You would be excused if you thought that a major sports industry was flying blind into the future. But that’s what’s happening in golf — indeed, in most every U.S. industry confronting the uncertain prospects of heightened tariffs in the coming months.
President Donald Trump's announcements of impending surcharges on goods imported onto U.S. shores for sale to domestic consumers has the entire business community recalculating every aspect of their ledger. Luckily, there are still some two months before the full levies go into effect, but the lead time between purchase and delivery of goods means that golf manufacturers of everything from playing equipment, apparel, mechanized maintenance equipment and chemicals need to anticipate now what their pricing will be down the road.
Even if companies are reluctant to go on record about it, one thing is clear amid the looming uncertainty. Nobody will be unaffected by the changing price regime. As consumers will find out by the third quarter of 2025, higher prices are destined to occur if the protective tariffs are imposed.
The chief executive officer of a major golf apparel firm, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said that for his company, tariffs are a normal part of trade. "That’s what happens when you manufacture, like we do, in South Asia. All of the apparel companies are dealing with a similar position. We’re used to an average of about 32 percent tariffs. That’s the bill we get from U.S. Customs and Border Protection. If they raise the tariffs, we’ll have to adjust accordingly. It’s the cost of doing business."
The same could be said for many other sectors of the golf industry. Playing equipment, particularly clubs, are substantially if not entirely made overseas.
Most finished golf clubs that you see on store shelves are made from components and parts that are produced in different countries. Shafts are often made in China, while driver heads often come from other Asian countries. Japan produces many forged iron heads. Grips are made in Asia as well as in the U.S. In some cases, these parts are assembled into finished clubs outside the U.S. as well, with Mexico growing in popularity in recent years as a final production site.
The precise rate at which such finished goods will be subject to enhanced tariffs remains to be determined. Representatives for several major club manufacturers declined to comment on any plans their respective companies might have for future pricing.
For the most part, equipment and apparel supplies are adequate through the second quarter of 2025; the supplies already having been delivered to U.S. shores and distributed to pro shops and off-course retail outlets. Stocks for the third quarter of 2025 are the ones that will likely see whatever tariff hikes are laid — if they are not negotiated away by the Trump administration in the next two months.
One industry analyst who spoke on the condition of anonymity suggested that if the full effect of the tariffs as announced are in effect by the summer, a driver currently costing $600 could end up retailing for as much as $850.
No part of the consumer golf trade is likely to be exempt from such impacts. Golf shoes are largely manufactured in Asia. Titleist, Callaway and Bridgestone have large golf ball factories in the U.S., and TaylorMade has a large plant in the U.S. as well, although the brand imports cores for its TP5 and TP5x balls from Asia and ships them to its facility in South Carolina. Many other golf ball companies produce their offerings in Asia.
On the facility and operations side, much of what is needed to keep a golf course going also derives from overseas. Maintenance chemicals and fertilizers largely come from Europe and the Middle East. While irrigation pumps and pipes are the product of U.S. manufacturers, the heads, controllers and valves are largely Mexican in origins, and the fittings come from Europe.
In terms of mechanized equipment like mowers, bulldozer and excavators, even the major U.S. suppliers rely at least partially on components made overseas, even if they are assembled in the U.S. The precise rates at which tariffs will be established and collected for such hybrid machinery has yet to be determined.
One thing is certain. If the goal of such tariffs is to shift manufacturing to U.S. shores, businesses will have to overcome serious obstacles to do so. Investors and banks are unlikely to pour, say, $100 million into building a new plant in the U.S. on the basis of tariff rates that could be negotiated away in the matter of a few conversations between country leaders.
Case in point: the announcement on May 11 of a 90-day reduction in tariffs on China, from 145% to 30%, shows precisely how impermanent such surcharges are. If they can be so readily negotiated away, they can’t be a reliable basis for massive, long term investment decisions.
Moreover, in the face of environmentally sensitive component materials like tungsten and titanium in shafts, assembly overseas takes place amidst lower regulatory requirements than prevail in the U.S. And the labor force for such assembly simply does not exist in the U.S. at wage rates that would enable finished goods to be priced as low as they are now.
As for making do with the new rules of international trade, golf industry firms are likely to show a measure of flexibility, ingenuity and good business sense in dealing with the new trade environment. Justin Apel, executive director of the Golf Course Builders Association of America, expressed this sentiment concisely in his comments about the newly proposed tariffs.
"Our members are smart," he said. "They’ll adapt. They’ll look for legitimate loopholes. They’ll do whatever it takes to make good business decisions. They might eat some of the excess costs. They’ll pass some of it on to their clients. And they’ll find a way to keep golf healthy, even if it takes place at a higher price."
