughter of renowned instructor David Leadbetter, now offers a healthy alternative with Bunchies energy balls.

“About four years ago, I was just like, ‘This is ridiculous,’ ” the former Rollins golfer recalled. “ ’Why isn’t there a snack option that I know I can rely on, that’s healthy?’ ”

That sentiment spurred Leadbetter’s delicious energy balls for golfers. Bunchies are a collaboration with nutritionist Amy O’Donnell, who works with European Tour players, along with a food scientist and chef to perfect the formula following 20 iterations.

The final product contains 110 calories per Bunchie, making two comparable to an energy bar and three a suitable meal replacement. For Leadbetter, the product solves a personal need.

“I love eating on the golf course,” she said. “I have some blood-sugar problems, so I’d be lying if I said this didn’t fulfill a selfish need.”

Bunchies are packaged as a trio ($5.99) and boxed by the dozen ($25).

“The idea would be to grab a sleeve of balls, grab a sleeve of Bunchies, and go out and play,” said Leadbetter, a digital talent at Golf Digest.

With a 12-month shelf life, Bunchies are a smart option, too.

“Whereas, if you left a banana in your bag, I don’t think that would be the same story,” Leadbetter quipped.

Leadbetter’s health-conscious father is among Bunchies’ biggest fans — sometimes too much of one.

“He was here yesterday and kept taking all the samples,” his daughter said.

LagMaster simplifies golf swing

Long before he became a Top-100 teaching professional, Mike Dickson was photographed shortly after he was born, holding his father’s finger in a Washington, D.C., area hospital.

Written on the back of the photo: “He’s got a great grip,” Dickson recalled with a laugh.

Those words have stuck during a golfing journey that led Dickson to discover LagMaster, the product of six prototypes and plenty of patience. “It’s been a long three years,” he said

The training aid attaches to a short iron — or LagMaster’s mini-club for easier in-home use — and focuses on grip, shoulder turn, pivot and connection, not hitting balls.

“I want you to do it super slow, super exaggerated,” Dickson said. “That’s where you create the feel of the proper sequence.”

Dickson blends decades of instruction, which still includes 70 hours a week of lessons, with influences that inspired his swing thoughts.

Lynn Blake of Marietta, Ga. — with the help of “The Golfing Machine,” Homer Kelley’s seminal 1969 text — shaped Dickson’s understanding of mechanics. Mentor Mike Adams taught Dickson a golfer’s body dictates how he or she should swing.

Also influenced by Tom Watson’s “Secret to Golf,” the LagMaster encourages the right shoulder to replace the left shoulder as the right hip comes along for the ride.

Sold direct-to-consumer online, LagMaster ($99) is adjustable to a player’s height and level of flexibility.

“This is the easiest way to teach a golf swing,” Dickson said. “All I got to do is tell you to rotate your body 90 degrees and have you touch [the LagMaster] from shoulder to shoulder. That’s as easy as it gets.”

Recondition your brain, change your game

When Anthony Carey talks about swinging freely, he isn’t thinking solely about muscles or mechanics.

“The brain drives movement quality,” he said.

The philosophy led the 60-year-old Southern Californian to invent the Core-Tex Reactive Trainer, a cutting-edge training platform designed to sharpen control and coordination while training the body to adapt. In a nod to the sensory motor cortex, Carey named a device geared toward connecting the brain and body through movement that’s continually shifting and unpredictable.

The Core-Tex’s PGA Show recent debut was spurred by 12 years of testimonials.

“Everyone kept telling us you got to be [there] because it’s a no-brainer for golfers,” Carey said.

By challenging the nervous system, Core-Tex helps users become more stable and pliable.

The simple design allows for an infinite combination of movements, said Carey, who has a master’s in biomechanics and athletic training and has run a San Diego-based chronic-pain clinic for weekend warriors to elite athletes.

A platform atop a sturdy dome rests on three precisely placed ball transfers, allowing the Core-Tex to tilt, slide and rotate simultaneously to activate the user’s core and stabilizers. The surface is solid but supple while the device is quick to assemble — five minutes, few tools, no fuss — and built to last.

Carey aims to create a conversation between the brain and body to encourage more fluid rotation and faster recovery from the stress of repeated movement.

At $639, the Core-Tex trainers are used by more than a dozen professional sports franchises, college programs, physical therapy clinics and golf courses, including several in South Florida — among them St. Andrews in Boca Raton and Ballenisles in Palm Beach Gardens.

For golfers chasing longer drives, a smoother action and pain-free consistency, the Core-Tex will train your body to respond the way your brain intends.

Add yardage, not clubs

Don’t spend your money on a new driver. Buy more speed. The Stack System is designed to increase distance and power without an equipment upgrade.

Using a single club with five interchangeable weights — 45, 60, 75, 100, and 120 grams — the system offers 30 combinations. A mobile app builds a personalized program based on a golfer’s baseline “force-velocity” profile, ensuring every golfer trains with the correct load while avoiding injury and improving mobility.

