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...
Showing posts with label Golfest. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Golfest. Show all posts
Sunday, November 12, 2006
Friday, November 10, 2006
Golfest Scottsdale - Part I
I arrived in Scottsdale tonight from Burbank - the traffic out of Thousand Oaks to Burbank Airport was just B R U T A L!!!
It took me almost 90 minutes to go 35 miles!!! I was listening to XM #222 for the LA traffic reports, and they indicated that the 101 was averaging 24 miles per hour, so I jumped off at Valley Circle Blvd, and tried to jet up to the 118. Even the surface streets were packed and slow!
Finally got up to the 118 and DeSoto an hour after I left work, and made it to BUR in 30 minutes. Valet'd the car, and the Golf Tiki was smiling on me - there was NO ONE in line at America West...(sorry, I just cannot accept that they merged with US Airways...I'm STILL bummed about that...I used to really LIKE America West Airlines - at least I still have my Frontier Airlines - if we could get Frontier to fly out of BUR, life would be complete!)
Got my gear checked in without difficulty - I pressed my ValSurf bodyboard bag into use as an equipment bag, and it worked FLAWLESSLY!!! It held all my signage materials from HalfPriceBanners.com, PVC framework parts, my 9' putting green, and half a dozen putters and my attack wedge with the TartanGolfGrips.com "Artan" design grips on 'em.
The flight was about 3/4 full, and I had seat 22A, the last row in the back. True to form, US Airways DOES NOT board from the front and rear of the plane like everyone else does at Burbank Airport (Bob Hope Airport), so there was a big logjam in the middle aisle (shades of the 101 freeway)...
Again, the Golf Tiki was smiling on me, and I had the ENTIRE ROW TO MYSELF!!! HUGELY comfy - I stretched out across the other two seats, whipped out my Wall Street Journal, and enjoyed an ice-cold Diet Coke. (What??? No PEANUTS or SUN CHIPS, US Airways??? America WEST used to at least give you some munchies in flight...I am SO bummed at that merger...)
My bags were amongst the last to be unloaded in Phoenix, and I trundled off to the rental car shuttle bus station...
The rental car depot is off-site in Phoenix - WAAAY off-site...we musta drove for 15 minutes to get to the rental car depot, which is about as big as a major metropolitan shopping mall, and is lit up like a Christmas tree - it's HUGE!!!
Alamo got my rental car biz this trip, and they let you pick out your own car from a different section after you've checked in - I'm going on the cheap this trip, so I asked for an "Economy" car - when I got down to the Compact/Economy section, there was this zippy little white Chevy number with a gaudy little rear deck spoiler that I snagged...
Drove the 20+ miles to Scottsdale, and pulled into the Wingate Inn - SCHWEET place...it's a "Built for Business" hotel right across the street from JDA Software, located amongst an office park/shopping/retail district...because their business is predominantly business, their weekend rates were a STEAL for the quality of the room!!! AWESOME - and free wireless or wired high-speed internet access, too!!! Like I said - SCHWEEET!!! =) (You know the type of hotel rooms where the bathrooms have granite countertops and the shower has matching granite walls, and the place smells really GOOD from the expensive European botanical body wash and lotion products - and the bed is really comfy and overstuffed with about eight pillows??? THAT'S what we're talkin' this weekend, folks!!!
I got checked in, and went down to get my gear - decided to go grab a quick bite to eat at a Carls Jr. that I passed by on the way to the hotel. Well, the LIGHTS were on, but no one was home...the place was lit up like the Phoenix rental car city, but no one was inside...
Undaunted, I headed down the street to the Islands Restaurant (Go ahead, click on that link to Islands if you want to see one of the most IRRITATING splashpages - make sure the sound is down), that was ALSO lit up like the Phoenix rental car city - these people faked me out SO badly - I even parked the car and hit the door handle - ONLY TO FIND IT LOCKED!!! At 10:30 on a freakin' FRIDAY night??? GEEZ!!!!
What's UP with this place??? It's a happenin' Friday night in Scottsdale, and the sidewalks are rolled up!!! (***Note to self: Check to see if there are any publicly traded AZ power companies - these people leave ALL the lights on, all night long...between the lights being on all night, and the A/C's being on all day...the AZ power co's must be makin' BANK!!!)
Disappointed (and HUNGRY), I headed back to the Wingate Inn - whaddya know - they have a convenience store behind the front desk - and the prices are REASONABLE!!! (The Golf Tiki is doing well tonight...) I paid $4.50 for a Pepperoni Pizza Lean Pocket (individually wrapped - never seen one of THOSE before...), 12 oz. Diet Coke, and a Grandma's Cookies Chocolate Chip Cookie two-pack....SCHWEET!!!!
Took it on up to my room, and nuked 'er up in the in-room microwave (you know, the one sitting on top of the small black REFRIGERATOR) and chowed down...
Moved my fragile stuff from the suitcase to the bodyboard/putter gear bag, and sat down to capture the night's activities for you here...
