ORLANDO, FL, USA – (Jan. 30, 2017) Steve Brady came to the 2017 PGA Merchandise Show with the intent of researching golf simulators for the use by his club, the revered Oakland Hills Country Club in Bloomfield Hills, MI. Instead, the 58-year-old longtime golf instructor and head golf professional at Oakland Hills will take home a new golf simulator after winning the GOLFZON $1 Million Shootout on Friday to conclude the four-day show.
Brady tested the GOLFZON simulator on Wednesday, the first day of the competition, and won the day’s competition to advance to Friday’s early afternoon final. He postponed his flight home to participate in the Friday finale. Mike Page, a 21-year-old golf instructor at Ultimate Indoor Performance Golf in Mission Viejo, CA., won the Thursday competition and shortly thereafter canceled five Friday lessons and his Thursday night flight home in a whirlwind change of plans. They were joined by Friday morning qualifier Riley Clark, a 19-year-old student at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas who is in the PGA Golf Management Program.
In a draw from a hat just before the 1 p.m., Friday finale, Page drew the honor, followed by Clark and Brady. Page’s tee shot on the 172-yard, par-3 fifth hole at PGA National, home of The Honda Classic on the PGA Tour, found the back-left bunker, 27.58 yards from the hole. Clark, sporting a dress shirt and tie for work in his school’s PGA Show booth, then hit his tee shot to the back-right fringe, 34 feet from the hole. Brady took the final shot and hit his shot to 10.86 feet to win the golf simulator.
“I saw that the combined age of the other two finalists was 40 and I can’t even remember when I turned 40,” Brady said. “I haven’t been that nervous on a shot in a long time. Winning the million dollars with a hole in one is iffy. But to win a simulator against two other guys – I hadn’t been in that situation in a long, long time.”
The threesome represented the broad spectrum of usage for a golf simulator, from Brady’s historic club looking to fill its winter schedule for play, instruction and fitting to Page’s regular usage of the golf simulator for instruction and Clark’s even-younger perspective on golf simulators.
“It’s the way things are going in our game,” Brady said. “We had launch monitors at Oakland Hills before, but this is a step up. In the winter and beyond, if we can get the members to stay at Oakland Hills for these type of services, that would be great. All the data is here immediately, and we can make decisions very quickly that suit our members.”
Page teaches solely on a golf simulator at an indoor facility and relishes that “I can get numbers quickly” to provide to his clients. He practices on a simulator also. Clark, who had a Hawaii internship last year, liked the GOLFZON moveable plate that allowed for various lies on shots “which is good for both teaching and fun.”
More than 350 people competed in the contest over three days at the PGA Show, which included attendance by more than 40,000 golf industry professionals – including more than 7,500 PGA Professionals – from all 50 U.S. states and 84 countries around the world. The unique, three-day GOLFZON event offered $1 million for a hole in one in the finale. If there was no hole in one, the closest to the hole won a GOLFZON simulator, a value of approximately $50,000. Second-place finisher Clark won $1,000 and third-place finisher Page won $500. Daily winners were awarded $500.
“GOLFZON was excited to display our golf simulator and conduct the first-ever $1 Million Shootout during the PGA Merchandise Show,” said Tommy Lim, CEO of GOLFZON America Inc. “Participants had a good time hitting shots in front of thousands of PGA Merchandise Show attendees, and you could sense the intensity of the competition at the end of each day, especially among the three finalists. This type of competitive format builds on our company philosophy of making golf more enjoyable for everyone.”
To facilitate the competition, GOLFZON worked with PerfectGolfEvent.com, a website-based company that helps not-for-profits put on successful golf events and raise more money in a simple and economical manner.
GOLFZON is promoting its new curved screen simulator in 2017, further displaying more of its technological advances in the golf simulator field. Two on-site GOLFZON simulators at the PGA Show included the VISION Curved Screen and GDR with the moving swing plate that make the brand so unique in the industry. The GOLFZON VISION Curved is a new product with a 23-foot wide screen with full HD quality, with the capability of expansion to 50 feet wide.
Press Release issued on behalf of GOLFZON by Signature Group.
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Ward Clayton
Signature Group
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About GOLFZON
GOLFZON is a global leader in the golf simulator industry, established in South Korea in 2000. GOLFZON has been trying to overcome the entry barrier to golf and expand the number of golfers under the corporate philosophy, “making golf enjoyable for everyone,” believing that golf should be no longer exclusive for the upper class. With a simulation-based business model consisting of golf, IT, and culture, GOLFZON has the largest market share in the global golf simulator business. In addition, products have been internationally recognized for their high quality and are currently being exported to more than 40 countries in Asia, North America, Europe, and other continents.
For more information, please go to golfzonsimulator.com.
About Perfect Golf Event
PerfectGolfEvent.com is organized to help not-for-profits have a more successful golf event and raise more money in a simple and economical manner. Supported by a national network of experienced Golf Event Coaches, Perfect Golf Event assists groups looking to organize, manage and market a fundraising golf event, beginning with a free service and scaling up. Organizations benefit in three key areas: Fundraising, connecting supporters in local markets to the goals of the national organization and developing new potential supporters by introducing them to the organization.
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