It was recently announced that Callaway would spin off Topgolf sometime in 2025, four years after the acquisition caused seismic tremors in the golf industry. Articles in the mainstream and financial media cite poor performance in the stock market, and cause is speculated (among other reasons) as Topgolf having trouble getting needed levels of repeat business. And perhaps the cross-pollination plans to boost sales of the traditional Callaway golf products did not meet expectations. The press release by Callaway Topgolf makes it sound like an amicable separation is coming, and that they would simply be better off apart.
OK, enough of my playing Jim Cramer here (hardly), because I simply see what’s in the media and what I see with my own eyes when I go to Topgolf. I might be venturing out of my Bermuda/Zoysia/Bent grass comfy zone to talk about tech, but why not? As most of you know, I’m on the bullish side of the bell curve when it comes to technology and golf. Mix modern-day venues with some pretty good F&B (with a total price tag that causes the middle-class wallet to say ouch), and you’ve got something special. As former PGA CEO Seth Waugh often said, “golf is now cool.” If you believe that (and I do), Topgolf played a big part in that brand shift for “golf.” I am putting “golf” in quotes, because industry folks debate whether or not swinging a club at Topgolf or any other venue that doesn’t have real grass under foot is actually golf. “Why does everything need a label,” is what one of my kids would say.
For many years I have been trying to redirect the questions about how many green-grass golfers Topgolf (and similar Modern Golf/Golf Entertainment facilities) would deliver to the traditional industry. Would it be the savior after many years of declining numbers? My thinking and preaching has always been – it’s not their job to deliver golfers to the traditional facilities. Their job is to keep customers coming back to Topgolf. It is our job to try and emulate what may be attractive about it, and make that happen at our facilities. Think: Toptracer souped-up ranges, Shots in the Night, multiple simulators, etc.
That being said, I have also said ANYTHING that puts a golf club in the hands of millions of people is something even the traditional industry should be grateful for. Don’t you think football would love it if millions of kids and adults were tossing the pigskin at birthday parties, corporate outings, date nights, etc? Sure, it wouldn’t always translate to donning pads and moving to the gridiron, but it’s something. Even if Topgolfers are considered “golf adjacent” and not real golfers, so what? It means tens of millions of Americans are that much closer to the real thing, and it simply expands the awareness of all-things-golf. The question now is - with simulator golf (or “screen golf” as some call it) catching fire, what will the “real thing” be decades from now?
I am a bit disappointed when I see comments on social media and in various golf publications celebrating or “I-told-ya-so-ing” the divorce. Arm-chair-quarterbacking is what we do in America. That’s cool. But I think we need to avoid the “crab mentality” (Google that one) and come to this with a sense of gratitude and an abundance mindset.
Carry the cool over to your courses, friends. If we don’t, then we miss the moment.