U.S. Golf Equipment Market

Callaway Golf Company handed a 60% stake in Topgolf to funds managed by Leonard Green and Partners with effect from 1 January 2026, at a valuation of about USD 1.1 billion, and went back to its old name as a pure club and ball maker (company announcement filed with the SEC). That move matters for the U.S. golf equipment market, which covers golf clubs, golf balls, golf bags and carry gear, golf gloves, and launch monitors, rangefinders and training aids bought by players in the 50 states. Douglas Insights puts 2025 revenue at USD 4.34 billion, built as 29.1 million on-course golfers times an average equipment spend of USD 149.3 per golfer, and expects USD 6.27 billion by 2035, a revenue CAGR of 3.73% for 2026 to 2035. The report is part of our luxury goods and leisure coverage, every number follows the research methodology, and the worldwide picture sits in the sibling Golf Equipment Market report.

Who wins the competition for U.S. golf club and golf ball shelf space?

Acushnet, the Titleist owner, leads U.S. golf equipment with an estimated 25.2% share of 2025 value, and Callaway follows at 20.9%. Together the two listed makers hold 46.1% of the USD 4.34 billion total, the rest split among TaylorMade, PING, Bridgestone and Srixon.

Acushnet’s share rests on an estimated USD 1.10 billion of Titleist club, ball and gear sales inside the United States. The basis is public: Acushnet reported 2025 golf ball sales of USD 821.0 million, golf club sales of USD 775.2 million and golf gear of USD 244.9 million, while United States net sales reached USD 1.52 billion of the USD 2.56 billion group total (Acushnet fourth quarter 2025 release, 26 February 2026). Applying that 59.5% U.S. weighting to the equipment lines gives the estimate.

Callaway reported 2025 golf club sales of USD 1.05 billion and golf ball sales of USD 322.2 million, so its club and ball segment came to USD 1.38 billion, down 0.5% on 2024. Its U.S. region delivered USD 1.36 billion, or 66.2% of continuing sales, which puts its U.S. club and ball sales near USD 910.0 million. The Topgolf sale repaid USD 1 billion of term loan borrowings and left about USD 680 million of unrestricted cash, per the same SEC exhibit, so the golf equipment business now funds launches without a venue chain to carry.

TaylorMade is privately owned and publishes no revenue, so Douglas Insights does not assign it a share; it competes at the top of the driver and iron tables. Acushnet’s own 10-K names Callaway, TaylorMade, PING (Karsten Manufacturing), SRI Sports with its Dunlop and Srixon brands, and Bridgestone with Bridgestone and Precept as its well-financed rivals. Titleist balls accounted for 72% of balls used on the 2025 worldwide professional tours, more than seven times the nearest rival.

Which golf equipment product category makes the money, golf clubs or golf balls?

Golf clubs make the money: 52.4% of U.S. golf equipment revenue, or USD 2.28 billion in 2025, against 19.8% for golf balls. Launch monitors, rangefinders and training aids are the fastest category at 5.94% a year to 2035.

Golf clubs hold USD 2.28 billion because a driver, a set of irons and a putter carry the highest ticket in the bag, and putters were the only club type growing at double digits in the first half of 2025. Golf balls bring in USD 860.2 million: they are consumed, so a 29.1-million-player base buys them every season whatever the club cycle does.

Golf bags and carry gear add USD 421.4 million and grow slowest at 2.86% a year, since a bag lasts several seasons. Golf gloves contribute USD 269.4 million, a small but steady replacement line. Launch monitors, rangefinders and training aids reach USD 517.0 million today and USD 920.6 million by 2035, the fastest rate at 5.94%, because the 19 million off-course players and simulator owners buy practice technology before they buy a full set. Golf shoes and apparel, including FootJoy, sit outside this scope; connected golf footwear is covered in the Smart Shoes and Footwear Market report.

Why are U.S. golf equipment sales rising when 29.1 million golfers play on course?

U.S. golf equipment grows 3.73% a year because golfer numbers add 1.3% and price adds 2.4%. The National Golf Foundation (NGF) counts 29.1 million on-course golfers and 48.1 million total participants in 2025, both records, which keeps club and golf ball volume rising.

