Acushnet Holdings Corp. Q1 2023 Earnings Call
With 19 Yoko today.
After the prepared remarks, there will be the opportunity for any questions, which you can ask by pressing star followed by one on your telephone Keypads I will now turn the call over to our host Sondra Lennon Vice President financial planning and analysis. Please go ahead.
Good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining us today for our Christmas holding Corp's first quarter 2023 earnings conference call.
Joining me. This morning are David Maher, our President and Chief Executive Officer, and Tom Pacheco, Our Chief Financial Officer.
Before I turn the call over to David I would like to remind everyone that we will be making forward looking statements on the call today.
These forward looking statements are based on <unk> current expectations and are subject to uncertainty and changes in circumstances actual results may differ materially from these expectations for a list of factors that could cause actual results to differ please see today's press release, the slides that accompany our presentation.
And our filings with the U S Securities and Exchange Commission.
Throughout this discussion we will make reference to non-GAAP financial metrics, including items, such as revenues at constant currency and adjusted EBITDA explanations of how and why we use these metrics and reconciliations of these items to a GAAP basis can be found in the schedules in today's press release the slides that.
Accompany this presentation and in our filings with the U S Securities and Exchange Commission.
Also note that references throughout this presentation to year on year sales increases and decreases are on a constant currency basis, unless otherwise stated as we feel this measurement. Thus provides context as to the performance and trends of our business and when referring to year to date results or comparisons we will.
Refer to the three month period ended March 31, 2023 in the comparable three month period.
With that I'll turn the call over to David Thanks, Andre and good morning, everyone and as always we appreciate your interest in a cushion at holdings.
I am pleased to report on a strong start to the year and as reflected by our results. The acoustic team is excelling on the product development manufacturing and supply chain management fronts.
My talented teammates are doing great work, adapting and strengthening our capabilities, adding agility and capacity to keep pace with steady demand.
Showcasing the overall health and diversity of the acoustic portfolio each segment and region reported gains in the quarter with title is golf balls clubs and gear growing double digits, helping to fuel the company, 17% year over year increase to $686 million in the quarter.
And bottom line results for the period grew by 22% as a cushion of delivered adjusted EBITDA of $147 million generating operating leverage and benefiting from favorable mix shifts from our full slate of new product launches.
We are pleased with his start to the year and the continued momentum of our core consumer which is translating across our businesses Tom will share greater details in a few minutes.
Shifting now to our segment overview titled Golf balls increased 21% over last year led by the successful launch of new <unk>, one and <unk> in all regions.
Context, we shipped roughly a half a million dozen more probie ones compared to last year, which is commentary on the health of the franchise and our strengthening supply chain.
New probe one models are quickly, making their mark across the worldwide professional tours and contributing to 74% usage more than eight times the nearest competitor.
And with 70 wins through last week title. This golf balls have notched 58 more titles than the number two brand.
Title list was the most played ball at the Augusta National Women's amateur trusted by 74% of the competitors and one of their most prestigious events.
And since switching to new <unk> Onex Lilly have you has played five tournaments and won two of them, including our first major at last week's Chevron championship during.
During the stretch she has an incredible 64 under par with her new pro <unk> golf ball.
On the supply side tightness golf ball channel inventories are in good shape to start the year and we are steadily building our backstop to normalized levels are.
Our global golf ball inventories are at their healthiest levels. Since 2019, although we do anticipate that pro <unk> and AVX models will remain in tight supply through the summer months.
Titleist golf clubs also posted a strong start to the year with sales increasing 16% to $181 million.
New <unk> driver and fairway momentum continues to build as this franchise enters its first spring season, and we are especially pleased with <unk> performance in light of so many competitive launches in the quarter.
CSR is the most played driver on the PGA and DP World tours, and affirming the strength of title as clubs across the competitive spectrum title list was the number one driver iron and wedge at the 2023 Augusta National Women's amateur.
Our team did great work successfully launching the all new lineup of Scotty Cameron Super Select Putters in March as we continue to strengthen misleading putter franchise.
Sure.
