The annual PGA Merchandise Show is a golf paradise: 1 million square feet of products designed to help hit the ball farther, straighter and less often. And it’s in Orlando, Florida, where January temperatures reach a balmy 75 degrees.

There’s new clubs, new balls and booths and booths of clothes, from traditional golf duds to crazy prints.

Amid the festival of gadgets and loud pants, the overseers of the game are trying to figure out how to stop the flow of people leaving golf — about 1 million put their clubs away since 2009, according to the National Golf Foundation. Slow play — four hours, 22 minutes per round on average — has been identified as a culprit by the U.S. Golf Association.

“We need faster, easier, more affordable ways to play the game,” 2010 U.S. Open champion Graeme McDowell said in an interview as he walked the show floor. “Make it more fun for kids. They’re the future. We need more people playing.”

There’s hope out there, Graeme.

via Slow Golf Play Cure Found at Show: Lacrosse on a Bike – Bloomberg.