Irish Golf Expo 2016

Ireland’s largest golf show, the Irish Golf  Expo is always an outstanding success each year. Teeing off on Saturday 28th and Sunday 29th November, the unique event will provide golf enthusiasts with the opportunity to attend Ireland’s only large-scale golf exhibition. Visitors will be engaged in a unique interactive golf experience, supported by the biggest names in the golf industry.

The Irish Golf Expo aims to promote participation of golf in Ireland and providing golf enthusiasts a chance to get up close and personal with the latest equipment, gadgets and golf accessories. To make it even better, with every adult and family ticket purchased for the event, attendees receive a free green fee for select golf clubs across Ireland.

We’re very excited about it all so we took a few moments to chat to the organisers to see how everything is shaping up and how they found Eventbrite as a useful tool for their event! The Irish Golf Expo is organised by Hawkeye Management Ltd. The company’s directors, Paul Shaw and Stewart Kyle bring their extensive backgrounds in golf and sports event management to the table to position the Irish Golf Expo as one of the leading golf shows in Europe.

With a strong interest in both business and sport, Stewart Kyle has played golf competitively, representing Ireland, Northern Ireland, and Ulster. With over 10 years in the sports industry, Stewart’s passion to promote Ireland as the golf capital of the world is infectious and a driving force behind the success of the Irish Golf Expo.

Offering a wealth of experience from his time involved in the sport and leisure industry, Paul Shaw has helped to deliver world class events including the World Police and Fire Games, International Cricket and the Giro D’Italia Gran Fondo. Paul is bringing the skills and knowledge gained from these events as well as his passion for growing sports participation among young people to the platform of the Irish Golf Expo, which is focused on promoting golf in Ireland and ensuring the sport is accessible for all.

Caption 3: Irish Golf Expo line-up FREE Green Fee Irish Golf Expo Co-Founders Stewart Kyle (right) and Paul Shaw (left) along with Under-12 World Junior Champion Tom McKibbin, and Judithe Allen (age 17) from the Ulster Under 18 Inter-Provincial team officially launch the exclusive free green fee offer available at this year’s Irish Golf Expo. The offer is valid with every adult and family ticket purchased for the show and provides a free green fee for select golf clubs across Ireland. “The Irish Golf Expo is an unmissable event for golf enthusiasts”, said Stewart Kyle, “It’s the only event in Ireland that gives golfers the chance to get up, close and personal with the latest equipment, gadgets, and golfing accessories. The free green fee that’s been introduced will benefit keen golfers as they can avail of a free round of golf at some excellent courses across Ireland. It will also encourage newcomers to get involved in the game.” Geoff Bleakley, Chairman of the PGA in Ireland commented, “This innovative Irish Golf Expo free green fee offer will undoubtedly help improve the participation of golf in Ireland." Supported by leading brands including American Golf, TrackMan, Bridgestone, Mizuno and TaylorMade-adidas Golf, the Irish Golf Expo will take place on Saturday 28th and Sunday 29th November at the Eikon Exhibition Centre in Lisburn. The unique event provides golf enthusiasts the opportunity to attend Ireland’s only large-scale golf show, featuring a range of interactive golf zones, a tour truck experience, free PGA golf lessons and an indoor driving range for custom fitting and club testing from leading brands. For further information and to book tickets visit www.irishgolfexpo.com Picture By John Murphy, Aurora PA.

What are the most challenging parts to putting on an event of this size?

The most challenging part of developing the Irish Golf Expo was initially turning our vision into a reality. In essence, the event does not even exist until you sign your first exhibitor (and many more thereafter). This was very much the case when Paul and I decided to pursue our vision of creating Ireland’s largest golf show in 2013. With over a year of planning we are very pleased to say the inaugural 2014 Irish Golf Expo was a great success and received glowing feedback from exhibitors and visitors alike.

The Irish Golf Expo provides exhibitors with a unique platform to showcase their products and services to a captive audience, while guests are offered an opportunity to attend a one-stop-shop filled with vendors, golf clubs, instructors and experiences under one roof for a fully-immersive golfing experience.

With many more top global brands confirmed in 2015 we are excited about our offering in November for the thousands of Irish golf enthusiasts expected to attend.

How did using Eventbrite help you with this?

From the beginning of the event management process Eventbrite have been a key cog in the wheel for the Irish Golf Expo. With regular communication over the last 6 months we have developed a ticketing system that is informative and user friendly. We are delighted with the fluidity of our unique Free Green Fee offer which has been integrated into the online ticketing system.

Eventbrite’s marketing support has been second to none in creating more exposure for the 2015 Irish Golf Expo across Ireland and therefore increasing ticket sales and attracting more exhibitors.

Irish Golf Expo line-up FREE Green Fee Irish Golf Expo Co-Founder Paul Shaw and Judithe Allen (age 17) from the Ulster Under 18 Inter-Provincial team officially launch the exclusive free green fee offer available at this year’s Irish Golf Expo. The offer is valid with every adult and family ticket purchased for the show and provides a free green fee for select golf clubs across Ireland. “The Irish Golf Expo is an unmissable event for golf enthusiasts”, said Stewart Kyle, “It’s the only event in Ireland that gives golfers the chance to get up, close and personal with the latest equipment, gadgets, and golfing accessories. The free green fee that’s been introduced will benefit keen golfers as they can avail of a free round of golf at some excellent courses across Ireland. It will also encourage newcomers to get involved in the game.” Geoff Bleakley, Chairman of the PGA in Ireland commented, “This innovative Irish Golf Expo free green fee offer will undoubtedly help improve the participation of golf in Ireland." Supported by leading brands including American Golf, TrackMan, Bridgestone, Mizuno and TaylorMade-adidas Golf, the Irish Golf Expo will take place on Saturday 28th and Sunday 29th November at the Eikon Exhibition Centre in Lisburn. The unique event provides golf enthusiasts the opportunity to attend Ireland’s only large-scale golf show, featuring a range of interactive golf zones, a tour truck experience, free PGA golf lessons and an indoor driving range for custom fitting and club testing from leading brands. For further information and to book tickets visit www.irishgolfexpo.com Picture By John Murphy, Aurora PA.

Have you any future plans for this event?

In such a short period of time we have been delighted with the evolution of the Irish Golf Expo. One of our objectives is to help increase participation in golf across Ireland and within all age groups and demographics. Thanks to Rory and Ireland’s top players, Irish golf is currently booming on the global stage.

With strong foundations built in 2014 we are keen to grow the Irish Golf Expo into one of the world’s most sought after golf shows. The team at Hawkeye Management are extremely driven to make this happen and look forward to continuing our partnership with Eventbrite to help grow the event.

If you are interested in attending the Irish Golf Expo, you can pick up your tickets now and join in on the fun