The 2024 PGA Buying Summit brought together influential PGA of America Golf Professionals, industry buyers and 157 emerging and established golf and golf lifestyle brands at the Omni PGA Frisco Resort, July 29-31, 2024. Serving a $102 billion golf industry, the mid-season Summit combined full days of business meetings, product sourcing and educational programming with packed networking events across the Monument Realty PGA District each night.
Nearly 1,000 golf industry professionals registering from 45 states and 7 countries brought more than $280 million in purchasing power and more than $500 million in retail sales to the event as they sourced Spring 2025 golf resort apparel collections and the latest golf products in sold-out exhibit ballrooms and ONE2ONE buying appointments. Top brands such as Nike Golf, Greyson, Holderness & Bourne, Under Armour, Dunning, Vineyard Vines and Johnnie-O joined emerging brands such as Eastside Golf, Featherie, Flag & Anthem, Fore All, Devon Halsey, Kastel Denmark, Jack Black and many more to create an unmatched midseason golf retail sourcing opportunity.
PGA of America Golf Professionals attended a full day of 19 best-in-class education sessions focused on golf operations, executive management and teaching and coaching on July 29 at the state-of-the-art Professional Development Center at the Home of the PGA of America. Complimentary equipment and fitness education sessions were presented by Callaway Golf, PING, Technogym, XXIO and PGA of America Value Guide at the new PGA of America Coaching Center powered by T-Mobile on July 30.
Nightly networking events to build community among vendors, buyers and PGA of America Golf Professionals began on July 29 with the Welcome Reception and Live Fashion Show at Panther Creek Pavilion, the Omni PGA Frisco Resort’s flagship special events center. Fifteen golf brands showcased their Spring 2025 collections on the runway and attendees voted Flag & Anthem as the Favorite Men’s Brand, Marie Birdie as the Favorite Women’s Brand and Fore All as the Best Dressed of this year’s PGA Buying Summit Fashion Show. Following the reception, the action headed outdoors to the PGA District and The Swing, a 10-hole, lighted par-3 short course, for the new Summer Shootout – a best-ball team tournament pairing exhibitors, buyers and PGA of America Golf Professionals.
The final night of the event featured the new Summer Jam Golf Festival offering all attendees an opportunity to unwind and connect with live music and entertainment, complimentary barbecue and drinks and extensive golf activities across the PGA District. Cash prizes were awarded to players for lowest score and longest putt on The Dance Floor, a lighted two-acre putting course. Complimentary tee times on The Swing were open to all attendees with Brian Blum of Memorial Park Golf Course in Houston winning the $5,000 Hole-in-One Contest, sponsored by American Hole’N One. Attendees also enjoyed simulator and putting contests in the PGA of America Coaching Center and explored new golf innovations in the Summer Jam Festival Village.
“The PGA Buying Summit was a tremendous opportunity this week for both PGA of America Golf Professionals and industry buyers to grow their businesses, participate in best-in-class education, build industry connections and enjoy networking events across the expansive PGA Frisco campus,” said PGA of America Vice President Don Rea Jr., PGA, Owner of Augusta Ranch Golf Club in Mesa, Arizona. “Meeting as an industry at the midpoint of the season is a valuable conduit for sustaining the momentum that is driving golf participation and popularity nationwide.”
“The second edition of the PGA Buying Summit at PGA Frisco hit the mark with an ideal mix of business, education and interactive networking at an unmatched golf destination,” said Marc Simon, Vice President of PGA Golf Exhibitions. “We are tremendously gratified by the industry’s positive response to the exhibitor-attendee interactions, happening not only on the Show Floor but also beyond it. The introductions of the new Summer Jam Festival and Summer Shootout Tournament were especially well-received, and the combination of curated brands, key buyers and influential PGA of America Golf Professionals created a business environment primed to grow business.”
