{"id":435814,"date":"2026-01-25T04:12:15","date_gmt":"2026-01-25T04:12:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/435814\/"},"modified":"2026-01-25T04:12:15","modified_gmt":"2026-01-25T04:12:15","slug":"in-golf-digest-roundtable-golf-ceos-marvel-at-growth-while-flagging-concerns-for-the-future-australian-golf-digest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/435814\/","title":{"rendered":"In Golf Digest roundtable, golf CEOs marvel at growth while flagging concerns for the future \u2013 Australian Golf Digest"},"content":{"rendered":"

It was another year of crowded aisles and sustained enthusiasm for the golf industry at this week\u2019s annual PGA Show in Orlando. The game\u2019s business leaders and those hopeful to cash in on the golf\u2019s consistently buzzy momentum gathered on the heels of the latest National Golf Foundation report that highlighted an unprecedented eighth straight year of growth in new golfers, along with another all-time high in rounds played.<\/p>\n

As NGF executive director Greg Nathan put it, \u201cToday\u2019s momentum is not a temporary post-pandemic spike, but rather a recalibrated baseline built on broader access, diversified entry points, and a more inclusive, multi-channel ecosystem.\u201d<\/p>\n

The numbers indicate a distinct robustness to the game\u2019s immediate future:<\/p>\n

\u2022 Total golfer participation (on- and off-course) reached a new high at 48.1 million, a 41-percent increase since 2019.<\/p>\n

\u2022 There were new highs for youth, seniors, women and people of color.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Rounds played reached nearly 550 million, the fourth time in the last five years that a new record was set, with 63 of the past 66 months outperforming their pre-pandemic equivalent in rounds played.<\/p>\n

\u2022 U.S. golf equipment wholesale sales were up 3 percent over last year and nearly 50 percent higher than in 2019.<\/p>\n

Of course, golf has seen boom times often in the past 40 years, so it is worth wondering where the game might go from here. It is especially telling that golf\u2019s growth is even stronger off-course than on-course. Participation in golf entertainment venues like TopGolf and simulators rose to 37.9 million, eclipsing on-course play in each of the past four years, and more than doubling since 2014.<\/p>\n

But there are always troubling signs for those whose very livelihoods depend on continued success. Those private-equity investors who\u2019ve seized on golf\u2019s popularity in recent years like to think of the game\u2019s upwardly mobile demographics as a cause for perennial optimism. However, as multiple CEOs in golf like to say, \u201cThe game isn\u2019t recession-proof, though it might be recession resistant.\u201d Golf does have its foundational burdens, not the least of which is the fact that it\u2019s not bowling. It\u2019s more than moderately difficult to become reasonably competent at on-course golf, and while driving ranges and indoor simulator entertainment venues might ease the initial entry to the game, staying with it requires a commitment that goes beyond the financial.<\/p>\n

Speaking of money, average selling prices have surged in the post-pandemic surge. Ten years ago, the top price for a new driver was $500, this year it\u2019s 40 percent higher. Rounds played continue to surge, but green fees are almost 30 percent higher than they were a decade ago, and while new course construction has once again become a net positive, the majority of those courses are closer to high-end daily fee than the muny down the street.<\/p>\n

To understand the game\u2019s present and future state, Golf Digest sat down with the leaders of the four biggest equipment companies to get their reading of the tea leaves. Their answers were bullish and hopeful, with a careful eye on the pending decisions from golf\u2019s governing bodies on a distance rollback.<\/p>\n

Here are the responses of David Maher, CEO of Acushnet (parent company of Titleist and FootJoy); Chip Brewer, CEO of Callaway; John K. Solheim, CEO of Ping; and David Abeles, CEO of TaylorMade and Sun Day Red.<\/p>\n

Golf has had strong economic growth periods many times in the past. What makes this moment different?<\/p>\n

Brewer: The cultural importance and the cultural relevance of golf has never in my lifetime been where it is now. The amount of cool people playing golf, LeBron James and Steph Curry and Saquon Barkley and all the quarterbacks and musicians. Even compared to the Tiger era, it feels different because it\u2019s almost more unilateral interest.<\/p>\n

\"Chip <\/p>\n

Chip Brewer, Callaway CEO<\/p>\n

Maher: I don\u2019t know that I can recall an eight-year window where the number of golfers has grown every year. And we know it\u2019s growing differently. Juniors are jumping in at a faster rate. Women are jumping in at a faster rate, So, I think that\u2019s the main difference is that the number of golfers and the construct or makeup of the golfer base is different than past cycles. It\u2019s broader and it\u2019s more diverse, and we see a lot of this happening around the world, too.<\/p>\n

