Just about every major golf manufacturer was represented at Greensboro Coliseum Complex with products for the annual Carolinas PGA Merchandise Show.
Most, if not all, the big brands were on the showroom floor. Titleist, TaylorMade, Callaway, Srixon, Bridgestone … Footjoy, Adidas, Johnnie-O, Good Good and RLX … The displays included golf carts, range finders, golf destinations, simulators, gloves, watches, clubs, you name it, it was there.
But less known vendors, selling everything from photos and portraits, to snacks, beer and cigars were there, too. Perhaps appropriately near the front was Unknown Golf, a scoring app provider.
Karl Battenberg, assistant director of the CPGA, said more than 600 PGA members from the Carolinas attended the regular business meeting Monday morning. He estimated that counting guests and other business-related attendees 1,200 and 1,400 people attended the two-day show.
Battenberg said the showroom was filled with a record 235 booths and 175 separate vendors.
While the annual national PGA Show, held a few weeks ago in Orlando, focuses on the unveiling and demonstration of new products, the CPGA Show features regional sales representatives making personal contact and often, taking orders from golf pros.
“Ours is a little bit more of a buyer’s show,” Battenberg said. It’s really focused on buying and filling up with equipment and apparel for their shops.”
On Sunday, festivities kicked off with a Special Awards and Honors Dinner at Greensboro Country Club in Irving Park. Monday’s educational sessions featured a presentation on leadership by University of South Carolina football coach Shane Beamer.
Tuesday’s headliner (pictured above) was former Greensboro College student Jason Baile, the 2025 PGA Teacher of the Year now living in Jupiter Hills, Florida.
The section’s Professional of the Year was Lexington native Chris Byrd of NXT Level Golf, a performance studio in Wilmington.
New this year was a simulator used for teaching purposes and a popular par-3 contest awarding $1,000 to the winner.
On Tuesday afternoon, the organization held a drawing for a purse of $7,500 cash, with the grand prize $3,000 and a trip.
