Titleist Reset Its Launch Calendar. Now the Growth Numbers Need Re-reading.

Titleist equipment generated $1.004 billion in sales through the first half of 2026, up 14.8% year over year and 14.1% on a constant-currency basis.

Big number. Slightly awkward comparison.

That’s because Titleist has reset its product calendar. Metals and irons are now targeted for second-quarter launches, pulling a benefit that historically landed in the back half of the year into the first.

GTS was the first under the new cadence. The drivers reached retail in June, and CEO David Maher said in the second-quarter earnings release that the launch “occurred earlier in the year than our typical third-quarter metal woods launch.”

Golf club sales jumped 42% in the second quarter.

So the 14.8% first-half growth is real. But some of the sales sitting inside it would, under Titleist’s old launch calendar, have arrived later in the year.

The Calendar Reset

The clearest change is when Titleist brings new equipment to market.

Titleist announced the previous generation, GT, on Aug. 1, 2024, and it reached retail on Aug. 23. GTS was announced on May 13, 2026, and reached retail on June 11, roughly 22 months after GT and more than two months earlier in the calendar than the previous launch.

That shift was immediately visible in the numbers. Acushnet generated $272.0 million in golf club sales in the second quarter, up from $191.6 million a year earlier.

On the company’s second-quarter earnings call, Maher said Acushnet had accelerated “product development and production timelines to move this launch from Q3 into the seasonal peak of Q2.”

“The reason to move the GTS launch into June was to align with the peak selling season of golf more closely,” an Acushnet spokesperson told Big Swing. “As a reminder, we launch metals every even year and irons every odd year in line with our two year product launch cycle.”

That cadence is important. Rather than metals and irons arriving in the same year, Titleist alternates the categories: metals in even-numbered years and irons in odd-numbered years. Moving both categories to the second quarter would shift a major equipment launch into the first half every year.

“We do not disclose future product launch dates, but our goal would be to launch metals and irons in the second quarter moving forward,” the spokesperson said.

What’s Underneath the Growth

The composition of that growth has also shifted.

In 2025, Acushnet said golf club growth came primarily from higher average selling prices, while golf ball growth came from higher volumes. Through the first half of 2026, those drivers had largely switched places: the company attributed higher club sales to “higher sales volumes,” with the timing of the GTS launch now part of that picture.

On the ball side, Acushnet said first-half growth was driven in part by “higher average selling prices of our Pro V1 golf ball models,” while golf gear sales increased 7.2%, primarily from higher average selling prices.

The pattern extends beyond Titleist equipment. FootJoy sales increased 2.4% to $339.4 million through the first half, with higher average selling prices across all product categories partially offset by lower sales volumes in footwear and apparel.

Asked how the company approaches pricing, the spokesperson pointed to the investment behind the product.

“We’re very thoughtful about pricing and look at it market by market,” the spokesperson said. “Our focus is first and foremost on delivering meaningful performance, innovation and quality to the dedicated golfer. That innovation requires investment in the product and cost of goods, and when we do take price, we want to ensure the golfer sees enhanced performance and value in the product.”

How $45.1 Million Became $38 Million, Then $30 Million

Acushnet’s second-quarter results also benefited materially from tariff refunds.

Acushnet’s filing describes the sequence: a February Supreme Court ruling that certain tariffs imposed under IEEPA were invalid, a March order from the Court of International Trade directing Customs to refund the duties, and a refund portal opened by Customs in April.

The company’s 10-Q says it recognized a $44.5 million reduction in cost of goods sold and a $0.6 million reduction in SG&A expense related to IEEPA tariff refunds, together worth $45.1 million at the EBITDA level. The filing says those benefits were partially offset by approximately $7 million of additional incentive compensation expense. Acushnet also recognized a $1.5 million reduction in net interest expense, which sits below EBITDA.

That helps explain the next number. Adjusted EBITDA for the quarter included about $38 million in net IEEPA tariff refunds, after accounting for the incentive compensation.

The full-year outlook puts the net benefit lower again, at approximately $30 million.

On the earnings call, CFO Sean Sullivan was asked directly to bridge the two figures. He said Acushnet’s incentive plans are tied to adjusted EBITDA, and the company’s higher full-year outlook required expensing additional incentive compensation through the remainder of the year. He said the $38 million reflects what was booked in Q2, while another $8 million in compensation expense in the second half reduces the expected full-year net benefit to $30 million.

