EXHIBIT 99.1

                                                           Contact: Brad Holiday
                                                                    Larry Dorman
                                                                  (760) 931-1771

                         CALLAWAY GOLF CHANGING AUDITORS

      CARLSBAD, Calif./ December 16, 2002/ Callaway Golf Company (NYSE:ELY)
announced today that, pursuant to the recommendation of its Audit Committee, the
Company's Board of Directors has asked Deloitte & Touche LLP to become the
independent auditors for the Company, replacing KPMG LLP. KPMG had been
appointed as the Company's independent auditors effective March 25, 2002 and has
never issued a report on the Company's financial statements. The appointment of
Deloitte & Touche is subject to satisfactory completion of Deloitte & Touche's
customary client acceptance procedures, which the Company expects to be
completed shortly.

      The Company had recently announced that it would be delayed in filing its
Form 10-Q for the third quarter because the Company and KPMG were still in the
process of reviewing the appropriate periods in which to record a $17 million
reduction in the Company's warranty reserve. While both management and KPMG
agree with the magnitude of the adjustment, they have been unable to reach
agreement as to the proper period or periods in which to reflect the non-cash
increase in net income. Ultimately, the Audit Committee recommended that the
Board seek new outside auditors.

      "In making this change, we wish to point out that neither the Audit
Committee nor the Board has made a final determination as to the proper
treatment of the reduction in warranty reserves," stated Ronald S. Beard, Chair
of the Audit Committee. "It is our plan to work with Deloitte & Touche to
resolve this matter, one way or another, as quickly as possible and file our
10-Q."

      Brad Holiday, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer,
stated, "While we regret our delay in resolving this accounting issue, we want
to remind investors that this is strictly a non-cash accounting matter as to
which periods to record an increase in earnings due to the reduction in the
Company's warranty reserve. In our reporting on this matter to date, we have
made clear to our shareholders and to potential investors our financial results
from operations both with and without the effect of this adjustment."

DISCLAIMER: STATEMENTS USED IN THIS PRESS RELEASE THAT RELATE TO FUTURE PLANS,
EVENTS, FINANCIAL RESULTS OR PERFORMANCE, INCLUDING STATEMENTS AS TO THE
APPOINTMENT OF DELOITTE & TOUCHE, AND THE EXPECTED FILING DATE AND CONTENTS OF
THE FORM 10-Q, ARE FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS AS DEFINED UNDER THE PRIVATE
SECURITIES LITIGATION REFORM ACT OF 1995. THESE STATEMENTS ARE BASED UPON
CURRENT INFORMATION AND EXPECTATIONS. ACTUAL RESULTS MAY DIFFER MATERIALLY FROM
THOSE ANTICIPATED AS A RESULT OF CERTAIN RISKS AND UNCERTAINTIES, INCLUDING BUT
NOT LIMITED TO COMPLETION OF DELOITTE & TOUCHE'S PRE-ACCEPTANCE PROCEDURES, AND
ITS REVIEW OF THE THIRD QUARTER. READERS ARE CAUTIONED NOT TO PLACE UNDUE
RELIANCE ON THESE FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS, WHICH SPEAK ONLY AS OF THE DATE
HEREOF. THE COMPANY UNDERTAKES NO OBLIGATION TO REPUBLISH REVISED
FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS TO REFLECT EVENTS OR CIRCUMSTANCES AFTER THE DATE
HEREOF OR TO REFLECT THE OCCURRENCE OF UNANTICIPATED EVENTS.

                                      *****
Callaway Golf Company makes and sells Big Bertha(R) Metal Woods and Irons,
including Great Big Bertha(R) II Titanium Drivers and Fairway Woods, Big Bertha
C4(TM) Compression Cured Carbon Composite Drivers, Big Bertha ERC(R) II Forged
Titanium Drivers, Big Bertha ERC Forged Titanium Fairway Woods, Big Bertha Hawk
Eye(R) VFT(R) and Big Bertha Hawk Eye VFT Pro Series Titanium Drivers and
Fairway Woods, Big Bertha Steelhead(TM) III Stainless Steel Drivers and Fairway
Woods, Hawk Eye VFT Tungsten Injected(TM) Titanium Irons, Big Bertha Stainless
Steel Irons, Steelhead X-16(TM) and Steelhead X-16 Pro Series Stainless Steel
Irons, Steelhead X-14(R) and Steelhead X-14 Pro Series Stainless Steel Irons,
and Callaway Golf Forged Wedges. Callaway Golf Company also makes and sells
Odyssey(R) Putters, including White Hot(R), TriHot(R), DFX(TM) and Dual Force(R)
Putters. Callaway Golf Company makes and sells the Callaway Golf(R) HX(R) Blue
and HX Red balls, the CTU 30(R) Blue and CTU 30 Red balls,




the HX 2-Piece Blue and HX 2-Piece Red balls, the CB1(R) Blue and CB1 Red balls,
and the Warbird(TM) golf balls. For more information about Callaway Golf
Company, please visit our Web sites at www.callawaygolf.com and
www.odysseygolf.com.