ITEM 1A.           RISK FACTORS

You should carefully consider each of the following risk factors, as well as the other information in this report, including our consolidated financial statements and the related notes and “– Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations,” Item 7 of Part II, included elsewhere in this report. If any of the following risks actually occurs, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be materially adversely affected. In that event, the market price of our common stock could decline significantly and you could lose all or part of your investment. The risks described below are not the only risks we face. Additional risks we are not presently aware of or that we currently believe are immaterial could also materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Risks Related to Our Business and Industry

A reduction in the number of rounds of golf played or in the number of golf participants could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We generate substantially all of our sales from the sale of golf‑related products, including golf balls, golf clubs, golf shoes, golf gloves, golf gear and golf apparel. The demand for golf‑related products in general, and golf balls in particular, is directly related to the number of golf participants and the number of rounds of golf being played by these participants. If golf participation or the number of rounds of golf played declines, sales of our products may be adversely impacted, which could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Unfavorable weather conditions may impact the number of playable days and rounds played in a given year.

Weather conditions in most parts of the world, including our primary geographic markets, generally restrict golf from being played year‑round, with many of our on‑course customers closed during the cold weather months and, to a lesser extent, during the hot weather months. Unfavorable weather conditions in our major markets, such as a particularly long winter, a cold and wet spring, or an extremely hot summer, would impact the number of playable days and rounds played in a given year, which would result in a decrease in the amount spent by golfers and golf retailers on our products, particularly with respect to consumable products such as golf balls and golf gloves.  In addition, unfavorable weather conditions and natural disasters can adversely affect the number of custom club fitting and trial events that we can perform during the key selling period.  Unusual or severe weather conditions throughout the year, such as storms or droughts or other water shortages, can negatively affect

golf rounds played both during the events and afterward, as weather damaged golf courses are repaired and golfers focus on repairing the damage to their homes, businesses and communities. Consequently, sustained adverse weather conditions, especially during the warm weather months, could impact our sales, which could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. Adverse weather conditions may have a greater impact on us than other golf equipment companies as we have a large percentage of consumable products in our product portfolio, and the purchase of consumable products is generally more dependent on the number of rounds played in a given year.

Consumer spending habits and macroeconomic factors may affect the number of rounds of golf played and related spending on golf products.

Our products are recreational in nature and are therefore discretionary purchases for consumers. Consumers are generally more willing to spend their time and money to play golf and make discretionary purchases of golf products when economic conditions are favorable and when consumers feel confident and prosperous. Discretionary spending on golf and the golf products we sell is affected by consumer spending habits as well as by many macroeconomic factors, including general business conditions, stock market prices and volatility, corporate spending, housing prices, interest rates, the availability of consumer credit, taxes and consumer confidence in future economic conditions. Consumers may reduce or postpone purchases of our products as a result of shifts in consumer spending habits as well as during periods when economic uncertainty increases, disposable income is lower, or during periods of actual or perceived unfavorable economic conditions. A future significant or prolonged decline in general economic conditions or uncertainties regarding future economic prospects that adversely affects consumer discretionary spending, whether in the United States or in our international markets, could result in reduced sales of our products, which could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Demographic factors may affect the number of golf participants and related spending on our products.

Golf is a recreational activity that requires time and money and different generations and socioeconomic and ethnic groups use their leisure time and discretionary funds in different ways. Golf participation among younger generations and certain socioeconomic and ethnic groups may not prove to be as popular as it is among the current “gen‑x” (age 39 – 54) and “baby boomer” (age 55 – 73) generations. If golf participation or the number of rounds of golf played declines, due to factors such as demographic changes in the United States and our international markets or lack of interest in the sport among young people or certain socioeconomic and ethnic groups, sales of our products could be negatively impacted, which could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

A significant disruption in the operations of our manufacturing, assembly or distribution facilities could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We rely on our manufacturing facilities in the United States, Thailand and China and assembly and distribution facilities in many of our major markets, certain of which constitute our sole manufacturing facility for a particular product category, including our joint venture facility in China where substantially all of our golf shoes are manufactured and our facility in Thailand where we manufacture the majority of our golf gloves. Because substantially all of our products are manufactured and assembled in and distributed from a few locations, our operations could be interrupted by events beyond our control, including:

• power loss or network connectivity or telecommunications failure or downtime;

• equipment failure;

• human error or accidents;

• sabotage or vandalism;

• physical or electronic security breaches;

• floods, fires, earthquakes, hurricanes, tornadoes, tsunamis or other natural disasters;

• political unrest;

• labor difficulties, including work stoppages or slowdowns;

• water damage or water shortage;

• government orders and regulations;

• pandemics and other health and safety issues; and

• terrorism.

Our manufacturing, assembly and distribution capacity is also dependent on the performance of services by third parties, including vendors, landlords and transportation providers. If we encounter problems with our manufacturing, assembly and distribution facilities, our ability to meet customer expectations, manage inventory, complete sales and achieve objectives for operating efficiencies could be harmed, which could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. We maintain business interruption insurance, but it may not adequately protect us from the adverse effects that could result from significant disruptions to our manufacturing, assembly and distribution facilities, such as the long‑term loss of customers or an erosion of our brand image.

Our manufacturing, assembly and distribution networks include computer processes, software and automated equipment that may be subject to a number of risks related to security or computer viruses, the proper operation of software and hardware, electronic or power interruptions or other system failures.

Many of our raw materials or components of our products are provided by a sole or limited number of third‑party suppliers and manufacturers.

We rely on a sole or limited number of third‑party suppliers and manufacturers for many of our raw materials and the components in our golf balls, golf clubs, golf gloves and certain of our other products. We also use specialized sources for certain of the raw materials used to make our golf gloves and other products, and these sources are limited to certain geographical locations. Furthermore, many of these materials are customized for us and some of our products require specially developed manufacturing techniques and processes which make it difficult to identify and utilize alternative suppliers quickly. If we were to experience any delay or interruption in such supplies, we may not be able to find adequate alternative suppliers at a reasonable cost or without significant disruption to our business, which could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

A disruption in the operations of our suppliers could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Our ability to continue to select reliable suppliers who provide timely deliveries of quality materials and components will impact our success in meeting customer demand for timely delivery of quality products. If we experience significantly increased demand, or if, for any reason, we need to replace an existing manufacturer or supplier, there can be no assurance that additional supplies of raw materials or additional manufacturing capacity will be available when required on terms that are acceptable to us, or at all, or that any new supplier or manufacturer would allocate sufficient capacity to us in order to meet our requirements. In addition, should we decide to transition existing manufacturing between third‑party manufacturers or should we decide to transition existing in‑house manufacturing to third‑party manufacturers, the risk of such a problem could increase. Even if we are able to expand existing or find new manufacturing sources, we may encounter delays in production and added costs as a result of the time it takes to train our suppliers and manufacturers in our methods, products and quality control standards. Any material delays, interruption or increased costs in the supply of raw materials or components of our products could impact our ability to meet customer demand for our products, which could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

In addition, there can be no assurance that our suppliers and manufacturers will continue to provide raw materials and components that are consistent with our standards and that comply with all applicable laws and regulations. We have occasionally received, and may in the future receive, shipments of supplies or components that fail to conform to our quality control standards. In that event, unless we are able to obtain replacement supplies or components in a timely manner, we risk the loss of sales resulting from the inability to manufacture our products and could incur related increased administrative and shipping costs, and there also could be a negative impact to our brands, any of which could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

While we do not control our suppliers or their labor practices, negative publicity regarding the management of facilities, production methods of or materials used by any of our suppliers could adversely affect our reputation, which could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations and may force us to locate alternative suppliers. In addition, our suppliers may not be well capitalized and they may not be able to fulfill their obligations to us or go out of business. Furthermore, the ability of third‑party suppliers to timely deliver raw materials or components may be affected by events beyond their control, such as work stoppages or slowdowns, transportation issues, changes in trade or tariff laws, or significant weather and health conditions.

The cost of raw materials and components could affect our operating results.

The materials and components used by us, our suppliers and our manufacturers involve raw materials, including polybutadiene, urethane and Surlyn for the manufacturing of our golf balls, titanium and steel for the manufacture of our golf clubs, leather and synthetic fabrics for the manufacturing of our golf shoes, golf gloves, golf gear and golf apparel, and resin and other petroleum‑based materials for a number of our products. Significant price fluctuations or shortages in such raw materials or components, including the costs to transport such materials or components of our products, the uncertainty of currency fluctuations against the U.S. dollar, increases in labor rates, trade duties or tariffs, and/or the introduction of new and expensive raw materials, could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Our operations are conducted worldwide and our results of operations are subject to currency transaction risk and currency translation risk that could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

For the year ended December 31, 2018 , $807.6 million of our net sales were generated outside of the United States by our non‑U.S. subsidiaries. Sales by geographic area are included in “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations”, Item 7 of Part II, and in “Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements –Note  21  – Segment Information.”, Item 8 of Part II, included elsewhere in this report. Substantially all of these net sales generated outside of the United States were generated in the applicable local currency, which include, but are not limited to, the Japanese yen, the Korean won, the British pound sterling, the euro and the Canadian dollar. In contrast, substantially all of the purchases of inventory, raw materials or components by our non‑U.S. subsidiaries are made in U.S. dollars. For the year ended December 31, 2018 , approximately 84% of our cost of goods sold incurred by our non‑U.S. subsidiaries was denominated in U.S. dollars. Because our non‑U.S. subsidiaries incur substantially all of their cost of goods sold in currencies that are different from the currencies in which they generate substantially all of their sales, we are exposed to transaction risk attributable to fluctuations in such exchange rates, which can impact the gross profit of our non‑U.S. subsidiaries. If the U.S. dollar strengthens against the applicable local currency, more local currency will be needed to purchase the same amount of cost of goods sold denominated in U.S. dollars, which could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We have entered and expect to continue to enter into various foreign currency exchange contracts in an effort to protect against adverse changes in foreign exchange rates and attempt to minimize foreign currency transaction risk. Our hedging activities can reduce, but will not eliminate, the effects of foreign currency transaction risk on our financial results. The extent to which our hedging activities mitigate foreign currency transaction risks varies based upon many factors, including the amount of transactions being hedged. Other factors that could affect the effectiveness of our hedging activities include accuracy of sales forecasts, volatility of currency markets, the availability of hedging instruments and limitations on the duration of such hedging instruments. Since the hedging activities are designed to reduce volatility, they not only reduce the negative impact of a stronger U.S. dollar but could also reduce the positive impact of a weaker U.S. dollar. We are also exposed to credit risk from the counterparties to our hedging activities and market conditions could cause such counterparties to experience financial difficulties. As a result, our efforts to hedge these exposures could prove unsuccessful and, furthermore, our ability to engage in additional hedging activities may decrease or become more costly.

