A travel letter from Orlando and the PGA Show

From Gardermoen to Orlando

From a dark morning at Gardermoen to 29 degrees in Florida and alligators by the water’s edge. I went to the PGA Show for the first time and came home with jet lag, new perspectives, and a clear feeling of where golf is heading.

It starts at 04:45 at Gardermoen. The airport is quiet, except for the sound of coffee machines and suitcases rolling over tiles. I meet my colleague Mike at check-in. We both look like people who woke up before our bodies agreed.

The destination is Orlando and the PGA Show. The world’s largest golf exhibition. In other words, Mecca for golfers.

First Copenhagen. Then New York. Then Orlando. On the flight across the Atlantic we have business seats. We run a scaleup, so this would never have happened without bonus points and a “fly 2 for 1” SAS voucher. It gives us a few extra hours of valuable sleep before the workdays begin. When a journey is close to 28 hours, sleep is everything.

We fly over Manhattan before landing at JFK. The skyscrapers lie below us like a map. After a few hours at the airport, we head south. When we finally arrive at the hotel in Orlando, it is 23:30. The body is in Europe. The mind is at the show.

The next morning we wake up early. Not because we are rested, but because we are excited. The PGA Show is to the golf industry what Roskilde is to music. Everyone is there.

The world’s biggest golf show

Registration is surprisingly fast. Americans can be efficient when they want to be. And that is good, because the moment we enter the halls, we understand what people have been talking about.

The show is huge. So huge that it is easy to get lost without a map. Not only big brands like Titleist and Callaway are there, but everything imaginable. Travel, clothing, tech, training equipment, and things I did not know existed.

Style comes to golf

The very first person we talk to is Adam Benton. He comes from skate and snowboard culture and wondered why golf never had the same relationship to expression and personality. Why you could not style your clubs the way you style your board.

The result is called Caddy Wrap. A system where you choose a pattern on their website, receive a box, and apply the wrap yourself at home in three minutes. Scissors, tape, glove, and a hairdryer. The wrap is heated, shrinks around the shaft, and stays there. Wood grain, patterns, colors.

Adam says it is about ownership. Like motorcycle people who work on their bike before riding it. The response at the show has been overwhelming, he says, after only a few hours.

Simulator golf takes over

But the most striking thing is simulator golf. And not just for me.

It is no longer just a corner of the show. It is a whole district. Around 20 percent of the entire PGA Show now revolves around simulators. Trackman. Golfzon. Foresight. FullSwing. Garmin. ProTee. Uneekor. aboutGolf. TruGolf. SmashSwing. Platform Golf. And many more.

Trackman is still the most complete. But also clearly the most expensive. Golfzon has made big progress, especially their “City Golf by Golfzon” solution, where the screen lifts when you reach the green so you putt on real grass behind it. The first time feels strange. Like stepping out of the game and into reality.

Golfzon has very good tracking and extremely fast response. But the graphics are not really my taste. A bit too Nintendo 64.

ProTee, on the other hand, uses Unreal Engine. The courses look almost real. And I am not exaggerating. As a former 3D designer, I feel it in my body when they show their “course designer”. They allow golfers to design their own courses and play them the next day.

Uneekor also impresses, especially with their AI solution. Good graphics and high usability. And small details that matter. For example, divots fly up on the screen based on how you actually strike the ball. It adds an extra layer of realism.

Golf as arcade and cinema

aboutGolf had a massive rig with a 180 degree screen. Mike and I tried a game that was a mix of shooting and golf. It could hardly be more American. Mike hit wedges at targets 60 to 100 meters away, while I had to shoot the balls down like clay pigeons. I can report that I should maybe choose shooting over golf, because I completely destroyed Mike.

FullSwing has also upgraded both graphics and UI. They are now launching betting games where you can win real money by playing sim golf from any center.

TruGolf launched “TruGolf Range”, a large simulator that works like a driving range. Several players stand side by side and hit toward one wide screen, just like on a real range.

SmashSwing has something similar, but with more arcade style. We met TJ, the CEO, who showed how you can turn a large cinema screen into a golf arena where four to six players compete in different games. With clubs and balls. Golf as arcade.

Platform Golf was also present. They build simulators around a large curved platform where the player physically stands on the terrain. The ground matches what you see on screen. Uphill, sidehill, downhill. A more physical way to play simulator golf, where balance and foot position actually matter.

Putting meets projection

The German company PuttView also had a cool stand. They work with projection directly onto the green, where lines, speed, and visual guides appear on the surface in front of you. Putting as a mix of game and training, where the eye gets as much help as the hands.

A Norwegian company in the middle of it all

And in the middle of all this, there is us at Alba. A young Norwegian software company on American soil. We are pulled in every direction. Not only by suppliers, but by customers and potential customers who stop us in the aisles.

