American manufacturer Nickent is reported to be heading for liquidation, but a spokesperson for the company’s UK operation has assured SGB Golf that “the UK is unaffected”.

Sole distributorship for Nickent in the UK and Ireland has been held by County Kildare-based Phoenix Brands since Spring 2009, and while it is reportedly business-as-usual on this side of the Atlantic, US title Golf Week has quoted Nickent president John Hoeflich as saying: “Our bank has refused to fund any future operations of the company … All of a sudden, 60 jobs are gone and who knows when they’ll come back.”

Ecco is taking the production of exclusive golf shoes to a new level with the introduction of a genuine limited edition shoe, the Premium 109.

The new shoe is the focal point of a crocodile leather product ensemble, which is retailing at £2,000.00. And yes, the decimal point is in the right place. In the UK, the Premium 109 will only be available at the Wentworth Club in Surrey.

This may be a late entry into the Spring Summer 2010 golf fashion market from Oscar Jacobson, but the popular Swedish brand has undergone a major overhaul behind the scenes during the latter stages of 2009. The brand has a new owner – Valedo Partners Fund – and a re-structured management team.

“[With] a new owner and a new management team, it is our ambition to establish Oscar Jacobson as the first choice in men’s fashion and golf wear in Scandinavia,” proclaims Roger Tjernberg, Oscar Jacobson’s CEO. “It is wonderful to see cool guys who base their style of clothes on self-distance and humour. They are not always looking to fit in, but instead like to determine the terms by which they are perceived. [This is] exactly the feeling we wish to reflect, [which is] wholly in line with our core values – style, personality and our heritage.”

Having spent much of 2009 serving as a house brand for the Direct Golf chain, Adams Golf has returned to the marketplace with the appointment of newly formed distributor UK Golf Distribution. Adams was distributed by Brand Fusion in the UK until February 2009, after which Direct Golf was left as the sole UK outlet for the Texas-based brand. Adams now joins the Hotblade and Jaxx Junior brands in the UK Golf Distribution stable, the Manchester-based company recently started up by Phil Aitken.

Orlando Virgin offer

Virgin Atlantic is collaborating with tour operator Destination Golf to offer the trade a flights-and-nights package for the PGA Show in Orlando. Prices start from £609 per person for return flights and four nights at the five-star Rosen Shingle Creek resort, from January 27-30. Call 02380 248 248 or email: michael@destinationgolf.co.uk.

There was a boom of golf course development in France in the late 1980s and early 1990s: in 1980 there were 128 golf courses in France; in 1990 there were 378 and by the end of 2008 there were 567. The number of French golfers rose accordingly, to 400,000 registered players last year, but this still represents only 0.62% of the population (whereas 44.8% of French people undertake cycling in some form). However, thanks to successful recruitment by the French Golf Federation, women golfers make up 30% of the indigenous golfing population, which bolsters the domestic apparel market.

One of the highlights of the PGAs of Europe’s Annual Congress, held in Murcia, Spain from November 10-13, was its Professional Golf Forum, which featured presentations on a broad range of subjects from the European Tour, the European Golf Association – representing Europe’s amateur federations – and the PGAs of Europe.

So how was it for you? Always assuming you were at Golf Europe in Munich in September, of course! Now the dust has settled following the change of venue, what seems to have been the reaction from industry? Pretty good, it appears. The strange thing is that despite a drop in attendance of around 12% from 2008, none of the exhibitors seemed to mind. Of course, an exhibition organiser’s line is always “quality, not quantity” when the figures fall, but this time the claim seems to have been warranted. Just on 4,000 visitors from 48 countries came to the MOC this year, with increases from Italy, Spain, the UK – yes, at last more pros turned up! – and the USA.

You have heard it before and you will certainly hear it again, but Callaway is claiming it has built a new driver that features the largest sweetspot of any titanium driver the company has ever produced. It is called the Diablo Edge.

The company says the key to the new technology is a new precision manufacturing technique that allows Callaway to mill specific areas of the back of the Hyperbolic Cup Face. Unwanted material from the back of the clubface can be removed thanks to an acid chemical reduction process, and Callaway says the result is consistently high speeds for balls struck from all areas of the face.

Wilson Golf has launched a range of women’s equipment so extensive that a new sub-brand has been established: Wilson Staff for Women.