Because our consolidated accounts are reported in U.S. dollars, we are also exposed to currency translation risk when we translate the financial results of our consolidated non‑U.S. subsidiaries from their local currency into U.S. dollars. For the year ended December 31, 2018 , 49% of our sales were denominated in foreign currencies. In addition, for the year ended December 31, 2018 , 32% of our operating expenses were denominated in foreign currencies (which amounts represent substantially all of the operating expenses incurred by our non‑U.S. subsidiaries). Fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates may positively or negatively affect our reported financial results and can significantly affect period‑over‑period comparisons. A strengthening of the U.S. dollar relative to our foreign currencies could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. 

We may not successfully manage the frequent introduction of new products or satisfy changing consumer preferences, quality and regulatory standards.

The golf equipment and golf wear industries are subject to constantly and rapidly changing consumer demands based, in large part, on performance benefits. Our golf ball and golf club products generally have launch cycles of two years, and our sales in a particular year are affected by when we launch such products. We generally introduce new product offerings and styles in our golf wear and gear businesses each year and at different times during the year. Factors driving these short product launch cycles include the rapid introduction of competitive products and consumer demands for the latest technology, style or fashion. In this marketplace, a substantial portion of our annual sales are generated each year by new products.

These marketplace conditions raise a number of issues that we must successfully manage. For example, we must properly anticipate consumer preferences and design products that meet those preferences, while also complying with significant restrictions imposed by the Rules of Golf (see further discussion of the Rules of Golf below under “– Changes to the Rules of Golf with respect to equipment could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations”), or our new products will not achieve sufficient market success to compensate for the usual decline in sales experienced by products already in the market. Second, our R&D and supply chain groups face constant pressures to design, develop, source and supply new products—many of which incorporate new or otherwise untested technology, suppliers or inputs—that perform better than their predecessors while maintaining quality control and the authenticity of our brands. Third, for new products to generate equivalent or greater sales than their predecessors, they must either maintain the same or higher sales levels with the same or higher pricing, or exceed the performance of their predecessors in one or both of those areas. Fourth, the relatively short window of opportunity for launching and selling new products requires great precision in forecasting demand and assuring that supplies are ready and delivered during the critical selling periods. Finally, the rapid changeover in products creates a need to monitor and manage the closeout of older products both at retail and in our own inventory. If we do not successfully manage the frequent introduction of new products or satisfy consumer demand, it could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Failure to successfully innovate and offer high‑quality products may adversely affect our ability to compete in the market for our products.

Technical innovation and quality control in the design and manufacturing processes of our products is essential to our commercial success. R&D plays a key role in technical innovation. We rely upon experts in various fields to develop and test cutting edge performance products. If we fail to introduce technical innovation in our products, consumer demand for our products could decline, and if we experience problems with the quality of our products, we may incur substantial expense to remedy the problems, any of which could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Changes to the Rules of Golf with respect to equipment could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Golf’s most regulated categories are golf balls and golf clubs. We seek to have our new golf ball and golf club products conform with the Rules of Golf published by the United States Golf Association, or the USGA, and The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews, or The R&A, because these rules are generally followed by golfers, both professional and amateur, within their respective jurisdictions. The USGA publishes rules that are generally followed in the United States and Mexico, and The R&A publishes rules that are generally followed in most other countries throughout the world. The Rules of Golf as published by The R&A and the USGA are virtually the same and are intended to be so pursuant to a Joint Statement of Principles issued in 2001. The Rules of Golf set the guidelines and establish limitations for the design and performance of all golf balls and golf clubs.

Many new regulations on golf balls and golf clubs have been introduced in the past 10 to 15 years, which we believe was one of the most active periods for golf equipment regulation in the history of golf. The USGA and R&A have historically regulated the size, weight and initial velocity of golf balls. More recently, the USGA and R&A have specifically focused on regulating the overall distance of a golf ball. The USGA and R&A have also focused on golf club regulations, including limiting the size and spring‑like effect of driver faces and club head moment of inertia. In the future, existing USGA and/or R&A rules may be altered in ways that adversely affect the sales of our current or future products. If a change in rules was adopted and caused one or more of our current or future products to be nonconforming, sales of such products would be impacted and we may not be able to adapt our products promptly to such rule change, which could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. In addition, changes in the Rules of Golf may result in an increase in the costs of materials that would need to be used to develop new products as well as an increase in the costs to design new products that conform to such rules.

Failure to adequately enforce and protect our intellectual property rights could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We own numerous patents, trademarks, trade secrets, copyrights and other intellectual property and hold licenses to intellectual property owned by others, which in the aggregate are important to our business. We rely on a combination of patent, trademark, copyright and trade secret laws in our core geographic markets and other jurisdictions, to protect the innovations, brands, proprietary trade secrets and know‑how related to certain aspects of our business. Certain of our intellectual property rights, such as patents, are time‑limited, and the technology underlying our patents can be used by any third party, including competitors, once the applicable patent terms expire.

We seek to protect our confidential proprietary information, in part, by entering into confidentiality and invention assignment agreements with our employees, consultants, contractors, suppliers and others. While these agreements are designed to protect our proprietary information, we cannot be certain that such agreements have been entered into with all relevant parties, and we cannot be certain that our trade secrets and other confidential proprietary information will not be disclosed or that competitors will not otherwise gain access to our trade secrets or independently develop substantially equivalent information and techniques. We also seek to preserve the integrity and confidentiality of our proprietary information by maintaining physical security of our premises and physical and electronic security of our information technology systems, but it is possible that these security measures could be breached. If we are unable to prevent disclosure to third parties of our material proprietary and confidential know‑how and trade secrets, our ability to establish or maintain a competitive advantage in our markets may be adversely affected.

We selectively and strategically pursue patent and trademark protection in our core geographic markets, but our strategy has been to not perfect certain patent and trademark rights in some countries. For example, we focus primarily on securing patent protection in those countries where the majority of our golf ball and golf club industry production takes place. Accordingly, we may not be able to prevent others, including competitors, from practicing our patented inventions, including by manufacturing and selling competing products, in those countries where we have not obtained patent protection. Further, the laws of some foreign countries do not protect proprietary rights to the same extent or in the same manner as the laws of the United States. As a result, we may encounter significant problems in protecting, enforcing and defending our intellectual property outside of the United States. In some foreign countries, where intellectual property laws or law enforcement practices do not protect our intellectual property rights as fully as in the United States, third‑party manufacturers may be able to manufacture and sell imitation products and diminish the value of our brands as well as infringe our rights, despite our efforts to prevent such activity.

The golf ball and golf club industries, in particular, have been characterized by widespread imitation of popular ball and club designs. We have an active program of monitoring, investigating and enforcing our proprietary rights against companies and individuals who market or manufacture counterfeits and “knockoff” products. We assert our rights against infringers of our patents, trademarks, trade dress and copyrights. However, these efforts may be expensive, time‑consuming, divert management’s attention, and ultimately may not be successful in reducing sales of golf products by these infringers. The failure to prevent or limit such infringers or imitators could adversely affect our reputation and sales. Additionally, other golf ball and golf club manufacturers may be able to produce successful golf balls or golf clubs which imitate our designs without infringing any of our patents, trademarks, trade dress or copyrights, which could limit our ability to maintain a competitive advantage in our marketplace.

If we fail to obtain enforceable patents, trademarks and trade secrets, fail to maintain our existing patent, trademark and trade secret rights, or fail to prevent substantial unauthorized use of our patents, trademarks and trade secrets, we risk the loss of our intellectual property rights and competitive advantages we have developed, which may result in lost sales. Accordingly, we devote substantial resources to the establishment and protection of our trademarks, patents and trade secrets or know‑how, and we continuously evaluate the utility of our existing intellectual property and the new registration of additional trademarks and patents, as appropriate. However, we cannot guarantee that we will have adequate resources to continue to effectively establish, maintain and enforce our intellectual property rights. We also cannot guarantee that any of our pending applications will be approved by the applicable governmental authorities. Moreover, even if the applications will be registered during the registration process, third parties may seek to oppose, limit, or otherwise challenge these applications or registrations.

We may be involved in lawsuits to protect, defend or enforce our intellectual property rights, which could be expensive, time consuming and unsuccessful.

Our success depends in part on our ability to protect our trademarks, patents and trade secrets from unauthorized use by others. To counter infringement or unauthorized use, we may be required to file infringement or misappropriation claims, which can be expensive and time‑consuming and could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations, even if successful. Any claims that we assert against perceived infringers could also provoke these parties to assert counterclaims against us alleging that we infringe or misappropriate their intellectual property rights or that we have engaged in anti‑competitive conduct. Moreover, our involvement in litigation against third parties asserting infringement of our intellectual property rights presents some risk that our intellectual property rights could be challenged and invalidated. In addition, in an infringement proceeding, whether initiated by us or another party, a court may refuse to stop the other party in such infringement proceeding from using the technology or mark at issue on the grounds that our patents do not cover the technology in question or misuse our trade secrets or know‑how. An adverse result in any litigation or defense proceedings, including proceedings at the patent and trademark offices, could put one or more of our patents or trademarks at risk of being invalidated, held unenforceable or interpreted narrowly, and could put any of our patent or trademark applications at risk of not

being issued as a registered patent or trademark, any of which could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Furthermore, because of the substantial amount of discovery required in connection with intellectual property litigation, there is a risk that some of our confidential proprietary information could be compromised by disclosure during this type of litigation. In addition, there could be public announcements of the results of hearings, motions or other interim proceedings or developments. If securities analysts or investors perceive these results to be negative, it could materially adversely affect the price of our common stock.

Our products may infringe the intellectual property rights of others, which may cause us to incur unexpected costs or prevent us from selling our products.

