Big Names leaving Las Vegas

Most of the big-name manufacturers were conspicuous by their absence from the PGA International Golf Show in Las Vegas last month.

But numerous trinkets, training aids and component companies were on display along with an abundance of online tee-time services.

The major equipment manufacturers who did attend - Callaway, Orlimar, Adams and Cleveland - were grouped in the same area and all had new brands to launch.

The only new product introduction which was slightly unexpected was Orlimar's line of TriMetal line of balls. In addition, Callaway unveiled their Hawk Eye irons, Adams the Tight Lies 2 Spin Control fairway woods and Cleveland their gunmetal wedges.

Orlimar's Pro Wound 100 is a three-piece ball made of resilient rubber core, a wound latex thread mid layer and an ionomer cover featuring 432 dimples. The TriMetal Tour is also a three-piece design that incorporates a blend of tungsten, zinc and barium in a double core and the TriMetal Distance is a two-piece ball, which incorporates tungsten, zinc and barium in the center and has a 410-dimple pattern

Bag maker Belding Sports appeared to be busy while Dockers Golf had American Ryder Cup team member Tom Lehman in their booth.

Reed Exhibitions staged a rock concert party at the Hard Rock Hotel and paid for up to 100 top buyers to attend the show as well as for a golf outing on the final day.

But Reed must decide whether to continue to run the show as a national event without the participation of companies like Titleist, Spalding and Taylor Made or simply to regionalise it.

*Taylor Made delivered a letter to Orlimar during the Las Vegas show claiming an infringement of their patented InerGel Moisture Block packaging. The Orlimar balls come in "pop top" cans that are vacuum-sealed and include a moisture-removable, silica-gel packet. Orlimar have only just settled a similar lawsuit alleging that their irons infringed a Callaway patent.

*Callaway have appealed against the Supreme Court's rejection of their petition that Mark King, their former vice-president of sales, be prevented from joining Taylor Made.