It’s almost August and I don’t know about you, but a summer breeze makes me feel fine. Now that the majors are over and we’re all trembling with excitement over the FedEx Cup, it’s time to share some thoughts that are blowin’ through the jasmine in my mind.
#1: The Tiger-Scottie comp is all wrong. It’s Hogan-Scottie
Scottie Scheffler’s dominance at the Open Championship has unleashed the hounds of “recency” bias. We’re all comparing Scottie’s run to Tiger’s reign. Hey, it’s obvious to anyone with a functioning prefrontal cortex that Scottie is No. 1 and everyone else is tied for second. It’s a level of dominance we haven’t seen since, well, Tiger.
But that’s where the similarities end. If you want to compare Scottie’s game to anyone’s, it’s not Tiger’s.
It’s Hogan’s.
Scottie’s final round at Royal Portrush was vintage Hogan. Scheffler put on a ball-striking clinic, hitting fairways and greens and nailing par-saving putts. And when adversity did strike, he calmly regained control, made birdies and killed hope. While others were rallying and stumbling, Scottie kept grinding.
Go look up Hogan’s final round at Carnoustie in 1953 and tell me I’m wrong.
#2: Is TaylorMade up for sale … again?
We first heard this rumor in May, with some sources saying a sale was “imminent.” Then … crickets.
Turns out, there’s a reason.
Centroid Investment Partners, the South Korean private equity firm that owns TaylorMade, does want to sell. South Korea’s Chosun Daily reports that Centroid’s asking price is around $3.7 billion, more than double its purchase price from 2021. Centroid has gone so far as to hire J.P. Morgan and Jefferies to manage the process. Targeted buyers are reportedly from China and the Middle East.
There’s a problem, however. One of the major investors in Centroid’s TaylorMade ownership, a group called F&F Holdings, strongly opposes the sale. F&F says it has right of first refusal and wasn’t properly consulted. It has hired Goldman Sachs to handle a counterbid and it’s threatening legal action to block a sale.
Not much has happened since May but Chosun Daily does have a track record of being in the know. It was the first to report that Topgolf Callaway was heading for a split, after all.
#3: What’s going on at COBRA?
Another OEM worth watching is COBRA. MyGolfSpy has learned that two of COBRA’s top R&D executives are no longer with the company. They represent over 60 years of experience and when that kind of brain power leaves the building, there’s bound to be a void.
COBRA has long been the kid brother in golf’s Big Five. Titleist, Callaway, TaylorMade and PING are the clear market leaders but COBRA could claim a seat at the market-share head table. I’m not sure that’s true anymore. You could make a case that Mizuno, PXG and maybe even Srixon-Cleveland-XXIO have either passed COBRA or are breathing down its neck.
Objects in the rearview mirror, it would seem, are closer than they appear.
COBRA’s problem isn’t with product. Its forgings are exquisite and its new 3D-printed irons and FutureFit33 adjustable driver hosel are as innovative as it gets. That’s not the problem.
The problem is steam. As in, COBRA runs out of it.
Like everyone else, COBRA comes roaring out of the gates in January. However, by Memorial Day, the marketing department goes dark. You’ll see Facebook ads and such but you don’t see much in-store promotion or additional buzz-worthy, momentum-creating activities. COBRA’s limited-edition drivers are things of beauty but even that ends once summer begins.
NIKE Golf had the same problem. It’ll be interesting to see where COBRA goes but it’s no longer part of the Big Five.
#4: The Topgolf Callaway and Acushnet Q2 financials are going to be doozies
Sometime within the next 10 days, Topgolf Callaway and Acushnet will be releasing their Q2 financial reports.
I’m willing to bet most of Tony Covey’s money and much of my own that both companies will scenario us rosily.
Retail sources have told us that 2025 hasn’t been a great year for club sales. That could mean online and DTC sales are way up. We do know that’s something more legacy OEMs are focusing on. But retail? From what we hear, it’s, ahhh, slow.
Callaway’s Q1 golf equipment sales were flat compared to 2024 but still topped $444 million. Titleist’s Q1 club sales were up 4.5 percent over last year.
