North Texas Golf Expo 2010

I went to the North Texas Golf Expo 2010 this past weekend. The expo ran from January 29th through January 31st at the Dallas Market Hall near downtown off of I-35. I've attended a previous NTX Golf Expo, but hadn't spent as much time at the expo as I did this year. I went with the intention of stopping by all of the golf related booths and hear Hank Haney speak. Hank Haney was the feature guest on Saturday, and he was to be followed by PGA Tour Pro Y.E. Yan, whom you might remember as winning the PGA Championship and holding off Tiger Woods on the back 9 on Sunday.

I was very interested to hear Hank Haney speak. Even though Hank has been around the Dallas area for years, and I've been to his practice facilities many times, he's still a good speaker and is a well respected golf instructor. His teaching philosophy is to teach you how to understand your own swing, and make improvements based upon your weaknesses. Now, understanding your swing is a hard concept for many golfers because they don't know what to look for when they practice, or playing a round of golf. Hank believes the most important step in improving your golf game, is to diagnose your swing properly. This will demonstrate what aspects of the swing are weaknesses, and strengths. From that point, a plan can be created to improve the golf swing and ultimately improving your golf game.

Diagnosing Your Golf Swing

I was able to record about 25 minutes of Hank Haney's speaking, and have posted the video. You can view the video at Hank Haney at the North Texas Golf Expo 2010. The quality isn't the highest, but I only had my iPhone with me to record. The audio turned out quite well since I was sitting next a speaker.

Booths

There was a mix of golf related booths, and non-golf related booths. I wasn't particularly interested in booths that did not relate to golf in some kind of way. Many of the booths were either for promoting golf in a particular state (i.e. Alabama, Nevada) or a particular golf course in Texas. A couple of booths included golf equipment and apparrel, and had decent prices. Overall the booths were a minor interest for me, and could stand to be bulked up in upcoming years

Vendor Golf Equipment

Most of the vendors had demo equipment to test out. Hitting areas were setup in the hall with nets so that you can try out different clubs. All of the new equipment from the particpating manufacturers was available to try out. I really enjoyed being able to try out the different clubs and having an opportunity to discuss the equipment with the manufacturing reps. Two large manufacturers were absent: Callaway and Taylormade. I'm not sure what's going on with Taylormade, but I heard that they did not show up to the PGA Merchandise Show in Orlando last week either.

Contests

Lots of different contests were setup. Each contest required a payment, either $5 or $10 depending on the number of tries you wanted. Contests included a long putt contest and longest drive contest. I only entered the longest drive contest. They gave a prize to the top three longest drives each 2 hours. I only ended up with a long distance of 292 yards, which was shy of the top 3. The shafts were all X-stiff which doesn't suit my swing, but it was fun to try.

Speakers

I mentioned Hank Haney speaking, but there were lots of other speakers that spoke throughout the expo. Friday night was PGA Tour night, and included a couple of PGA Pro's that were accessible. I didn't make it to that night due to other commitments, so I don't have much information about that night. I really enjoyed listening to Hank Haney and think he provided a lot of good information

In Conclusion

I thought the 2010 NTX Golf Expo was a fun event, but could always be improved. I think adding some more golf related booths, and golf retail stores would add to the fun.

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