Multiple exhibitors connected with influential PGA of America Golf Professionals and buyers through elevated participation and sponsorships including Flag & Anthem, Fore All, Sofibella and Kastel Denmark (staff apparel), True Linkswear (staff shoes), FOAR Golf (Summer Jam hats), Vimhue (Summer Jam women’s staff hats), 7Diamonds (lanyard sponsor), Birkenstock (bag sponsor), Unknown Golf (Summer Jam putting contest) and Club Car (golf cart shuttle sponsor).
The golf industry will gather next at the 2025 PGA Show, Jan. 21-24, in Orlando, Florida, and return to Frisco, Texas, for the 2025 PGA Buying Summit, July 28-30. Detailed event information can be accessed at PGAShow.com and PGABuyingSummit.com.
Industry Response to 2024 PGA Buying Summit
Kristin Friday, Oklahoma City Golf & Country Club
“We love the Frisco show! It’s a great place to connect with existing vendor partners while looking for fresh, new products. The additional activities in the evening give it added energy!”
Bryan Thomas, Harlestons
“We love this show because we get to meet people from all over the country and reconnect with people six months after the PGA Show. As a growing brand, it’s nice to see all these people in one space who it would be difficult to see otherwise.”
Jennifer Roddy, Wolfdancer Golf Club
“I’m looking for new, innovative lines at the Summit, something I haven’t seen before. We’re seeing different trends in athleisure with more monochromatic looks and exercise wear, cropped hoodies and bra tops. It’s a new generation of golfers who are coming in looking for athletic apparel they can wear all the time – not just for golf.”
Josh Mark, Swing Control
“It’s a smaller, more intimate venue – a beautiful facility – and it’s great to see faces halfway through the year. Everything is so touch and feel, so doing things digitally is challenging. You need to have the full visual to really know what a line is.”
Thomas Brown, Rhone
“We saw a real uptick in foot traffic and some great conversions from the One2One meetings. We’ve had strong conversations with different types of golf facilities from lots of different areas, which we’re seeing pay off in orders. PGA of America Golf Professionals aren’t just here to see the new facility, they’re here to do business. The timing of the event is great, though the timing is always good when you can get PGA of America Golf Professionals and the golf industry together like this. Great way to kick off the buying season for us. People are engaged and they seem like they want to knock off as much of their buying as early in the season as they can, whether it’s bringing in some things for the holidays or gearing up for spring.”
Teresa Fernandez, Hooey – Cowboy Golf
“It’s our first time here and we’ve made a lot of new relationships, done some good networking and written a lot of orders. It’s exciting that a lot of people are hearing about us because we’re here. It would take us a long time to meet this many accounts on our own. We’re in the Western industry, though we’ve had a golf line for about five years, this helps hitting a lot of customers in one spot. And we’re getting a lot of feedback as to how we can build our golf business even more.”
Michelle Kempe, PGA, National Director of Retail, Escalante Golf
“We’re finding a lot of great products for our clubs. There’s a great mix of brands this year. The traffic is strong and the energy is high. The event is really focused on buying, and the events in the evening are a nice addition.”
Susan Hess, Golftini
“We love coming to Frisco, and people like the pace of being able to spend a little more time hearing the story of the brand. This is our 20th anniversary, and we’re leaning into our support of raising funds for breast cancer research with a new capsule, and people are very receptive to that idea because it touches so many of us. It feels like a very sophisticated group of buyers, and the event feels elevated as a result. I’m seeing buyers I’ve never seen at any other golf show.”
Burt Damsky, DUER
“We’re a first-time exhibitor and we really like what we saw. People are in a buying mood. The buyers here feel like a vetted community, there’s nobody here that’s not a quality buyer from a golf shop or resort. We’re getting great response from both green grass shops and those that are a little more retail-focused, and it’s good to get both. Now we’re looking forward to following up with all the new contacts we’ve made and to meeting even more people when we exhibit at the PGA Show in January for the first time.”