From time to time, third parties have challenged our patents, trademark rights and branding practices, or asserted intellectual property rights that relate to our products and product features. We cannot assure you that our actions taken to establish and protect our technology and brands will be adequate to prevent others from seeking to block sales of our products or to obtain monetary damages, based on alleged violation of their patents, trademarks or other proprietary rights. We may be required to defend such claims in the future, which, whether or not meritorious, could result in substantial costs and diversion of resources and could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

If we are found to infringe a third party’s intellectual property rights, we could be forced, including by court order, to cease developing, manufacturing or commercializing the infringing product. Alternatively, we may be required to obtain a license from such a third party in order to use the infringing technology and continue developing, manufacturing or marketing such technology. In such a case, license agreements may require us to pay royalties and other fees that could be significant, or we may not be able to obtain any required license on commercially reasonable terms or at all. Even if we were able to obtain a license, it could be non‑exclusive, thereby giving our competitors access to the same technologies licensed to us. A finding of infringement could prevent us from commercializing our products or force us to cease some of our business operations, or to redesign or rename some of our products to avoid future infringement liability. In addition, we could be found liable for monetary damages, including treble damages and attorneys’ fees if we are found to have willfully infringed a patent. Claims that we have misappropriated the confidential information or trade secrets of third parties could also materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. See also “—We may be involved in lawsuits to protect, defend or enforce our intellectual property rights, which could be expensive, time consuming and unsuccessful.” Any of the foregoing could cause us to incur significant costs and prevent us from manufacturing or selling certain of our products.

Changes to patent laws could adversely affect our ability to protect our intellectual property.

Patent reform legislation may increase the uncertainties and costs surrounding the prosecution of our patent applications and the enforcement or defense of our issued patents. For example, the Leahy‑Smith America Invents Act, or the Leahy‑Smith Act, which was adopted in September 2011, includes a number of significant changes to the U.S. patent laws, such as, among other things, changing from a “first to invent” to a “first inventor to file” system, establishing new procedures for challenging patents and establishing different methods for invalidating patents. Some of these changes or potential changes may not be advantageous to us, and it may become more difficult to obtain adequate patent protection or to enforce our patents against third parties. These changes or potential changes could increase the costs and uncertainties surrounding the prosecution of our patent applications and adversely affect our ability to protect our intellectual property which could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. Furthermore, the U.S. Supreme Court and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit have made, and may in the future make, changes in how the patent laws of the United States are interpreted. Similarly, foreign courts have made, and may in the future make, changes in how the patent laws in their respective jurisdictions are interpreted. We cannot predict future changes in the interpretation of patent laws or changes to patent laws that might be enacted into law by United States and foreign legislative bodies.  Those changes may materially affect our patents or patent applications and our ability to obtain and enforce or defend additional patent protection in the future.

We face intense competition in each of our markets and if we are unable to maintain a competitive advantage, loss of market share, sales or profitability may result.

The markets for golf balls, clubs, gear and wear are highly competitive and there may be low barriers to entry in many of our markets. Pricing pressures, reduced profit margins or loss of market share or failure to grow in any of our markets, due to competition or otherwise, could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We compete against large‑scale global sports equipment and apparel players, Japanese industrials, and more specialized golf equipment and golf wear players, including Callaway, TaylorMade, Ping, Bridgestone, Nike, Adidas and Under Armour. Many of our competitors have significant competitive strengths, including long operating histories, a large and broad consumer base, established relationships with a broad set of suppliers and customers, an established regional or local presence,

strong brand recognition and greater financial, R&D, marketing, distribution and other resources than we do. There are unique aspects to the competitive dynamic in each of our product categories and markets. We are not the market leader with respect to certain categories or in certain markets.

Golf Balls. The golf ball business is highly competitive. There are a number of well‑established and well‑financed competitors. We and our competitors continue to incur significant costs in the areas of R&D, advertising, marketing, tour and other promotional support to be competitive.

Golf Clubs. The golf club markets in which we compete are also highly competitive and are served by a number of well‑established and well‑financed companies with recognized brand names. New product introductions, price reductions, consignment sales, extended payment terms, “closeouts,” including closeouts of products that were recently commercially successful, and significant tour and advertising spending by competitors continue to generate intense market competition and create market disruptions. Our competitors in the golf club market have in the past and may continue to introduce their products on an accelerated cycle which could lead to market disruption and impact sales of our products.

Golf Gear. The golf gear market is fragmented and served by a number of well‑established and well‑financed competitors as well as a number of smaller competitors. We face significant competition in every region with respect to each of our golf gear product categories.

Golf Wear. In the golf wear markets, we compete with a number of well‑established and well‑financed companies with recognized brand names. These competitors may have a large and broad consumer base, established relationships with a broad set of suppliers and customers, strong brand recognition and significant financial, R&D, marketing, distribution and other resources which may exceed our own.

Our competitors may be able to create and maintain brand awareness and market share more quickly and effectively than we can. Our competitors may also be able to increase sales in new and existing markets faster than we do by emphasizing different distribution channels or through other methods, and many of our competitors have substantial resources to devote towards increasing sales. If we are unable to grow or maintain our competitive position in any of our product categories, it could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We may have limited opportunities for future growth in sales of golf balls, golf shoes and golf gloves.

We already have a significant share of worldwide sales of golf balls, golf shoes and golf gloves and the golf industry is very competitive. As such, gaining incremental market share quickly or at all may be limited given the competitive nature of the golf industry and other challenges to the golf industry. In the future, the overall dollar volume of worldwide sales of golf equipment, wear and gear may not grow or may decline which could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

A severe or prolonged economic downturn could adversely affect our customers’ financial condition, their levels of business activity and their ability to pay trade obligations.

We primarily sell our products to golf equipment retailers, such as on‑course golf shops, golf specialty stores and other qualified retailers, directly and to foreign distributors. We perform ongoing credit evaluations of our customers’ financial condition and generally require no collateral from these customers. However, a severe or prolonged downturn in the general economy could adversely affect the retail golf equipment market, which in turn would negatively impact the liquidity and cash flows of our customers, including the ability of such customers to obtain credit to finance purchases of our products and to pay their trade obligations. This could result in increased delinquent or uncollectible accounts for our customers as well as a decrease in orders for our products by such customers. A failure by our customers to pay a significant portion of outstanding accounts receivable balances on a timely basis or a decrease in orders from such customers could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

A decrease in corporate spending on our custom logo golf balls could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Custom imprinted golf balls, a majority of which are purchased by corporate customers, represented approximately 30% of our global net golf ball sales for the year ended December 31, 2018 . There has long been a strong connection between the business community and golf, but corporate spending on custom logoed balls has remained at lower levels since the 2008 financial crisis. If such corporate spending decreases further, it could impact the sales of our custom imprinted golf balls.

We depend on retailers and distributors to market and sell our products, and our failure to maintain and further develop our sales channels could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We primarily sell our products through retailers and distributors and depend on these third parties to market and sell our products to consumers. Any changes to our current mix of retailers and distributors could adversely affect our sales and could negatively affect both our brand image and our reputation. Our sales depend, in part, on retailers adequately displaying our products, including providing attractive space and merchandise displays in their stores, and training their sales personnel to sell our products. If our retailers and distributors are not successful in selling our products, our sales would decrease. Our retailers frequently offer products and services of our competitors in their stores. In addition, our success in growing our presence in existing and expanding into new international markets will depend on our ability to establish relationships with new retailers and distributors. If we do not maintain our relationship with existing retailers and distributors or develop relationships with new retailers and distributors, our ability to sell our products would be negatively impacted.

On a consolidated basis, no one customer that sells or distributes our products accounted for more than 10% of our consolidated net sales in the year ended December 31, 2018 . However, our top ten customers accounted for 19% of our consolidated net sales in the year ended December 31, 2018 . Accordingly, the loss of a small number of our large customers, or the reduction in business with one or more of these customers, could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. We do not currently have minimum purchase agreements with these large customers.

For example, in September 2016, one of our largest customers in recent years, a golf specialty retailer, announced bankruptcy proceedings, resulting in a significant interruption to our business in the second half of 2016 and the full year of 2017. Similar matters may materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Consolidation of retailers or concentration of retail market share among a few retailers may increase and concentrate our credit risk, put pressure on our margins and impair our ability to sell products.

The sporting goods and off‑course golf equipment retail markets in some countries, including the United States, are dominated by a few large retailers. Certain of these retailers have in the past increased their market share and may continue to do so in the future by expanding through acquisitions and construction of additional stores. Industry consolidation and correction has occurred in recent years and additional consolidation and correction is possible. These situations may result in a concentration of our credit risk with respect to our sales to such retailers, and, if any of these retailers were to experience a shortage of liquidity or other financial difficulties, or file for bankruptcy or receivership protection, it would increase the risk that their outstanding payables to us may not be paid. This consolidation may also result in larger retailers gaining increased leverage which may impact our margins. In addition, increasing market share concentration among one or a few retailers in a particular country or region increases the risk that if any one of them substantially reduces their purchases of our products, we may be unable to find a sufficient number of other retail outlets for our products to sustain the same level of sales. Any reduction in sales by our retailers could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Our business depends on strong brands, and if we are not able to maintain and enhance our brands we may be unable to sell our products.

Our brands have worldwide recognition and our success depends on our ability to maintain and enhance our brand image and reputation. In particular, we believe that maintaining and enhancing the Titleist and FootJoy brands is critical to maintaining and expanding our customer base. Maintaining, promoting and enhancing our brands may require us to make substantial investments in areas such as product innovation, product quality, intellectual property protection, marketing and employee training, and these investments may not have the desired impact on our brand image and reputation. Our business could be adversely impacted if we fail to achieve any of these objectives or if the reputation or image of any of our brands is tarnished or receives negative publicity. In addition, adverse publicity about regulatory or legal action against us could damage our reputation and brand image, undermine consumer confidence in us and reduce long‑term demand for our products, even if the regulatory or legal action is unfounded or not material to our operations. Also, as we seek to grow our presence in existing and expand into new geographic or product markets, consumers in these markets may not accept our brand image and may not be willing to pay a premium to purchase our products as compared to other brands. We anticipate that as our business continues to grow our presence in existing and expand into new markets, maintaining and enhancing our brands may become increasingly difficult and expensive. If we are unable to maintain or enhance the image of our brands, it could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Our business operations are subject to seasonal fluctuations, which could result in fluctuations in our operating results and stock price.

Our business is subject to seasonal fluctuations because golf is played primarily on a seasonal basis in most of the regions where we do business. In general, during the first quarter, we begin selling our products into the golf retail channel for the new golf season. This initial sell‑in generally continues into the second quarter. Our second‑quarter sales are significantly affected by the amount of sell‑through, in particular the amount of higher value discretionary purchases made by customers, which drives the level of reorders of our products sold‑in during the first quarter. Our third‑quarter sales are generally dependent on reorder business, and are generally less than the second quarter as many retailers begin decreasing their inventory levels in anticipation of the end of the golf season. Our fourth‑quarter sales are generally less than the other quarters due to the end of the golf season in many of our key markets, but can also be affected by key product launches, particularly golf clubs. Accordingly, our results of operations are likely to fluctuate significantly from period to period. This seasonality affects sales in each of our reportable segments differently. In general, however, because of this seasonality, a majority of our sales and most of our profitability generally occurs during the first half of the year. Results of operations in any period should not be considered indicative of the results to be expected for any future period. The seasonality of our business could be exacerbated by the adverse effects of unusual or severe weather conditions as well as by severe weather conditions caused or exacerbated by climate change.

