Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, United States: The 68th edition of the PGA Merchandise Show shifted to a virtual event in 2021 (Virtual.PGAShow.com) to connect the international golf industry online, allowing PGA Professionals, golf buyers, manufacturers and industry leaders to drive forward the business of the game from the safety of their homes, facilities and workplaces during the on-going global pandemic.

More than 11,000 attendees from 78 countries, including some 6,500 PGA Professionals, connected online from January 26-29 to source thousands of products from nearly 400 participating golf brands. 

PGA Professionals, golf buyers and industry professionals were able to take part in 192 live and on-demand exhibitor, industry and education presentations. In total, virtual presentations hosted nearly 25,000 participants, with numerous single presentations exceeding 400 participants.

The virtual platform facilitated nearly 5,000 attendee-exhibitor meetings and logged nearly 300,000 interactions, views and connections by PGA Professional and industry attendees.

The 2021 Virtual PGA Show helped the industry capitalise on the rising interest in golf by virtually showcasing new products to enhance the game experience and by promoting industry growth initiatives through virtual presentations.

Most PGA Show programming will remain available on demand for an extended period of time, and exhibitor showrooms will remain open on an on-going basis to help exhibiting companies and buyers continue to connect, have meetings, discover new products and drive commerce throughout 2021.

As the world’s largest annual gathering of the golf industry, the PGA Merchandise Show traditionally hosts nearly 40,000 golf industry professionals from around the world to discover the newest trends and technology from some 1,000 exhibiting golf companies and brands.

The PGA Merchandise Show will combine the best of technology and analytics advancements of the 2021 virtual event with the value of in-person product experiences and face-to-face relationship building when the PGA Show returns to Orlando from January 25-28, 2022.

“PGA Show Week has always been about providing new resources for our PGA Professionals to advance the game in their communities and for the golf industry to collaborate in enhancing the overall golf experience,” said Jim Richerson, President of the PGA of America, an Executive Member of the Asian Golf Industry Federation. 

“We are proud of how PGA Professionals have led the way back to unprecedented participation despite all the challenges of the current times. This year’s PGA Show has provided numerous ways for our golf community to grow the game for generations to come,” added Richerson.

Seth Waugh, the PGA of America’s CEO, said: “We are grateful for the industry participation and for how well the virtual PGA Merchandise Show has gone this year.

“That being said, we can’t wait to bring the industry back together in person in 2022 where we can leverage the innovations and learnings from 2021. The importance of human connections and relationships are fundamental to our business and our golf community. 

“However, there are also so many lessons to be learned from the experience. For instance, in previous years at the Show, I was literally supposed to be in three places at the same time. In the future, we’ll be able to leverage the human experiences and the content creation environment of the PGA Show to create great inter-personal interactions and deliver on-demand content so you can engage in everything that matters to you.

“We are already hard at work on the 2022 PGA Show and look forward to being face-to-face with our industry peers next January.”