Better fitness, focus and performance available at PGA Merchandise Show

The 71st PGA Merchandise Show in Orlando had something for every golfer seeking to improve performance, appearance or insight into a complicated game.

More than 1,000 golf companies and brands — from industry titans to more than 350 newcomers pushing for a piece of an $84 billion business — covered 1.1 million square feet Jan. 24-26 at Orange County Convention.

We put in the steps and left impressed with the following items:

Staying connected

On a cold, dreary New Jersey day in 2010, Ray Rapcavage lost his golf swing but discovered his calling.

“It was totally by accident,” he recalled.

Years later, the Golf Swing Shirt aims to help struggling golfers find their groove.

Designed to fit snugly, the sleeveless shirt features a trunk, like an elephant, in the middle to encase both arms. The training aid encourages connection of the arms, chest, core muscles and glutes throughout the swing.

“Use your body to hit the ball,” Rapcavage said. “It’s the tail wagging the dog.”

Once adjusted to the unfamiliar sensation created by the shirt, go with the flow, don’t fight the feeling and experience repeatable ball striking.

The idea for Golf Swing Shirt was born from a case of shanks for Rapcavage, a scratch golfer at the time. Frustrated and flummoxed, he pulled his heavy sweater over his head, put his arms through a sleeve and soon was cured.

A few months later, Rapcavage’s tattered sweater left his family concerned.

“Everybody said I’m crazy,” he said.

Rapcavage eventually carved up an old Under-Armour shirt to recreate the design he would show to teaching pros and friends. In 2012, he attended his first PGA Merchandise Show and has been a regular ever since, while the Swing Shirt ($59) is now sold in 88 countries.

Along the way, Rapcavage, who has sold shopping centers and office buildings since 1987, has been cashing checks and spreading the wealth.

“I just like to hear the accolades about it: this thing is good, it works,” he said. “It’s not about money.”

Good help isn’t cheap

XXIO arrived in the U.S. from Japan in 2016 deemed a luxury brand.

Since then, the top brands have closed the gap. A full set of clubs from PXG Golf, Callaway, TaylorMade or Titleist now rivals the XXIO’s $3,300 cost.

“Everyone’s prices have come up to meet ours,” design engineer Simon Ecob said.

Yet, XXIO remains in its own class as the gold standard for golfers, often aging ones, with moderate to low swing speeds of 95 mph or less with a driver.

Ecob, a burly 58-year-old Englishman, said he tops out at 94 mph, making XXIO a game-changer.

“It gives me a chance to get some clubhead speed back into my game,” he said. “I need as much help as possible.”

XXIO doesn’t cut corners while designing clubs.

The company boosts its trademark Super-TIX Plus titanium. Due to its affiliation with Srixon/Cleveland Golf, XXIO uses the company’s signature V-sole design for superior turf interaction.

A former wedge designer for Cleveland, Ecob set out on a new path following a visit to XXIO’s facility in Kobe, home to high-quality beef and meticulous engineering.

“I just saw something very special,” he said.

Ecob, now available for fittings at 1,250 U.S. locations, is not alone. Founded in 2001, XXIO has become the world’s top-selling brand, he said.

“We don’t use the [professional] tours to drive our business,” he said. “We are for everybody else.”

Keep pace with Father Time

Golf is a lifetime game. The body often struggles to keep up.

GolfForever training system makes sure it can.

“The default switch is to decay,” company owner Jeremy James said. “You have to be proactive to turn those switches the other way.”

An equipment bundle and an app provide a workout series to improve core strength and endurance by activating the glutes, recruiting the hips and creating mobility in the shoulders and upper back. Proper, repeatable, powerful movement patterns soon follow.

“Once you activate those muscles and get them into the right positions, a light bulb goes off,” golf and fitness expert Andrea Doddato said.

Based out of Brentwood Country Club in Los Angeles, Doddato used to travel with LPGA players and give them vigorous 20-minute sessions to activate their bodies for practice and competion.

James, who lives in Australia, grew up in Tennessee as an avid skateboarder and the son and grandson of doctors, but he opted for chiropractic school because of chronic back pain. Eventually, James opened a successful pain clinic in Aspen, Colo. Five years ago he collaborated on GolfForever with Pete Holman, beginning with the company’s app.