Our business and results of operations are also subject to fluctuations based on the timing of new product introductions.

Our sales can also be affected by the launch timing of new products. Product introductions generally stimulate sales as the golf retail channel takes on inventory of new products. Reorders of these new products then depend on the rate of sell‑through. Announcements of new products can often cause our customers to defer purchasing additional golf equipment until our new products are available. Our varying product introduction cycles, which are described under “Item 7. – Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations—Key Factors Affecting Our Results of Operations – Cyclicality,” may cause our results of operations to fluctuate as each product line has different volumes, prices and margins.

We have significant international operations and are exposed to risks associated with doing business globally.

We sell and distribute our products directly in many key international markets in Europe, Asia, North America and elsewhere around the world. These activities have resulted and will continue to result in investments in inventory, accounts receivable, employees, corporate infrastructure and facilities. In addition, in the United States there are a limited number of suppliers of certain raw materials and components for our products as well as finished goods that we sell, and we have increasingly become more reliant on suppliers and vendors located outside of the United States. The operation of foreign distribution in our international markets, as well as the management of relationships with international suppliers and vendors, will continue to require the dedication of management and other resources. We also manufacture certain of our products outside of the United States, including some of our golf balls and substantially all of our golf gloves in Thailand and substantially all of our golf shoes through our joint venture in China.

The current U.S. administration has publicly supported certain potential tax, trade and tariff proposals, modifications to international trade policy and other changes which may affect U.S. trade relations with other countries. In addition, economic and political uncertainty continue to arise out of the June 23, 2016 vote in the United Kingdom that resulted in the decision to leave the European Union.  It is possible that these or other changes, if enacted, may impact or require us to modify our current business practices. At the present time, it is unclear as to the ultimate impact of these changes, policies or proposals and, as such, we are unable to determine the effect, if any, that such changes, policies or proposals would have on our business.

As a result of the aforementioned international business, we are exposed to increased risks inherent in conducting business outside of the United States.  In addition to the uncertainty and the foreign currency risks discussed above under “—Our operations are conducted worldwide and our results of operations are subject to currency transaction risk and currency translation risk that could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations,” these risks include:

Any violation of our policies or any applicable laws and regulations by our suppliers or manufacturers could interrupt or otherwise disrupt our sourcing, adversely affect our reputation or damage our brand image. While we do not control these suppliers or manufacturers or their labor practices, negative publicity regarding the management of facilities by, production methods of or materials used by any of our suppliers or manufacturers could adversely affect our reputation and sales and force us to locate alternative suppliers or manufacturing sources, which could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Failure to comply with laws, regulations and policies, including the FCPA or other applicable anti‑corruption legislation, could result in fines and criminal penalties and materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

A significant risk resulting from our global operations is compliance with a wide variety of U.S. federal and state and non‑U.S. laws, regulations and policies, including laws related to anti‑corruption, export and import compliance, anti‑trust and money laundering. The FCPA, the U.K. Bribery Act of 2010 and similar anti‑bribery laws in other jurisdictions generally prohibit companies and their intermediaries from making improper payments to government officials or other persons. There has been an increase in anti‑bribery law enforcement activity in recent years, with more frequent and aggressive investigations and enforcement proceedings by both the U.S. Department of Justice and the SEC, increased enforcement activity by non‑U.S. regulators, and increases in criminal and civil proceedings brought against companies and individuals. We operate in parts of the world that are recognized as having governmental and commercial corruption and in certain circumstances, strict compliance with anti‑bribery laws may conflict with local customs and practices. We cannot assure you that our internal control policies and procedures have protected or will always protect us from improper conduct of our employees or business partners. To the extent that we learn that any of our employees do not adhere to our internal control policies, we are committed to taking appropriate remedial action. In the event that we believe or have reason to believe that our employees or agents have or may have violated applicable laws, including anti‑corruption laws, we may be required to investigate or have outside counsel investigate the relevant facts and circumstances, and detecting, investigating and resolving actual or alleged violations can be expensive and require significant time and attention from senior management. Any violation of U.S. federal and state and non‑U.S. laws, regulations and policies could result in substantial fines, sanctions, civil and/or criminal penalties, and curtailment of operations in the U.S. or other applicable jurisdictions. In addition, actual or alleged violations could damage our reputation and ability to do business. Any of the foregoing could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Our business, financial condition and results of operations could be materially adversely affected if professional golfers do not endorse or use our products.

We establish relationships with professional golfers in order to use, validate and promote Titleist and FootJoy branded products. We have entered into endorsement arrangements with members of the various professional tours, including the PGA Tour, the Champions Tour, the LPGA Tour, the European PGA Tour, the Japan Golf Tour and the Korean PGA Tour. We believe that professional usage of our products validates the performance and quality of our products and contributes to retail sales. We therefore spend a significant amount of money to secure professional usage of our products. Many other companies, however, also aggressively seek the patronage of these professionals and offer many inducements, including significant cash incentives and specially designed products. There is a great deal of competition to secure the representation of tour professionals. As a result, it is expensive to attract and retain such tour professionals and we may lose the endorsement of these individuals, even prior to the expiration of the applicable contract term. The inducements offered by other companies could result in a decrease in usage of our products by professional golfers or limit our ability to attract other tour professionals. A decline in the level of professional usage of our products, or a significant increase in the cost to attract or retain endorsers, could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

The value of our brands and sales of our products could be diminished if we, the golfers who use our products or the golf industry in general are associated with negative publicity.

We sponsor a variety of golfers and feature those golfers in our advertising and marketing materials. We establish these relationships to develop, evaluate and promote our products, as well as establish product authenticity with consumers. Actions taken by golfers or tours associated with our products that harm the reputations of those golfers could also harm our brand image and impact our sales. We may also select golfers who may not perform at expected levels or who are not sufficiently marketable. If we are unable in the future to secure prominent golfers and arrange golfer endorsements of our products on terms we deem to be reasonable, we may be required to modify our marketing platform and to rely more heavily on other forms of marketing and promotion, which may not prove to be as effective or may result in additional costs.

If we inaccurately forecast demand for our products, we may manufacture insufficient or excess quantities, which could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

To reduce purchasing costs and ensure supply, we place orders with our suppliers in advance of the time period we expect to deliver our products. In addition, we plan our manufacturing capacity based upon the forecasted demand for our products. Forecasting the demand for our products is very difficult given the number of SKUs we offer and the amount of specification involved in each of our product categories. For example, in our golf shoe business, we offer a large variety of models as well as different styles and sizes for each model, including over 2,900 SKUs available for men in the United States alone. The nature of our business makes it difficult to adjust quickly our manufacturing capacity if actual demand for our products exceeds or is less than forecasted demand. Factors that could affect our ability to accurately forecast demand for our products include, among others:

If actual demand for our products exceeds the forecasted demand, we may not be able to produce sufficient quantities of new products in time to fulfill actual demand, which could limit our sales.

Any inventory levels in excess of consumer demand may result in inventory write‑downs and/or the sale of excess inventory at discounted prices.

We may experience a disruption in the service, or a significant increase in the cost, of our primary delivery and shipping services for our products and component parts or a significant disruption at shipping ports.

We use FedEx Corporation, or FedEx, for substantially all ground shipments of products to our U.S. customers. We use ocean shipping services and air carriers for most of our international shipments of products. In addition, many of the components we use to manufacture and assemble our products are shipped to us via ocean shipping and air carrier. If there are changes in trade or tariff laws which result in customs processing delays or any significant interruption in service by such providers or at shipping ports or airports, we may be unable to engage alternative suppliers or to receive or ship goods through

alternate sites in order to deliver our products or components in a timely and cost‑efficient manner. As a result, we could experience manufacturing delays, increased manufacturing and shipping costs, and lost sales as a result of missed delivery deadlines and product introduction and demand cycles. Any significant interruption in FedEx services, ship services, at shipping ports or air carrier services could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. Furthermore, if the cost of delivery or shipping services were to increase significantly and the additional costs could not be covered by product pricing it could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We rely on complex information systems for management of our manufacturing, distribution, sales and other functions. If our information systems fail to perform these functions adequately or if we experience an interruption in our operations, including a breach in cybersecurity, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be materially adversely affected.

All of our major operations, including manufacturing, distribution, sales and accounting, are dependent upon our complex information systems. Our information systems are vulnerable to damage or interruption from:

Any damage or significant disruption in the operation of such systems or the failure of our information systems to perform as expected would disrupt our business, which may result in decreased sales, increased overhead costs, excess inventory or product shortages which could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Cybersecurity risks could disrupt our operations and negatively impact our reputation.

There is growing concern over the security of personal and corporate information transmitted over the Internet, consumer identity theft and user privacy due to increasingly diverse and sophisticated threats to network, systems and data security. While we have implemented security measures, our computer systems may be susceptible to electronic or physical computer break‑ins, viruses and other disruptions and security breaches. Any perceived or actual unauthorized or inadvertent disclosure of personally‑identifiable information regarding visitors to our websites or otherwise or other breach or theft of the information we control, whether through a breach of our network by an unauthorized party, employee theft, misuse or error or otherwise, could harm our reputation, impair our ability to attract website visitors, or subject us to claims or litigation and require us to repair damages suffered by consumers, and materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

If the technology‑based systems that give consumers the ability to shop with us online do not function effectively, our ability to grow our eCommerce business globally could be adversely affected.

We are increasingly using websites and social media to interact with consumers and as a means to enhance their experience with our products, including through Vokey.com and ScottyCameron.com. We launched our FootJoy and Titleist eCommerce initiatives in the U.S. in 2016. In Canada and certain European markets, we launched eCommerce websites for FootJoy in 2017. More recently in the U.S. in 2018, we launched an eCommerce website for FootJoy's luxury brand, FJ1857.com and, in the United Kingdom and Japanese markets, we launched eCommerce websites for Titleist golf balls. In our eCommerce services, we process, store and transmit customer data. We also collect consumer data through certain marketing activities. Failure to prevent or mitigate data loss or other security breaches, including breaches of our vendors’ technology and systems, could expose us or consumers to a risk of loss or misuse of such information, result in litigation or potential liability for us and otherwise materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. Further, our eCommerce business is subject to general business regulations and laws, as well as regulations and laws specifically governing the Internet, eCommerce and electronic devices. Existing and future laws and regulations, or new interpretations of these laws, may adversely affect our ability to conduct our eCommerce business.

