THE HALFWAYHOUSE Indoor simulator golf at it’s finest, play over 90 courses from around the world. Try the halfway house tomorrow on Thirsty Thursday, Half-Price Beer all day long. 555 S.York Road in Elmhurst, next door to HB Jones. For more information call (331)-642-8050 or visit Halfwayhousegolf.com. THE LINKS & TEE’S Golf Facility is ready to win another award for being one of the top golf facilities in America, Director Charles Sims will receive the award tomorrow at the PGA Show. Congratulations to Charles and everyone at Links & Tee’s. See Addisonparks.org or call (630)-233-7275.    _____________________________________________________________________

The Gog Blog Chicago’s #1 online golf news source by Rory Spears, Editor and Director of Content. Follow Rory on Facebook, Linkedin and Twitter @GogBlogGuy. At the 2016 PGA Merchandise show.

Day 1 was the demo day at the Orange County Golf Center, it was an outdoor event on a sunny and 82 degree day. Day 2 was IN the Orange County Convention Center, while it was raining outside all day long.

The PGA of America tells us that over 42,000 people are attending the show this year. Up again over last year,one number suggested an 8% increase in attendance and participation.

The equipment companies are here, except for one notable exception, Nike. Are people missing them, it doesn’t appear that they are, since there is so much else going on.

PGA or America President Derek Sprague and CEO Pete Bevacqua held court with selected media and took questions for over 30 minutes on a variety of topics. Everything from Growth of the Game, holding future events at courses owned by Donald Trump. What it could be like if Trump, a golf course owner is elected president of the United States.

The PGA Centennial Book by Billy Dettlaff

The topic of the Ryder Cup came up, the PGA Championship being moved to August at Baltusrol and being played two weeks behind another major championship.

One item that was unveiled at the session was the new PGA Centennial book by Billy Dettlaff. John Steinbreder was the editor. There is a forward by Jack Nicklaus, and a afterword by Annika Sorenstam.

All PGA members are being sent a copy of the book, and it’s recommended reading if you can get your hands on a copy. Stay clicked in for more details on thoughts from the leadership of the PGA of America.

It was fun to start catching up with all the exhibits on the convention floor, and there will be a lot more of that posted here tomorrow.