Abeles: When you think about where the business is being done and the revenue is being driven, the core golfer really is similar today to where they were 20 years ago. What\u2019s different is this peripheral generation of golfers that\u2019s driving investment and interest and participation that, ultimately, I think is going to enable us to lever into this population as they grow. It\u2019s like the complexion of golf has almost pivoted 180 degrees overnight, and yet not lost its nucleus.<\/p>\n

Solheim: I\u2019m not fully convinced it\u2019s totally different. I would say we seem a little smarter because I think a lot of us have seen it in the past and kind of realized that we kind of didn\u2019t maintain it. The industry has learned from the hard falls it\u2019s taken in the past and not to make those mistakes again.<\/p>\n

What might be some of the potential roadblocks to future sustained growth of the game?<\/p>\n

Solheim: I feel like we\u2019re good at understanding the past roadblocks of excess inventory, golf courses not being welcoming to new golfers. We\u2019ve gotten better at that. However, something will come up, and we\u2019ll have to think faster on our feet of how to deal with that.<\/p>\n

\"John <\/p>\n

John K. Solheim, CEO of Ping<\/p>\n

Brewer: We\u2019re going to eventually hit capacity in green grass golf courses in urban environments or in and around population centers. I don\u2019t know whether that puts a governor on some of the growth eventually, but we\u2019re not there yet. We look at short-term issues and risks, and we look at long term. The long term looks all pretty good.<\/p>\n

Maher: The biggest issue is it\u2019s a hard game, so we\u2019ve got to find ways to make sure new golfers have access and are taking lessons. Step two is the obvious, and it\u2019s cost, right? The game is costly. We\u2019ve seen corrections happen before. Will there be a recession at some point? Of course there will be. What might it mean for golf? Don\u2019t know. But I would say the biggest concern I would have about all these new people who are jumping in is, \u201cGosh, I hope they\u2019re getting lessons because if not, they\u2019re going to hit the eject button.\u201d<\/p>\n

Abeles: While there\u2019s a decent balance today, we probably can use a few more access points, distribution, and golf course development. We have a history in this industry of jumping on an S-curve and overbuilding our infrastructure. I think we\u2019re in a pretty good place with a pretty good balance right now, but it\u2019s important that business leaders make decisions around the data sets that are enabling them to determine what they build and how quickly they build it.<\/p>\n

How do you feel about the interest shown by the USGA and R&A at possibly pushing back the implementation date for the ball rollback?<\/p>\n

Maher: There are two parts to the feedback we\u2019ll provide. One is the pragmatic of what would it mean for the Acushnet Company to replace every golf ball in the line in one year. Never done that before. There\u2019s a reason we launch Pro V1 one year and all the rest the next year because we can\u2019t do it all at once. It\u2019s just the way manufacturing works. So they\u2019re going to get a very technical, manufacturing-based response from us on that topic.<\/p>\n

\"https:\/\/www.golfdigest.com\/content\/dam\/images\/golfdigest\/fullset\/2026\/1\/david-maher.jpeg\"\/ <\/p>\n

David Maher, CEO of Acushnet<\/p>\n

GARY LAND<\/p>\n

We\u2019re also going to take this moment, this opportunity, to share research and data around what this is going to look like. The initial pitch was that the longest hitters would lose the most and the shortest hitters would lose the least. That\u2019s a lovely, easy bar chart and wouldn\u2019t that be great? We don\u2019t see it that way. Not to speak for the tour, but the tour has done all their own testing with prototypes. What they found is what we found: You\u2019re affected very differently than you, than you, than you. That\u2019s very concerning to the tour. The tour as a member-owned organization is very committed to understanding the impacts to each and every player. And if it was smooth, and everybody is affected the same way, they might feel differently. What they\u2019re finding is it\u2019s not. We know, and, and we\u2019ve shared this, and we\u2019ll keep sharing this: High-speed players, high-launch players are affected one way, low-speed, low-launch, low-spin players are affected another way.<\/p>\n

\"david-abeles-taylormade-supplied-photo.jpg\"\/ <\/p>\n

David Abeles, CEO of TaylorMade and Sun Day Red<\/p>\n

Abeles: The attention this is getting, and understandably so when the USGA makes a suggestion or insinuates that they would like some feedback \u2026 it gets a lot of attention. It should. They govern our sport. But it\u2019s really nothing more than they\u2019re soliciting feedback. They\u2019re trying to understand from a manufacturing standpoint, when the rules change, what\u2019s the most seamless and effective way to integrate this worldwide. And I give the USGA some credit. They\u2019re actually reaching out, trying to get a clear perspective on that.<\/p>\n