Our overall golf club component availability is in good shape, and we expect lead times to be healthy throughout the upcoming season.
On the title of skier, which was up 57% for the quarter. This outsized growth reflects strong demand for our new lease legend and players stand bags.
<unk> comp against last year's supply chain limited quarter and the early shipment of some April custom gear demand as we prioritize service and build momentum in our custom operations here.
<unk> was most impacted by last year's supply chain complications and has seen with these first quarter results. Our team has done great work adapting to ensure product is available when and where it is most needed.
Now, Fortunately, which posted sales of $205 million, an 8% increase for the quarter.
FJ apparel had another terrific quarter with sales up double digits as we realize the benefits from recently enhanced customization and fulfillment capabilities.
Similar to custom gear, we shipped some April custom apparel demand in March as we strive for on time or early delivery to start the season.
The FJ team fortified its position as the number one shoe in golf with new Premier Hyperflex and traditions launches in the quarter.
FJ golf shoes are defined by performance style and comfort innovation.
And we are especially pleased with FJ as positive energy and momentum, which are helping the brand to stand out in this category.
Not noted on this slide but worthy of mention is the ongoing growth and development of our shoe business, which was up over 30% in the quarter.
We are enthused about juices momentum and long term growth prospects as our team does great work building a foundation around product and operational excellence to support the brands continued expansion.
Now taking a look at revenues across regions you see the U S market set the pace up 25% for the quarter and with growth coming from all segments.
Japan and Korea also reflect the good work of our teams to set the stage and position new title list and foot Joy products for the peak spring and summer period.
Our business across EMEA was flat in the quarter in line with expectations and Comping against last year's outsized growth.
Globally, while the first quarter is not a major driver to annual rounds of play U S rounds were flat for the period in spite of declines in the west resulting from much needed rainfall.
Rounds outside the U S are projected down low single digits for the quarter again due to unfavorable weather comps overall global golf participation remains healthy and resilient as we enter the second quarter.
Before handing the call over to Tom I will affirm our confidence in the company's product lines and operational capabilities and the resilience and engagement of our cushion its target consumer the game's dedicated golfer.
Interest in the sport is in great shape. The professional game is healthy as reflected by strong ratings and golf courses are financially sound with many making meaningful capital investments to enhance their long term value proposition and appeal.
<unk> retail inventories are very healthy and total channel inventories have returned to normal levels and golf shops are well stocked for this time of year.
As is often the case there are pockets that have our attention, including footwear in the U S golf clubs in Japan and apparel in Korea.
Our teams are well conditioned to monitor these situations and will adapt if and as necessary.
In summary, the golf industry is on firm footing and well positioned for the future and while our Cushing. It is not immune to macroeconomic pressures we have over time proven to be resilient due to the avidity and favorable demographic profile of our core consumer the game's dedicated player.
Our global teams have done a nice work positioning titlist virtually in shoes products in golf shops, and we are confident in our ability to deliver compelling product and service experiences throughout the upcoming season.
Thanks for your attention. This morning, I will now pass the call over to Tom.
Thanks, David and good morning, everyone.
I would like to begin by thanking our talented associates for their outstanding effort. They put forth in Q1 to deliver yet another strong quarter for our cushioning.
Starting with our Q1 results on slide nine consolidated net sales were $686 million up 13% reported and up 17% level FX versus 2022.
This is a strong start to the year with all reportable segments showing growth in the quarter on both a reported and constant currency basis.
Gross profit for the first quarter was $366 million up $49 million or 15% versus the prior year and gross margins were 53, 3% up 100 basis points.
The increase in gross profit and gross margin is primarily the result of higher sales volumes and lower inbound freight costs, partially offset by the unfavorable impact of currency across all reportable segments.
SG&A expense in Q1 was $223 million up $27 million or 14% compared to 2022, and R&D expense was $15 million up slightly compared to the prior year.
The increase in SG&A was primarily from higher selling expense due to increased sales volumes.
Increased advertising and promotional expense primarily related to new product launches.
And an increase in administrative expense, mainly due to employee related costs.
