It’s May, so it’s time for golf’s two biggest companies to go public to let the world know how they’re doing. both Acushnet AND Callaway released their first quarter financial statements last week and, as always, they make fascinating reading.
As we have told you in the past, every company has its own unique style in presenting its financial results. Acushnet tends to be pretty straightforward and to the point, while Callaway always has a twist in the way he writes his headlines.
This year’s first quarter financials continue this pattern.
Before we dive into the five biggest takeaways from Q1, we have to indulge the corporation and hit you with our editorially mandated CYA disclaimer:
We are not, nor do we claim to be, financial experts, investment advisors or Wall Street level business analysts. We’re just golf industry fanatics who love to read.
Given the fact that you actually clicked on the link for this article, we’re going to assume that you’re also a golf industry figure. Friends, we are nothing if not comprehensive, so we invite you to join us as we dig together and dig through these reports.
#1: Callaway is clearly excited to be “just golf” again.
Maybe it’s just me, but the sheer joy of being free and clear from Topgolf was practically oozing out of Callaway’s First quarter financial press release. Topgolf wasn’t mentioned by name, but boy, is Callaway glad to be out of that particular structural overload.
“The team and I have now had the opportunity to fully refocus on this business over the past several months,” Callaway CEO Chip Brewer told investors last week. “We are energized by the long-term opportunities we see.”
Callaway is a very different company today than it was a year ago. Last May, it sold its Jack Wolfskin brand. in november, it sold a 60 percent interest in Topgolfmaking it a private equity problem. That transaction was finalized in January, and Callaway used the $1.1 billion in proceeds to repay the term debt and buy back $200 million in stock.
“These moves have returned us to a pure cash-generating ‘play golf’ company with a great balance sheet and a plan to return capital to shareholders,” Brewer said.
All those good vibes translated into net sales and net profit. Callaway reported first-quarter sales of $687.5 million, a 9.2 percent increase over last year, as well as $138.2 million in net income from operations, up 34 percent from last year.
However, this profit number is a bit of a stretch. Note that it says “net income from operations.” It should make investors go all ga-ga, but it ignores accounting stuff like oh taxes, capital investment and other trivial things like that. Actual net income for the quarter was a still respectable $93.1 million. That’s a big increase from last year’s first-quarter net income of $2.1 million, but that number was offset by a large one-time loss from discontinued operations.
#2: Acushnet just keeps swimming
Acushnet is like Joe Friday.
Just the facts, ma’am.
(Ask your parents. Or maybe your grandparents.)
The largest Golf OEM reports First quarter sales of $753 millionmore than seven percent from last year. Net income was $81.4 million which is actually DOWN 18 percent year over year. However, it is not an apples-to-apples comparison. First-quarter 2025 earnings reflected a one-time non-cash (not to mention hyphenated) pre-tax gain of nearly $21 million related to a discontinued FootJoy footwear joint venture in China.
Golf equipment led the way for Acushnet. Titled golf club sales rose nearly eight percent to $224 million. This growth was driven by the new Vokey SM11 wedges and T Series irons. Second-year driver, hybrid and fairway volumes were down despite sharp driver discounts earlier in the quarter.
Golf ball sales rose nearly 10 percent to $234.5 million for the quarter. Acushnet says the increase was due to higher volumes of the new AVX, Tour Soft and Velocity golf balls, as well as higher average selling prices for the second-year Pro V1 models.
Golf equipment (bags, grips, accessories) grew nearly 11 percent due to higher volumes in golf bags and higher selling prices across the board. Acushnet says these increases were partially offset by lower volumes in the Club Glove travel product category.
We hate to sound like a broken record, but Acushnet still having a FootJoy problem. FootJoy has reported sales declines in nine of the previous 13 quarters. Last year’s fourth-quarter sales rose five percent year-on-year, but the company said at the time that the increase was only due to higher average selling prices. The volume was down across the board.