Designed for the committed female golfer, the range includes the Shockwave HL driver, Di9 irons (pictured), FYbrid HS hybrids and the 8885 putter.

In November well over 100,000 people travelled to Earls Court in London and to the NEC in Birmingham to attend the latest Top Gear Live events.

Top Gear Live, which stars Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May, is an outstanding success for us at Brand Events and we plan to replicate this winning formula when we launch Golf Live at Stoke Park, Buckinghamshire, from Friday May 14 to Sunday May 16, 2010.

In a slow economy you would expect premium shoe sales to suffer. Has that been the case for Ecco in 2009?

That is the case in a few isolated markets – but not all over – and we are doing great in Europe, and our Casual lines for men and women have been extremely successful. We are doing pretty well in Austria and Switzerland and we are particularly strong in Germany. We are extremely satisfied with our sales in the Netherlands but we have struggled a bit in Scandinavia.

The world’s largest golf trade exhibition, the PGA Merchandise Show, is predicting it will feature over 1,000 exhibitors and over 40,000 attendees when it is held at the Orange County Convention Centre in Orlando, Florida, from January 28-30, 2010.

For January 2009 the PGA Show had hoped to count in over 45,000 golf industry professionals. In the end they staked a claim for “more than 41,000” through the gates from 74 countries, although there were mumblings from exhibitors at the time about an apparent influx of golfing consumers to pad out the numbers.

With Christmas and the New Year on the horizon, the golf trade could be forgiven for chanting, ‘out with the old, in with the new’ with more than its usual vigour.

In truth, 2009 has been a damp squib. Given the sluggishness of 2007 and 2008, it was never going to be a fireworks display, but the banking conflagrations of 12 months ago well and truly extinguished this year’s optimism before it had even begun to flicker.

Ping’s acclaimed Tour-W wedges feature a high-density tungsten weight in the toe of the clubhead, with a view to increasing the moment of inertia and forgiveness. The tungsten weight also allows the traditional teardrop shape clubhead to be slightly smaller than standard, which is designed to enable increased playability from a variety of lies. The wedges come in Silver Chrome or Black Nickel Chrome, and in seven lofts ranging between 47° and 60°. Four bounce options range between 54° and 60°.

In response to the USGA and R&A’s new rules restricting groove dimensions on Tour, Titleist has launched the Vokey Design Spin Milled C-C wedges. Titleist claims the ‘Condition of Competition’ wedges provide optimum performance and shot control within the new guidelines. The C-C models are designed to provide a higher launch angle, less spin and more run-out than the original models. As the new guidelines apply to Tour golfers only in 2010, Titleist will run the new C-C wedges alongside its current line of Vokey Design Spin Milled wedges.

As used by Padraig Harrington in winning the second two of his three Majors, the Tw9 wedges feature U-grooves that are milled into the clubhead after casting with a view to maximising their effect. The wedges are available in seven loft options, in increments of 2º from 48º to 60º, with the 48º and 50º built with less bounce and a cavity-back structure, with the remaining models made with a blade-style clubhead. The wedges come in anti-glare Satin or Black PVD anti-glare finishes.

Made from soft carbon steel with a view to providing excellent feel, Go’s CNC Milled wedges have a classic head shape and chrome finish, and they are fitted with True Temper shafts and Golf Pride Tour Velvet grips as standard. The series incorporates four lofts, of 52º, 56º, 60º and 64º, with all models available in right-hand, but only the 60º model for left-handers. Go is distributed in the UK by Brand Fusion.

Ram offers a series of “affordable” wedges designed to save golfers money as well as shots around the green. The SDX wedges are made with a traditional clubhead shape, with a large clubface and high toe with a view to providing forgiveness and playability. The SDX wedges come in lofts of 52º, 56º and 60º, and with either Mirror or Black Nickel finishes. The clubs come fitted with True Temper shafts and Ram grips.

The 685BX wedges from Snakes Eyes are fluid forged from a soft 8620 carbon steel. A curved ‘Tour’ grind on the sole is designed to give the clubs excellent versatility, and box grooves on the clubface are CNC milled. The wedges are assembled to order, and they come in lofts of 52º, 54º, 56º, 58º and 60º and with a choice of Chrome or Black finishes.