Income from operations for the quarter was $125 million up $20 million or 19% compared to 2022.
Interest.
<unk> was up $9 million in the quarter compared to last year with a little more than half of the increase coming from higher debt balances and the remainder coming from higher interest rates.
Our effective income tax rate for Q1 was 18, 1% down from 24% last year, primarily because of a result of a shift in our mix of jurisdictional earnings.
Net income attributable to our Cushing holdings was $93 million up $12 million or 15% compared to 2022.
And adjusted EBITDA was $147 million up $27 million or 22% from the prior year.
There is a reconciliation of net income to adjusted EBITDA for Q1 in our earnings release as well as in the appendix of the slide presentation.
Moving to slide 10, the strength of our balance sheet continues to provide us flexibility.
At the end of Q1, we had about $55 million of unrestricted cash on hand.
Total debt outstanding was approximately 829 million with approximately $159 million of available borrowings remaining under our revolving credit facility.
Our leverage ratio was one eight times at the end of Q1.
The increase in our total debt results, primarily from an increase in working capital our share repurchase program and our recent acquisitions.
Consolidated accounts receivable at the end of Q1 was $435 million up $58 million from Q1 of the prior year and our days sales outstanding was 52 days up one day compared to Q1 of 2022.
Inventory at the end of Q1 was $639 million down $36 million or 5% from the end of 2022.
We saw overall declines in golf clubs gear and foot Joy.
And an expected increase in golf ball inventory during the quarter as we continue to play catch up from previous raw material shortages.
Overall, we are comfortable with our inventory quality and position and we are confident that our inventory will continue to trend towards normal seasonal levels with further decreases in Q2 and Q3 before a slight increase in Q4, when we prepare for 2024 product launches in golf season.
Cash flow from operations for the first quarter of 2023 was an outflow of $86 million compared to an outflow of $164 million for the same period in 2022.
The improvement in cash flows from operations comes primarily from a lower use of working capital mainly inventory.
And we continue to make meaningful capex investments in our business.
We spent 12 million on Capex during Q1 about the same as Q1 2022.
We still expect our full year capital expenditures to increase compared to the full year 2022 to about $75 million as we continue our golf ball strategic investment program make investments in club assembly capacity around the world and continue to make investments in our fitting capabilities to further enhance our golfer connection.
Moving to slide 11, our strong financial results support the continued execution of our capital allocation strategy.
Our highest priority remains investing in the business in the form of Opex and Capex with a focus on product innovation golfer connection and operational excellence.
And we will continue to evaluate potential acquisitions and other investments.
That align with our focus on premium performance products that appeal to dedicated golfers. We believe that these investments advance our long term strategy and drive growth at a favorable return.
Our focus on generating strong free cash flow and returning capital to shareholders continues to be a high priority.
In March we paid our previously announced dividend, which resulted in a cash outflow of approximately $14 million.
And our board of directors today declared a quarterly cash dividend of $19.05 per share payable on June 16th to shareholders of record on June 2nd.
This will result in a Q2 cash outflow of approximately $13 million.
During Q1, we purchased about $2 5 million shares of our common stock for approximately $116 million, including approximately $2 2 million shares for Magnus for $100 million.
At the end of Q1, we had about $291 million remaining under our current share repurchase authorization.
Our capital allocation strategy is a foundational element of our Cushing its value proposition, which we continue to believe creates a compelling long term total return for our shareholders.
Shifting to our outlook on slide 12, we are pleased with our solid start to the year and we are maintaining our guidance as it is our practice to not make meaningful shifts in our guidance until we get through the first half of the year.
Overall, we continue to see steady demand for golf and a cushion of products.
We are pleased with the success of our recent launches and they are excited about our upcoming product introductions over the balance of the year.
As you would expect our outlook continues to be tempered somewhat by caution given the overall economic environment.
While currency is still expected to be a headwind for the balance of the year and more so in Q2, we expect all segments to show growth on a constant currency basis for the full year.
