The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Golf taking center stage at I-X Center
The Cleveland Golf and Travel Show had just opened its three-day run on Feb. 15, and attendee Doug Pitcher’s eyes immediately were drawn to perhaps the most colorful display on the I-X Center floor.
Pitcher browsed a rack stocked with products marketed by Loudmouth Golf, a California company known for its brightly colored golf slacks and shorts. Loudmouth’s best-known endorser is professional golfer John Daly, winner of the 1991 PGA Championship and 1995 British Open.
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame member Alice Cooper and actor Bill Murray, both avid golfers, also are frequent wearers of Loudmouth gear.
Pitcher was mulling the purchasing a pair of Loudmouth slacks with a tropical motif done up in splashes of yellow, gold, orange, lime green and red.
The price tag for slacks was $69.95. Loudmouth shorts were $59.95.
Pitcher, a North Canton resident, said his brother and regular golf partner, Jack, has Loudmouth slacks in his golf wardrobe.
“They make a statement, don’t the?” Pitcher said, smiling.
“I love to have fun and laugh on the (golf) course.”
Pitcher had plenty of company at the I-X Center as thousands of golfers made their way to this annual harbinger of spring and a new golf season in Northeast Ohio.
The 103 exhibitors at this year’s show are selling an array of golf products ranging from clubs to balls, bags, hats, shoes, gloves, apparel, tees and products geared to either shaving strokes from scores or making rounds of golf more enjoyable no matter the posted scores.
As for the travel component of the show, fully onethird of the exhibitors represent golf destinations in Ohio, nearby states such as Pennsylvania, Michigan, Indiana, Kentucky and West Virginia as well as furtherflung outposts in the Midwest, south and southeastern United States.
Danny Ackerman, general manager and PGA professional at Oglebay Resort & Conference Center, engaged a steady stream of prospective customers for the popular destination in Wheeling, West Virginia.
Ackerman is well-known to golfers in northeast and central Ohio for his previous stints as head golf professional at Quail Hollow Country Club in Concord Township and Longaberger Club, now called Virtues Golf Club, in the
Columbus area.
Oglebay’s menu of five courses includes championship-caliber, 18-hole tracks designed by Arnold Palmer and Robert Trent Jones. Ackerman said he “absolutely” will be able to generate business at the Cleveland show.
The resort also buys exhibition space at golf shows in Cincinnati, Columbus and Pittsburgh, Pa.
“You always are interested in generating new business, but the shows also allow you to connect with repeat customers and keep those relationships alive,” Ackerman said.
Other popular features of the show include free, 10-minute lessons offered by the PGA Northern Ohio Section and hole-in-one, long drive, pitching and putting contests.