Both companies have had major product launches in the past couple of weeks. The Titleist T-series irons were expected and on cadence, but Callaway has been on a mid-summer heater. Since early June, Callaway has launched limited-edition copper Apex AI irons, new CB12 wedges, new X-Forged and X-Forged Max irons, new Apex TI Fusion irons, Elyte Night Edition drivers and a new Apex AI 150 iron. That’s January-level busy, friends, and should give late Q2 and early Q3 sales a bit of a jolt.
As we reported in May, the pending Topgolf and Callaway split can’t come soon enough, for Callaway, at least. For the first time any of us can recall, Topgolf was in the red in Q1 this year. The two companies are due to split in September and it’ll be fascinating to see what happens next.
As mentioned earlier, South Korea’s Chosun Daily first reported a pending split between Topgolf and Callaway over a year ago. It also reported that Callaway’s three main investors would eventually push to sell Callaway altogether.
Like I said, the next few months are going to be interesting.
#5: If all the DTC brands were one company, how big would it be?
This is the kind of stuff I think about while shaving or walking the dog. Talk about the jasmine in my mind.
Just how much business, in the aggregate, do direct-to-consumer brands do?
The short answer is easy: no one has a friggin’ clue. But if you were to add up all the sales from all the DTC brands you can rattle off, how would that total compare to Acushnet? Or PING? Or Wilson, for that matter?
Imagine if Vice, Sub 70, Takomo, Hogan, MacGregor, Ram, Seed, Ballistic, Caley, Haywood, et al, were one giant company. Would that company crack the Top Five in golf sales?
I don’t know, either. But at my age, I need to keep my mind active and occupied.
#6: 7-wood versus 4-hybrid versus 4-utility – don’t make me choose.
Another thing I do while shaving or walking the dog is listen to Tony and Chris on No Putts Given. It’s a weekly master class in golf equipment that mixes insight with a chuckle or two. Lately, Tony has discussed the idea of having “two in the trunk.” It’s taken a while, but I finally get what he means.
For the last two years, I’ve been gaming a Titleist U505 4-iron bent to 22 degrees, largely because I tend to hook hybrids off the planet. However, after testing the new Ben Hogan metalwoods, I’ve found my “two in the trunk”: clubs that can rotate into that 4-iron slot depending on the course. The 22-degree Hogan PTx MAX 4-hybrid and the 21-degree PTx MAX 7-wood fit the same slot in the bag as the Titleist 4-iron, but all three do slightly different jobs.
It’s a nice luxury to have and, at my age, a little flexibility goes a long way. And I learned it while shaving, walking the dog and listening to No Putts Given and blowin’ through the jasmine in my mind.
(I do need a life.)
#7: I’ve made up my mind – the “archer versus the arrow” analogy is bullshit
I’ve never liked the “archer versus arrow” analogy for many reasons. It’s trite, dismissive and borderline arrogant. Most of all, however, it’s inaccurate.
In golf, a golfer uses a club to hit the ball. In archery, the archer uses a bow to fire the arrow. If you want to be accurate, the correct analogy is the archer versus the bow.
Any archer with a functioning anterior cingulate cortex will confirm there’s a difference between a recurve, compound, longbow and barebow. Draw length, draw weight and grip style can impact performance, and even small tweaks in limb tension or riser balance can shift your shot grouping.
Change some words in that paragraph and you have golf equipment, and equipment matters. That’s not to say everyone should hunt willy-nilly, buying and reselling clubs hoping to find golf’s Golden Ticket. However, a good fitting into the right style of equipment for your level of skill and commitment (don’t ever forget that one!) can do wonders.
The right equipment won’t make you a better golfer, but it can help you play better golf. There’s a difference.
Sure, any golfer can improve if they take lessons and practice, but clinging to the archer/bow fallacy is disingenuous. After all, unless you’re playing with niblicks, mashies and an old Bullseye putter, technology is helping you play better golf.
Thanks for joining me on this little self-therapy session. If you have any jasmine-infused thoughts of your own, please share them below.
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