Now pairing with the app is an equipment package ($200) featuring a lightweight bar and two handles both attachable to resistance bands. Secure them in the garage, to equipment at the gym or even to a golf cart for a pre-round warmup. Also included are two weighted balls to secure to one end of the bar for swing speed training.

Workouts take between 15-30 minutes. But Doddato said even three exercises, 10 reps on each side, can improve swing speed several miles an hour.

“You’ll active those muscles you’re going to start using within your golf swing,” she said. “You’re not gonna get injured, your back’s not going to get tired and start giving out on you, your hips aren’t going to start now getting tired and stop rotating through the ball.”

If Doddato and James don’t convince a golfer, perhaps Scottie Scheffler can. The world’s top-ranked player is a Golf Forever ambassador and devotee.

A mental game

A memorable golf shot begins with the proper frame of mind.

Bridgestone Golf‘s new “Mindset” ball strives to eliminate any guesswork, encouraging a golfer to identify, visualize and focus during the pre-shot routine.

Each golf ball features a green dot surrounded by a yellow and red circle to provide a focal point for optimal contact on tee shots and putts. The outermost red circle helps align golfers to their target, the yellow circle clarifies the shot path and the green circle encourages focus prior to taking away the club.

“The process allows anyone to do what all high-level players do, which is to utilize a pre-shot routine that gives them the focus they need to perform at their best,” Elliot Mellow, golf ball marketing manager, said. “When we started developing the pattern, we knew it needed to have a flow and a purpose to it.”

PGA Tour stalwart Jason Day uses the ball, which will be available to the public Feb. 16 for $49.99 a dozen.

Day’s well-rehearsed visualization process makes for good TV, but also helped him rise to No. 1 in the world in 2015 and ’16, when he won the Arnold Palmer Invitational.

Mindset hopes to eliminate doubt and free a golfer’s mind to allow the body to perform.

“With all athletes there is a struggle to separate analytic thought from athletic performance,” performance coach Jason Goldsmith said.

Blast from the past

Passing by Sports Brands Inc.’s exhibit was a stroll down memory lane for some and a history lesson for others.

Simon Millwood’s long-standing, Nevada-based venture was a surprisingly popular spot because of his efforts to resurrect iconic brands from the past. A November licensing deal with Ben Hogan Golf culminated a four-year stretch featuring the acquisition of Ram and McGregor clubs and Zebra and Teardrop putters.

“We want to relate to older guys who already have an affinity and attract younger guys who are unaware,” said Englishman Craig Brousfield of Power Marketing.

Each brand made a mark and still makes an impression years later.

Jack Nicklaus, Tom Weiskopf, and Johnny Miller played McGregors during their epic duel at the 1975 Masters. Raymond Floyd set the scoring record a year later at Augusta National Golf Club using the a black Zebra mallet putter, featuring its distinctive white stripe. Tom Watson and Nancy Lopez had Ram clubs in their bags in the late 1970s when each was at the top of the game.

Teardrop putters became all the rage in the mid-1990s. The rolled-face design, rather than a flat surface, generated top spin to help the ball hug the green and maintain the line.

None, though, had the impact of Hogan Golf. Designed by their namesake to resemble a fine piece of jewelry, Hogan’s premium forged irons ($899 a set) spanned generations, beginning in 1953.

The company eventually experienced multiple sales and financial distress before Millwood seized his opportunity. All the brands Millwood revived ultimately lost traction competing against companies with more resources and reach.

Available direct-to-consumer, Sports Brands Inc. offers reasonable pricing. A set of Ram FX77 irons are a bargain at just $400. McGregor MT 86 players irons, honored in 2023 by Golf Digest, are around $100 a club — about half of the price of top brands.

Lower priced sets also are available for newcomers to the game.

“Some people don’t want to spend a lot of money and want to see whether they’re a golfer or not,” Brousfield said.

Some things money can’t buy.

“A lot of people in the last couple of days have been coming up and almost thanking us for bringing back some of the brands they grew up with,” said David Millington, head of purchasing and new product development.

Edgar Thompson can be reached at egthompson@orlandosentinel.com.