Any failure on our part to provide private, secure, attractive, effective, reliable, user‑friendly eCommerce platforms that offer a wide assortment of merchandise with rapid delivery options and that continually meet the changing expectations of online shoppers could place us at a competitive disadvantage, result in the loss of eCommerce and other sales, harm our reputation with consumers, have an adverse impact on the growth of our eCommerce business globally and could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Risks specific to our eCommerce business also include diversion of sales from our trade partners’ brick and mortar stores, difficulty in recreating the in‑store experience through direct channels and liability for online content. Our failure to successfully respond to these risks might adversely affect sales in our eCommerce business, as well as damage our reputation and brands.

Goodwill and identifiable intangible assets represent a significant portion of our total assets and any impairment of these assets could negatively impact our results of operations and shareholders’ equity.

Our goodwill and identifiable intangible assets, which consist of goodwill from acquisitions, trademarks, patents, completed technology, customer relationships, licensing fees, and other intangible assets, represented 41% of our total assets as of December 31, 2018 .

Accounting rules require the evaluation of our goodwill and intangible assets with indefinite lives for impairment at least annually or whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate that the carrying value of such assets may not be recoverable. Such indicators include a significant adverse change in customer demand or business climate that could affect the value of an asset; general economic conditions, such as increasing Treasury rates or unexpected changes in gross domestic product growth; a change in our market shares; budget‑to‑actual performance and consistency of operations margins and capital expenditures; a product recall or an adverse action or assessment by a regulator; or changes in management or key personnel.

Goodwill and identifiable intangible assets are deemed impaired when their carrying value exceeds their fair value.  If a significant amount of our goodwill and identifiable intangible assets were deemed to be impaired, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be materially adversely affected.

Our current senior management team and other key employees are critical to our success and if we are unable to attract and/or retain key employees and hire qualified management, technical and manufacturing personnel, our ability to compete could be harmed.

Our ability to maintain our competitive position is dependent to a large degree on the efforts and skills of our senior management team and our other key employees. Our executives are experienced and highly qualified with strong reputations and relationships in the golf industry, and we believe that our management team enables us to pursue our strategic goals. Our other key sales, marketing, R&D, manufacturing, intellectual property protection and support personnel are also critical to the success of our business. The loss of the services of any of our senior management team or other key employees could disrupt our operations and delay the development and introduction of our products which could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. We do not have employment agreements with any of the members of our senior management team, except for David Maher, our President and CEO. In addition, we do not have “key person” life insurance policies covering any of our officers or other key employees.

Our future success depends upon our ability to attract and retain our executive officers and other key sales, marketing, R&D, manufacturing, intellectual property protection and support personnel and any failure to do so could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Additionally, we compete with many mature and prosperous companies that have far greater financial resources than we do and thus can offer current or perspective employees more lucrative compensation packages than we can.

Sales of our products by unauthorized retailers or distributors could adversely affect our authorized distribution channels and harm our reputation.

Some of our products find their way to unauthorized outlets or distribution channels. This “gray market” for our products can undermine authorized retailers and foreign wholesale distributors who promote and support our products, and can injure the image of our company in the minds of our customers and consumers. While we have taken some lawful steps to limit commerce of our products in the “gray market” in both the United States and abroad, we have not been successful in halting such commerce.

We may not be successful in our efforts to grow our presence in existing international markets and expand into additional international markets.

We intend to grow our presence in and continue to expand into select international markets where there are the necessary and sufficient conditions in place to support such expansion. These growth and expansion plans will require significant management attention and resources and may be unsuccessful. In addition, to achieve satisfactory performance in international locations, it may be necessary to locate physical facilities, such as regional offices, in the foreign market and to hire employees who are familiar with such foreign markets while also being qualified to market our products. We may not be

successful in growing our presence in or expanding into any such international markets or in generating sales from such foreign operations.

We have historically grown our business by expanding into additional international markets, but such growth does not always work out as anticipated and there is no assurance that we will be successful in the existing international markets where we are currently seeking to grow our presence, including China, or the new international markets we plan to enter. Our business, financial condition and results of operations could be materially adversely affected if we do not achieve the international growth that we anticipate.

We are exposed to a number of different tax uncertainties, including potential changes in tax laws, unanticipated tax liabilities and limitations on utilization of tax attributes after any change of control, which could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We are subject to income taxes in the U.S. (federal and state) and numerous foreign jurisdictions. Tax laws, regulations, and administrative practices in various jurisdictions may be subject to significant change, with or without notice, due to economic, political, and other conditions, and significant judgment is required in evaluating and estimating our provision and accruals for these taxes. Changes to or promulgation of new tax laws, interpretive regulations, other tax or accounting guidance could significantly impact how we are taxed on both U.S. and foreign earnings. Transactions that we have arranged in light of current tax rules could have adverse consequences if those tax rules change, and the imposition of any new or increased tariffs, duties and taxes could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Our effective tax rates in the future could be adversely affected by a number of factors, including changes in the expected geographic mix of earnings in countries with differing statutory tax rates, changes in the valuation and realizability of deferred tax assets and liabilities, changes to or issuance of new tax laws, interpretive regulations, notices or other administrative practices, principles, or guidance, changes to or issuance of new accounting guidance, changes in foreign currency exchange rates, entry into new businesses and geographies, changes to our existing businesses and operations, acquisitions (including integrations) and investments and how they are financed, changes in our stock price, and the outcome of income tax audits in various jurisdictions around the world. Finally, foreign governments may enact tax laws in response to the recently enacted U.S. tax reform legislation, commonly referred to as the U.S. Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 (the “2017 Tax Act”) that could result in further changes to global taxation and materially affect our financial position and results of operations.

The 2017 Tax Act significantly changed how the U.S. taxes corporations. The 2017 Tax Act requires complex computations to be performed that were not previously required in U.S. tax law, judgments to be made in interpretation of the provisions of the 2017 Tax Act, estimates in calculations, and the preparation and analysis of information not previously relevant or regularly produced. The U.S. Treasury Department, the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”), and other standard-setting bodies could interpret or issue guidance on how provisions of the 2017 Tax Act will be applied or otherwise administered that is different from our interpretation.

Under Sections 382 and 383 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, or the Code, if a corporation undergoes an “ownership change,” the corporation’s ability to use its pre‑change net operating loss carryforwards and other pre‑change tax attributes, such as foreign tax credits and research tax credits, to offset its post‑change income and taxes may be limited. In general, an “ownership change” generally occurs if there is a cumulative change in our ownership by “5‑percent shareholders” that exceeds 50 percentage points over a rolling three‑year period. Similar rules apply under state tax laws. We may experience an ownership change from future transactions in our stock, some of which may be outside our control. As a result, if we earn net taxable income, our ability to use pre‑change net operating loss carryforwards or other pre‑change tax attributes to offset U.S. federal and state taxable income and taxes may be subject to incremental limitations.

We are engaged in a number of intercompany transactions across multiple tax jurisdictions. Although we believe that these transactions reflect the accurate economic allocation of profit and that the proper transfer pricing documentation is in place, the profit allocation and transfer pricing terms and conditions may be scrutinized by local tax authorities during an audit and any resulting changes may impact our mix of earnings in countries with differing statutory tax rates.

We are also subject to the audit or examination of our tax returns by the IRS and other tax authorities whereby tax authorities could impose additional tariffs, duties, taxes, penalties and interest on us. The determination of our worldwide provision for income taxes and other tax liabilities requires significant judgment, and there are many transactions and calculations where the ultimate tax determination is uncertain. Although we believe our estimates are reasonable and our tax provisions are adequate, the final determination of tax audits and any related disputes could be materially different from our historical income tax provisions and accruals. The results of audits or related disputes could have an adverse effect on our financial statements and our financial results for the period or periods for which the applicable final determinations are made.

Portions of our operations are subject to a reduced tax rate or are free of tax under various tax holidays and rulings that expire in whole or in part from time to time. These tax holidays and rulings may be extended when certain conditions are met, or terminated if certain conditions are not met. If the tax holidays and rulings are not extended, or if we fail to satisfy the conditions of the reduced tax rate, then our effective tax rate would increase in the future.

Changes to the overall international tax environment, as well as changes to some of the tax laws of the foreign jurisdictions in which we operate, are expected as a result of the Base Erosion and Profit Shifting project (“BEPS”), undertaken by the Organisation for Economic Co‑operation and Development (“OECD”). The OECD, which represents a coalition of member countries that encompass many of the jurisdictions in which we operate, has promulgated recommended changes to numerous long standing international tax principles through its BEPS project. It is expected that jurisdictions in which we do business may continue to react to the BEPS initiative by enacting tax legislation, and our business could be materially impacted. Our transfer pricing arrangements and principles are reviewed annually; changes may need to be incorporated as the BEPS principles are fully implemented on a global basis.

Our insurance policies may not provide adequate levels of coverage against all claims and we may incur losses that are not covered by our insurance.

We maintain insurance of the type and in amounts that we believe is commercially reasonable and that is available to businesses in our industry. We carry various types of insurance, including general liability, auto liability, workers’ compensation, cyber and excess umbrella, from highly rated insurance carriers on all of our properties. We believe that the policy specifications and insured limits are adequate for foreseeable losses with terms and conditions that are reasonable and customary for similar businesses and are within industry standards. Nevertheless, market forces beyond our control could limit the scope of the insurance coverage that we can obtain in the future or restrict our ability to buy insurance coverage at reasonable rates. We cannot predict the level of the premiums that we may be required to pay for subsequent insurance coverage, the level of any deductible and/or self‑insurance retention applicable thereto, the level of aggregate coverage available or the availability of coverage for specific risks.

In the event of a substantial loss, the insurance coverage that we carry may not be sufficient to compensate us for the losses we incur or any costs for which we are responsible. In addition, there are types of losses we may incur that cannot be insured against or that we believe are not commercially reasonable to insure. For example, we maintain business interruption insurance, but there can be no assurance that the coverage for a severe or prolonged business interruption would be adequate and the deductibles for such insurance may be high. These losses, if they occur, could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We are subject to product liability, warranty and recall claims, and our insurance coverage may not cover such claims.

Our products expose us to warranty claims and product liability claims if products we manufacture, sell or design actually or allegedly fail to perform as expected, or the use of those products results, or is alleged to result, in personal injury, death or property damage. Further, we or one or more of our suppliers might not adhere to product safety requirements or quality control standards, and products may be shipped to retail partners before the issue is identified. If this occurs, we may have to recall our products to address performance, compliance or other safety related issues. The financial costs we may incur in connection with these recalls typically would include the cost of the product being replaced or repaired and associated labor and administrative costs and, if applicable, governmental fines and/or penalties.

