Golf:

The holidays are usually pretty easy for golfers as far as gift buying. Take a look at a store like Roger Dunn Golf Shop at Newport Beach Golf Course and there seems to be merchandise from floor to ceiling.

Piles of boxes of golf balls are on one side of the store, clubs from drivers to wedges to full iron sets are nearby and apparel, training aids and golf bags are on the other side. It seems like every available piece of space is being utilized.

“People are letting loose a little bit more this year,” said store manager Jim Doody. “It was hard last year. The industry as a whole suffered just like everybody else.”

Manufacturers have listened to consumers and gone are the days of the drivers that routinely retailed for $500 and iron sets that were $1,500.

“Titleist and Taylor Made both have drivers at $299,” Doody said. “These are the best drivers and the cost is a lot less than they would have been three to four years ago.”

Part of that is because of the economy, but there are other factors as well that have contributed to the price of golf merchandise being lowered.

“It used to be golfers not only didn’t know about products, they didn’t care,” Doody said. “The customer used to be ignorant. They are a lot more educated now and the companies realized that.”

The response was probably slower than it should have been, but manufacturers reacted to the changing market.

One of those areas is wedges. The wedges used to be a product that was largely an afterthought until Cleveland Golf revolutionized them.

“Mizuno has some good ones,” Doody said. “Titleist has a line of Vokey wedges one of which — the Gold Wheel — is the professional model.”

Another difference this year is there appears to be a must-have item. Years ago that item was the Callaway Big Bertha Driver and a couple years after that it was the Titleist Pro V1 golf ball.

Manufacturers allotted so many to stores and they sold out quickly. Dozens of Pro V1s were showing up on eBay for double and triple the $42 suggested retail price.

This year a golf ball might be that must-have item. The Taylor Made Penta TP ball is the first five-piece construction golf ball and was used by Sergio Garcia and Retief Goosen at the 2009 PGA Championship.

The balls will be in mass distribution in 2010, but some are making their ways to retailers for the holiday.

“The ball was released Dec. 15 in a limited supply,” Doody said. “I only got 12 dozen of them. It is the first five-piece ball and is really, really popular.”

Doody said boxes of the balls have been popping up on eBay and similar sites and is selling well over its retail price of between $42 and $44. Three of them were recently on the auction site with a bid of $28.

Doody also said he has a Scotty Cameron line of putters that are also proving to be popular. The California line retails at $299, but he already has two of them pre-sold.

It appears that the golf economy is thawing a bit, but Doody won’t know how his store did until after the holidays.

“Do I think it is going to be as bad as last year? I don’t think so,” Doody said. “I’m not sure how much better it will be compared to last year. Usually 80% of business is six days before Christmas, but I think it will be better.”

JOHN REGER may be reached by e-mail at nolimepublishing@aol.com.