“We’re not asking you to jump in and go zero to 100,” said Thomas Bennett, the director of operations. “We keep you within your normal on-course swings. We load those swings with the different weights, and that’s then what trains your muscles.”

The science combines strength, speed and neuromuscular training. Four swing types — full intent, max intent, step swing and single-arm swings — are guided by app video. Workouts are 15–20 minutes every two to three days, easily integrated into a person’s exercise program. The app recommends rest and progression.

On average, users gain 10.1 mph in clubhead speed, adding 27 yards, Bennett said. Elite golfers see 15-mph gains over just two programs in three months.

Introduced in 2021 after years of trial and error by biomechanist Sasho MacKenzie and PING Golf VP Marty Jertson, The Stack System ($299) is a data-driven and backed by science, making the fastest way to longer drives is a new approach — not new equipment.

Cleaner clubs, less hassle

Inventor Promod Sood sat bored one day, staring at his clubs and wondering if there was a better way to preserve them.

“I had a scratchy scrubber in one hand and a towel in the other,” he recalls. “Why not put them together?”

The question spawned the Mark Your Green 3-in-1 golf towel, patented in 2019 and now sold at around 100 courses.

Priced at just $30, this three-in-one golf accessory combines a built-in scrubber glove with a premium towel. The right hand tackles tough dirt with a non-scratch nylon-polyester surface while the left hand softens and polishes your clubs with sturdy 550 GSM cotton microfiber.

Keeping track of the towel is easy: a double-sided magnet attaches to your cart — or lets you pick the towel up with your club if dropped, eliminating bending to pick it up. A golfer also has the option to hang the towel over a club with a strap or use the carabiner to secure it to a golf bag.

The towel is washer-safe but must be line-dried. Embroidered logo options are available, making it ideal for personalized gifts or branded merchandise. Forget towels of dollar-store quality or overpriced ones with flimsy attachment clips found at a pro shop.

The Mark Your Green 3-in-1 golf towel is a versatile, durable upgrade to keep your clubs pristine.

A single swipe from sunlight to shade

Golfers know the struggle: stepping off the course into the clubhouse or under the shade of trees means repeatedly taking sunglasses on and off.

Chamelo Eyewear solves the hassle with its Instant Tint Change technology, allowing golfers to adjust their lenses without removing their glasses.

A simple swipe along the right arm instantly changes the tint from dark to light, ideal for navigating sunlit fairways, sudden cloud cover or dim indoor spaces.

“If you think about it like a Venetian blind in your house, and you pull the cord to open the frames and let more light in, and then close it to let less light in, that’s what you’re doing by sliding your finger,” Chamelo representative Chris McCloud said.

The Golf Shield frames feature high-contrast non-polarized lenses designed specifically for golfers. They deliver crisp vision on sunny days but also allow wearers to a clubhouse grill room or a shaded area.

“I take my sunglasses on and off all day long, depending on the sun conditions,” McCloud said. “All of them are designed to allow the wearer to adjust to whatever conditions they have without taking them off.”

Styles vary.

The Golf Shield ($199) also offers an option with speakers for music or phone calls ($260). Then there is the more traditional Zurix ($169) or the fashion-forward Aura ($385) featuring prismatic technology that allows the user to change the lens color with a tap. Audio is available for $485.

With Chamelo, one pair of glasses handles every lighting situation while combining style and groundbreaking technology. Golfers can focus on their game, not their sunglasses.

The drink golfers were missing

For Luke Bohunicke, socializing on the golf course never felt quite right. While his buddies cracked beers, he’d reach for a Gatorade — and Bohunicke wasn’t feeling it.

“Luke wanted something fun to drink, something that still gives you that social moment but actually is good for you,” said Ian Farley, chief of sales.

Those experiences inspired Course Record, the Palm Beach-based beverage scoring big on courses across the U.S.

Course Record is a functional hydration drink built for the long game. With six electrolytes, just one-seventh the sugar of a Gatorade and three amino acids, this adult beverage offers slow-release energy and sustained hydration. A 40 mg. caffeine boost from Asian ginseng delivers calm, long-lasting focus — ideal for a round of golf stretching over four hours.

Peach, grape and lemon-lime flavors are tasty and refreshing while the packaging provides a social vibe.

“It looks like you’re drinking a Seltzer, but no alcohol,” Farley said. “It’s like a mocktail. You can still have that sense of being social and cracking one open with the guys.”

A teetotaler himself, Bohunicke came up with the idea one day at the simulator range he owns in Winnipeg.

“His next thing was, I want to start a drink company geared for golfers,” Farley recalled. “I kind of laughed at him at first. I’m like, ‘Yeah, for sure.’

“He dreams big.”

Launched only 15 months ago, Bohunicke’s brainchild is now a reality in 27 states and roughly 120 golf courses, including PGA National in Palm Beach Gardens.

More than a beverage, it’s a lifestyle choice — sans alcohol or a caffeine crash. Course Record proves staying sharp and having fun on the course don’t have to be mutually exclusive.

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