2024 PGA Show Day 3 Recap: The Five Coolest Things We Saw
A daily recap from a veritable golf geek's paradise is a tall order—but PlayBetter golf writer Marc is up for the task. He's been swimming in all things golf for days ... here are his highlights from Day 3!
Watch a Day 3 Recap from the 2024 PGA Show!
We said it in our Day 2 PGA Show recap, but it’s worth repeating: This show is on fire!
It’s a golf nerd’s paradise.
Would you believe that there’s a putting green that’s nearly the size of a city block?
Or an indoor driving range with hitting bays that stretch for more than 200 yards?
Want to play Pebble Beach’s iconic Par 3 7th over and over again? Not a problem. All you have to do is head over to the Foresight Sports booth. We witnessed a hole-in-one today, and the lucky golfer got a Foresight Sports GC3 as a reward.
Want to hit shots into the Singapore skyline? No biggie. Rapsodo’s got that fired up all day long.
Want to test out the latest and greatest launch monitors, rangefinders, GPS watches, drivers, fairway woods, hybrids, irons, wedges, putters, grips, shoes, swing speed trainers, putting alignment tools, and on and on and on? What about checking out custom-made headcovers, the newest lines of apparel, golf art, opportunities to win golf trips, weird training aids that don’t look like they have any chance of making it?
It’s all here. All of it! And way, way more.
So to pick just five things to highlight is a bit ridiculous. But, you know what, we’ve got to eat dinner at some point. So, before the food gets cold, here are our five favorite highlights of Day 3.
1 – Foresight Sports GCQuadMax — In-Person Seeing Is Believing
This is the biggest, baddest golf launch monitor and simulator available. Period. Full stop. End of story.
We challenge anyone to test this unit out for themselves and come away with a different conclusion.
If you’ve turned on the TV and watched the PGA Tour, you were already seeing more and more pro golfers warming up on the range using the GCQuad. It used to be Trackman. But recently, it’s become increasingly clearer that GCQuad is winning the race to the top.
Well now, Foresight has taken their best product and made it even better. Among the improvements (and there are many more):
- You can now custom build a swing speed training program
- There is now in-unit shot data storage that’s basically unlimited. You could hit a shot every minute for the next 60 years before you ran out of storage space!
- The in-unit display is now touch-screen interactive and can be tailored to include what data you want to see or don’t want to see.
Yes, it’s $20,000, but it can also be used indoors and outdoors. And, quite simply, if you want the best, this is it.
2 – The New Cobra Dark Speed Series Is Not Just Fast… It’s Sexy!
I won’t be so bold as to say the new Cobra Dark Speed Driver is the best new driver of 2024 (though it very well may be), but to my eyes, it is the best-looking. And, hey, that’s worth something.
But not only is it sleek and smooth and stylish, it’s super-duper fast. The improved aero shape, larger PWRSHELL face, and lower, more forward PWR-BRIDGE all add up to equal more ball speed and increased distance.
But even if you can’t hit it well, at least you’ll be carrying a real looker.
3 – Golfzon Wave Putting Mat: The Answer to So Many Sim Golf Frustrations
If you’ve played sim golf, you know that putting is usually the biggest (and only) bummer of the experience. Too often it just, well, sucks. Not realistic. Not accurate. Sometimes, not even an option.
Well, Golfzon has the best solution to this issue that we’ve found. Not only do they have a great golf launch monitor with the Wave that specializes in accurately reading the tricky short chips and high-launching pitch shots that are problematic with other products. Not only do they have cool sim software and decent golf course selections. But they’ve figured out how to deliver a realistic putting experience.
The Golfzon Wave Putting Mat is a simple design that just works beautifully. You can even hit putts far off the center line to accurately replicate big breaks without the launch monitor losing sight of the ball.
4 – R2G Mate Pro Rangefinder Offers Triangulation for Less than $200
It’s clean, it’s classy, and it’s innovative. You’re likely unfamiliar with this South Korean product, but R2G has addressed a common pain point for rangefinder users at a really reasonable price.
How often have you run into this scenario: It’s cart path only today. And, of course, your ball is on the far opposite side of the fairway. Ugh. How many clubs do you need to drag over there so that you can figure out your yardage and make the correct selection?
We’ve all been there, right?
Or what about when your buddy is on the opposite side of the fairway and asks you how far he’s got to the flag?
Triangulation means that you can shoot the distance to your ball, or friend (that’s why they named it “Mate”), or whatever, and then shoot the flag and get an accurate total distance. Pretty cool, right? But also, typically, a pretty expensive feature.
The R2G line of rangefinders all come with this triangulation, or what they call geomagnetic sensor, feature. And the base model is just $190.
Also, their flagship model that will be shipping in the coming months has a built-in, interactive touchscreen GPS display.
5 – Coming Summer 2024: Major Game-Improvement Software from Uneekor
Uneekor has made a lot of news recently with their Eye Mini golf launch monitor. And at the show, they introduced the Eye Mini Lite, an indoor-only model that sells for just $2,749. Very cool, no doubt.
But what really caught our eye is what they’re calling Uneekor AI Trainer. You do need to add two cameras to your setup. But if you do, after you hit a shot, the software shows you a display telling you where on the face you hit the ball and gives you a grade for your address, backswing, top-of-swing, downswing, impact, follow through, and finish, plus a total, overall grade for the shot. And then it gives you some diagnosis of what you did right and wrong as well as instructions on how to fix any shortcomings.
Talk about cool. I’m not sure if this is an instructor’s dream, or if it’s going to have them worrying about job security.
This software package will be free for three months after purchase, and then there will be a yet-to-be-defined subscription price.
About PlayBetter Golf Reviewer Marc Sheforgen
Marc Sheforgen is a golf writer whose passion for the game far exceeds his ability to play it well. Marc covers all things golf, from product reviews and equipment recommendations to event coverage and tournament analysis. When he’s not playing, watching, or writing about golf, he enjoys traveling (often golf-related), youth sports coaching, volunteering, and record collecting.