Seven years after leaving to launch Municipal with Mark Wahlberg, the guy who captained Callaway’s pirate ship is back. The timing is not a coincidence.
The golf industry has a tractor beam of sorts. Just when it seems like you’ve gotten far enough away to escape it entirely, it pulls you back in. That is to say, lots of guys leave the industry but few stay gone. And so here we are. Callaway Golf has announced the return of Harry Arnett as Senior Vice President, Chief Brand Officer.
For those keeping score at home, Arnett’s first stint with Callaway started in June 2012 after he came over from TaylorMade. It ended on Aug. 31, 2019. By the time he left, he was Callaway’s Executive Vice President of Global Marketing and Callaway Brands. Call it seven years and change.
In his new role, Arnett will lead Callaway’s global brand strategy and demand creation. Per Callaway, the job brings together “brand building, creative communications, and all consumer-facing strategies to strengthen the Company’s connection with golfers, generate greater momentum around its products, and drive market-share growth.”
The between-the-lines read is that Callaway needs people excited about Callaway again and Arnett is the guy it believes can make that happen.
It also means Arnett is once again obligated to read every word I write about Callaway, which is nice.
In the interest of full disclosure, I met Arnett when he first started at Callaway. We’ve had our share of battles over the years (a few of them in public) but we’ve stayed in touch through all of it. Take that for what it’s worth.
Callaway, circa 2012
The first time around, Arnett arrived just a few months after Chip Brewer took the reins as CEO. To put it fairly, Callaway was a bit of a mess. The product was arguably a step behind that of its leading competitors and the marketing was, well, bad.
The lone exception I’d make is the sheep thing. When TaylorMade went all-in on white with the R11, Callaway answered with an ad featuring a RAZR Hawk driver perched above a flock of white drivers. Golfers buying white drivers were sheep, the Hawk was the predator, and you get the idea. It was clever and it’s not lost on me that Arnett was still at TaylorMade when Callaway ran it.
Beyond that, there wasn’t much to remember.
Captain of the pirate ship
Arnett’s approach was different. He ran Callaway’s marketing department like a media company and referred to the marketing engine as a whole as the “pirate ship.” That wasn’t just a cute nickname, either. It was a whole philosophy, a rogue, take-some-chances, don’t-do-it-the-way-everyone-else-does-it approach to marketing golf equipment.
Under Arnett, Callaway built an in-house studio and launched a talk show called Callaway Live. The room still exists, though it’s not what it was. I’ve eaten sandwiches in there.
Callaway was also arguably the first golf company to embrace influencers, even if influencers weren’t quite what they are today.
I’ll acknowledge that it’s a little strange for MyGolfSpy, of all places, to make the case for marketing. We’ve spent years telling you to tune most of it out. That said, tuning it out as a consumer and understanding how much it matters to a golf company are two very different things. A brand doesn’t build momentum without it.
I know Arnett well enough to know he’d never take credit for it but he and his team were an integral part of righting the ship and turning the brand around. During his first run, Callaway’s U.S. hard goods dollar share (per Golf Datatech) increased by more than 1,000 basis points to 24.0 percent, Callaway reclaimed the No. 1 U.S. club brand position from 2015 to 2020 (yes, 2020 came after he left, but who’s counting?) and its golf ball business began a market share climb that continues today. Along the way, the GBB Epic became the top-selling driver on the market.
Callaway without Arnett
In July 2019, Arnett announced he was leaving to join the funky bunch with Mark Wahlberg as co-founder and CEO of upstart “sports utility” apparel brand Municipal. I still don’t know what “sports utility” means.
Earlier this month, Arnett posted on LinkedIn that he was stepping down from day-to-day operations at Municipal. In hindsight, that should have provided a hint of what was coming. He is not an “idle hands” kind of guy.
Since Arnett left, I’d suggest Callaway has lost some momentum. For better or worse, that detail alone underscores the value of good marketing. The product is better than it was when he started. The team in Carlsbad is more talented than it was when he arrived. Still, the brand has lost some steam.
The pirate ship is adrift. Not entirely rudderless but to keep our metaphor going, there isn’t much wind in its sails.
To be clear, the numbers don’t describe a disaster. Callaway will tell you its year-to-date U.S. driver share was up 110 basis points (to roughly 25 percent) through the second quarter. Zoom out a bit, however, and the picture gets less rosy. Across all categories combined, Callaway’s brand share is down a full point from last year and down almost four points from two years ago. Woods are doing well enough but share is down more than five points over the same two-year stretch. Irons are down two points from two years ago and Callaway sits third in the category.
That’s not bad but it’s not exactly industry juggernaut positioning either. Add rumors that Quantum sales are below expectations and you can understand why Carlsbad might be a little restless.
Then there’s the Good Good debacle. In August, Callaway ended its relationship with Good Good effective immediately after a Quantum driver ad showed co-founder Garrett Clark shoving a female golfer to the ground. Callaway acknowledged its content review process wasn’t what it should have been and pledged $1 million to charities working to prevent domestic violence.
Something needed to be done. Bringing Arnett back is one hell of a something.
Rebuilding Callaway’s tour credibility
The first time around, Arnett rebuilt the marketing team from the ground up. I don’t expect we’ll see a change that significant this time. As I said, the talent level is higher than it was in 2012. Still, I wouldn’t be entirely surprised if a few new (or maybe even familiar) faces found their way back to Carlsbad.
Arnett also isn’t the only new hire. There’s been at least one significant addition to Callaway’s tour operations team. With that comes the suggestion that Callaway is looking to rebuild its tour credibility, which has suffered more than most as a result of LIV.
Let’s take a quick inventory.
Xander Schauffele looks like he can win any given week, even if he hasn’t closed one out in 2026. Sam Burns has been plenty solid. He finished T7 at the Masters, second at the U.S. Open and third at The Open this year.
Jon Rahm, meanwhile, has all but disappeared, at least from the perspective of anyone who isn’t a diehard LIV fan. He won twice on LIV this season and most people didn’t notice. That’s not a knock on Rahm so much as a reflection of the audience. LIV’s 2026 telecasts averaged 386,000 viewers on Fox. By way of comparison, PGA Tour regular-season broadcasts on CBS and NBC averaged roughly 2.5 million.
Rahm’s major record since joining LIV isn’t nothing (four top 10s in 12 starts including a runner-up finish at this year’s PGA Championship) but there’s been no win since the 2023 Masters and he missed the cut at the U.S. Open and finished T46 at The Open this summer. With LIV in Chapter 11 and Rahm’s separation agreement awaiting court approval, where he plays next is anyone’s guess. For Callaway, that could be the best tour news it’s had in a while.
And then there’s Phil Mickelson. He’s no longer on staff and depending on your perspective, Phil has been worse for the brand than Good Good.
Again, changes need to be made.
What comes next
The first time around, Arnett moved fast and the changes were noticeable almost immediately. I suspect that part of the story will be the same. Again, idle hands aren’t his thing.
With that, the MyGolfSpy team will be in Carlsbad next week and we’re hoping to catch up with Arnett to see what’s in store for the next chapter. If there’s something you’d like us to ask him, let us know.
Welcome back, Harry. Hope you’re a fast reader.
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