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2017 Newsmakers: Brewer Effectively Calls the Shots for Callaway

Callaway Golf Co. seems to be hitting its stride after five years of Chip Brewer as CEO.

The Carlsbad manufacturer, whose central business is golf clubs and balls, raised its full-year guidance in October to slightly more than $1 billion ($1.04 billion at its most optimistic). It previously told stockholders to expect something in the range of $980 million to $995 million.

Net sales for the company’s third quarter rose 30 percent from the third quarter of 2016, to $244 million. Gross margins also rose.

Callaway Golf completed two major acquisitions in 2017, bringing Utah bag-maker Ogio International and Huntington Beach apparel-maker TravisMathew into the organization. With the add-ons, Callaway crept further beyond the boundaries of a pure-play sporting goods maker. Though it previously offered apparel, it has waded more deeply into the space.

Not that Callaway is neglecting its history. It’s building on its famous line of Big Bertha drivers. In 2017 the business introduced its Great Big Bertha Epic, with design changes that reportedly improve its performance. The introduction of new equipment is “part of the heartbeat” of the golf business, said R&D chief Alan Hocknell in a March interview, and the golf community took notice.

Brewer, 54, had been CEO of Adams Golf for 10 years when Callaway’s board tapped him to be the company’s leader in early 2012. Callaway had been losing money and saw a need to restructure — and not entirely because of the recession. Callaway decided to shed its Ben Hogan and Top-Flite brands in 2012.

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