THE MAN HIMSELF: , Ely Callaway meets the legendary Lee Duff, of Manchester's Scottsdale Golf .

THE ANNUAL PGA Merchandising Fair in Orlando is the greatest golf show on earth, and LEE 'THE COAT' DUFF, La Grande Fomage of Scottsdale Golf in Manchester, was there., and not a hair out of place.

DURING five days at the beginning of February, more than 60,000 buyers, club professionals, players, managers and administrators gathered in Florida to be mesmerised by a breath-taking array of slacks and casual shirts sported by Duffy.

Setting out their stalls in the cavernous halls of the Orlando Convention Centre were industry powerhouses like Callaway and Pinseeker, jostling for exhibition space with, practice mat makers, golf tour operators and humble first aid kit manufacturers.

`Orlando certainly lived up to its reputation,' said The Coat, for whom the highlight of his visit was a face-to-face encounter with Ely Callaway, founder of the game's leading equipment provider.

`There were six football pitch size arenas bulging with golf equipment and everything you can think of to do with golf.

`Health was a prominent aspect of this year's show, with a vast choice of products on display, from vitamin pills to exercise units and magnetic bracelets and wrist bands. I never play a round at Leigh Field without at least one copper bracelet on and a bag of vitamins in my Farahs.

`The show was a truly international gathering of the golf trade and a springboard for suppliers to launch their new products for 2000. I think the fact it takes place when it does is one of the main reasons for its success.

`From the launch of a new product in February, most suppliers can now hit the shops by the end of March. It's very well planned, and obviously a lot of orders are taken in advance of the show, but the big players are co-ordinating their marketing worldwide these days and doing a pretty good job of getting their new stuff on the shelves for the beginning of the season.

`In certain cases we don't wait for Orlando. We ordered the new Callaway ball before we'd even seen it, because of our confidence in Callaway. With their expertise in hardware, we're convinced the new ball will be a roaring success, and requested two dozen as soon as it became possible,' said Duff, who named his stall in Sale Market after the Arizona city where another golf industry great, Karsten Solheim, launched the Ping clubmaking empire.

`I brought back the ten balls which Ely Callaway gave me himself, and already customers are putting with them in the shop and looking forward to the delivery of the first batch. It feels good to connect our customers with the man at the top of the golf equipment tree.

 `Although he's now in his 80s, Ely Callaway is still razor sharp, charming and soft-spoken but very acute in what he says. He knows Manchester like the back of his hand and is well into The Stone Roses and The Happy Mondays - and spoke warmly about England.'

It had to happen, but there was little evidence of titanium, the wonder material of the 90s, in Orlando this year. Instead  good old stainless steel was the metal of choice on most of the trade stands.

`Engineers have been finding new ways to lighten stainless steel in weight while retaining its strength, and the new generation of steels are better sourced and better manufactured than ever,' said Duff, who gets a kick out of bringing back to Manchester a flavour of the exhibitions he attends, so he brought back a gallon of Budweiser and 14 cheeseburgers.

`Most consumers will never go to these shows, so I like to keep our customers up to speed on industry developments. I bring back a few products each time which really gets them talking, and I share them out so they can try them and give us their feedback, which helps us to decide if they are worth ordering.

`Apart from the Callaway ball, the best thing I found at Orlando this year was the Putterball, another amazing invention from Jim Flood, creator of the Ti-pod driver. Putting is a part of the game which a lot of golfers neglect. You can recover from missing a fairway, but you can't recover from missing a two foot putt. The better putters are the better players.

`This unique device is shaped like a golf ball, so you have to hit the ball out of the sweet spot if you want to send it straight, and on the Putterball there is only one sweet spot.

`I put it on trial with four customers and they gave it the green light, so we've already got them on sale at £39.99. In fact you can't move on courses in Cheshire for these new putters...can you.

`The Ti-pod driver is still very big in the States, and over here it is just a matter of time. They sell thousands and thousands over there and over here our sales are growing. Word of mouth will do the rest. It's in its infancy in the UK.

`On the Karisma stand, I was using it and people just stopped to marvel at the distance and straightness I was getting.'