We expect to continue to benefit from lower inbound freight rates and reduced airfreight utilization. However, we expect some headwinds from higher input costs and from the return of some promotional activity, albeit at lower than pre pandemic levels.
Taking these factors into consideration we are reaffirming our full year 2023 guidance.
We expect consolidated net sales to be in the range of 2325 to $2 $3 75 billion up three 5%.
On a reported basis at the midpoint.
On a constant currency basis consolidated net sales are expected to be up between five and seven 2%.
And we expect full year adjusted EBITDA to be in the range of 345 million to $365 million up 5% compared to 2022 at the midpoint.
In conclusion, our associates and trade partners enabled us to again deliver strong results in Q1.
While being cautious given current economic uncertainty we are pleased by the structural health of the industry the momentum of our brands and the investments we are making in the business.
We remain confident we will meet or beat our financial goals for 2023 and beyond and deliver a solid long term total return for our shareholders.
With that I will now turn the call over to Sondra for Q&A.
Thanks, Tom Operator could we please open the line for questions.
Of course, if you'd like to ask a question today. Please do so now by pressing star followed by the number one on your telephone keypad. If you change your mind I would like to be removed from the queue. Please press star and then K when preparing to ask your question. Please ensure that your microphone Andrew device Unmated lately, we will just take a brief pause to assess.
<unk> Q&A roster.
Our first question today comes from Daniel <unk> with Stephens, Inc. Please go ahead Daniel.
Yes, Hey, good morning, everybody. Thanks for taking my question.
David I wanted to on the golf club side really impressive I think.
<unk> seems to be holding in market share pretty well despite competitors launching product we have.
Some of your large competitors launched additional product kind of later.
<unk>, So I guess could you characterize the competitive backdrop, you're seeing for golf clubs are you seeing anything changing on the on the promotional pricing.
Maybe not promotion just MSRP pricing and how do you think that.
Through the year and all of the product out could there be more launches coming from competitors.
The inventory in the channel more as kind of curious how you think that plays out this year.
Yes, good morning, Daniel.
First off we are we are very pleased with tsi and as is the case.
Every spring and every first quarter, we do anticipate a whole lot of competitive activity. We launch we launched typically in Q3.
Even years and then we brace for a whole lot of competitive launches in the first quarter of odd years, which was the case this year.
We're certainly seeing inventories.
At full levels, which which commentary on as much time of your inventories in golf shops are.
For the season ahead, so we've not seen any meaningful areas for concern you do bring up a good point there have been some extensions.
As I think the industry puts forth some new products as everybody thinks about a new golfer base and a little bit bigger golfer base than existed three or four or five years ago, but really in terms of how that's impacting the market I think I think too soon to say in many respects.
I'll remind everybody that in many parts of the country in the World Golf is just getting started we're two weeks in here up in new England.
In Europe similar story, just getting started so best characterized as there is a there is an appropriate amount of inventory in the marketplace golf shops are full and really a lot will depend on what plays out over the next couple of months.
In terms of our own plans with <unk> again, we like we like our approach we like the way we come at it with two year product life cycles, and sort of our modeling anticipates, what we get out of Q4 and then what we what we typically see in the first part of the year through competitive launches, but more than anything we like the way.
We've weathered the storm of competitive launches if you will.
Great.
Quick clarify are you guys a couple of years ago did some extension to that as well.
Today or could there be more that you guys have looked at.
Yes, I think we like where we are.
The lineup is really fitting based <unk> three would be the core tsi four hits.
A different part of the spectrum and <unk> hits, a different part of the spectrum, but we like where we are I will tell you. The one the one addition, we did.
Put in the market this spring with some light lightweight vogie wedges.
A big volume play, but it's just an emerging part of the market again commentary on.
On the new consumer that's out there and some new fitting interest that we're seeing around just a generally lighter lighter weight wedge. So we did enter that space in the first quarter.
Of this year, but again not a not a major volume play, but we think an important space for us to be in.
Great. That's helpful. And then last question just on the guidance I think I've been an investor This morning, given the beat.