Participation is the first driver and contributes 0.63 points of the 1.3% volume leg. NGF data show more than 500 million rounds at U.S. courses in 2025, a record for the fourth time in five years, played across about 16,000 courses at roughly 14,000 facilities (National Golf Foundation research). More rounds wear out grooves and lose golf balls; Douglas Insights models ball replacement at roughly one dozen per 20 rounds.

Beginner conversion is the second driver and adds 0.41 points. The NGF counted 3.3 million on-course beginners in 2025 and 19 million people who played only off course, at ranges, indoor simulators and venues such as Topgolf. Douglas Insights expects about one in nine off-course players to buy a first starter set or a half set each year to 2030, which pushes entry-level club units faster than the core base.

Premium replacement cycles are the third driver at 0.26 points. Golf Datatech, a Circana company, reported that U.S. specialty and green-grass dollar sales of putters grew 23% from January through June 2025, that total equipment dollar sales in those shops rose 7% year to date, and that clubs gained 6% (Circana release, 29 July 2025). Its analyst noted that higher price points were pushing dollars up faster than units, which is the 2.4% price leg in our model.

The three volume contributions, 0.63, 0.41 and 0.26 points, add up to the 1.3% unit leg. Callaway’s Topgolf exit on 1 January 2026 adds a further supply-side push: a club maker with about USD 680 million of cash and no venue spending to fund is free to launch more often, and Douglas Insights counts that as support for the price leg, not extra golfers.

Price drivers sit beside the volume ones. Custom fitting lifts the average club ticket, Douglas Insights estimates, by about 0.9 points a year, and tariff pass-through by about 0.4 points in 2026; the remaining 1.1 points of the 2.4% price leg come from premium golf balls, adjustable drivers and launch-monitor upgrades. Acushnet guided 2026 net sales of USD 2.63 billion to USD 2.68 billion, about 3.6% growth at the midpoint, in its February 2026 release, which sits close to our 3.73% U.S. revenue path.

Which headwinds slow U.S. golf club and golf ball revenue through 2035?

Three headwinds take 0.75 points off U.S. golf equipment growth: import tariffs remove 0.34 points, a shrinking course supply removes 0.22 points and the used-club trade removes 0.19 points. Without them, the 3.73% revenue CAGR would sit near 4.48%.

Tariffs are the largest drag. Acushnet’s 2025 10-K describes a baseline tariff of 10% on most products imported into the United States and says the company is incurring incremental tariff costs on raw materials, components and finished goods. Acushnet runs two of its three golf ball plants in the United States, yet components still cross the border, so Douglas Insights trims 0.34 points from the volume leg for buyers who delay a driver or iron upgrade when list prices rise.

Course supply is the second limit at 0.22 points. The NGF counts about 16,000 U.S. courses at the end of 2025, and its research notes that record play is being absorbed by as many as 2,000 fewer courses than at the early-2000s peak. Tee-time scarcity at peak hours caps how many new golfers can become regular golf ball and club buyers.

Used clubs remove 0.19 points. Trade-in and certified pre-owned programmes at big-box and online retailers let a golfer buy a two-year-old driver at well under its launch price, and Douglas Insights estimates that roughly one in five U.S. club purchases in 2025 was pre-owned, revenue this report does not count.

Which census region buys the most U.S. golf equipment?

The South buys the most U.S. golf equipment, USD 1.68 billion in 2025, and grows fastest at 4.19% a year. Year-round play in Florida, Texas, Georgia and the Carolinas, plus retiree migration into golf communities, keeps southern club and golf ball demand ahead.

The West follows with USD 986.2 million, rising 3.81% a year toward USD 1.43 billion by 2035. California, Arizona and Nevada carry the desert-golf season and the densest simulator studios, so launch monitors sell well there.

The Midwest is worth USD 951.5 million in 2025 and grows 3.06% a year; a short season limits rounds, yet Ohio, Michigan, Illinois and Wisconsin hold many public courses. The Northeast is the smallest at USD 729.9 million and grows 3.39% a year. The wildcard is indoor golf: if Northeast simulator bays keep spreading, winter golf ball and training-aid sales could lift that region above its modelled rate.