Sullivan said all of the tariff refunds had been submitted and received, and that he did not expect any incremental refunds in the second half to be material.

The three numbers are therefore measuring different stages of the same event: the gross accounting benefit, the net benefit after compensation already recognized, and the expected full-year benefit after further incentive expense.

The refunds lifted profitability. The higher profitability then triggered higher incentive compensation, which took back part of the gain.

Strip Out the Noise

None of that means Acushnet’s growth is simply an accounting story.

Adjusted EBITDA for the first six months of 2026 rose to $353.1 million from $282.0 million a year earlier, an increase of 25.2%. Sullivan said that excluding the net tariff-refund benefit, first-half adjusted EBITDA still increased 12%.

The company is also spending more behind the business.

Research and development expense increased to $40.0 million in the first half from $37.8 million a year earlier. That follows a full-year increase to $76.5 million in 2025 from $67.8 million in 2024. Capital expenditures reached $37.3 million through June, up from $25.1 million in the same period last year.

On the earnings call, Maher gave a more specific picture of where some of that manufacturing investment is going. Acushnet has been adding and converting golf-ball lines toward cast-urethane production and expects further expansion at its Massachusetts and Thailand plants over the next year or two. Cast urethane sits at the heart of the Pro V1 family, and Maher said new manufacturing lines can take 12 to 18 months to bring online.

The strongest evidence of the brand’s position sits inside the ball business.

In the U.S., Acushnet said both average selling prices and sales volumes increased for its Pro V1 models in the second quarter.

That distinction matters. Higher revenue driven by price alone can reflect inflation, mix or cost recovery. Higher prices alongside higher volumes show something else: the volume did not come at the expense of price.

Acushnet is spending behind that demand rather than simply harvesting it.

Pricing and launch timing complicate the sales picture. Tariff refunds complicate the profit picture. Neither erases the underlying strength.

One Is Growing. One Is Flat.

Acushnet’s growth looks different when placed next to the other large public golf company.

Callaway reported $2.06 billion in net sales from continuing operations in 2025 and currently guides to between $2.045 billion and $2.070 billion for 2026, roughly flat at the midpoint. Acushnet reported $2.559 billion in 2025 sales and guides to between $2.650 billion and $2.675 billion this year.

The comparison is cleaner than it used to be. Callaway sold its Jack Wolfskin business in May 2025 and a 60% stake in Topgolf and Toptracer effective Jan. 1, 2026, and said the two deals “simplified our portfolio.” Its 2025 figure is net sales from continuing operations, which excludes both, putting it on the same basis as the 2026 guidance.

The two are not identical. Callaway carries TravisMathew, Acushnet carries FootJoy, and each has adjacent categories beyond clubs and balls. But both are selling into the same golf consumer, dealing with the same tariff regime and reporting through the same public-company framework.

One is guiding to little change in annual revenue. The other is guiding to another year of top-line growth.

That does not explain Acushnet’s growth. It does show that the growth cannot be dismissed as simply a function of the wider golf market.

The Bridge Year

The second half of 2026 will show the other side of the calendar shift.

On the earnings call, Sullivan said Acushnet expects second-half net sales to decline by low single digits, and adjusted EBITDA to fall against the second half of 2025, with the impact more pronounced in the fourth quarter. He said the earlier GTS launch shifted a “meaningful amount” of Titleist golf equipment sales and earnings into the first half.

Acushnet confirmed that 2026 is the first year operating under the new cadence.

“The cadence changed this year for the first time with the launch benefit falling in the first half instead of the second half – that will continue moving forward based on our targeted launch dates,” the spokesperson said.

“Should make the YoY comps easier to understand moving forward.”

Acushnet is right, from 2027.

Once consecutive years are operating on the same launch calendar, the comparisons become easier to read. But 2026 sits between the two systems. Its first half includes a major metals launch that the first half of 2025 did not have, while its second half will be compared against the stretch in which the T-Series irons reached retail on Aug. 21, 2025.

That makes the 14.8% first-half growth real, but unusually difficult to read as a measure of the underlying pace of the business on its own.

The cleanest view across the calendar transition will therefore come from the full twelve months, when Acushnet reports its 2026 results.