And it sounds like it's continuing David can you talk about the puts and takes of why you didn't take up the guidance you did mention in your prepared remarks that there was some April one April shipment for foot Julian gear that got pulled forward into March maybe could you quantify what the pull forward was in March.
And then just talk about the guidance and maybe why you're keeping at hereafter.
The year.
Yes, so we did custom custom demand custom throughput has been the most challenging over the last couple of years as it tends to it tends to happen in the peak season of February March April .
So our custom operations really around virtually apparel in the U S and title. This gear in the U S. We were just compelled to keep those engines, moving and moving fast and that allowed us to pull some some demand forward I'd put in put that in the $5 million to $10 million range, Daniel just for context.
And then as it relates to guidance that's as much about our just our past practice we've been at this a long time and we just think it's prudent to see the season unfold and see what happens with sell through because so much of what you get in the first quarter is is sell in certainly there is a decent amount of sell through coming from open market.
It's in the Sun belt.
Just think it's prudent and it's been our past practice to defer any meaningful guidance shifts until we get through the second quarter. We were obviously pleased with the start but we think it's the right prudent play to see things unfold, a little bit over the coming months.
Perfect I appreciate all the color this morning, and best of luck moving to the right.
Thanks.
Our next question today comes from Casey Alexander with Compass point Casey. Please go ahead.
Yes, hi, good morning.
Couple of quick questions first of all.
Are you generating any.
Longer term expense savings from the IP purchase that you that you made previously.
Good morning, Casey, Yes, we are so the.
We said last quarter that shift shifted from sort of.
Royalty model to an owned model.
And so.
The costs associated that shifted out of the cost of goods sold line item in the P&L and into the amortization line item.
And.
There is a.
Benefit of that given the duration of the amortization life of the intangibles.
Alright, great. Thank you secondly, how much still remains open on the share repurchase program and would you given the increase in long term debt outstanding would you kind of shift priorities to bring that back down some.
Before re engaging on share repurchase or do you still have room to do both.
So at the end of Q1, we had a little over $290 million remaining under our current share repurchase authorization.
R R.
<unk> debt level at the end of Q1 is as much a function of our seasonality as anything else but.
Q1 is always the end of Q1 is always our our highest borrowing point in the year.
And in fact, we are already at the end of April our our debt is already below $750 million. So.
We would we would anticipate continuing.
With our share repurchases in a similar manner to what we have been been doing I think last time, we said.
We expect the current authorization to be fully utilized sort of.
Mid next year.
Okay, great. Thank you and then my.
Last question is.
<unk>.
There was.
A couple of million dollars of one time items that added back into.
EBITDA from the the distribution and custom fulfillment investments is that just one quarter or should we expect to see that over a.
A number of quarters before it runs off.
You should expect to see that over.
At least the next two quarters and potentially bleeding a little bit into Q4.
Okay, great. Thank you very much I appreciate your taking my questions.
Thanks, Casey Thank you.
Yeah.
Thank you operator next question please.
The next question comes from JP <unk> with Roth Capital Partners. Please go ahead.
Great. Thanks for taking the questions today.
Maybe if we could just start first on the club business.
Maybe from a high level is there just anything you can point out about any trends youre seeing with consumers right now whether it's.
Sure the repurchase cycles.
There's so much macro talk going on that I would just be interested if you guys have any thoughts there.
Yes, I'll bring that question first to sort of how we run the club business right. We operate on two year product launches. So we're we're in year one of drivers in metals and some putters and we're in year two for irons and <unk>.
Wedges.
So again I think that serves us well I think it helps mitigate some of the ups and downs of the club business and it lends up.
Of resilience and stability to our club business that we've seen over the years it also and as importantly.
Correlates with some repurchase cycle behavior of our consumer.
Our businesses is very.
Very fitting biased in that in that the great majority of golf clubs, we sell our custom fit and.
And we think that's a real positive for our retail partners for our own business and most importantly for our consumers, we think get the best experience out of our products.
As to what we're seeing.
Fitting activity continues to be at a nice level.
That's that's reflected in our results where we've we've we've done a nice job.
And in all categories.
