An all-star cast of celebrities, leading coaches/teachers and industry executives helped make the 2024 PGA Show Demo Day an unqualified success to tee off PGA Show Week Tuesday at Orange County National Golf Center.
Four PGA of America Master Professionals anchored a strong educational component at the PGA Show Demo Day, while eight-time PGA Tour winner Brad Faxon and former PGA Tour traveler-short-game guru Stan Utley provided insightful presentations on new Titleist Vokey SM10 and new PING S159 wedges, respectively.
At the upbeat Cobra Puma complex, where a DJ boomed music while hundreds hit balls with the new Cobra Darkspeed drivers, LPGA Tour player-model Blair O’Neal and two-time World Long Drive champion Kyle Berkshire wowed the crowds with special demonstrations and clinics while signing a series of autographs and sharing their expertise with hundreds of PGA Golf Professionals and industry buyers during the daylong experience.
Faxon, a member of the NBC Sports team and a Titleist Ambassador, joined Titleist Vokey Design Director of Marketing Corey Gerrard to introduce the new line of Titleist Vokey SM10 wedges and instructed attendees on how to select the proper lie, grind and bounce on wedges during an interactive demonstration adjacent to the Titleist hitting bays at Orange County National Golf Center.
“Golfers can really help their short game by getting personally fit for wedges, just as they would get fit for a driver or irons,” said Faxon, now a member of the PGA Tour Champions after winning eight times on the PGA TOUR. “If you look closely at those players on tour who are the best wedge players, you will see that they have the proper grind and bounce to suit their swings. That’s the advantage of the Titleist Vokey wedges – you can get wedges that really fit your swing and fit the type of turf you’re playing on. The science and technology involved with wedge play is more advanced today than it has ever been.”
“A lot of people come to Demo Day to hit balls and try the latest equipment, but I come for product knowledge – to learn about what makes certain products unique and effective,” said JP Morrison III, PGA, Director of Golf at Chapel Hill Country Club in North Carolina.
“The Brad Faxon demonstration is a prime example of what I’m talking about I learned what differentiates the new Titleist Vokey SM10 wedges from the SM9s – the SM10s have a lower center of gravity to give you more control over ball trajectory. I also learned from Faxon that you can control trajectory using a combination of ball position in your stance and by where you place your hands. He showed us how to hit a variety of different wedge shots higher and lower by changing the position of your hands. It was very informative and something I will take back to my members on the instruction tee.”
Former LPGA Tour player/model O’Neal and two-time World Long Drive champion Berkshire showed off new Cobra Puma products at the large Cobra Puma compound at Demo Day. Berkshire offered insight on how to hit the new Cobra Darkspeed drivers “longer than ever” before launching a blast or two that measured well over 350 yards.
“It’s amazing how Cobra continues to find ways to help golfers generate more clubhead speed and hit it farther through new technology and new design breakthroughs,” said Berkshire. “There is a different Darkspeed driver for players of all skill levels (the Darkspeed X, Darkspeed Max and Darkspeed LS). There is a lot of technology involved, but all I know is I hit it farther than I’ve ever hit any other driver.”
The all-star lineup of PGA Master Professionals lending their expertise to the 2024 PGA Show Day began with PGA Master Professional Joe Plecker, PGA of America Director of Instruction at The Landings Club in Savannah, Georgia, who simulated a “Live Lesson” to demonstrate how teachers can connect with students and address a variety of special problems regarding the golf swing.
“I tailor each lesson to each individual,” said Plecker. “Each lesson or each training session can be based on a similar framework, but you need to be flexible as a teacher and take the lesson in any direction that will be the most beneficial to the student. It stands to reason, for example, that you don’t teach a 75-year-old man exactly the same way that you teach an 18-year-old who swings the driver 120 miles per hour.”
Joe Hallett, PGA Master Professional and Director of Instruction at Vanderbilt Legends Club in Tennessee, drew a large crowd for his presentation titled “Match Play Practice for Stroke Play Success – Using the Hidden Keys to Match Play to Improve Your Stroke Play Performance” at Demo Day. Hallett’s presentation centered on how practicing match-play strategies can help golfers of all skill levels improve their stroke-play scorecards. Hallett is a perennial Top 100 Instructor, with experience that includes Lead Instructor at the PGA Center for Learning & Performance in Port St. Lucie Florida, PGA Education faculty Lead Instructor & Presenter, and PGA Director and Chairman of the 2011 PGA Teaching & Coaching Summit.
PGA Master Professional Tim Cusick, a member of the PGA Education Faculty at PGA Frisco in Frisco, Texas, presented “A Guide to a Golfer’s Improvement” to kick off the afternoon education presentations at the PGA Show Demo Day Tuesday. Cusick shared five key phrases that explain and lead to improvement in coaching by PGA Professionals and instructors, which will help students understand instruction and play the game better.
“Golf instructing is a special skill,” said Cusick, a three-time winner of the Northern Texas PGA Section Teacher of the Year award. “Like in the medical profession, there are general practitioners and specialists. I’m a specialist. And I want to help our PGA Golf Professionals become specialists in instruction.”
Bernie Najar, PGA of America Master Professional and Director of Instruction at Caves Valley Golf Club in Owings Mills, Maryland, closed the PGA Show Demo Day workshops on Tuesday with a special presentation titled “Coaching Competitive Juniors.” A three-time Middle Atlantic PGA Section Teacher of the Year, Najar has coached students to seven of the past 11 Maryland State Junior Boys Championships, the 2023 USGA Junior Amateur and numerous club championships, college and professional titles. He also coached Berkshire to the 2019 and 2021 World Long Drive Championships and specializes in helping students hit the ball prodigious distances.