It's February and it's snowing - again - in the Edmonton area. So what else is new?
Well, truth be told it's been a pretty nice winter temperature- and snow-wise, thus one's early golf expectations begin to bounce around right about now. And with the two golf shows on the horizon, it's only right that we golfers begin to get the itch.
I've spent the last few days chatting with folks who will be displaying product or showcasing their travel destinations and needless to say, my appetite has been whetted for what to come.
Yeah, the Edmonton show is still three weeks away (March 5 - 6) and Calgary's goes later than that (March 19 - 20) but just talking golf gives one the itch.
While the Edmonton show is always smaller than its counterpart, there should still be some interesting things going on there.
All the big club manufacturers will be there and it sounds to me like Callaway is perhaps the one that is most prepared to handle the onslaught of the curious public. Their sales rep for the northern part of Alberta, Jim McCulley, told me they'd likely have double the space of any other distributor there in order to let everyone whale away with this brand's newest gear. That means two hitting bays and two putting areas and to top that off, after you've finished the test drive with any club, you'll receive a two-pack of the new Chrome Soft golf balls, something McCulley feels will be a benefit to the mid- to high-handicap player.
The brand with the most new products to show off appears, not surprisingly, to be TaylorMade. Their rep, Brian Howard out of the Calgary area, said they'd have all their new M1 and M2 family on hand, along with some other product they've released in the recent past.
Besides that, the biggest draw for the show may well be the wildly popular Clearance Centre set-up. Gary Christenson, the head pro from the Sturgeon Valley GC told me that this area usually houses upwards of $1 million worth of out-dated merchandise. That simply means it's last year's gear, not brand new stuff and as such golf clubs are looking to deplete their stock of "old" merchandise in order to bring in more new toys.
Christenson did say during our conversation that he feels the "best buys" in the centres at both shows are full sets of clubs. The reason for that is twofold with the most important factor being these sets won't have seen the price increases that are hitting the Canadian marketplace today given the weakened dollar.
Topping that off is these 2015 brands are reduced in price, so the savings are immense. Of course, to get the best deal you have to be at the show(s) early and ready to dig through all kinds of goodies in this area.
Besides full sets there are all kinds of clothing, shoes, balls, accessories and on and on. The only real prerequisite for taking advantage of this, as far as I can tell, is perhaps being ready to patiently wait to make it to the cash register to pay for your purchases because the lines can be long.
There area slso lots of prize giveaways, particularly in Calgary, but Edmonton likely has several as well although they aren't listed as of yet. The biggest one of the bunch seems to be a 6-day vacation to Vancouver Island with six rounds of golf which will be awarded at both shows.
In order to attend, you will need an entry ticket but those can be had online at albertagolfshows.ca or at the door. General admission is $10 for those 13 and over; $8 for seniors over 65; and kids 12 and under are freeThe first 50 people in the door at each show will receive a free Canada Golf card.
The Edmonton show takes place in Hall H at the Edmonton Expo Centre; in Calgary it's in Hall B at the BMO Centre.
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