The latest retail sales figures for US golf have been released for October 2022 with confirmation that total equipment sales were off 5.9% for the month and down 2.2% YTD.
Compared to 2019, the US equipment sales are still almost 40% ahead of where the industry stood pre-pandemic. A significant part of the increase over the past few years is due to higher average selling prices, and unit sales have not increased anywhere near as fast as total dollar sales.
Golf Balls (+4.3%) and Wedges (+1.2%) were the only products with sales increases for the month of October, while Shoes (-17.0%) and Bags (-12.2%) were the largest decliners.
On the latest numbers, Golf Datatech co-founder John Kyrznowek commented: “Overall sales of golf equipment in the US are showing signs of peaking and starting to decline, but they remain light years ahead of 2019 levels.
Not every category is behaving the same, with consumables like balls up for the month and year to date, while woods, irons and putters have had a much tougher go of it this year.
Inflationary pressures will continue to pressure discretionary purchases like clubs throughout the end of 2022 and early into 2023, and it is likely we may enter into a recessionary period, if we are not already in one. The big question remains how significant will the recession be? And how long will it last?”
Total US October 2022 Retail Sales (On-Off Course)
On-Off Course October ’22 vs ’21: Dollars -5.9%
On-Off Course October ’22 vs ’19: Dollars +45.6%
On-Off Course YTD ’22 vs ’21: Dollars -2.2%
On-Off Course YTD ’22 vs ’19: Dollars +39.8%