Another PGA Merchandise has come and gone, which means it’s time for us to tally our votes for our favorites from the yearly golf equipment extravaganza in Orlando. In past years, we would take this time to highlight the most impressive products we spotted during our four days at the Show. But this year is a little different because of our daily “Show Stoppers” wrap-ups, which highlighted our favorite products from each of the Show’s first three days.
See Show Stoppers from Day 1
See Show Stoppers from Day 2
See Show Stoppers from Day 3
We take great pride in spotlighting great products from smaller golf companies, but as you might have noticed in Show Stoppers, the 2014 PGA Merchandise Show was dominated by major equipment releases from golf’s largest equipment manufacturers.
We didn’t forget about them. Click here to view our dedicated subforum on the 2014 PGA Merchandise Show with photo galleries that highlight many of the event’s smaller companies.
Callaway, Ping, TaylorMade and Titleist made a big splash at this year’s Show, launching multiple new products in major categories that garnered most of this year’s buzz. They were clearly the winners of the 2014 PGA Merchandise Show. But instead of us selecting an overall winner, we’ve decided to breakdown the performances of each brand individually and allow our readers to decide on the winner in the poll below.
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The Winners
Callaway brings the heavy artillery
It doesn’t hit a golf ball, but that didn’t keep the armored tank Callaway had flat-bedded onto the floor of the 2014 PGA Merchandise from being one of the Show’s biggest stories. The Tank was a well-placed prop given the company’s huge release of “Tank” and “Tank Cruiser” counter-balanced putters, which make up the largest counter-balanced line of any major putter manufacturer.
The original Tank putters ($199) launched in 2013, and are the company’s heaviest counter-balanced putters. They’re available in slightly modified versions of the company’s #1, #7 and 2-Ball putters. According to Austie Rollinson, Odyssey’s principal designer, the company sold more Tank putters in 2013 than it ever had belly and long putters in a single season, which prompted the release of the new “Versa Tank” putters and Tank Cruiser line.
The Tank Cruiser putters (available in #1, #7, 330M and V-Line models for $249) might more aptly be called “Tank Lites.” They’re designed in the same 35- or 38-inch lengths as the Tank putters, but with lighter putter heads, shafts and grips that will make them an easier transition for golfers using a standard-length putter. They also have adjustable weights in their putters heads and in the butt ends of their 15-inch SuperStroke 2.0 grips, which allows golfers to increase or decrease swing weight to their preference.
Click here to see photos of all of Odyssey’s new putters from the 2014 PGA Merchandise Show, including the new Metal-X Versa. 
And did we really just go three paragraphs without mentioning Callaway’s biggest release, the Big Bertha and Big Bertha Alpha drivers? The Big Berthas were the most talked-about drivers of the Show, with just about everyone finding time to give the modern classic a whack at Demo Day. Also popular were Callaway’s new irons with another throwback name, the Apex and Apex Pro, the company X2 Hot fairway woods and hybrids and Odyssey’s Metal-X Milled putters.
Yep, that’s pretty much the whole line. When each of your company’s new products is one of the most talked-about clubs in its category, your company is in for a good year.
The fine-tuned Ping machine
Unlike Callaway and TaylorMade, Ping sticks to a pretty predictable product launch cycle, which means that there are usually few surprises from the company at the PGA Merchandise Show. But Ping managed to surprise us this year with one of the coolest gadgets of the Show, its nFlight Motion system.
nFlight is a small piece of hardware, made by SkyPro, that attaches to the shaft of a golf club. It connects via BlueTooth to Ping’s nFlight app, which allows fitters to dial golfers into a Ping club head, shaft and loft recommendation in just three swings. Yes… just three. It’s a blessing for Ping golf shops without a launch monitor, and we were impressed with the recommendations the software gave us in our driver fitting. An added bonus is that nFlight works as an iPing when placed on a putter shaft thanks to its powerful accelerometers and gyroscope. Right now, nFlight is just for fitters, but if that changes, Ping players will be craving the inexpensive device for their own use.
On the golf club side, Ping finally showed off its Rapture fairway wood, which has a 219-cubic-centimeter club head made of titanium to maximize the ball speed of the “driving fairway wood.” Many golfers still think of Ping as a game-improvement brand, but clubs such as the Rapture fairway wood, Rapture driving iron and S55 irons prove the company can make exciting products for even the most-demanding, high-level golfers.
Ping also launched the Karsten hybrid-iron set, which just might be the easiest-to-hit set of irons on the market today, as well as the Karsten TR putter line, which combines Ping’s classic putter shapes with 100 percent milled “True Roll” grooves that offer more consistent ball speeds on mis-hit putts. There’s also Ping’s new i25 drivers, fairway woods, hybrids and irons, which are lower-launching and lower-spinning than the G25 line. That adds up to one of the most well-rounded equipment lineups in the game.
