When grass doesn’t grow and the pros are coming, out comes the nitrogen and for maybe a couple of weeks the barrenest field can be lush and green. Ross Broadstock, the MD of Pete Richardson Communications and one of the golfers behind the London Golf Show remarked that for all the entertainment that his team had put in place, if it were not for the 300 exhibitors, the show would not have taken place. His words were very true in that for the value of coming to the LGS, in terms of the offers and choice for buying virtually anything golf related it is a must show to visit.

However, the floating green, the driving simulators, the putting and chipping teaching and play areas, all add up to a package of entertainment that any golfer would enjoy – with the possibility of winning just a few very special prizes for a shot in a million. This is not a cosmetic attempt at bringing something special to golf.

On Day 1 of the show, with a few thousand visitors by lunchtime, even those who had ‘come along with their friends to see what the fuss is all about’ were being tempted to think that they could pick up a club and smash the ball like Tiger. The biggest (largest) visitor on the morning, having muttered about how golf was “easy” and a “woman’s game” was probably thinking more about his blood pressure after a number of attempts to produce club head speed faster than that of a cyclist – he’s hooked but he can’t hit the ball yet!

Lots of the big manufacturers are at the show – Nike, Mizuno, Hippo, Lynx and in the Golf Direct shop – quoted as the largest golf retail area in the UK – over 500 people had found themselves what they were looking for at an excellent price – by 11am, just one hour after the show had opened. Golf Direct are a major partner in the LGS and they are stocking just about any club you could want.

11 was the hour when the biggest success of the show first presented itself. Expect to have to get to the area round the Fashion Show stage a bit early if you want to get a view of golf with style attitude and lots of fun.

For 25 minutes you will get to see some of the very latest in golf fashions, and what’s possibly / probably … certain to be golf of the future in a superb show who where you can see kit you can play in the worst of weather’s, the guys looking like warriors and the girls being edgy and with attitude, kit that you can where anywhere (at any club be it golf or of the night variety) and to finish with, a ‘novel’ way of displaying long socks. It’s a must at a must exhibition and for 2006, expect an arena for kit and clothes all on its own.

For a holiday, for the latest in teaching and fitness, for insurance and even for the bar after a round, the London Golf Show has dozens of exhibitor in virtually every category. If you have a spare day over the weekend, then get in your car or on the train and go to the London Golf Show.

The Excel Centre is right next door to London City Airport so the preferred method of travel would be private plane. For those golfers who are not lottery winners, you can cross London from any of the Major train stations without too much fuss and take the mono-rail from Canary Wharf. By car, from the Midlands you can go through London and even donate a five pound note to ‘Uncle Ken’, just as you will probably have to do some time soon to the benefactors of your nearest city. For dual (or more) carriageway all the way, the M25 is a diversion that can have benefits. Exit on the north side of the Thames at the A13 just following the signs, and you’ll pass through what could be the Olympic Village by 2012, as a bit of sightseeing on the way. How big will the London Golf Show be by then?

Huge!