Callaway 1997 Annual Report Download - page 3

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TOO U R SH A R E H O L D E R S A N D F R I E N D S
We are proud to report what golfers everywhere reaffirmed
for us in 1997 — Big Bertha®woods and irons continued
to be the best selling golf clubs throughout the world, in
both unit and dollar sales.
For 1997, net sales increased to $842.9 million, a 24%
improvement over the previous year’s net sales of $678.5
million. Net income was $132.7 million — an increase of
8% over net income of $122.3 million for 1996.
U.S. domestic sales increased 18.8%. Sales to Europe and
Asia increased 46.3% and 20.3%, respectively. Our two
new products — the Biggest Big Bertha™Titanium Driver
and the Great Big Bertha®Tungsten• Titanium™Irons —
represented more than 20% of 1997’s sales.
Use of Big Bertha®Drivers by professional tour players on
the five major tours (PGA, Senior PGA, LPGA, NIKE, and
PGA Eu r opean Tours) in 1997 increased to 66%.
The successes in sales and usage are again the direct result
of our continuing commitment to design, produce and
distribute golf clubs that are demonstrably superior to, and
pleasingly different from, those of our competition.
Our theme for this year’s Annual Report to Shareholders is
“Te c h n o l o g y — In vestment For The Fu t u re.” We want to high-
light what some of those investments are in word and picture .
Odyssey Golf: Callaway Golf acquired the Odyssey®line of
putters — the #1 selling line of putters — because of that
c o m p a n y’s proven commitment to technology. The Od y s s e y
Golf team could rightfully claim credit for the single most
successful putter innovation in the last twenty years: the
Stronomic®insert. That team, headed by Ron Drapeau, is
bright, talented, dedicated, and driven by the same core ideals
as Callaway Go l f . With the additional strength Callaway Golf
brings in distribution, product development and financial
s u p p o rt, we believe sales of Od y s s e y®p roducts will continue
to grow and the Odyssey®brand name will continue to get
stronger. Odyssey®products are an outstanding supplement
to Callaway Go l f’s product line.
Design Te c h n o l o gy Center: In Ma y, 1997, we consolidated
all our golf club design efforts in our new Design
Technology Center. The Design Technology Center fosters
a creative environment that allows our engineers, scientists,
and designers to work closely together as the golf club
(head, shaft and grip) moves from concept to final product.
This enables us to meet the ever-increasing challenge of
developing innovative products in greater quantities in less
time. We believe the Big Bertha®X-12™Irons exemplify
the benefits of this approach.
Casting Te c h n o l o gy Center: In Se p t e m b e r, 1997, we
opened our Casting Technology Center, which we believe is
the only one of its kind in golf. He r e, we can fabricate — in
metal, quickly and in secrecy — any golf club head design
that eventually could lead to a new product. A vivid example