Callaway 2000 Annual Report Download - page 13

as are applied to the drivers used by the world’s very best golfers. We think this unduly limits the
enjoyment obtainable by 95% of our nation’s golfers, and is bad for the game.
Whatever someone might think about the distances the professionals hit the golf ball off the tee today,
we cannot understand why anyone would want to restrict average golfers and deny them the chance,
once in a while, to experience the thrill of a really good drive that hangs in the air a bit longer and
goes a bit further. But this is what the USGA did when it adopted its unique limit on driver rebound
velocities (“COR”). And we cannot understand why the USGA would tell average golfers not to post
their scores for handicapping if they use a non-conforming driver in a social round, while at the same
time allowing these same golfers to post their scores if they take mulligans, grant “gimme” putts, use
rangefinders, carry more than fourteen clubs, or otherwise do the many things that so many people do
during their weekend rounds with friends or family.
In our opinion, these actions by the USGA and its supporters will tend to push average players and
beginners away from the game, while reinforcing the outdated notion that golf is only for the elite
few. We don’t think this is the message that the most powerful body in golf in the United States
should be sending. Furthermore, it is our opinion that these inconsistencies in the application of the
rules have been intentional to single out the use of the ERC II Driver and to harm our business.
I don’t think any reasonable person would now claim that permitting steel shafts or allowing the
use of rangefinders has ruined the game. Nor would most rational people contend that the game has
been harmed by sand wedges, graphite shafts, cavity-backed irons or any of the other technological
improvements introduced in the last 100 years. But all these changes to the game were opposed at one
time simply for the sake of opposing change – just as the ERC II Driver is being opposed today. That
approach always failed in the past, and we believe it will eventually fail again.
No other manufacturer has supplied as many premium clubs to as many golfers around the world as we
have done in our relatively short corporate life. We have succeeded in this way because our products
satisfy golfers of all skill levels and give them added pleasure. In this way, we hope we are helping to
make others like the game of golf as much as we do.
Today, for the first time in our history, your company faces a serious impediment intended to restrict
our technological advances in the design, manufacture and sale of the very best golf clubs. That imped-
iment is the USGA’s campaign to prevent the purchase and use of our ERC II Driver in the United
States. While the effect of this unprecedented effort may not be felt this year – because 99% of our
products fully conform with the USGA’s Rules of Golf and because foreign markets might gladly con-
sume any ERC II Drivers that are not sold in the U.S. – its potential impact on the Company cannot be
ignored. If this overt opposition is permitted to continue unchecked, the sales of ERC II Drivers in the
U.S. in 2001 will almost certainly be hurt. Nevertheless, we feel that Callaway Golf must continue to
push for a change in attitude over the long run that will address the needs of the average golfer and
promote the growth of the game.
I look forward to continuing to serve as CEO of this great company of ours. I hope to see many of you
at the Annual Meeting in May.
Ely Callaway
Founder, Chairman and CEO
Callaway Golf Company
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