Q1 2026 is more of the same for FootJoy. Sales totaled $181.5 million, which, no matter how you slice it, is a lot (Callaway apparel, by comparison, sold $102.7 million in the first quarter). The problem, however, is that when you factor in year-over-year exchange rate changes, sales were actually DOWN 1.3 percent. Acushnet cited lower volumes in footwear sales as the main culprit, partially offset by higher selling prices across all FootJoy categories.
In Acushnet’s 2025 financial report, CEO David Maher said FootJoy has gone through a long post-COVID correction period where it was forced to lock down additional inventory. Additionally, Maher says FootJoy has been hit harder by the fees than other Acushnet business units.
Last week, Maher cited the new FootJoy Pro/SL and Premiere shoe lines as contributors to Acushnet’s overall performance. Despite this, however, FootJoy’s sales remain at a pace that is now in its fourth year.
Still, at $181.5 million, FootJoy is moving a lot of shoes, shirts and quarter chains. However, the world of clothing is different now. New clothing and footwear competitors appear every week and are fighting for your dollars. They are taking market share where they can and legacy brands like FootJoy are the obvious target.
#4: Callaway sells golf clubs, Acushnet sells golf balls
That’s a bit of an oversimplification, but, hey, I didn’t do the numbers.
Callaway reports Q1 golf club sales of $380.5 million, a 12 percent increase over last year, largely thanks to the Quantum metalwood line. Acushnet, as mentioned, reports $224 million in club sales. For what it’s worth, Titleist is breaking a longstanding tradition by pushing the launch of its GTS irons to Q2 this year instead of the traditional Q3 time frame. This will certainly give Q2 sales a kick in the pants, but it’s like cutting one end of a blanket and sewing it on the other side. He no longer makes the blanket.
On the other side of the coin, Acushnet remains the king of golf balls with $234.5 million in first quarter sales. Callaway, on the other hand, is reporting $105.6 million in golf ball sales, just a 1.6 percent increase over last year’s first quarter.
However, there is a reason for this. Callaway says volumes were intentionally reduced due to the elimination of low-margin SKUs. This affected top line sales figures, but ended up benefiting the bottom line. Callaway says its share of the green grass market for golf balls hit an all-time high in the first quarter at 23.9 percent.
#5: Both companies are on the rise in 2026
Both companies share a healthy optimism for the remainder of the year. In fact, Callaway is raising its net sales outlook to $2.07 billion. Additionally, the company says it expects a $50 million charge impact for the year. That’s down from the previous forecast of $75 million.
Perhaps most important to the company’s economic health, Callaway continues to work on improving gross margins.
“(This) includes rationalizing the lower margin parts of our business and increasing the length of certain golf equipment life cycles,” Brewer told investors. Whether that means Callaway will switch to two-year life cycles for drivers and other metal woods, we don’t know. However, the tea leaves suggest it may be possible.
Another note about gross margin improvements hidden in the report: you can expect “select price increases” for some products.
Acushnet, as is its nature, isn’t jumping on any Q1 bandwagons just yet. It is simply reaffirming its full-year outlook and holding steady 2026 estimated sales of $2.625 billion to $2.675 billion.
Both Callaway and Acushnet say they are monitoring the geopolitical climate, raw material costs and tariff uncertainty. Commodity prices and petrochemical cost pressures are headwinds for both companies.
Callaway Finance and Acushnet Q1: Final Thoughts
For all its corporate resilience, Acushnet’s stock price has been a bit of a scratch. On January 2, Acushnet stock opened at $79.95 per share. Barely a month later, it peaked at $103.29, an increase of nearly 30 percent. Even at the time, analysts didn’t think Acushnet could sustain that price, let alone that growth. By late March, it fell below $90 a share before recovering. It closed at just under $86 last week when the first quarter report came out. Right now, it’s around $88.
Callaway shares, on the other hand, fell as low as $5.87 last summer. It has been on a steady rise since the Topgolf sale was announced and hit $18 during trading on Monday.
We’ve said it before, but it bears repeating: No one, and I mean no one, is happier about the Topgolf sale than Callaway’s leadership.
