Golf Industry Show 2015

Theresa and I recently attended the NGCOA (National Golf Course Owners) Annual Conference in San Antonio.  Part of the conference includes attending the Golf Industry Show which has loads of anything related to golf.  I like attending this show because unlike the Iowa State Fair, there are no hot tub vendors and they don’t pull women in for their sales pitch.  The golf industry is a pretty heavily male populated industry, so the vendors rarely guess that I am a decision maker.  That’s fine with me.  It means I can have loads of fun at the show!

The show had a giant cube out front screaming for awkward poses.  We were happy to oblige.

My brother is a pin ball fanatic, so Theresa (his wife) was pretty stoked to find this old Pac Man machine in one of the booths.

Although we had gone to the Golf Industry Show with a specific reason to look at some software and check out a mower, my brother quickly told us to buy the machine.  We didn’t because it simply wouldn’t fit in our luggage.

Theresa and I are pretty huge candy-holics, so we were partial to the booths that had candy available.

After a while, we contemplated wearing some costumes because it nearly felt like Halloween with the amount of candy on display.

We always have to stop by the Standard Golf booth because they’re Iowans which, by default, means they’re the coolest booth at the show.

Coming in with a close second for coolest booth were these people from Bernard.  They had matching jackets that were amazing.  I kind of wanted to buy their jackets for my staff to wear.  I’m sure they’d have my neck for that wardrobe selection, but it’d be worth it.  Don’t you think they’d look good with some argyle socks?

We thought this display for a fungicide company was clever.

Then, we came across the type of mower that our outside crew had told me to check out.  Theresa took it for a test run.

We discovered it worked well AND I survived!  It’s a hover mower which is used to mow pond banks.

Then, Theresa and I came across the coolest display at the show.  It was an acrylic golf cart.

It was just a display to showcase long lasting batteries, but the sales people were kind and allowed us to pose on it because we are professional after all.

After all of our laughter, I needed to find a restroom.  I saw this sign and assumed I had hit the jackpot.

Clearly, I need help.  This was the sign for the elevator (who would have guessed???), so I was thankful when I found THIS sign.  It’s a shame, I can’t read because letters and words would have been helpful for me.

Earlier in the conference, we had run into some golf course owners from Australia.  They happened to be hanging out at the booth we had wanted to visit which was the software group.  We let the Australians ask all of the questions because their accents made everything mundane about reports and margins sounds profoundly more interesting.

We were clearly having more fun at the show than any other golf course owner, so John Deere’s sales people were happy to allow Theresa to pose in the skid loader.

We even found a San Antonio police officer who was game for our antics.

That, my friends, is how you attend the Golf Industry Show with gusto!

How about you?  Did you purchase a hot tub at the Iowa State Fair?  Have you ever been arrested for climbing underneath a mower?