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Here's what you missed at the PGA Fashion & Demo Experience in Las Vegas

By Andy Wittry | PGA.com
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Here's what you missed at the PGA Fashion & Demo Experience in Las Vegas

LAS VEGAS – We attended the first day of the 2018 PGA Fashion & Demo Experience at The Venetian and explored the latest fashion, equipment and training aid additions to the world of golf merchandise.

Here were some of the highlights.

The Wooden Ball Marker

Odds are you've never seen a ball marker or bag tag like these. Roughly the size of a poker chip, these customizable, wooden creations can help you add your personal style to your golf game. Whether you want an American flag, a golf course's logo or an original design featured on your ball marker, these lightweight markers are likely an upgrade from a quarter or whatever you've been using to mark your ball on the green.

ECCO golf shoes

These shoes, which are set to be released in 2019, combine the best of both worlds: lightweight yet durable; a leather interior but a textile exterior; great for playing 18 holes but the fliexilbity to be worn socially after your round as well. ECCO's fluidform technology means the base of the shoe is actually fused to the textile siding, which creates a flexible and durable fit, while helping your feet stay dry.

Tin Cup chipping game

You can bring the practice green into your living room with this four-hole, 36-shot Tin Cup chipping game. There are four turf greens, each with nine potential target positions and 16 slope positions, to mimick almost every pin location/slope combination imaginable. You get nine chances to chip onto each green, which is marked with circles that are each designated with a point value.

If you manage to chip the ball inside the tin cup that's placed on each green, that's worth -6. It's incredibly hard to do and that's intentional. If you hit the tin cup but the ball doesn't go in, that's worth -3. The further away from the cup that a ball lands, the fewer points you receive, up to +2 for the ball landing off the target completely. For each hole, you add up the point totals for your three best shots, meaning that you'll score 12 balls in total across the four targets. In the end, the person with the lowest combined score wins.

BirTee golf tees

Everyone has had weather impact their ability to place their tee in the ground because the ground is too hard or perhaps it's too wet and muddy for it to stand up at the desired height. BirTee makes weather a non-issue and can guarantee more consistency in your tee height, which will hopefully make your drives more consistent.

BirTees come in eight sizes, ranging in heigh from a 1/4-inch to two inches, meaning you can find the best height for each of your clubs and always guarantee you'll hit your tee shots from the same height. They come in eight packs – one of each size – and you can choose to customize your color options so that each tee is a different color. For example, you would always know that your blue tee is two inches tall and your red tee is a 1/2-inch tall.

Leus Towels

We doubt you've ever seen a golf towel that has the Jolly Roger, a horde of puppies or a tiger on it. Well, here's your chance. Inspired by a background in surfing apparel, Leus Towels brings some of that same flair to the golf course. At the end of the day, golf is about having fun and these towels were designed with that in mind.

Chase54 GloFuze jackets

Chances are you've never seen a jacket quite like this. The picture above shows what the jackets look like normally in daylight. However, the jackets feature glow-in-the-dark fabric that glows early in the morning and late at night, which can help you stay visible on the course.

Here's what they look like when taking a picture with a camera's flash turned on.

Throw in the cool designs and this jacket is both functional and stylish.

JL The Brand socks

You can never have too many cool socks in your arsenal and JL The Brand, which entered the golf sphere in the last year, can help you fill your sock drawer. There are 36 needlepoint designs plus countless other options that have been custom-designed for individual golf courses and PGA Tour championships.

HiDow XPD 12 for pain relief

The HiDow XPD 12 combines the relief of a massage chair with the portability of an iPhone. It features 12 modes – six for pain relief and six for exercise – that can help you relieve pain through the gel pads that connect to the unit. There are two sets of outputs, meaning you can put up to four gel pads on your body or experience pain relief with a friend after a round.