Sunday Morning Coming Down

A little Johnny Cash to start your day....

GOLF On The Street - The Acushnet IPO is a done deal:

The long-awaited IPO for Acushnet (parent of Titleist and FootJoy) came to fruition

today with the common stock trading on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol “GOLF.” Chairman and CEO Wally Uihlein rang the opening bell with notable Acushnet figures surrounding him, including putter designer Scotty Cameron, top-rated instructor Butch Harmon and Fila Korea CEO Gene Yoon, as well as long-time Acushnet employees Diane Medeiros (who's worked for the company for 51 years) and Carlos Botelho, a 44-year veteran of the golf industry giant.

How did it do?

The first day of trading saw a little more than 6.9 million shares change hands with a day’s range of $16.90 and $18.00. At the close of trading the stock was at $17.95. 

Still, for those associated with the company, today’s IPO was more about positioning the company for long-term success than the glitz of the first day of an IPO.

As for that last bit, errr...not so much.  As I understand things, it was about providing an exit for private equity investors.... not that there's anything wrong with that.

After my Friday morning post on this subject, I dropped Geoff Shackelford an e-mail to point out the comedy gold buried in that Motley Fool analysis that he had seemed to miss (as he noted, his eyes were glazed over from reading the S-1).  He was good enough to update his post and threw me some additional traffic, as well as this short note in response:

Good catch and I should have caught that! Oy!

I particularly love that "Oy", but then again you knew I would....  And with new readers in mind, let me just note that this blog wouldn't exist were it not for Geoff's writings.  My recurring links to him are a function both of the fact that he covers the subjects of interest to me, as well as the fact that he posts in the evening and tees it all up for me when I get to my keyboard in the morning.

Or, as is commonly said, copyright infringement is the sincerest form of flattery.... I mention that mostly because Geoff conducted a Q&A with Acushnet COO David Maher, and seemed to grab some questions from my post (highly unlikely given the probable timing, but a fellow needs his delusions), such as this:

GS: The symbol for Acushnet GOLF, how was that not taken?!

DM: Years ago it was Golfsmith when they were traded on NASDAQ. What else could we be called!

And this:

GS: The target range of the offering price was missed, should we read something into that?

DM: No, that’s left in the hands of the bankers and traders. We go tell our story to investors and we frame the industry in its rightful lens. But really, the valuation, you put out a projection, that falls in the hands of the bankers and traders, so that really has no effect on us. We enter the world a public company today and are committed to what we’ve said all along that we’re a company dedicated to delivering long term growth with great reliability and predictability, so that doesn’t change.

The bench will please instruct the witness to answer the question... OK, what else is he going to say, but trust me, that was a big miss.

There's also a Q&A in the first linked item, though with quite a bit of overlap, but Maher's basic premise is that the business has rationalized and absorbed its excess inventory and retail contraction.  No doubt true to some extent, but that offering price fail indicates that the world isn't completely convinced.

But for those of us old enough to have lived through the TaylorMade Year of Three Drivers, this was refreshing:

Do we think we are going to accelerate the timing of our launch cycles? I think that would be a road to ruin for us.

HSBC Me - Did you watch any of it?  Of course you didn't, how could you?  Apparently Hidecki Matsuyama ran away from the field, winning by a touchdown and PAT.  Rory finished T4, which we'll call a success for his new M2's....  other than that, who cares?

But there was one interesting note...  Matt Kuchar needs to read the fine print, even when it's in Mandarin:

SHANGHAI (AP) -- Matt Kuchar stood on the tee at the par-3 17th hole waiting his turn to hit when his caddie noticed the fine print. 

The shiny Cadillac nearby indicated that it would be awarded to whoever made a hole-in-one during the HSBC Champions. There was just one catch. Because the tee had been moved forward Saturday in the third round, the hole played only 193 yards. The notice next to the car said it would not be offered as a prize on this day because the hole had to be at least 200 yards.

John Wood, his caddie, nudged Kuchar and jokingly told him, "Don't worry about a hole-in-one today. We don't get the car." 

"And then he makes it," Wood said.

On the one hand, this was posted on the tee:

On the other hand, they still had the damn car there....  Kinda mixed signals, no?  But how's this Kooch quote for defining first world problems:

"That was probably one of the saddest hole-in-ones I've ever had," he said. "Most of the time, a hole-in-one you're just overjoyed with excitement. But then there's a car sitting there, the most beautiful Cadillac on a tee."

One of the saddest?  Exactly how many sad holes-in-one have you had, bud?

Life Imitates Seinfeld - A week or so ago, this news broke:

One of the most expensive tee times in all of golf just got more expensive. 

Pebble Beach Golf Links has upped the ante to play its hallowed course from $495 to $525 this month. Though that's just a 6% increase, it’s the first price increase since April 2008, according to Mike Bailey from Golf Advisor. 

As Bailey details, that doesn't even include the caddie fee ($80), which would bump the total over $600. For those without a calculator nearby, that’s more than $33 per hole.

As much as I try to share everything with you, it didn't seem overly compelling since it's a drop in the ocean What difference, at this point, does it make? 

Now comes word of a logical use for these enhanced proceeds:

While ocean free-diving, two young outdoor enthusiasts discovered thousands of golf balls polluting the Monterey Bay.

Alex Weber and Jack Johnston said they removed more than 5,000 golf balls from just one cove in Carmel Bay below the Pebble Beach Golf Links course. 

"The entire sea floor is just white golf balls rolling around," said Weber, who is a junior at Carmel High School.

If any of those are Chrome Softs with three green dots, they're mine.

This is perhaps the best bit:

Mathes said Pebble Beach Company was unaware of the pile up in the cove until the teens brought it to their attention.

“You know we’ve had decades of scientific researchers, recreational divers out off the coast and no one has brought this to our attention, it’s really these two students who have discovered something, and we are really quite proud of them,” Mathes said.

Gambling, Casablanca.....   This video is a bit treacly (it's mostly the music), but worth a look:

Is anyone here a marine biologist?  For those unfamiliar with the classical reference in the header:

Do we think Wally Uhlein is happy for the product placement?