That's probably the most important important metric that we would look at as fitting engagement and fitting level levels and globally. We continue to see high interest and demand for fittings and that contributes to our results and our outlook for the coming months.
In terms of golf clubs.
Great. Thank you and then maybe just shifting over to the bone.
<unk> side of things.
I think the comment.
Your remarks was about still building the backstop to normal levels, maybe if you could just talk kind of where you are relative to normal levels and then.
Is there any.
Mist sales, whether its this year or maybe it's something that.
Impacting early next year, just trying to kind of quantify if there is if there is any pain points because of the lower than normal backstop.
Yes, so about a year ago. We started we resumed production at full capacity and that was commentary on raw materials availability. So when raw material available availability improved our capacity ramped up so.
We're in a very good spot today, our comment is as much about.
Back stock really <unk>, probably want to ask an AVX, we're going to be tight over the next couple of months. We do think it will we think we're in good enough shape, where we will have.
Full inventories in the market there may be a little leaner than we'd like to see but we don't anticipate.
<unk>.
And we do expect that by the end of this year, we will get back to somewhat of a normal cycle.
You can tell sequentially.
I made the comment we shipped about a half a million dozen more probie ones this year than last.
<unk> commentary on the health of the franchise, but also commentary on our team's ability to.
Produced product.
But I would say near term, we like where we are we do have some allocations in place just to make sure we spread product availability fairly broadly.
Don't anticipate outages, we do anticipate field inventories will be.
A little bit lean, but but but we're going to do everything we can do avoid outages and again by the end of the year, we think we'd be back to more normalized levels.
Great. Thank you very much.
Thank you J P. Operator next question please.
Our next question comes from now is that skin with Keycorp. Please go ahead Noah.
Hi, Thanks for taking my question.
I guess, just a high level question for me.
Related to kind of maintaining the guidance and noting kind of caution around macro.
Related to that.
Historically in terms of your brands being positioned at the premium end.
What do you typically see from consumers.
In a recession do you see trade down.
Do you see kind of extended repurchase cycles like how do you. How do you think about the behavior of the avid golfer in a recession.
Yes, so we've been through a bunch of them over the over the decades, I guess and if there's if theres any common themes. It's.
Our dedicated golfer we talk about this a lot tends to be more resilient than most and that speaks to their passion and ability avidity for the game and it also speaks to there.
Relatively strong demographic profile, so our consumer tends to be resilient.
We do not see a lot of trade down from our consumer we see consumables holdup, the best and certainly better than durables, we see sometimes equipment purchased lifecycle has extended a bit.
And we tend to see rounds of play hold up fairly well again from our from our core consumer if if we go back to the last recessionary period O eight or nine.
I think consumer spending was off macro in the range of 15%.
We were down our top line was down in your opinion back out Cobra at the time, which we owned about half that and I think that's as much as anything commentary.
On the strength of.
Our core consumer that really we've built we've built our business around.
Very helpful and just one maybe on kind of equipment retail.
Weather, obviously challenging in March.
Have you seen improvement.
<unk> heard anecdotally improvement on the retail side movie.
Moving into April and how are you just kind of thinking about retail moving through the year.
Yes, so ill.
This will be a more U S centric answer just because the U S market is often running.
But rounds were down I think 2%, which is in our view very healthy, particularly when you consider California was up almost 20%, Arizona off 10%. So when you look at rounds profile you feel pretty good about the health of the rounds, given some serious weather in the west coast, which is far more a positive long term.
Not.
The numbers, we see out of golf data Tech total spending in the quarter on equipment and apparel was down 1% again, we think that holds up pretty well.
Through March we haven't seen any deviation from that in April either high or low.
So we think it's we think it's best described as stable.
So much of this so much of what youre going to see in March or excuse me rather than April is a function of when the season starts and we're still very weather variable and weather dependent in a lot of parts of the country.
Good weather the season starts fittings happened and we see an uptick.
And if you get if you get less than favorable weather some of that some of that activity activity.
Is deferred into may so.
I would I would characterize April as really not too dissimilar from what we saw in the first three months of the year.
