Picture this: you're on the first tee at Augusta National. You're wearing Acushnet's (GOLF) FootJoy shoes and glove, KJUS shorts and jacket, holding a Titleist driver, and about to hit a Pinnacle ball. In that single moment, one company has touched nearly every part of your setup. That's the pervasive reach of Acushnet Holdings in the modern golf game.

(Well, they can't help you with the inevitable bogey on the tricky 11th hole, but you get the idea.)

With the Masters Tournament underway this week, it's a perfect time to look at the state of golf—not just as a sport, but as an investment sector. It's a business that has managed a neat trick: growing explosively while navigating its fair share of drama, from the LIV Golf saga and PGA merger uncertainties to various scandals.

The numbers back up the boom. According to the National Golf Foundation, "Green-grass golf participation surpassed 29 million in 2025 (all-time record is 30.6 million in 2003), marking an eighth consecutive year of growth and a net increase of roughly one million golfers year-over-year." With about 16,000 courses at nearly 14,000 facilities, the U.S. remains the world's largest golf market by a wide margin.

The Pure Plays: Acushnet and Callaway

While big names like TaylorMade, Ping, and PXG stay private, the public markets offer a couple of dedicated golf companies.

Acushnet is the titan, owning a portfolio of powerhouse brands like Titleist, FootJoy, and Pinnacle. Its stock performance has been steady and strong, up over 115% in the past five years. It often outpaces its main rival, Callaway Golf.

Callaway itself has been on a interesting journey. Until January 2026, it was known as Topgolf Callaway and traded under the ticker MODG. Then it sold a majority stake in its Topgolf entertainment and Toptracer technology businesses to private equity. Now, refocused as Callaway Golf (CALY), its brand stable includes its namesake clubs and balls, the top-tier Odyssey putters, Travis Mathew apparel, and OGIO gear bags.

After a slide from 2022 into 2025, Callaway's stock has roared back, up more than 148% over the past year. Much of that rebound is credited to the strategic clarity and cash infusion from the Topgolf sale.

Note: A chart comparing the stock performance of GOLF and MODG (Callaway's former ticker) through January 2026 showed Acushnet's consistent lead, with Callaway's line dipping before its recent resurgence post-restructuring.

The Apparel and Retail Angle

Beyond the equipment specialists, several major consumer companies have a stake in the game.

Nike's (NKE) relationship with golf is famously pragmatic. The company exited the golf equipment and ball business in 2016. "It's a fairly simple equation, that we lost money for 20 years on equipment and balls. We realized next year wasn't going to be any different," co-founder Phil Knight said on Bloomberg Television at the time.

Today, Nike focuses on golf apparel and footwear. It's a small slice of the Swoosh's giant pie, but the marketing exposure is valuable. Even after the epochal end of its 27-year partnership with Tiger Woods in 2024, Nike still outfits stars like Rory McIlroy, Scottie Scheffler, Brooks Koepka, and Nelly Korda.

Over at Puma SE (PUMSY), the Cobra Golf brand is part of the mix, though it's not a dominant segment for the global sportswear firm. On the retail side, Dick's Sporting Goods (DKS) is a major seller of golf gear and owns the Top-Flite brand, which it acquired from Callaway back in 2012.

The Real Estate Play: Owning the Ground

You need land to play golf, and that's where some surprising public companies come in.

Take Vici Properties (VICI), a real estate investment trust best known for casino destinations. It also owns four championship golf courses in the U.S.: Cascata and Serket in Las Vegas, Chariot Run in Indiana, and Grand Bear in Mississippi (a Jack Nicklaus design). These greens are strategically located near the company's gaming properties.

Vail Resorts (MTN) follows a similar model, but with ski hills instead of slot machines. Its golf portfolio includes courses like Red Sky Golf Club and Beaver Creek Golf Club, attached to its premier mountain resorts.

Even The Walt Disney Company (DIS) is in the game, with courses at its Walt Disney World Resort in Florida.

The list goes on. Avalon Holdings Corp (AWX), primarily in waste management, owns the Avalon Golf and Country Club in Ohio. Homebuilder Toll Brothers (TOL) owns several golf and country clubs, including Sterling Grove in Arizona and Parkland in Florida, often as amenities for its communities.

The Masters Spotlight

All this activity culminates this week at the Masters Tournament at Augusta National (April 9-12, with practice rounds beginning April 6). The broadcast rights themselves tell a story about golf's mainstream appeal: early rounds on Disney-owned ESPN and streaming via Amazon Prime, with weekend coverage on CBS and Paramount+.

So, is golf a hole-in-one for your portfolio? Like any good approach shot, it depends on your lie. The sector shows robust growth and interesting pure-play options, but also includes niche exposures within larger, diversified companies. As the world watches the pros navigate Amen Corner, investors might consider how they want to navigate the fairways and rough of the golf business.