In April 2025, Puma was struggling and announced a major management move that would substantially change the direction of one of the world’s largest sportswear brands and potentially affect its subsidiary Cobra Golf, a brand with more than 50 years of history in golf equipment.
Puma replaced its CEO, Arne Freundt, with Arthur Hoeld, a 26-year veteran of one of its leading competitors, Adidas. A German-based public company that trades on stock exchanges in that country, Puma ended 2025 with a share price that was almost 50 percent lower than where it ended 2024 (€22.30 vs. €44.36), and it recorded €4.38 in operational losses per share for the year.
Changes were necessary, and Hoeld made many, some strategic and some tactical, declaring that 2026 would be a “year of transition.” Early indications suggest Puma is in a better position today than it was at the end of last year, with first-quarter sales down 1 percent and its current share price about 27 percent higher than at the end of 2025.
Amid this transition, the question arises: How does Cobra Golf fit within Puma?
Indications are that Cobra is not a priority within Puma’s current corporate structure. Cobra reports to the parent company’s “accessory” division, a place no brand wants to be, since it almost certainly ensures minimal investment and financial support. The Puma brand made its mark with high-performance athletic footwear and apparel blended with “street styling,” and it is unlikely that a golf hard-goods business aligns with the parent company’s strategic direction.
Rickie Fowler is one of Cobra’s most recognizable players on the PGA Tour. Andrew Redington, Getty Images
In its 2025 annual financial report, Puma outlined its strategic vision for the brand, focusing on football (soccer), running and training. Additionally, in Hoeld’s opening letter, he wrote that “Puma will become one global sports brand with global product ranges.”
Golf is not a core business for Puma. However, Puma does sell footwear and apparel specifically designed for the game. Cobra Golf’s club brand and business model are not consistent with Puma’s stated goals. Designing, manufacturing, marketing, and selling golf clubs is a very different business from developing a footwear or apparel line. Golf equipment requires substantial investment in R&D, and without a large, well-funded staff to pursue and develop unique product offerings, achieving the next breakthrough is extremely challenging.
The Cobra management team in Carlsbad, California, underwent significant changes starting late last year, with Russ Kahn named president, replacing Dan Ladd, who had served in that role since 2018. Kahn came to Cobra’s West Coast headquarters after 19 years in Massachusetts with Puma, most recently overseeing North American retail operations. Since his arrival, several longtime senior golf employees have left or been let go, many from product development, research, marketing and sales, and there have been reports of significant cost-cutting measures in the support structure.
Cobra Golf first hit the golf world’s radar in the mid-1970s, riding the success of the Baffler line of fairway/trouble woods, which featured a unique laminated head with a dual-rail sole that helped lift the ball out of the rough. Over the ensuing 50 years, the brand transformed itself multiple times, changing ownership and adopting different personalities, often supported by unique niche product offerings such as senior and women’s clubs in the 1990s, King Cobra drivers in 2006, one-length irons in 2017 and 3D-printed clubs in 2024.
Additionally, Cobra has long been associated with prominent professional golfers with distinctive personalities, such as Greg Norman, Rickie Fowler, Lexi Thompson and Bryson DeChambeau. While these highly recognizable and successful players helped raise awareness and the stature of the Cobra brand, none consistently moved the needle on purchases. That is not meant to disparage the importance of touring professionals in the marketing mix, but being a great player who represents a brand is not, by itself, sufficient to change perceptions and drive sales. If having the endorsement of a premier tour player had a major impact on selling equipment to golfers, Nike (Tiger Woods), Arnold Palmer Golf, MacGregor (Jack Nicklaus) and Ben Hogan would all have been much more successful.
For the past three decades, four brands (Callaway, Ping, TaylorMade, and Titleist) have dominated the golf equipment market. These brands have the most advanced research, development and engineering talent and significantly more marketing dollars to spend to support product launches. Breaking into this pantheon of top brands has been extremely difficult, if not impossible.
Always respected and often seen as having good or great new products, Cobra has had many successful years but has struggled to consistently deliver the results needed to move it out of the second tier.
