Every so often a golf expo sale or convention will pop up around me locally, so I try to take the initiative and head out to see what deals I can squander up before the next golf season. The DuPage Expo Center in St. Charles, Illinois welcomed such a golf show this weekend, so my wife and I piled into our car and headed out for some deal hunting. The Expo Center recently went over some major renovations (according to the center's website), and this would be our first visit to the building since our time living in the county. Located just off of Route 64, the center appeared to be about the size of a WalMart and was tucked away by a hotel on the north side of the highway. We could already see the line of bored weekend hacks standing out the doorway and into the parking lot, which was filled to the brim and forced us to park by the neighboring hotel some 500 yards away.

Funny thing about golf expo shows that I somehow seem to forget every time: everyone is there looking for a massive deal on newer clubs, and no vendors are willing to offer that sort of deal. After paying the $9 admission fee to the center (without being handed any type of door gift, which I thought was poor taste), my wife and I entered a medium-sized convention floor that was packed with the same hackers we saw lined up outside. Most visitors were surrounding the new club offerings from NIKE, TaylorMade, and others (presumably looking for that big deal that wouldn't be found). Since I was looking for a new 60-degree wedge and she for golf balls, we headed towards a less-populated section of the floor in search of our targets.

All-in-all, the convention was mild at best. I was able to find a new wedge for a mere $25 in addition to a dozen golf balls for her, and many of the vendors were open to bartering. However, the selection was somewhat limited in quality as opposed to quantity. There were many new club offerings at somewhat discounted prices, but the majority of items were slightly-to-overly used and barely worth their low prices.