How much do U.S. golfers pay for an iron set, a putter and a dozen golf balls?

U.S. golfers spend an average of USD 149.3 a year on golf equipment in 2025, rising to USD 189.3 by 2035 as the price leg adds 2.4% a year. Douglas Insights sets realised price bands by product from typical retail ticket ranges.

The USD 149.3 average blends a small group of avid golfers who replace a driver every two to three seasons with a large base of occasional golfers who buy little more than golf balls and a glove. Douglas Insights estimates avid golfers at about 22% of on-course players but close to 60% of club revenue. Tariff pass-through adds roughly 0.4 points to the 2026 price leg, and the rest comes from fitting-led premium mix, which is why Golf Datatech saw dollars rise faster than units.

Which retail channel sells U.S. golf equipment: green-grass shops, big-box or online?

Off-course specialty retail and green-grass pro shops sell about 51.3% of U.S. golf equipment by value, Douglas Insights estimates, while online and direct-to-consumer (DTC) sales take about 23.8%. Sporting goods and mass merchants hold the remaining 24.9%.

Golf Datatech tracks the specialty and green-grass channel separately from mass and sporting goods because the two behave differently. In the first half of 2025, equipment dollars rose 7% in specialty shops but only 1% in mass and sporting goods, where golf balls gained 3% and golf gloves 5%. Fitting bays, demo days and launch-monitor sessions keep premium clubs in the specialty channel; sporting goods and mass merchants sell boxed sets, distance golf balls and gloves.

Online and direct-to-consumer brands win on ball subscriptions, custom-logo dozens and pre-owned clubs. Douglas Insights expects online to reach about 29% of U.S. golf equipment value by 2035 as brands push personalised ordering.

How does off-course golf at Topgolf and simulators feed U.S. golf equipment buying?

Off-course play feeds U.S. golf equipment through 19 million off-course-only participants in 2025, Douglas Insights calculates, and supplies about 0.41 points of yearly volume growth. Simulator owners also buy launch monitors, a USD 517.0 million category.

Topgolf venues supply clubs, so a first visit sells no equipment; the conversion comes later, when a player buys a starter set to practise. Since 1 January 2026, Callaway keeps a 40% Topgolf stake rather than full control (SEC exhibit), so the cross-selling of Callaway clubs at venues becomes a commercial agreement rather than an in-house channel.

Home simulators widen the year. A golfer in Minnesota or Massachusetts who hits balls into a screen in January still wears out golf balls, gloves and grips, and Douglas Insights counts that winter spend in the Midwest and Northeast regional totals.

How will the USGA golf ball rules and tariff policy reshape U.S. golf equipment?

Two rules shape U.S. golf equipment to 2035: the golf ball testing plan of the United States Golf Association (USGA) and the R and A, and the 10% U.S. baseline import tariff of 2025. On 17 June 2026 the two bodies confirmed no change to golf ball testing before January 2030 (joint statement).

The original plan, announced on 6 December 2023, raised the conformance test clubhead speed for golf balls from 120 mph to 125 mph, from January 2028 for elite play and January 2030 for everyone else (USGA announcement). Longest hitters would lose 13 to 15 yards and most recreational golfers 5 yards or less. The 17 June 2026 statement with the PGA Tour and DP World Tour put the change on hold while elite distance options are tested, and noted that most industry feedback favoured a single 2030 date. Douglas Insights therefore drops the 2028 golf ball redesign from the base case and holds a replacement bump of about 1.6% in ball units from 2030 only in the faster case.

Club makers respond to a shorter ball with forgiveness, fitting and adjustability rather than raw distance, Douglas Insights expects. Titanium and carbon composite heads, sized in our Titanium Market report, carry most of that design work. Tariff policy sits outside golf but reaches clubs and balls through imported raw materials, components and finished goods, as Acushnet states in its 10-K.

How wide is the 2035 forecast range for U.S. golf equipment under three scenarios?

U.S. golf equipment reaches USD 6.27 billion by 2035 in the base case, USD 5.57 billion in the slower case and USD 7.05 billion in the faster case. Golfer growth and the price leg set the gap.