But from a pure commercial and operational standpoint, a singular date is more effective than a dual date, so that we can move to production in one motion as opposed to two different timelines. If there was a dialogue to go further in the rules, we would have a very strong opinion about what that \u2018go further\u2019 actually means, and we\u2019ll watch out. Like how far will this go, because if this takes golf to where it becomes inaccessible and harder, then all the work we\u2019ve done to open up this new skill set to the game could be compromised, and we\u2019ve got to watch out for that.<\/p>\n

Brewer: I think it\u2019s good for the USGA to be listening to feedback, they\u2019re being participative. Clearly, there\u2019s been feedback, and it makes sense to move it back to all to be in 2030. We would support that, and I applaud the ruling bodies for being open-minded and taking the feedback.<\/p>\n

Is the current pricing structure sustainable? Is there a danger of a pain point for the typical golf consumer when drivers reach $700?<\/p>\n

Brewer: If the product\u2019s good, golfers aren\u2019t price sensitive. While they have a driver that works, they always want a driver that\u2019s better. I don\u2019t know where that pushback might be. It\u2019s related to the performance, and it\u2019s related to the economy. But you can\u2019t raise prices without perceived value and performance all falling in line with that. You\u2019d be an idiot to raise prices just to raise prices. That\u2019s not sustainable.<\/p>\n

Maher: I don\u2019t think golf is an outlier with the rest of the economy. In our case, while driver prices have gone up, embedded in that price is a really high-quality fitting. So, I think you\u2019re paying for the driver, but you\u2019re also paying for the fitting. I feel that way about a lot of our products, and, ultimately, we\u2019re trying to make sure that whatever price we charge, the golfer says, \u201cYou know what? It\u2019s great, it was worth it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Solheim: There\u2019s been a decent amount of inflation that we\u2019ve had, although the industry\u2019s probably a little ahead of inflation. I would say the likely result is longer buying cycles. At Ping we\u2019re not going to say, \u201cHey, we\u2019re going to come out with cheap golf equipment and sacrifice the performance.\u201d Product lifecycles can drive value when your customer knows, you\u2019re buying this product and it\u2019s going to be the current product for a while.<\/p>\n

How has the rise of simulator golf affected the business of the game?<\/p>\n

Solheim: It\u2019s definitely become a feeder avenue to on-course traditional golf. I wouldn\u2019t say it\u2019s the same, but it keeps golf in mind and drives people to the traditional game.<\/p>\n

Maher: When we grew up, you had fields with crappy range balls and that was it. Now, you\u2019ve got a whole new way to experience the game that\u2019s less intimidating and more fun. That area of the game hasn\u2019t been our focus, but net-net, I think it\u2019s a great positive.<\/p>\n

Brewer: We go through booms and busts and cycles and wherever we are on this one, God knows. But what\u2019s fundamentally different is off-course golf is larger than on-course golf, and it is bringing in new golfers and driving growth and interest in the game that was never there before. The impact of that is undeniable.<\/p>\n

If you had a magic wand, what would you do to keep the game growing?<\/p>\n

Maher: When you\u2019re talking about growing the game, 90-plus percent of that discussion is grassroots and that happens at the golf professional level. Sure, golf on TV helps. What the USGA and R&A do helps. But I just think at the end of the day, this is a grassroots business, and if you want to grow the game, you got to do with the grassroots. To me, that says keep feeding the teachers, keep feeding golf professionals to enrich the experience.<\/p>\n

Solheim: I think innovation has always been a part of golf, whether it\u2019s equipment where we\u2019re at, innovation in course design, innovation in swing training and lessons. I would make sure we keep that tradition of innovation in the sport going. I feel like when we try to say, \u201cno, we want it to be just like it is today and never to change,\u201d we risk the health of the sport. It\u2019s good to keep moving it forward.<\/p>\n

Brewer: You want to have the people who people look up to continue to play the game so that it\u2019s desirable. We\u2019re on a good run with that, but it\u2019s got to stay there. If I had a magic wand, I guess maybe I\u2019d want Taylor Swift taking up golf. And wearing a Callaway hat.<\/p>\n

This article was originally published on golfdigest.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It was another year of crowded aisles and sustained enthusiasm for the golf industry at this week\u2019s annual…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":435815,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[566],"tags":[4225,64,63,755,138747,44,85],"class_list":["post-435814","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-golf","tag-article","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-golf","tag-golf-digest","tag-news","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/435814","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=435814"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/435814\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/435815"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=435814"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=435814"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=435814"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}