Introduced to the trade at this autumn’s Golf Europe, MD Golf has produced a trio of Seve icon wedges in collaboration with Seve Ballesteros: the Pedrena, San Roque and Continuous Bounce. The Pedrena - named after Seve’s home town - has a slither of mass removed from the sole to leave a thumbprint effect, which is designed to reduce resistance, and the weight is balanced by bevelling at the top of the clubhead. The Pedrena comes in Dark Gunmetal and lofts of 52°, 54°, 56°, 58° and 60°, and with Dynalite shafts and UST Multi Compound grips.

Tour pros can only gaze upon Cleveland’s new CG15 wedges with envy, as their laser-milled faces and ‘Zip’ grooves are designed to produce more spin than any previous Cleveland wedge, and the groove dimensions do not conform to the new regulations. Cleveland has also laser-milled sets of four texture lines between each groove to take the clubfaces up to the conforming limit of roughness. Available in multiple lofts, the CG15 wedges come in finishes of Chrome, Black Pearl and Oil Quench.

TaylorMade has built its TP wedges with ‘xFT’ – Exchangeable Face Technology – which means the clubs’ CNC-milled clubfaces can be replaced when they become worn. The clubface groves are flanked by a rough surface with a view to maximizing grip on the ball. The wedges come fitted with a ‘Z Groove face’ as standard, featuring groove dimensions that are legal to club golfers until 2024, but the ‘ZTP groove face’ conforms for Tour play in 2010 and is sold separately. The TP wedges are available in a variety of 10 specs and are scheduled for retail delivery in February.

Built with a classic teardrop clubhead, the entry level Gun Metal wedge from Longridge features a soft-cast stainless steel clubface and the club is available in lofts of 52°, 56°, 60° and 64°. Finished in Matt Gun Metal, the wedge comes fitted with a steel shaft as standard and a ‘tour wrap’ grip.

The Zip It wedges from Benross have been made with what the company describes as an “aggressive C-Grind” sole unit with a view to making the wedges as versatile as possible. Made with a teardrop head shape and grooves of Tour-forbidden dimensions, the Zip It wedges come in Pearl Chrome or Smoked Chrome finishes and Dynamic Gold shafts are fitted as standard. Four loft options are 52°, 56°, 58° and 60°.

Bad luck all thee Tour pros – you can’t touch these either. Designed by Roger Cleveland, the new X-Series Jaws wedges, complete with ‘Mack Daddy’ grooves, have too much bite for Tour golf. The grooves are designed to provide “Tour-level” spin, and the clubheads are made with a C-Grind sole with a view to boosting shot-making. The wedges come in lofts of 52°, 56°, 58° and 60° and for the first time with wedges Callaway is offering a graphite shaft option. The two finishes are Chrome and Dark Vintage.

More wedges that Tour pros can only dream of handling from January 1, Mizuno’s MP T-10 wedges feature ‘Quad Cut Grooves’, which Mizuno claims will “visibly increase backspin and ball stopping ability”. The company says it uses a new custom-milling tool to ensure the groove dimensions are pushed to legal limits on these wedges, which are grain flow forged in one piece. Available in White Satin or RAW Black Satin finishes, the MP T-10s come in a range of nine clubhead specs.

Nike has taken its Victory Red Forged wedges and given them a new Black Oxide finish. No longer conforming for Tour play, the 1025 carbon steel wedges are built with ‘High Rev’ grooves milled to the maximum dimensions for club golfers. The Black Oxide models are fitted with new VR grips from Eaton, Dynamic Gold shafts and they are available in five loft/bounce configurations, and in right-handed models only.

Stuburt’s remarkable rise within the game is testament to the brand’s unique combination of design and development to continually produce products that utilise the latest materials, innovations and technologies for increased performance on the golf course.

Resurrected in 2003 by PGA professional Graeme Stevens, Stuburt is no newcomer to the game with a heritage that stretches back to 1870 when British shoemaker Ralph Stubbs and his assistant Frederick Burt first started the brand.

By now, virtually every avid golfer is aware that the USGA and the R&A have incorporated a new rule change affecting the dimensions of the score lines of golf clubs with lofts of 25° and higher. Grooves will be smaller in the future. How does this affect you? The new rules do not apply to all golfers straight away, but for card-carrying PGA Tour pros the new rules are effective from January 1, 2010. All clubs within a tour player’s bag must incorporate the new, smaller groove dimensions if lofts are 25° or higher.