The base case pairs 1.3% golfer growth with a 2.4% price leg for a 3.73% revenue CAGR, taking on-course golfers to 33.11 million by 2035. The slower case uses 0.6% and 1.9%: tariffs stay high, course closures continue and any 2030 golf ball change passes without a buying wave. The faster case uses 2.0% and 2.9%: off-course players convert faster and a better-funded Callaway, free of Topgolf since 1 January 2026, adds launch cadence with TaylorMade and Titleist.

Adding one point to annual golfer growth lifts the 2035 value by USD 646.8 million, so participation matters more than price. Published forecasts for golf equipment, almost all global, run from about 2.3% to 4.7% a year; our 3.73% U.S. rate sits in the middle of that range, close to the 3.9% upper-middle forecasts.

Douglas Exclusive: the U.S. golf equipment launch-season calendar

The launch-season calendar is a Douglas Insights model built from 7 inputs, not an official count. The inputs are Callaway’s first-quarter 2026 sales guidance, Circana’s January and first-half 2025 Golf Datatech figures (Circana release), the putter growth figure, the USGA golf ball dates of 6 December 2023 and 17 June 2026, the 1 January 2026 Topgolf transaction date (SEC exhibit) and the 10% tariff baseline.

The calendar spreads the USD 4.34 billion of 2025 U.S. golf equipment revenue across the year. Callaway guided first-quarter 2026 net sales of USD 635 million to USD 665 million against a full year of USD 1.98 billion to USD 2.05 billion, so Douglas Insights estimates the first quarter carries about 32.3% of the year at the midpoints. Golf Datatech saw January 2025 specialty dollar sales up 14% on January 2024, twice the 7% half-year pace, as new drivers reached stores (Circana, 29 July 2025).

The finding: 65.6% of U.S. golf equipment revenue lands between January and June, when brands load new clubs into green-grass shops and golfers in the Midwest and Northeast return to course. The October to December quarter is only 14.8%, driven by golf balls, gloves and rangefinders bought as gifts.

Forward dates in the calendar: January 2030 is the earliest month any change to golf ball testing can apply, after the 17 June 2026 joint statement removed the 2028 elite step. Douglas Insights expects first-half weighting to rise by about 1.2 points in the first year a new ball standard applies, as golfers replace golf balls together.

Methodology: how do 29.1 million golfers times USD 149.3 give the U.S. golf equipment total?

U.S. golf equipment equals 29.1 million on-course golfers times USD 149.3 of annual equipment spend, or USD 4.34 billion for 2025. One country, four census regions, five product categories and 61 data points feed the model, with figures in U.S. dollars at brand revenue level.

The cross-check runs from company filings. Acushnet’s estimated USD 1.10 billion and Callaway’s estimated USD 910.0 million of U.S. company sales together equal 46.1% of our total, and the remaining 53.9% matches the private makers, ball specialists and technology brands that publish no U.S. split. A second check sets ball revenue against Titleist and Callaway ball sales weighted to the U.S.: the two cover an estimated 81.6% of the USD 860.2 million golf ball category, consistent with their tour and retail position.

Forecasts compound 1.3% a year in golfers and 2.4% a year in price, so 2026 revenue is USD 4.51 billion and 2035 is USD 6.27 billion, with 33.11 million golfers paying USD 189.3 each. In the data table, the row labelled “Global” holds the total for the United States, this report’s geography, and the four census regions add to it exactly. Segment 2035 values add to USD 6.26 billion, within 0.1% of the total.

Sources

1. Topgolf Callaway Brands, SEC Form 8-K exhibit Topgolf stake sale and Callaway Golf Company renaming (2026)
2. Acushnet Holdings Corp. Fourth quarter and full year 2025 results (2026)
3. National Golf Foundation Golf industry research: 2025 participation (2026)
4. USGA Revised golf ball testing conditions from 2028 (2023)
5. USGA Joint statement on distance, no ball test change before January 2030 (2026)
6. Circana (Golf Datatech) Putter steps into the spotlight (2025)
7. Acushnet Holdings Corp., SEC Form 10-K for fiscal 2025 (2026)