The PGA Show 2017

Each year Foremost Golf fly out to the PGA Merchandise Show in Orlando, Florida, where all of the major companies release their latest products for the year ahead. It's here when Foremost TV bank videos with the brand's key personnel about all of the products that'll be hitting the shelves of your local Foremost professional's pro shop in the coming months.

However before that kicked off we had a day to ourselves on the Monday when the Foremost Team hired some clubs and went for a round at one of the Disney World courses, Lake Buena Vista. As you can tell from the photos below, it was a rather picturesque course with plenty of water around every corner. As for the golf itself, the keenly fought contest match went all the way down to the last hole when the young guns finally prevailed.

The PGA Show gets underway with the 'Demo Day' on the Tuesday and this is arguably the most fascinating day of the three. For any golf equipment junkie (which I have to confess to being) I can only describe it as being like a kid in a candy shop. You walk onto the range at Orange County National to find brand after brand lined up across the range in a circle where you can hit the new releases into the centre (don't worry, it's about 500 yards wide so not even the longest of hitters would reach the other side).

This was the start of a busy three days for the Foremost Team as Foremost TV went from one brand to the next, collecting video after video to use throughout 2017. From TaylorMade's impressive M metals and players' irons, to Callaway's Epic new driver (pun intended) to PING's beautiful i200 irons, no stone was left unturned.

Once the Demo Day was out of the way it was on to the PGA Merchandise Show itself on Wednesday and Thursday. With more interviews pencilled in from 9am until 5pm both days - this time focusing on apparel, ball, accessories and footwear - there was no rest for Foremost TV. Over the two days the team met with the likes of Titleist regarding their upgraded Pro V1 and Pro V1 ball, Under Armour focusing on their shoe range for 2017 as well as Garmin and their extensive range of GPS products.

A particular highlight for the team was an exclusive interview with world renowned golf coach David Leadbetter who was at the show on behalf of Golf Pride (pictured below). The interview focused on the importance of re-gripping, something which is regularly neglected by the amateur golfer. To round things off we even had time to take part in an interactive session with Bubba Watson on the Oakley stand.

It was straight to the airport from the show on Thursday afternoon as we made our way back to the UK. All in all a truly inspirational few days where you can't help but leave with a few ideas for the year ahead. The product being released in 2017 is incredible with some ground-breaking technology helping golfers to enjoy better golf. So if you've been considering new equipment there is no better time to upgrade…

Englishman and Under Armour Golf UK ambassador Matthew Fitzpatrick eased to his second European Tour victory in last week’s Nordea Masters. Since turning pro off a handicap of plus four in 2014, the impressive 21-year-old has endured a very promising start to his professional career and now finds himself sitting amongst the elite inside the world’s top 35. Fitzpatrick reeled off 17
birdies in his first three rounds, giving him a comfortable five-shot lead heading into Sunday’ showdown. He never looked back as he waltzed to a three-shot victory to secure his place in this year’s Open Championship. On a course which boasts five par-5s, a good performance tee-to-green was always going to go a long way in determining how high up the leaderboard you finished.

Fitzpatrick certainly got it right this week.

Matthew played the longer holes in 10-under-par without a single dropped shot. The only way this would be possible is by hitting fairways and greens, something which the winner did time-after-time. He actually finished third in ‘Driving Accuracy’ at over 73% of fairways found for the week, and first in ‘Greens in Regulation’ with 85% of greens being hit – that’s 7 out of every 8 greens! Impressive golf.

Here’s what Fitzpatrick had in his golf bag…

• Driver – Callaway Big Bertha Alpha (10.5 degrees)
• Fairway woods – PING G 3-wood & 5-wood (14.5 degrees & 20.5 degrees)
• Irons – PING i25 (3-5 irons); PING S55 (6-9 irons)
• Wedges – PING Tour Gorge (47 degrees); Vokey SM5 (54 & 58 degrees)
• Putter – Yes

The term ‘journeyman’ gets batted around a lot, but that’s exactly what last week’s PGA Tour winner, William McGirt, is. By his own confession he’s been around the block, but the 36-year-old’s career will never be the same again after his sudden-death playoff win at the Memorial Tournament. It was a very steady scorecard for McGirt on Sunday, mixing one birdie with 17 pars to record a one-under-par 71 and tie Jon Curran at the top of the leaderboard. And it was a similar story in the playoff as both Americans went to head-to-head. Pars for both on first playoff hole meant a second was needed. Both Curran and McGirt missed the green at the second time of asking, and once Curran failed to get up-and-down, McGirt was left with a seven-footer for the win. This was McGirt’s maiden Tour victory in his 165th start, upstaging a star-studded field in the process.

Here’s what McGirt used en-route to victory…

• Driver – TaylorMade M2 (8.5 degrees)
• Fairway woods – TaylorMade M2 (13 degrees); TaylorMade M1 (17 degrees)
• Irons – Srixon Z-U45 (2 & 3 irons); Srixon Z-745 (5-PW)
• Wedges – Cleveland 588 RTX 2.0 (54 & 60 degrees)
• Ball – Srixon Z-Star

Picturesque Valderrama is regarded by most as one of the best golf clubs this side of the Atlantic; a true test of golfing ability. The 1997 Ryder Cup venue played host to the Open de España last week and did not disappoint. Lightning fast greens and tricky conditions meant that scoring was always going to be tough, with a one-over-par total enough for Englishman Andrew ‘Beef’ Johnston to claim his maiden European Tour title – the first regular Tour event to be won with an over-par score in 20 years. 27-year-old Johnston went into the final round one shot back from overnight leader Mike Lorenzo-Vera, but a stellar one-under-par 70 was good enough to see him lift the trophy by one, despite a final-day charge from locals’ favourite, Sergio Garcia. Titleist brand ambassador Johnston’s final round exploits saw him rank first in both driving accuracy (78.6%) and greens in regulation (70.8%) on the day – truly impressive golf when the pressure was at its greatest.

What equipment did he use?

• Driver – Titleist 915D3 (10.5 loft)
• 3-wood – Titleist 915F (15 loft)
• Irons – Titleist 716 MB irons; 3-9
• Wedges – Vokey SM6 wedges (46, 50, 54 & 58)
• Putter – Scotty Cameron Tour Only Newport 2
• Ball – Titleist Pro V1x

Over in the States, the PGA Tour arrived at Harbour Town Links, South Carolina, for the RBC Heritage. Many of the world’s best golfers take a break following a Major, but there were still a few stand-out names amongst the field. World number one Jason Day pegged it up at the start of the week, as did Bryson DeChambeau who, after finishing top amateur in the 2016 Masters, was playing in his first event as a professional. But come Sunday it was Callaway Staff player Branden Grace who grabbed the spotlight, a five-under-par 66 propelling him above overnight pacesetter, Luke Donald, to claim his second title of 2016.

What equipment did he use?

• Driver – Callaway XR 16 (8.5 loft)
• 3-wood – Callaway Big Bertha Alpha (16 loft)
• Utility Iron – Callaway Apex UT
• Irons – Callaway X Forged (4-PW)
• Wedges – Callaway Mack Daddy 2 Tour Grind (52, 56 & 60)
• Putter – Odyssey Versa V Line
• Ball – Titleist Pro V1x

To see the options we have available on our golf shop, head tohttps://www.foremostgolf.com/. If you have any queries, please do not hesitate to give us a call on +44 (0) 800 500 3194.