True Temper Sports, Inc. announced net sales for the third quarter increased 19.8%, to $25.5 million from the $21.3 million recorded during the third quarter of 2004. Adjusted EBITDA (defined below) for the third quarter increased 13.6%, to $7.6 million from $6.7 million in the third quarter of 2004. Net income for the third quarter decreased to a net loss of $0.7 million from net income of $0.7 million in 2004.

Net sales for the first nine months increased 17.4%, to $90.2 million from $76.9 million in the first nine months of 2004. Adjusted EBITDA for the first nine months increased 16.8%, to $27.4 million from $23.5 million in the first nine months of 2004. Net income for the first nine months increased to $0.1 million from a net loss of $5.6 million in 2004. As more fully described below, the Company completed an acquisition and recapitalization during the first quarter of 2004 which had an impact on the net income reported for both 2004 and 2005. The effect of this acquisition has been eliminated from the presentation of Adjusted EBITDA.

In his comments about the company’s performance, Scott Hennessy, president and CEO said, “Entering 2005 we fully expected to grow our revenue and share position in several key categories. We established aggressive business plans to achieve this top-line growth, and the third quarter marks another successful step toward achieving our targeted full year results. During the third quarter we experienced revenue gains across all our major product lines, and saw continued strength in both our OEM and aftermarket distribution channels. We were particularly encouraged by the substantial growth obtained in our graphite golf shaft product lines, which more than doubled in sales when compared to the third quarter of 2004; achieving new record levels for both revenue and unit volume for the quarter. The gains in our graphite shaft business are being fueled by the increasing momentum of our Grafalloy ProLaunch shaft, and the success of our stock OEM initiatives. In addition, our performance sports segment delivered double digit growth during the third quarter, with revenue improvement of 33%. This growth continues to be driven by our hockey and bike categories, and follows up on the 32% growth achieved in the second quarter of 2005.”

Mr. Hennessy continued, “While we strive for continued sales growth, our attention also remains focused on the quality of earnings generated by these revenue gains. During the third quarter we were especially pleased with the favorable product mix in our steel golf shaft category and the solid operating performance at our production facilities. These factors combined to offset continued commodity pricing pressure in raw materials and energy sources, and enabled us to deliver gross margins of 40.9%, over one point ahead of the 39.3% level from the third quarter of 2004. Through the first nine months of 2005 we have maintained our gross margin above the 40% level, and our Adjusted EBITDA margin above the base-line 30% level; while still making strategic investments in marketing and promotion to continue the momentum of our branded product offering. This profitability has driven favorable cash flow, and enabled us to make additional voluntary repayments on our term debt of $3.0 million during the third quarter, bringing our year-to-date voluntary repayment to a total of $10.0 million.”

Outlook

Commenting about the company’s outlook for the future, Mr. Hennessy said, “This year the golf industry has rebounded quite well from a lackluster 2004. We do expect the overall market to be impacted somewhat during the fourth quarter from reduced play in the southeastern regions that have been hard hit during this most active Atlantic hurricane season on record. However, many key indicators still point toward a solid year for golf equipment sales, and in particular, sets of irons sold are having a resurgence after a disappointing 2004. We believe True Temper will continue to benefit from these market forces, and in addition, we should see continued momentum for our graphite golf and performance sports categories during the fourth quarter. We anticipate that these factors should continue to drive overall revenue gains during the fourth quarter of 2005, as compared to the prior year.”

Mr. Hennessy continued, “We will persist in our efforts to aggressively push productivity programs and attack all areas of our cost structure during the remainder of 2005 in an effort to mitigate the ever-present commodity pressures. The cost escalation in steel, graphite material, nickel and natural gas will likely remain a concern throughout the fourth quarter and into 2006. During this fourth quarter, natural gas in particular will likely have a negative impact on our results. In an effort to mitigate this impact we have instituted a number of conservation programs, and have effectively locked the pricing on a portion of our winter month’s gas requirements. We believe that through productivity we will be able to offset a large portion of these cost increases, but we expect the fourth quarter gross margin to be slightly lower that the preceding quarters. This being said, we still believe that as a result of our cost containment efforts we will exceed the 2004 fourth quarter gross margin and Adjusted EBITDA levels, and finish the year with solid results in these critical profit measures.”

Acquisition and Recapitalization

On January 30, 2004, TTS Holdings LLC, a company formed by Gilbert Global Equity Partners, L.P., entered into a stock purchase agreement with our direct parent company, True Temper Corporation, and certain of its security holders, pursuant to which TTS Holdings LLC and certain members of our senior management agreed to purchase all of the outstanding shares of capital stock of True Temper Corporation. The transaction contemplated by the purchase agreement closed on March 15, 2004. As part of this transaction, the company was recapitalized through

the establishment of a new senior credit facility and the issuance of new 8 3 / 8 % senior subordinated notes due 2011. In conjunction with this recapitalization, certain expenses related to the early extinguishment of long-term debt and other related transaction fees were recorded totaling $14.6 million, resulting in a $10.9 million after-tax reduction to the first quarter 2004 net income. In addition, as part of the required purchase accounting, the Company recorded the estimated fair value of certain intangible assets. Non-cash amortization of these intangible assets during the third quarter of 2005 totaled $3.5 million, resulting in a $2.1 million after-tax reduction to the third quarter 2005 net income. Through the first nine months of 2005, non-cash amortization of these intangible assets totaled $10.4 million, resulting in a $6.4 million after-tax reduction to the year-to-date 2005 net income. No such amortization was recorded during the first nine months of 2004.