Great turnout for demo day

A combination of warm weather, a wide variety of new products, and a serious case of cabin fever made the annual “demo day” at Kitchen Creek Golf Course on Saturday a huge success, club officials said.
“It’s definitely one of the best days we’ve ever had weather-wise,” club pro Glen Mills noted Monday.
The 10th-annual demo day attracted nearly 500 people to check out and test some of the newest in clubs, bags, and accessories from 11 of the biggest names in golf products.
The list of sponsors included Callaway Golf, Cleveland Golf, Cobra, Ben Hogan, Nike Golf, Ping, Top Flite, Wilson, Ben Hogan, Titleist, Odyssey, and TNT—in short, a who’s who of premium manufacturers.
And there was no shortage of volunteers to take a few swings from the practice tees.
But people didn’t just come to play. Mills said sales were well above last year’s numbers—and among the best ever.
“The good thing was people were buying, not just kicking the tires,” he remarked. “It was one of our better days.”
Head pro Steve Wood said Saturday that the manufacturer turnout also was well above average.
“This is a unique situation,” Wood said. “You don’t usually get all the guys [companies] out here at the same time. It’s, without a doubt, our biggest day in sales.”
Wood also noted sales often are determined by weather and this year was about as good as it gets.
The event once again drew people from a considerable distance. One of those was David Sutton, who has made the pilgrimage to Kitchen Creek from Dryden every year for the last five years.
For Sutton, it is a sort of rite of spring.
“I come down here every year and I’ve bought something every year,” he remarked.
Sutton, who sports a nine handicap, didn’t say what he intended to buy this year, but he seemed to be having a good time with a new Callaway “Great Big Bertha 2” as he hit some incredibly long balls in the general direction of Fort Frances.
Wood said Kitchen Creek Golf Course has about 400 members and that demo day usually draws between 200-300.