The second tier of golf brands have marketed some highly successful products in specific categories, but these companies lack the depth and financial wherewithal to support development and marketing across multiple categories. Examples of niche successes include Cobra in woods and irons in certain years, or, more recently, L.A.B Golf in putters. Cleveland has always been a formidable player in wedges, while Bridgestone and Srixon have had their ups and downs in golf balls. But these brands are forced to launch new products at a rapid cadence, attempting to unseat one or more of the leaders. They typically operate with tighter profit margins and less marketing, tour, and promotional spending, often falling into a Sisyphean loop of product launch, moderate initial success, inventory build, price cuts, moving product to second gen, or closing out. Next year (sometimes every other year), rinse and repeat.
Always respected and often seen as having good or great new products, Cobra has had many successful years but has struggled to consistently deliver the results needed to move it out of the second tier. While Cobra never spent the most on product development and R&D for clubs, it still maintained a talented, if small, pool of engineers and marketing staff who could give the brand a product and a personality that made it a leader in the second tier.
Lexi Thompson has been a prominent ambassador for Cobra Golf since turning pro in 2010. Dylan Buell, Getty Images
Cobra was among the first brands to focus directly on selling clubs to women and seniors before the turn of the century, incorporating softer, more flexible shafts and appealing color combinations for its target markets. For many years, that brand image (senior/women) was closely associated with the company, which was renowned for its success in Florida, Arizona, and southern California, where seniors and women have significant participation. This close association hampered the brand’s ability to branch out into designing and marketing products for better players.
Over the past decade, Cobra has consistently innovated and launched products that have been well received by those in the know in the club business. Cobra drivers often performed very well in product testing and on launch monitors, but the lack of brand strength compared to the Big Four has always hampered sell-through.
Puma management may be “right-sizing” Cobra to restore profitability and resurrect the brand or set it up for a potential sale. Conversations with equipment insiders suggest that few see a long-term fit for Cobra under Puma’s current strategic direction; however, finding the right buyer will be challenging in today’s competitive environment.
Recognizing that purchasers of golf brands frequently pop up out of the blue, a few potential buyers of Cobra include:
Anta Sports, a China-based sports conglomerate, which in January became Puma’s largest shareholder, acquiring 29 percent of the shares for $1.8 billion. Anta is also the largest shareholder in Amer Sports, the parent company of Wilson Sporting Goods, so it has its hands in two second-tier golf brands and could be considered a candidate to combine Wilson and Cobra.
Dick’s Sporting Goods, which over the past few decades has entered into agreements to purchase and operate established golf brands that had lost some of their luster, reinvigorating some through new products and brand development. Examples of brands now owned by Dick’s that were once stand-alone include Maxfli, Tommy Armour, Top-Flite, and Strata. Given Dick’s dominant position in the U.S. retail sporting goods space and Puma’s desire to grow and strengthen its apparel and footwear position in the U.S., a sale or license of the Cobra name to Dick’s could be a win-win for both.
Old Tom Capital, which is a golf-focused investment firm that helps fund businesses in the sport through an investment “network.” Its website suggests the firm prefers long-term investments in companies and “build for permanence” rather than buying and flipping. Co-managed by founding partners Matt Erley and Evan Roosevelt, Old Tom was reported earlier this year to have been identified as the preferred bidder for TaylorMade Golf, but a deal never materialized. Old Tom’s ability to finance a potential Cobra deal would not be in question; the question would be whether it wants to purchase a brand that would require significant investment beyond the initial price tag.
Given the current high-profile, steady growth in the golf business, there is likely no better time to sell a golf equipment company, and there are likely other potential buyers interested in acquiring an established and recognizable brand. But the question remains, is Puma looking to sell Cobra or hold it, right-size it and try to rebuild it?
A founder and former principal of Golf Datatech LLC, John Krzynowek has spent the past 25 years helping golf brands navigate the ups and downs of the marketplace for equipment and apparel. Prior to that he held senior management roles in golf equipment sales, marketing, and product design.
Top: Cobra Golf is facing an uncertain future with its parent company, Puma. Ben Jared, PGA Tour via Getty Images
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