Opportunities beyond hitting balls with the latest clubs from some 70 companies abound at the 2024 PGA Show Demo Day Tuesday at Orange County National Golf Center. A strong educational component also will highlight Demo Day, with a leaderboard of PGA Master Professionals and golf-industry experts sharing their expertise with attendees on Tee 3 (the exhibition tee) and staging a variety of informative exhibitions and clinics.
PGA of America Master Professional Joe Plecker will begin the PGA Demo Day educational presentations at 9:30 a.m. with “Live Lessons With Joe Plecker,” an interactive presentation focusing on coaching golfers of all skill levels. Plecker will show how to recognize traits of different players, communicate effectively through technology, help to prescribe appropriate drills, and share stories from 30 years of coaching golf, with audience members invited to ask questions and engage in the discussion.
Joe Hallett, PGA, will present “Match Play Practice for Stroke Play Success – Using the Hidden Keys to Match Play to Improve Your Stroke Play Performance” from 11 a.m.-noon. The PGA of America Master Professional and Director of Instruction at Vanderbilt Legends Club in Tennessee will provide insight into 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 of America Master Professional Tim Cusick, a member of the PGA Education Faculty at PGA Frisco in Frisco, Texas, will present “A Guide to a Golfer’s Improvement” on Tee 3 at 12:30 p.m. at the PGA Show Demo Day. Cusick will share 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,” says 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, closes the PGA Show Demo Day workshops on Tuesday from 2 p.m.-3 p.m. 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 Kyle Berkshire to the 2019 and 2021 World Long Drive Championships and specializes in helping students hit the ball longer.
Companies such as Callaway Golf, Cobra Puma Golf, Ping, Titleist and Srixon/Cleveland Golf will provide professional clubfitting services at PGA Show Demo Day, and many are hosting clinics, exhibitions and fitting services by touring professionals, celebrities and brand ambassadors.
Short-game guru Brad Faxon, an eight-time winner on the PGA Tour and a member of the NBC Sports golf team, will join Vokey Design Director of Marketing Corey Gerrard, to introduce and address questions fitting questions regarding the new Titleist Vokey SM10 wedges from 10 a.m.-11:30 a.m. at the exclusive Vokey Design demonstration area adjacent to the Titleist hitting bays at Orange County National Golf Center.
Cobra-Puma Golf will feature former LPGA Tour player and model Blair O’Neal and two-time World Long Drive champion Kyle Berkshire at its large Demo Day compound throughout the day on Tuesday, with a Long Drive Clinic and Exhibition beginning at 1:30 p.m.
The Golf Range Association of America (GRAA) also will have enhanced programming at the 2024 Demo Day, with GRAA award winners present to answer range-related questions throughout the day on topics such as coaching, practice, player development, fitting/demos, operations and engagement.