Alba is not just a booking solution. We help simulator golf centers run better and smarter businesses.

At one point, a man suddenly turns around when Mike starts explaining something behind us.

“Wait, I know that voice.”

He had had a demo meeting with Mike only weeks earlier and recognized his voice. It is one of those moments that stays in your body. Something we built in Norway is actually living its own life over here.

People want to talk about booking, payments, memberships, and operations for sim centers. There are still no complete solutions in this space, except one. That it is developed in Norway attracts a lot of attention. Norway is at the very front of simulator golf, and the experience from here is what the rest of the world is now looking to learn from.

A strong proof of this is that even the president of the National Golf Foundation, recently named one of the most influential people in golf, says he is impressed by our journey and invites us to a meeting during the show to hear more. That alone was worth the 28 hours of travel, I think.

It is not hard to feel proud. Not like loud flag waving, but like a quiet confirmation that we are on the right path. That it is actually possible, even for us from small Norway.

Most people know that smart use of data and AI is part of the future. But for it to work in practice, you need systems built for the daily life of golf centers. That is exactly where Alba has its role.

Streetwear replaces country club

Wednesday and Thursday blur together. I have never seen a person talk as much as Mike during these days. From morning to evening. Demos. Meetings. Conversations in the aisles. I think his voice is still hanging somewhere between Trackman and Golfzon.

My co-founder Jon is also on vacation in Florida, but of course cannot stay away from the PGA Show. Watching him and Mike walk around among golf profiles and influencers is almost like watching two teenage girls at a concert. They stop. Stare. Smile. Send messages. Big kids, both of them.

In the evenings, we hang out with our Canadian friends at Golfheadz. They run both sim centers and one of the largest Instagram accounts in modern golf. For them, golf is as much about style as about score. Less country club, more streetwear.

That also shapes the show. Brands like Malbon, Mantra, and Good Good take space both visually and culturally. We have long and good conversations at afterparties with several of the founders behind these brands.

The giants of golf

On Friday, the pace slows a bit. We leave the simulator area and walk around like normal visitors. The classic giants have built small cities of stands.

Titleist, for example, has a massive stand where all staff walk around in white coats, like golf doctors. What everyone talks about there is the new oil can series. Irons in a gold and copper finish that look like they came straight out of an old film about The Open. Absolutely beautiful.

Callaway has an expression that is louder, faster, and more American. Ping stands firm in its technical universe. Mizuno feels almost quietly Japanese, focused on craftsmanship and feel. It is fascinating to see how different these brands are, even when they make the same product.

TaylorMade is actually the only brand not present, but their brand with Tiger Woods, Sun Day Red, is there. The clothes are surprisingly good. Heavier fabric, strong details, and a clear direction.

The coolest stand still belongs to the YouTube crew Good Good. They have built a small villa inside the hall, with a hidden door to a secret room behind it. They are no longer just influencers. They have become a brand, with their own world around them.

Golf with alligators

Simulator golf is clearly taking up more and more space at the PGA Show. The numbers we hear from Greg at the National Golf Foundation are clear. This is not a trend that comes and goes. It is a new, significant part of golf.

Outside the show, it is 28 degrees and sunny. Locals apologize that we are experiencing Orlando in bad weather. I still manage to get sunburned with SPF 50.

After the show on Friday, we play golf. First at Hawks Landing. Bermuda grass. Thick and sticky. We end up in a group with a father and son, Mike and 12 year old Theo. And to our great joy, they are Alba users from Toronto. It makes us proud in a slightly childish way.

Theo, by the way, hits the ball better than most adults. He gets some Alba balls and a promise of sponsorship when he plays on the PGA Tour in ten years.

On Saturday, we play Orange County National’s Crooked Cat, a course that has hosted LIV events. The rough is brutal. The water is dark, and on several holes there are alligators lying there watching the play.

Where golf is going

As I write this, I am sitting on the flight home to Oslo. The cabin is dark. People are sleeping. Screens glow softly.

The PGA Show is no longer just about new clubs and clothes. It is about where golf is going.

But for me as a founder, this trip is also about something more. About a young Norwegian software company being noticed among the world’s biggest players. About voices being recognized in the aisles. About ideas born in Norway now being discussed in Florida.

I travel home tired.

But more motivated than ever.

TLDR – personal highlights

Favorite clothing brand overall: Malbon

Favorite clothing brand in sportstech: Sun Day Red

Favorite irons: Titleist T150 Oil Can edition

Favorite stand: Good Good

Coolest new tech: the Chip’d ball

Most fun game: aboutGolf shooting vs wedge

Best putting tech: PuttView