It's gettin' kinda late, and I've got to get an early start in the morning to get my booth set up, so I'm gonna sign off for now, and go get my beauty sleep....
Wish me luck at tomorrow's Golfweek Golfest! More later...
It took me almost 90 minutes to go 35 miles!!! I was listening to XM #222 for the LA traffic reports, and they indicated that the 101 was averaging 24 miles per hour, so I jumped off at Valley Circle Blvd, and tried to jet up to the 118. Even the surface streets were packed and slow!
Finally got up to the 118 and DeSoto an hour after I left work, and made it to BUR in 30 minutes. Valet'd the car, and the Golf Tiki was smiling on me - there was NO ONE in line at America West...(sorry, I just cannot accept that they merged with US Airways...I'm STILL bummed about that...I used to really LIKE America West Airlines - at least I still have my Frontier Airlines - if we could get Frontier to fly out of BUR, life would be complete!)
Got my gear checked in without difficulty - I pressed my ValSurf bodyboard bag into use as an equipment bag, and it worked FLAWLESSLY!!! It held all my signage materials from HalfPriceBanners.com, PVC framework parts, my 9' putting green, and half a dozen putters and my attack wedge with the TartanGolfGrips.com "Artan" design grips on 'em.
The flight was about 3/4 full, and I had seat 22A, the last row in the back. True to form, US Airways DOES NOT board from the front and rear of the plane like everyone else does at Burbank Airport (Bob Hope Airport), so there was a big logjam in the middle aisle (shades of the 101 freeway)...
Again, the Golf Tiki was smiling on me, and I had the ENTIRE ROW TO MYSELF!!! HUGELY comfy - I stretched out across the other two seats, whipped out my Wall Street Journal, and enjoyed an ice-cold Diet Coke. (What??? No PEANUTS or SUN CHIPS, US Airways??? America WEST used to at least give you some munchies in flight...I am SO bummed at that merger...)
My bags were amongst the last to be unloaded in Phoenix, and I trundled off to the rental car shuttle bus station...
The rental car depot is off-site in Phoenix - WAAAY off-site...we musta drove for 15 minutes to get to the rental car depot, which is about as big as a major metropolitan shopping mall, and is lit up like a Christmas tree - it's HUGE!!!
Alamo got my rental car biz this trip, and they let you pick out your own car from a different section after you've checked in - I'm going on the cheap this trip, so I asked for an "Economy" car - when I got down to the Compact/Economy section, there was this zippy little white Chevy number with a gaudy little rear deck spoiler that I snagged...
Drove the 20+ miles to Scottsdale, and pulled into the Wingate Inn - SCHWEET place...it's a "Built for Business" hotel right across the street from JDA Software, located amongst an office park/shopping/retail district...because their business is predominantly business, their weekend rates were a STEAL for the quality of the room!!! AWESOME - and free wireless or wired high-speed internet access, too!!! Like I said - SCHWEEET!!! =) (You know the type of hotel rooms where the bathrooms have granite countertops and the shower has matching granite walls, and the place smells really GOOD from the expensive European botanical body wash and lotion products - and the bed is really comfy and overstuffed with about eight pillows??? THAT'S what we're talkin' this weekend, folks!!!
I got checked in, and went down to get my gear - decided to go grab a quick bite to eat at a Carls Jr. that I passed by on the way to the hotel. Well, the LIGHTS were on, but no one was home...the place was lit up like the Phoenix rental car city, but no one was inside...
Undaunted, I headed down the street to the Islands Restaurant (Go ahead, click on that link to Islands if you want to see one of the most IRRITATING splashpages - make sure the sound is down), that was ALSO lit up like the Phoenix rental car city - these people faked me out SO badly - I even parked the car and hit the door handle - ONLY TO FIND IT LOCKED!!! At 10:30 on a freakin' FRIDAY night??? GEEZ!!!!
What's UP with this place??? It's a happenin' Friday night in Scottsdale, and the sidewalks are rolled up!!! (***Note to self: Check to see if there are any publicly traded AZ power companies - these people leave ALL the lights on, all night long...between the lights being on all night, and the A/C's being on all day...the AZ power co's must be makin' BANK!!!)
Disappointed (and HUNGRY), I headed back to the Wingate Inn - whaddya know - they have a convenience store behind the front desk - and the prices are REASONABLE!!! (The Golf Tiki is doing well tonight...) I paid $4.50 for a Pepperoni Pizza Lean Pocket (individually wrapped - never seen one of THOSE before...), 12 oz. Diet Coke, and a Grandma's Cookies Chocolate Chip Cookie two-pack....SCHWEET!!!!
Took it on up to my room, and nuked 'er up in the in-room microwave (you know, the one sitting on top of the small black REFRIGERATOR) and chowed down...
Moved my fragile stuff from the suitcase to the bodyboard/putter gear bag, and sat down to capture the night's activities for you here...
It's gettin' kinda late, and I've got to get an early start in the morning to get my booth set up, so I'm gonna sign off for now, and go get my beauty sleep....
Wish me luck at tomorrow's Golfweek Golfest! More later...
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