This Month at the PGA Fashion & Demo Experience top equipment and technology companies demonstrate their newest products and services on the range at Cascata Golf Club, just outside of Las Vegas for the 2016 PGA Outdoor Demo Experience. Participating companies are listed at PGALasVegas.com.
If you follow Rickie Fowler on social media, you probably saw all the great photos he took leading up to the start of the Olympic competition on August 11. He arrived in Rio de Janeiro an entire week before the golf began, soaking in the full Olympic experience and taking part in the opening ceremonies. He even spent time with the most-decorated Olympian in history, Michael Phelps – who’s a well-documented golfaholic. In a press conference prior to the start of play, Fowler delivered a message that was presumably for some of his peers who elected to opt out of the Olympics: “As far as making guys jealous back home, I feel like I’m doing a pretty good job of it and there may be some personal messages sent back and forth and I’m telling them we’re definitely having a good time down here.” Check out the Golf Range Magazine story on page 60 for more on the Olympic golf facilities.
While we’re on the topic of the Olympics, several international golf practice facilities have recently opened. This could be an indication that golf’s return to the Summer Games is already having an impact on golf’s global appeal. Recently construction of new nine-hole course and practice facility was completed in the Wallonie region of Belgium (pictured during construction phase), located just south of the capital city Brussels. It consists of a nine-hole golf course, three practice holes, a driving range and target greens, as well as a nine-hole pitch & putt course and a nine-hole putting course. In Croatia, a 1,000 square-meter practice facility opened in the sports complex at Verudela Resort. The design simulates elements of the course such as bunker shots, playing from the rough, as well as pitching and chipping. Finally, a plot of land outside of Cape Town, South Africa has been earmarked for the development of a new golf academy that will introduce elementary-aged children to the sport.
