Scottsdale Golfest Part II

Wow - that was pretty fun!
It was a beautiful weekend in Scottsdale - the weather was perfect, and we got the opportunity to meet with lots of people at Golfweek's Golfest.

Every major club manufacturer was there with AT LEAST a dozen staff bags STUFFED with all the latest clubs - some of which haven't even been released to the public!!! (I got to test hit some new Callaway irons that are pretty sweet looking, and VERY easy to hit...)

We got a nice location for our tent, located adjacent to the big putting green that was being shared by Yes! putters, and Eyeline Golf, a company that makes a line of putting and golf training tools. We were located right on the main walkway between the demonstration tee at the end of the manufacturers and the "Fun Zone" where all of the contests were being held. We had a lot of visitors as people made their way from the various demonstrations over to try their skill at closest to the pin chipping contests.

The Yes! putters had a LOT of visitors, and from the looks of a lot of the people that tried them, I understand why Yes! is growing as rapidly as they are...between the huge variety of head styles, and the way people were draining putts with them, I wish that Yes! were a publicly traded company, because I'd be buying their stock. I actually own several Yes! putters myself, and I appreciate the fit, finish, feel and general quality of their putters. There DOES seem to be something about those "C-grooves" on the face of their putters, because the ball does seem to track straighter!

We also had the opportunity to see Dennis Walters' performance. For those of you that haven't seen Dennis' show or heard his story, he was an aspiring professional golfer who suffered an accident about 30 years ago that left him paralyzed from the waist down. Dennis' story includes his own personal journey, and how he turned his setback into an inspiring story of perseverence, hard work and amazing performance.

Dennis hits FLAWLESS drives and shots with a variety of clubs, including his "3 iron", which has three heads forged together, and "drivers" that have shafts that are made out of radiator hose, and another that has about 3 universal joints for a "shaft". He also hits drives with several golf balls that are rolled down a ramp in rapid succession, and also with a left-handed club turned upside down and backwards, and each one is dead-straight solid, long and perfect. He is AMAZING!!! If you ever have a chance to see Dennis' show - go!

Most importantly, Dennis also has an absolutely ADORABLE sidekick that he rescued from the Miami animal shelter, a cute little dog named "Benji Hogan". He's trained to answer numeric questions by barking the correct number of times, and he also never misses. Read more about Benji's story here...it'll melt your heart. We bought two Benji Hogan headcovers, which are really good representations of this little cangel (canine angel). I'm putting mine on the ol' 5-wood (or is that now 5-WOOF???)

Surf on over to Dennis' website and spend a few minutes reading about him and Benji...it'll inspire you to look beyond what you now think are setbacks, and how to persevere and succeed.

We met a lot of really nice people that were interested in TartanGolfGrips.com, and it will be interesting to see how the site traffic and sales develop.

All in all, it was a very successful weekend on a number of fronts...