Very helpful. Thank you.
Thank you Noah operator next question please.
Our next question comes from Ivan <unk> with Tigress financial item. Please go ahead.
Alright, Thank you for taking my questions and congratulations on the great results and start to the year can you give me some discussion of what demographic trends you see shaping that we will continue to drive increase.
Increasing rounds of golf, increasing player engagement, new players come into the game.
Yes, so a lot of thanks.
And a lot of what we point to is data from from the National Golf Foundation I'll speak to some high level demographic trends, we've seen over the last handful of years.
2020 to Mark the fifth year in a row, where the game added golfers.
Obviously, a real positive and over that time, the fastest growing segments.
Were juniors and women so we like the overall demographic trends in the game.
I will I will point to also our business I talked about the <unk>.
The dedicated golfer a few minutes ago.
We point to there the 15% of players who play 40% of the rounds, it's been 70% of the dollars in the game.
That is our that is our sweet spot and that's really what we what we've built our business around.
We've seen that increase commensurate with the broader increase in the marketplace. So that's some of the data.
The National Golf Foundation would put out there more anecdotally I would say.
We look at we look at rounds, and how rounds held up versus weather and we see that as a real positive we look at.
The capacity of golf's out there and in many respects.
Many clubs are at capacity for membership so there is a full.
Generally full marketplace and private clubs golf clubs in particular, so the fundamental foundational trends of the game are very healthy and again, that's U S commentary.
When we look around the world and really to Japan, and Korea, which are the are the second and third largest markets.
We see we do see similar trends, Japan rounds were up I think I think seven 8% in the quarter.
Actually check that they were up more like low single digits in the quarter created down a little bit and as much weather related but thats as much commentary.
Coming off a really strong run over the last couple of years. So.
If you look around the globe you do see the number of golfers increasing.
Rounds played really heavy healthy and steady.
In the face of some some tough weather and at this point, we think youre going to be you're going to see some ebbs and flows based on weather, but by and large.
If you look at where the game is today versus where it was five years ago.
Very healthy and clubs reflect that in terms of their memberships public courses reflect that in terms of their rounds of play.
Where it goes from here is the great is the great question Mark.
I will say.
It's been our observation that the game has held up from Arounds and participation standpoint.
Very well given where we were a couple of years ago, and our belief that while.
Folks stopped spending money on travel and vacations in youth sports and had a lot of discretionary time for golf.
We understand that.
A lot of those activities have returned.
And in spite of that we look at rounds of play being being flat from historically high levels and we see that as a real positive.
I then did you have any other additional questions.
Knowledges or improvements that you see in your equipment that can drive sales.
As people improve the way they play or they want to continue to play for example.
Ivan could you repeat the question you cut out in the beginning of that thank you.
Alright, so what kind of ongoing technological developments and equipment do you see happening that drive people to improve People's games drive them to want to play more and then by new new clubs or what do you see as the.
Catalysts for us.
Club upgrades for example equipment upgrades.
And it's really two fold one.
Just continued product improvements right. We're an industry that's built around product innovation I will add we're a heavily regulated industry in terms of.
Distance, but in terms of innovation to make products better. We still think there are a lot of ways to do that.
In our case, Ivan and this is true with with balls and clubs and even footwear to an extent.
Our path forward is also predicated on a whole lot of customization and fitting activities.
No.
Some of the best some of the best paths for for improvement for players is through.
Better fitting experiences to make sure. They are playing the very best equipment for that game. So I put that in the same category as I put equipment innovation, it's fitting innovation and expanding our fitting activities. We do a whole lot of fittings today, but we know there are a lot of golfers out there who would still benefit from fitting experience again.
Repeat for balls or clubs or or even footwear.
Okay. Thank you and congratulations on the great start to the year.
Thank you. Thank you.
Well, thanks, everybody as always we appreciate your interest in a cushion it we hope for.
A nice spring season, and hopefully I'll get out and play a little bit and we look forward to talking to you after the quarter.
Thank you everyone for joining us today. This concludes our call and you may now disconnect your lines.