See more photos of Ping’s clubs from Demo Day.
A better-looking TaylorMade eyes the future
TaylorMade pushed the release of its 2014 line of SLDR and JetSpeed drivers, fairway woods and hybrids earlier than we expected in 2013, which set the company up for a boring showing at the PGA Merchandise Show. But in typical TaylorMade fashion, the company left something in its reservoir for the January ’14 event in the way of its Tour Preferred line and “Hack Golf” initiative.
Last year, TaylorMade was coming off its best year in history, and seemed satisfied to flaunt the improved technology in its R1, RBZ Stage 2 and RocketBladez lines at the PGA Merchandise Show. The clubs performed, but they didn’t come close to matching the beauty of this year’s line.
The Tour Preferred irons are the most stunning of the company’s new releases. They’re available in a one-piece forged MB model, which is aimed at purists, as well as two slotted models: the CB and MC. We love that TaylorMade scrapped the yellow theme from last year’s irons and returned to its classic red-and-black TP accents. We also love the new Tour Preferred wedges, which have a raw finish, micro-milled face texture and bring back the standard sole design that went missing in 2013 (a narrower ATV grind is also available in the 54-to-60 degree models).
There’s two new Tour Preferred balls as well — the “Tour Preferred” and “Tour Preferred X” — which marks a return to the two-ball strategy that has worked so well for Titleist.
We could talk about the company’s SLDR and JetSpeed lineups, but we know that you already know about them, so we’ll skip to this. TaylorMade pledged $5 million to its new “Hack Golf” initiative, an attempt to crowdsource golf innovation and spur its growth. It also built a mini theater inside its mammoth PGA Merchandise Show booth called the “Innovation Lab” that highlighted two prototype (and non-conforming) clubs, the M.O.A.D (Mother of all Drivers) and M.O.A.I. (Mother of all Irons), which showed off the company’s engineering might.
We admire the company’s dedication to growing the game, but wonder if non-conforming equipment is really the way to do it. On the other hand, we’re all for the larger holes and simpler-to-follow rules that TaylorMade CEO Mark King is asking golf courses to experiment with to make the game easier, faster and more fun.
See more photos of TaylorMade’s clubs at Demo Day.
Footjoy wows, Vokey, Cameron and AP2′s get better
Last but not least is Titleist, whose struggling Footjoy brand might have had the most important launch of the show, its DNA shoe.
With DNA, the company managed to hit the sweet spot between a classic-looking golf shoe and a modern, athletic-inspired model. It’s smooth and sleek, and available in a variety of colors that will please traditionalists and golfers who like a bit more color. They sell for an understandable price of $190, and $220 with the company’s BOA lacing system (click here to read our full review of the shoe).
One of Titleist’s most successful brands, Vokey wedges, also got an upgrade at the PGA Merchandise Show in the way of the new SM5 wedges. The new wedges are available in three finishes, including a new “Gold Nickel” finish, and offer more stock grinds than ever before.
Show-goers arrived early at Demo Day to sample the SM5′s seven percent larger grooves, which are deeper and narrower in 46-to-54-degree lofts to reduce the chance of flyers, and wider in the 56-to-60-degree lofts to add more greenside spin.The shape of the SM5 wedges also was tweaked, with the toe getting slightly rounder in the higher-lofted wedges so they look better when opened up. And their leading edges are also curvier in the higher lofts, which makes the wedges more versatile when played from opened or closed positions.
See all the new Vokey SM5 grinds and finishes.
Giving the SM5′s a run for their money in terms of buzz was Scotty Cameron’s new Select putter line, which offers the first major upgrade since the putter maker went to removeable weights. The Select “Squareback” and “Fastback” putters each have an aluminum sole plate that pops through their flange to offer golfers a unique alignment system. It’s a functional change as well, as the aluminum sole plates (which were also added to Cameron’s GoLo 7, GoLo S5 and GoLo 3 putters) save approximately 30 grams of weight from the designs. The weight was added back to the putters in the form of thicker faces and cavities, which improve the feel of the putters.
See photos of Scotty Cameron’s full line of new putters.
And that’s just what’s brand new from Titleist. Its 714 AP2 irons launched this fall, but they were still an attraction at the Show. Another year has gone by, and still no brand has been able to match the buzz the new AP2 has created for itself. It’s easily one of golf’s best-performing and most beautiful irons.
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Like the list? Hate it? Let us know in the comments section, and don’t forget to vote in the poll at the top of the page.