By mustang6560 on 1/26/12

Day 1 of the 2012 PGA Merchandise Show is in the bags, and once again I had a blast covering all of the action for those of you following online around the world! If you missed the live blog from earlier, you can read it here. And as a reminder, I'll be live blogging again tomorrow from Day 2 of the show and I'll get the party started around 9:00 AM EST, so please mark your calendar!

The feeling you get the moment you first walk into the expo at the Orange County Convention Center is awe-inspiring to say the least! The OCCC has 7,000,000 square feet of expo space and every inch is being used. I'm still a newbie when it comes to the PGA Show (it's only my second year to attend) so I don't have much historical data to compare to. However, I would say the atmosphere this year seemed to rival the atmosphere of last year. The showroom floor was jam backed with companies selling everything from golf tees to drivers and from sand stamps to rakes. You name it and it's here on the expo floor. I will say, though, if the number of booth babes is any indication of the scale of the PGA Show, this year seemed down. Last year, it seemed like everywhere you looked there was a pair of booth babes advertising for a company. But I didn't see nearly as many booth babes this year. It makes sense if you think about it. The golf industry is down so if you're scaling back your company, the first thing to go is probably the most dispensable - the eye candy.

For those of you don't feel like going back through the entire live blog (which I would encourage you to do), I'll give you the highlights of my day - down and dirty!

• Best Booth Experience: Cobra. Hands down, the guys at Cobra know how to throw a party. The "orange" theme was a little much, but the music (they had a live DJ), the roof top lounge and the slide made for a lively experience. If only I could have met Rickie Fowler!





• Best Booth Babes: The hottest booth babes by far goes to AB Designs. I'm not sure what the selection process is like, but so far the two lovely ladies advertising for AB Designs were the best (see photo for further explanation).





• Most Interesting Product: The Bunkerstamp. With the Bunkerstamp, you can turn a company logo or name into a giant stamp and use it to advertise in the bunkers on a golf course. The idea is interesting, however, the problem I see with the Bunkerstamp is I'm not sure how practical it is. Will people really want to go through the effort of stamping the bunkers when the impressions might not last that long?





• Oddest Product: The Chinrite. It's a training aid that's designed to strap around your head with a small pole that extends out from your chin to help you visualize your chin alignment throughout your swing. I don't want to bad mouth this product without giving it a fair chance on the range, but the Chinrite is the oddest product I saw today. I am definitely going to reach out to them after the show to try and get a demo.





• Best Celebrity Find: I technically didn't get to meet her, but seeing Lexi Thompson up close was really sweet. She's the most talented young golfer on the planet and has a bright future ahead of her. The fact I got to stand next to greatness for a split second was definitely memorable. Seeing Jack Nicklaus was a close second.





• Coolest Product: Ogio Chamber golf bag. The unique thing about the Chamber bag is that it keeps your clubs from hitting each other. The bag features 14 dividers and each divider includes Ogio's Silencer Membrane, which keeps the top of the club from swirling around, and a Translucent Silencer Base, which securely locks each club in the base of the bag. Ogio had the Chamber bag on display upside-down so you can see it in action.

I'm looking forward to getting back to the show tomorrow because as much as I got to see, I still only got to see the tip of the iceberg. If you have any requests or comments, let me know below! Otheerwise, I look forward to seeing you tomorrow for oobgolf's coverage of Day 2 of the 2012 PGA Merchandise Show.