How Good Good Golf and Callaway Landed in the Rough

In a sport known for its etiquette, a rapidly growing golf content creation company and one of the sport’s biggest equipment makers intensified the furor over a social media post by not knowing how to apologize.

Good Good Golf, with over 2 million YouTube subscribers, and Callaway posted a video on Aug. 21, 2026, showing a man shoving a woman to the ground after she tried to pick up his Good Good-branded driver made by Callaway.

Good Good built its audience with funny videos showing founder Garrett Clark and his buddies playing golf.

“The fact that we can post ourselves traveling around and playing golf, just as friends, it feels like a freaking dream,” he told The Wall Street Journal in a story about the controversy.

He woke up when the video was posted.

The media coverage lasted 12 days and could still reignite. We’ll take a close look at the initial responses of the two companies.

New club
Good Good and Callaway began working together on marketing in 2023.

The 60-second version was an attempt at humor that failed miserably.  A 15-second snippet, released separately, showed Clark knocking down professional golf newcomer Alexis Miestowski and sparked an outcry about violence against women. The news media quickly picked up the story.

Good Good and Callaway took down the ad from their social media accounts and eventually issued statements that worsened the controversy.

Since then, Carlsbad, California-based Callaway has ousted its director of content and terminated its agreement with Good Good.

Frisco, Texas-based Good Good withdrew its sponsorship of a PGA Tour tournament in November, which would have been a big step up for a company founded in 2020. Four employees have left, including its CEO, president and vice president of brand and marketing, according to sports news outlet Front Office Sports.

Good Good’s products have been taken off the shelves of stores such as Dick’s Sporting Goods and Golf Galaxy.

Bad, bad apology
Sensing the reaction, Good Good took down the ads in the evening of the day they were posted, Aug. 21. Why didn’t the company issue a statement, even a single sentence, at that time? A crisis communications plan should include the steps for a quick social media response, including identifying the person with the authority to do so.  

Perhaps Good Good didn’t issue a statement quickly because it didn’t understand how much trouble the video was causing. Time and again, companies fumble the crisis response because they don’t realize the extent of the damage to their reputation.

That lack of understanding may partly explain the statement the company posted the next afternoon, which only made matters worse. It read:

“Our statement on the recent driver ad that we decided to remove:
“We posted a video to our channels that ultimately depicted actions that are not aligned with our values as a brand. We have since taken that content down, and sincerely apologize. Good Good has always stood for making the game of golf more inclusive to all, and we will continue to ensure that is our mission moving forward.”

This first sentence of this statement is a good example of an increasingly common practice in crisis communications: Issue a statement that apologizes but is as vague as possible. Passive voice is a key feature, as in, “Mistakes were made.”

Unfolding crisis?
That approach makes sense in the middle of a rapidly unfolding crisis or when the facts are uncertain. That’s not this case.

In a single-episode event like this one, where the facts are known, vague apologies frustrate the audience. People expect a company to admit the mistake.

“Tell it all, tell it accurately and tell it fast,” is a rule to live by.

Instead, Good Good owned up to a video that “ultimately depicted actions that are not aligned with our values.”

Ultimately? And what are the values of an organization that would publish such a video?

 “Absolutely incredible that no one in the room said, ‘Guys hold on,’” Christopher Powers, a senior writer at Golf Digest, said on social media.

Missing the point
But Good Good didn’t leave bad enough alone. The company misstated its mistake.

“They so don’t get the point,” Nicole Rae, senior director of social media at golf news site Skratch, wrote on social media. “They didn’t just create an ad that makes golf non-inclusive to women, but it endorses violence against women in the scariest and most threatening way. This is a horrible look for them and for Callaway. Wildly disappointing.”

Brian Rolapp, CEO of the PGA Tour, which governs professional golf, was asked about Good Good’s handling of the controversy at an unrelated news conference three days later, Aug. 25.

“I think their initial response was disappointing. It was a bit defensive and late,” he said.

The next day, Clark posted an 8:30-minute-long video in which he appeared sincere in his apology, but still defensive. He explained that the video was intended to be a parody of the horror movie “Obsession,” raising more questions about the production and approval.

Callaway’s distance
On Aug. 23, one day after Good Good’s statement, with controversy gathering more steam, Callaway released a two-sentence statement to the news media that downplayed the video and distanced itself from it.

Here’s the statement, according to sports news site The Athletic: “We are disappointed by the content that was posted, and are appreciative of Good Good for addressing this. We look forward to working together to ensure a more inclusive space in golf.”

Leave it to Matt Kendrick, Good Good’s chief executive, to poke a hole in that statement, referring to Callaway by its social media handle.

“Interesting that @CallawayGolf asks us to make an ad then approves it then asks us to take the fall then drops us in a coordinated media blitz and covers it up by giving a million dollars away thinking everyone will be ok with it,” Kendrick posted on X on Aug. 28.

He was let go six days later.

Callaway comeback
On Aug. 25, the golf club maker changed its tune. Here’s the first paragraph of a lengthy  post attributed to chief executive Chip Brewer:

“Last week, Good Good Golf and Callaway posted a video to promote a co-branded driver. While the video was produced by Good Good, it was approved by Callaway prior to posting. That approval should never have happened. Mistakes were made, and we are taking the matter very seriously.”

Although there’s that, “Mistakes were made,” cliché again, Brewer apologized in the next paragraph.

Two days later, another Brewer statement offered a stronger response:

“Over the last several days, we have listened and reflected on the hurt and disappointment caused by the video we reposted. We heard from individuals who shared personal experiences related to violence against women, and their stories were powerful reminders that this issue touches the lives of far too many people.  Unequivocally, violence against women is unacceptable and should never be trivialized, normalized, or used as entertainment.”

Callaway finished stronger than it started. Sales will tell how much it damaged its reputation during the six days after the video was posted.

If there is bright side for Clark and Good Good, he can look at last month’s controversy over Target’s “minstrel” Halloween costume and say, “At least we didn’t get criticized by Viola Davis.”

Tom Corfman is a senior consultant with Ragan Consulting Group who says he’s made many mistakes in his life, but golf is not one of them. Do you have a crisis communications plan? Is your plan up-to-date? We can help. Email Tom to set up a free call with him, RCG crisis communications consultant Nick Lanyi and company co-founder and senior partner Jim Ylisela.

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