Product recalls can harm our reputation and cause us to lose customers, particularly if those recalls cause consumers to question the performance, quality, safety or reliability of our products. Substantial costs incurred or lost sales caused by future product recalls could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. Conversely, not issuing a recall or not issuing a recall on a timely basis can harm our reputation and cause us to lose customers for the same reasons as expressed above. Product recalls, withdrawals, repairs or replacements may also increase the amount of competition that we face.

There is no assurance that we can successfully defend or settle all product liability cases. Our insurance policies provide coverage against claims resulting from alleged injuries arising from our products sustained during the respective policy periods, subject to policy terms and conditions. There can be no assurance that this coverage will be renewed or otherwise remain available in the future, that our insurers will be financially viable when payment of a claim is required, that the cost of such insurance will not increase, or that this insurance will ultimately prove to be adequate under our various policies. Furthermore, future rate increases might make insurance uneconomical for us to maintain. These potential insurance problems or any adverse outcome in any liability suit could create increased expenses which could harm our business. We are unable to predict the nature of product liability claims that may be made against us in the future with respect to injuries, diseases or other illnesses resulting from the use of our products or the materials incorporated in our products.

Our actual product warranty obligations could materially differ from historical rates, which would oblige us to revise our estimated warranty liability accordingly. Adverse determinations of material product liability and warranty claims made against us could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations and could harm the reputation of our brands.

We may be subject to litigation and other regulatory proceedings which may result in the expense of time and resources and could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

From time to time, we are involved in lawsuits and regulatory actions relating to our business, including those relating to intellectual property, antitrust, commercial and employment matters. Due to the inherent uncertainties of litigation and regulatory proceedings, we cannot accurately predict the likelihood of such lawsuits or regulatory proceedings occurring or the ultimate outcome of any such proceedings. An unfavorable outcome could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. In addition, any such proceeding, regardless of its merits, could divert management’s attention from our operations and result in substantial legal fees.

We are subject to environmental, health and safety laws and regulations, which could subject us to liabilities, increase our costs or restrict our operations in the future.

Our properties and operations are subject to a number of environmental, health and safety laws and regulations in each of the jurisdictions in which we operate. These laws and regulations govern, among other things, air emissions, water discharges, handling and disposal of solid and hazardous substances and wastes, soil and groundwater contamination and employee health and safety. Our failure to comply with such environmental, health and safety laws and regulations could result in substantial civil or criminal fines or penalties or enforcement actions, including regulatory or judicial orders enjoining or curtailing operations or requiring remedial or corrective measures, installation of pollution control equipment or other actions.

We may also be subject to liability for environmental investigations and cleanups, including at properties that we currently or previously owned or operated, even if such contamination was not caused by us, and we may face claims alleging harm to health or property or natural resource damages arising out of contamination or exposure to hazardous substances. We may also be subject to similar liabilities and claims in connection with locations at which hazardous substances or wastes we have generated have been stored, treated, otherwise managed, or disposed.

We use certain substances and generate certain wastes that may be deemed hazardous or toxic under environmental laws, and we from time to time have incurred, and in the future may incur, costs related to cleaning up contamination resulting from historic uses of certain of our current or former properties or our treatment, storage or disposal of wastes at facilities owned by others. The costs of investigation, remediation or removal of such materials may be substantial, and the presence of those substances, or the failure to remediate a property properly, may impair our ability to use, transfer or obtain financing regarding our property. Liability in many situations may be imposed not only without regard to fault, but may also be joint and several, so that we may be held responsible for more than our share of the contamination or other damages, or even for the entire amount.

Environmental conditions at or related to our current or former properties or operations, and/or the costs of complying with current or future environmental, health and safety requirements (which have become more stringent and complex over time) could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We may require additional capital in the future and we cannot give any assurance that such capital will be available at all or available on terms acceptable to us and, if it is available, additional capital raised by us may dilute holders of our common stock.

We may need to raise additional funds through public or private debt or equity financings in order to:

Any additional capital raised through the sale of equity or securities convertible into equity will dilute the percentage ownership of holders of our common stock. Capital raised through debt financing would require us to make periodic interest payments and may impose restrictive covenants on the conduct of our business. Furthermore, additional financings may not be

available on terms favorable to us, or at all, especially during periods of adverse economic conditions, which could make it more difficult or impossible for us to obtain funding for the operation of our business, for making additional investments in product development and for repaying outstanding indebtedness. Our failure to obtain additional funding could prevent us from making expenditures that may be required to grow our business or maintain our operations.

If our estimates or judgments relating to our critical accounting policies prove to be incorrect, our financial condition and results of operations could be adversely affected.

The preparation of financial statements in conformity with U.S. GAAP requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the amounts reported in the consolidated financial statements and accompanying notes. We base our estimates on historical experience and on various other assumptions that we believe to be reasonable under the circumstances, as discussed under “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations,” Item 7 of Part II, included elsewhere in this report. The results of these estimates form the basis for making judgments about the carrying values of assets, liabilities and equity, and the amount of revenue and expenses that are not readily apparent from other sources. Significant assumptions and estimates used in preparing our consolidated financial statements include those related to revenue recognition, allowance for doubtful accounts, inventory reserves, impairment of goodwill, indefinite‑lived and long‑lived assets, pension and other post‑retirement benefits, provisions for income taxes, valuation allowances for deferred tax assets, share‑based compensation and derivatives. Our financial condition and results of operations may be adversely affected if our assumptions change or if actual circumstances differ from those in our assumptions, which could cause our results of operations to fall below the expectations of securities analysts and investors, resulting in a decline in the price of our common stock.

Terrorist activities and international political instability may decrease demand for our products and disrupt our business.

Terrorist activities and armed conflicts could have an adverse effect upon the United States or worldwide economy and could cause decreased demand for our products. If such events disrupt domestic or international air, ground or sea shipments, or the operation of our suppliers or our manufacturing facilities, our ability to obtain the materials necessary to manufacture products and to deliver customer orders would be harmed, which could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. Such events can negatively impact tourism, which could adversely affect our sales to retailers at resorts and other vacation destinations. In addition, the occurrence of political instability and/or terrorist activities generally restricts travel to and from the affected areas, making it more difficult in general to manage our global operations.

Our business could be harmed by the occurrence of natural disasters or pandemic diseases.

The occurrence of a natural disaster, such as an earthquake, tsunami, fire, flood or hurricane, or the outbreak of a pandemic disease, could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. A natural disaster or a pandemic disease could adversely affect both the demand for our products as well as the supply of the raw materials or components used to make our products. Demand for golf products also could be negatively affected if consumers in the affected regions restrict their recreational activities and discretionary spending and as tourism to those areas declines. If our suppliers experience a significant disruption in their business as a result of a natural disaster or pandemic disease, our ability to obtain the necessary raw materials or components to make products could be materially adversely affected. In addition, the occurrence of a natural disaster or the outbreak of a pandemic disease generally restricts travel to and from the affected areas, making it more difficult in general to manage our global operations.

Risks Related to Our Indebtedness

Our substantial leverage could adversely affect our ability to raise additional capital to fund our operations, limit our ability to react to changes in the economy or in our industry, expose us to interest rate risk to the extent of our variable rate debt, and prevent us from meeting our obligations under our indebtedness.

As of December 31, 2018 , we had $385.8 million of indebtedness. As of December 31, 2018 , we had available borrowings under our revolving credit facility of $263.6 million after giving effect to $11.4 million of outstanding letters of credit and we had available borrowings remaining under our local credit facilities of $62.6 million . As of December 31, 2018, we have outstanding interest rate swap contracts to hedge the interest rate risk on $185.0 million of our variable rate debt.

Our high degree of leverage could have important consequences for us, including:

Servicing our indebtedness will require a significant amount of cash. Our ability to generate sufficient cash depends on many factors, some of which are not within our control.

Our ability to make payments on our indebtedness and to fund planned capital expenditures will depend on our ability to generate cash in the future. To a certain extent, this is subject to general economic, financial, competitive, legislative, regulatory, and other factors that are beyond our control. If we are unable to generate sufficient cash flows to service our debt and meet our other commitments, we may need to restructure or refinance all or a portion of our debt, sell material assets or operations, or raise additional debt or equity capital. We may not be able to effect any of these actions on a timely basis, on commercially reasonable terms, or at all, and these actions may not be sufficient to meet our capital requirements. In addition, any refinancing of our indebtedness could be at a higher interest rate, and the terms of our existing or future debt arrangements may restrict us from affecting any of these alternatives. Our failure to make the required interest and principal payments on our indebtedness would result in an event of default under the agreement governing such indebtedness, which may result in the acceleration of some or all of our outstanding indebtedness.

Despite our high indebtedness level, we and our subsidiaries will still be able to incur significant additional amounts of debt, which could further exacerbate the risks associated with our substantial indebtedness.

We and our subsidiaries may be able to incur substantial additional indebtedness in the future. Although the agreements governing our indebtedness contain restrictions on the incurrence of additional indebtedness, these restrictions are subject to a number of significant qualifications and exceptions and, under certain circumstances, the amount of indebtedness that could be incurred in compliance with these restrictions could be substantial.

Our credit agreements contain restrictions that limit our flexibility in operating our business.

The agreements governing our outstanding indebtedness contain various covenants that limit our ability to engage in specified types of transactions. These covenants limit the ability of our subsidiaries to, among other things:

The covenants contained in the credit agreement governing our senior secured credit facilities (which we refer to in this report as “our credit agreement”) also restrict the ability of Acushnet Holdings Corp. to engage in certain mergers or consolidations or engage in any activities other than permitted activities. A breach of any of these covenants, among others, could result in a default under one or more of these agreements, including as a result of cross default provisions, and, in the case of our secured credit facility, following any applicable cure period, would permit the lenders thereunder to, among other things, declare the principal, accrued interest and other obligations thereunder to be immediately due and payable and declare the commitment of each lender thereunder to make loans and issue letters of credit to be terminated.

We utilize derivative financial instruments to reduce our exposure to market risks from changes in interest rates on our variable rate indebtedness and we are exposed to risks related to counterparty credit worthiness or non‑performance of these instruments.

We enter into pay‑fixed interest rate swaps to limit our exposure to changes in variable interest rates. Such instruments may result in economic losses should interest rates decline to a point lower than our fixed rate commitments. We are exposed to credit‑related losses, which could impact the results of operations in the event of fluctuations in the fair value of the interest rate swaps due to a change in the credit worthiness or non‑performance by the counterparties to the interest rate swaps.

Risks Related to the Magnus Term Loan

Fila Korea Co. Ltd. (“Fila Korea”) and Magnus Holdings Co., Ltd. (“Magnus”) have obligations under the New Magnus Loans (as defined below), including the satisfaction of a Loan-to-Value covenant, and Fila Korea and/or Magnus may have obligations under any equity or debt used to refinance the New Magnus Loans, that may be satisfied by a sale, foreclosure, liquidation or other transfer of our common stock, which could materially decrease the market value of our common stock and may result in a change of control of our company.  

On September 22, 2017, Magnus entered into a loan agreement (the “New Magnus Loan Agreement”) with certain Korean financial institutions (the “New Magnus Lenders”) which provides for (i) three year term loans in an aggregate amount of Korean Won 399.2 billion (equivalent to approximately $358.1 million , using an exchange rate of $1.00 = Korean Won 1,114.76 as of December 31, 2018 ) (the “New Magnus Term Loans”) and (ii) a revolving credit loan of Korean Won 10.0 billion (equivalent to approximately $9.0 million , using an exchange rate of $1.00 = Korean Won 1,114.76 as of December 31, 2018 ) (the “New Magnus Revolving Loan” and, together with the New Magnus Term Loans, the “New Magnus Loans”). The New Magnus Loans are secured by a pledge on all of our common stock owned by Magnus, which consists of 39,345,151 shares (the “Magnus Shares”), or 52.6% of our outstanding common stock as of December 31, 2018 . The shares of our common stock owned by Magnus are its only assets.

Under the New Magnus Loan Agreement, Magnus is required to maintain a specified loan-to-value ratio (“LTV Ratio”), which is tested monthly, based on (1) the amount outstanding under the New Magnus Loans on each applicable calculation date divided by (2)(a) the trading-volume-weighted arithmetic mean of the closing price of shares of our common stock on the New York Stock Exchange during the applicable calculation period multiplied by (b) the number of shares of our common stock that are subject to the pledge multiplied by (c) the average exchange rate between U.S. dollars and Korean Won announced by Seoul Money Brokerage during the applicable calculation period. If the LTV Ratio as of any applicable calculation date exceeds 75%, which may occur due to fluctuations in the price of our common stock and/or fluctuations in the exchange rate between U.S. dollars and Korean Won, either of which may be due to events outside our control, Magnus will be in breach of the New Magnus Loan Agreement. Any such breach may, subject to applicable grace periods and cure rights, result in an event of default that gives the New Magnus Lenders the right to accelerate the maturity of the New Magnus Loans. See our Current Report on Form 8-K filed on September 22, 2017 for a description of the terms of the New Magnus Loans.

It is expected that a portion of the interest payments on the New Magnus Loans, and potential future dividend or interest obligations under any equity or debt used to refinance the New Magnus Loans, will be funded using proceeds from dividends, if any, received on our common stock. See “Item 5. – Market for Registrant’s Common Equity, Related Stockholder Matters and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities – Dividend Policy.” There can be no assurance that we will be able to make such dividend payments on our common stock. See “Risks Related to Ownership of Our Common Stock— We cannot assure you that we will pay dividends on our common stock, and our indebtedness and other factors could limit our ability to pay dividends on our common stock” below. There can be no assurance that Magnus will be able to make the interest payments on the New Magnus Loans, or any potential future dividend or interest obligations under any equity or debt used to refinance the New Magnus Loans. If Magnus is unable to pay interest on the New Magnus Loans on an interest payment date, the principal and accrued interest on the New Magnus Loans becomes automatically due and payable. At maturity (or an earlier date if subject to acceleration), Magnus will be required to raise additional funds to pay the additional amounts of interest incurred, which it may be unable to do. There may be similar obligations under any financing used to refinance the New Magnus Loans in the future.

If the LTV Ratio covenant or other applicable provisions of the New Magnus Loan Agreement are breached and the New Magnus Loans are accelerated, or if Fila Korea or Magnus are unable to make payments on the New Magnus Loans when due or are unable to raise the funds necessary to pay the amounts owed on the New Magnus Loans at maturity (or an earlier date if subject to acceleration), or if Magnus otherwise fails to pay the amounts due on the New Magnus Loans at maturity (or an earlier date if subject to acceleration), the New Magnus Lenders can foreclose on the Magnus Shares. Any such foreclosure may be undertaken in accordance with Korean law and may result, under certain circumstances, in the sale or other transfer of up to 52.6% of our common stock. See “The creditor and insolvency laws of Korea are different from U.S. laws and the outcome of any foreclosure, liquidation, bankruptcy or other restructuring proceeding may be unpredictable” below. Any such sale could have a significant impact on our shareholding structure and our corporate governance and could materially decrease the market price of shares of our common stock. In addition, the perception that such a sale could occur could materially depress the market price of shares of our common stock. See “Risks Related to Ownership of Our Common Stock—Future sales, or the perception of future sales, by us or our existing shareholders in the public market could cause the market price for our common stock to decline” below. There may be similar obligations under any financing used to refinance the New Magnus Loans in the future and failure to satisfy such obligations could result in the same consequences as discussed above.

In addition, prior to any foreclosure, Fila Korea may decide to sell or otherwise transfer all, or a significant portion, of our common stock owned by Magnus in order to meet the obligations of Magnus under the New Magnus Loans, including to satisfy the LTV Ratio covenant, or under any future financing used to refinance the New Magnus Loans. Any such sale, or the perception that such a sale could occur, could have a significant impact on our shareholding structure and our corporate governance and could materially decrease the market price of shares of our common stock. In connection with our initial public offering, we entered into a registration rights agreement with Magnus and certain other pre-IPO shareholders. The New Magnus Lenders will assume Magnus’ rights under the registration rights agreement in the event of a foreclosure or other transfer of the pledged shares of our common stock pursuant to the New Magnus Loans. See “Certain Relationships and Related Party Transactions—Registration Rights Agreement” in our Definitive Proxy Statement on Schedule 14A filed on April 28, 2017.

Any of the potential sales, foreclosures, liquidations or other transfers of our common stock discussed above may result in a change of control under certain outstanding agreements, including as a result of the acquisition of a significant portion of our common stock by any individual, entity or group, which could result in a default under such agreements. Under our credit agreement, it is a change of control if any person (other than certain permitted parties, including Fila Korea) becomes the beneficial owner of 35% or more of our outstanding common stock. In the event of a foreclosure on the pledged shares of our common stock under the New Magnus Loans, if, in the reasonable opinion of the New Magnus Lenders, foreclosure of 35% of our outstanding common stock less one share of our common stock (the “Foreclosure Threshold Amount”) will be sufficient to fully satisfy the principal and interest of the New Magnus Loans, only the Foreclosure Threshold Amount will be permitted for such foreclosure. If the Foreclosure Threshold Amount is insufficient to fully satisfy the principal and interest of the New Magnus Loans, there will be no limitation on the amount of our pledged shares of common stock that may be foreclosed. As a result, if the New Magnus Lenders or a third party were to acquire beneficial ownership of 35% or more of our outstanding common stock pursuant to an event of default under the New Magnus Loans, it would result in a change of control under our credit agreement, which is an event of default that could result in the acceleration of all outstanding indebtedness and the termination of all commitments under our credit agreement and would allow the lenders under our credit agreement to enforce their rights with respect to the collateral granted by us, including the stock of our subsidiary, Acushnet Company. Upon the exercise of such rights, it is uncertain whether we and our subsidiary, Acushnet Company, would be able to refinance the indebtedness and replace the commitments under our credit agreement on comparable terms or at all. If we are unable to refinance our credit agreement, we may need to dispose of assets or operations or issue equity to obtain necessary funds to repay the outstanding indebtedness under our credit agreement. The resulting impairment of our liquidity position could also materially depress our stock price. In addition, a change of control under our outstanding equity award agreements and other employment arrangements may result in the vesting of outstanding equity awards and the acceleration of benefits or other payments under certain employment arrangements. A change of control may also result in a default or other negative consequence under our other outstanding agreements or instruments. See Item 7. of Part II “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations—Liquidity and Capital Resources.”

Magnus’ ability to pay the amounts owed on, or to refinance, the New Magnus Loans on or prior to maturity may be affected by general economic, financial, competitive, legislative, regulatory, business, geopolitical and other factors beyond its control. We cannot assure you that future borrowings or equity financing will be available for the payment or refinancing of the New Magnus Loans by Magnus. If Magnus is unable to pay the amounts owed on, or to refinance, the New Magnus Loans on or prior to maturity, it could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and the market price of our common stock. In addition, any inability by Magnus to take affirmative steps to refinance the New Magnus Loans as the maturity date nears could also have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and the market price of our common stock.

The interests of Magnus, Fila Korea and the New Magnus Lenders may conflict with other holders of our common stock.  

As of December 31, 2018 , Magnus, which is wholly‑owned by Fila Korea, beneficially owns approximately 52.6% of our common stock. Fila Korea is able to control the election and removal of our directors and thereby effectively determine, among other things, the payment of dividends, our corporate and management policies, including potential mergers or acquisitions or asset sales, amendment of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation or amended and restated bylaws, and other significant corporate transactions for so long as Magnus retains significant ownership of us. So long as Magnus continues to own a significant amount of our voting power, even if such amount is less than 50%, Fila Korea will continue to be able to strongly influence or effectively control our decisions. The interests of Fila Korea and Magnus may not coincide with the interests of other holders of our common stock.

By controlling the election and removal of our directors, Fila Korea is able to effectively determine the payment of dividends on our common stock. In light of its interest obligations under the New Magnus Loans, and potential future dividend or interest obligations under any equity or debt used to refinance the New Magnus Loans, Magnus may cause us to pay dividends on our common stock at times or in amounts that may not be in the best interest of us or other holders of our common

stock. See “Risks Related to Ownership of our Common Stock—We cannot assure you that we will pay dividends on our common stock, and our indebtedness and other factors could limit our ability to pay dividends on our common stock” below.

In the ordinary course of its business activities, Fila Korea and its affiliates may engage in activities where their interests conflict with our interests or those of our shareholders. Except as may be limited by applicable law, Fila Korea and its affiliates will not have any duty to refrain from competing directly with us or engaging, directly or indirectly, in the same business activities or similar business activities or lines of business in which we operate. Fila Korea and its affiliates also may pursue acquisition opportunities that may be complementary to our business and, as a result, those acquisition opportunities may not be available to us. In addition, Fila Korea and its affiliates may have an interest in us pursuing acquisitions, divestitures and other transactions that, in its judgment, could enhance its investment, even though such transactions might involve risks to you.

In addition, the concentration of our ownership held by Magnus may delay, deter or prevent possible changes in control of the company or a change in the composition of our board of directors and could preclude any unsolicited acquisition of us, which may reduce the value of an investment in our common stock.

Furthermore, the New Magnus Lenders, as lenders under the New Magnus Loans, and any potential future lenders of debt used to refinance the New Magnus Loans, may also become direct owners of our common stock as a result of their exercise of remedies or otherwise. The interests of the New Magnus Lenders, or such potential future lenders, may not coincide with the interests of other holders of our common stock.

We and our board of directors will have no power to direct or influence the affairs of Magnus. In particular, we will have no power with respect to the disposition of shares of our common stock by Fila Korea, Magnus or the New Magnus Lenders (whether in connection with any exercise of remedies by the New Magnus Lenders or otherwise).

Fila Korea has in the past pledged the common stock of Magnus to its lenders and Fila Korea may pledge or borrow against shares of the common stock of Magnus in the future.  

In the past, in order to fund the operations of or otherwise provide financing for its own business, Fila Korea has pledged its interest in the common stock of Magnus, and Fila Korea may pledge or borrow against shares of the common stock of Magnus in the future. If Fila Korea defaults under any such pledge or borrowing and the lenders foreclose on the pledged shares of Magnus common stock, they may seek to sell the pledged shares of Magnus common stock, or seek to acquire and to sell a portion of our common stock owned by Magnus. Any such sale, or the perception that such a sale could occur, could alter the voting power of Magnus directly and of us indirectly, and/or decrease the market price of shares of our common stock. The interests of the secured parties who exercise foreclosure may differ from those of other holders of our common stock.

The creditor and insolvency laws of Korea are different from U.S. bankruptcy laws and the outcome of any foreclosure, liquidation, bankruptcy or other restructuring proceeding may be unpredictable.  

Fila Korea and Magnus are organized under the laws of the Republic of Korea. The creditor, bankruptcy, insolvency and other relevant laws of Korea are materially different from those of the United States. Any foreclosure, liquidation, bankruptcy or other restructuring proceeding involving Fila Korea or Magnus may be unpredictable and would not involve the same timing or procedures, and may not result in the same outcome, as a proceeding under U.S. law.

We are a “controlled company” within the meaning of the rules of the NYSE. As a result, we will qualify for exemptions from certain corporate governance requirements that would otherwise provide protection to shareholders of other companies.

Under the corporate governance standards of the NYSE rules, a company of which more than 50% of the voting power is held by an individual, group, or another company is a “controlled company” and may elect not to comply with certain corporate governance requirements, including:

Magnus, which is wholly‑owned by Fila Korea, controls 39,345,151 shares, or approximately 52.6% , of our common stock as of December 31, 2018 . As a result, we qualify as a “controlled company” within the meaning of the corporate governance standards of the NYSE. Although we do not currently avail ourselves of exemptions available to controlled companies and do not currently expect to avail ourselves of these exemptions, we may utilize one or more of these exemptions in the future. As a result, we may not have a majority of independent directors, our nominating/corporate governance committee and compensation committee may not consist entirely of independent directors, and such committees will not be subject to annual performance evaluations. Accordingly, you may not have the same protections afforded to shareholders of companies that are subject to all of the corporate governance requirements of the NYSE.

In addition, the NYSE adopted listing standards, which were approved by the SEC in 2013, that impose additional requirements pertaining to compensation committee independence and the role and disclosure of compensation consultants and other advisers to the compensation committee that require, among other things, that:

Although we do not currently avail ourselves of the exemptions from these compensation committee requirements or intend to do so, as a “controlled company,” we are not subject to these compensation committee independence requirements.

Risks Related to Ownership of Our Common Stock

The market price of shares of our common stock may be volatile, which could cause the value of your investment to decline.

The market price of our common stock may be highly volatile and could be subject to wide fluctuations. Securities markets worldwide experience significant price and volume fluctuations. This market volatility, as well as general economic, market or political conditions, could reduce the market price of shares of our common stock in spite of our operating performance. In addition, our results of operations could be below the expectations of public market analysts and investors due to a number of potential factors, including variations in our quarterly results of operations, additions or departures of key management personnel, failure to meet analysts’ earnings estimates, publication of research reports about our industry, litigation and government investigations, changes or proposed changes in laws or regulations or differing interpretations or enforcement thereof affecting our business or the golf industry, adverse market reaction to any indebtedness we may incur or securities we may issue in the future, changes in market valuations of similar companies or speculation in the press or investment community, announcements by our competitors of significant contracts, acquisitions, dispositions, strategic partnerships, joint ventures or capital commitments, adverse publicity about our industry in or individual scandals, and in response the market price of shares of our common stock could decrease significantly.

In the past few years, stock markets have experienced significant price and volume fluctuations. In the past, following periods of volatility in the overall market and the market price of a company’s securities, securities class action litigation has often been instituted against these companies. This litigation, if instituted against us, could result in substantial costs and a diversion of our management’s attention and resources.

If we are unable to maintain effective internal controls over financial reporting, we may not be able to produce timely and accurate financial statements, which could have a material adverse effect on our business and stock price.

If we fail to maintain effective internal controls over financial reporting or if we identify additional material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting, investors may lose confidence in the accuracy and completeness of our financial statements which could cause the market price of our common stock to decline, and we could become subject to sanctions or investigations by the stock exchange upon which our common stock is listed, the SEC or other regulatory authorities, and we could be delayed in delivering financial statements, which could result in a default under the agreements governing our indebtedness.

We cannot assure you that we will pay dividends on our common stock, and our indebtedness and other factors could limit our ability to pay dividends on our common stock.

We intend to pay cash dividends on our common stock, subject to the discretion of our board of directors and our compliance with applicable law, and depending on, among other things, our results of operations, capital requirements, financial condition, contractual restrictions, restrictions in our debt agreements and in any equity securities, business prospects and other factors that our board of directors may deem relevant. Because we are a holding company and have no direct operations, we expect to pay dividends, if any, only from funds we receive from our subsidiaries, which may further restrict our ability to pay dividends as a result of the laws of their jurisdiction of organization, agreements of our subsidiaries or covenants under any existing and future outstanding indebtedness we or our subsidiaries incur. Certain of our existing agreements governing indebtedness, including our credit agreement, restrict our ability to pay dividends on our common stock. We expect that any future agreements governing indebtedness will contain similar restrictions. For more information, see Item 5. of Part II – "Market for Registrant’s Common Equity, Related Stockholder Matters and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities – Dividend Policy” and Item 7. Part II – "Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations— Liquidity and Capital Resources.”

Our dividend policy entails certain risks and limitations, particularly with respect to our liquidity. By paying cash dividends rather than investing that cash in our business or repaying debt, we risk, among other things, slowing the pace of our growth and having insufficient cash to fund our operations or unanticipated capital expenditures or limiting our ability to incur additional borrowings.

Although we expect to pay dividends according to our dividend policy, we may not pay dividends according to our policy, or at all, if, among other things, we do not have the cash necessary to pay our intended dividends.

The declaration and payment of dividends will be determined at the discretion of our board of directors, acting in compliance with applicable law and contractual restrictions. However, our board of directors is determined by Magnus, which is wholly‑owned by Fila Korea, which controls a majority of the voting power of all outstanding shares of our common stock. Accordingly, the decision to declare and pay dividends on our common stock in the future, as well as the amount of each such dividend payment, may also depend on the amounts Magnus needs to fund the interest payments on the Magnus Term Loan,

other amounts due in connection with the Magnus Term Loan or any potential future dividend or interest obligations under any equity or debt used to refinance the Magnus Term Loan.

Acushnet Holdings Corp. is a holding company with no operations of its own and, as such, it depends on its subsidiaries for cash to fund all of its operations and expenses, including future dividend payments, if any.

Our operations are conducted almost entirely through our subsidiaries and our ability to generate cash to make future dividend payments, if any, is highly dependent on the earnings and the receipt of funds from our subsidiaries via dividends or intercompany loans, which may be restricted as a result of the laws of the jurisdiction of organization of our subsidiaries, agreements of our subsidiaries or covenants under any existing and future outstanding indebtedness we or our subsidiaries incur.

You may be diluted by the future issuance of additional common stock in connection with our incentive plans, acquisitions or otherwise.

As of December 31, 2018 , we had 425,239,938 shares of common stock authorized but unissued. Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation authorizes us to issue these shares of common stock and securities convertible into, exchangeable for, or exercisable into our common stock for the consideration and on the terms and conditions established by our board of directors in its sole discretion, whether in connection with acquisitions or otherwise. We have 7,523,536 shares reserved for issuance under our 2015 Incentive Plan. Any shares of common stock that we issue, under our 2015 Incentive Plan or other equity incentive plans that we may adopt in the future, dilute the percentage ownership held by our existing shareholders.

Future sales, or the perception of future sales, by us or our existing shareholders in the public market could cause the market price for our common stock to decline.

The sale of substantial amounts of shares of our common stock in the public market, or the perception that such sales could occur, including sales by us or our shareholders, could harm the prevailing market price of shares of our common stock. These sales, or the possibility that these sales may occur, also might make it more difficult for us to sell equity securities in the future at a time and at a price that we deem appropriate. These factors could also make it more difficult for us to raise additional funds through future offerings of our shares of common stock or other securities.

Anti‑takeover provisions in our organizational documents and Delaware law might discourage or delay acquisition attempts for us that you might consider favorable.

Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and amended and restated bylaws contain provisions that may make the merger or acquisition of the Company more difficult without the approval of our board of directors. Among other things:

Further, as a Delaware corporation, we are also subject to provisions of Delaware law, which may impair a takeover attempt that our shareholders may find beneficial. These anti‑takeover provisions and other provisions under Delaware law could discourage, delay or prevent a transaction involving a change in control of the Company, including actions that our shareholders may deem advantageous, or negatively affect the trading price of our common stock. These provisions could also discourage proxy contests and make it more difficult for you and other shareholders to elect directors of your choosing and to cause us to take other corporate actions you desire.

If securities analysts do not publish research or reports about our business or if they downgrade our stock or our sector, our stock price and trading volume could decline.

The trading market for our common stock relies in part on the research and reports that industry or financial analysts publish about us or our business or industry. We do not control these analysts. Furthermore, if one or more of the analysts who do cover us downgrade our stock or our industry, or the stock of any of our competitors, or publish inaccurate or unfavorable research about our business or industry, the price of our stock could decline. If one or more of these analysts ceases coverage of us or fails to publish reports on us regularly, we could lose visibility in the market, which in turn could cause our stock price or trading volume to decline.