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The Good Good Golf Situation Is Not Very Good at All

Everything you need to know about the ad-related controversy that's rocking the golf world.
Brigid Kennedy|
The ad was intended to promote the company's new Callaway x Good Good co-branded driver.
The ad was intended to promote the company's new Callaway x Good Good co-branded driver. | Michael Reaves/Getty Images

Late last week, the minds behind the Good Good Golf media and apparel empire released an ad for a forthcoming collaboration with golf equipment brand Callaway. 

In the ad, which has since been pulled, female Good Good employee Alexis Miestowski is seen reaching into a golf bag for a co-branded Callaway-Good Good driver when a man in the background—Good Good co-founder Garrett Clark—spots her, runs forward and pushes her to the ground. Clark then leans over Miestowski and warns, menacingly: “Do not touch my new driver.”

Considering the imagery on display—a man aggressively pushing a woman to the ground—the ad was extremely poorly received and sparked serious backlash across social media. Good Good and Callaway have since attempted to do damage control in the form of various PR statements, but such efforts have proved futile in the face of public outrage.

Things then devolved further on Tuesday, when Skratch Golf reporter Claire Rogers shared a DM she received from a Golf Galaxy employee. In the message, the employee claimed the company was mandating that all Good Good merchandise be removed from shelves “immediately.” (Sports Illustrated has reached out to Dick’s Sporting Goods, which owns Golf Galaxy, for comment. As of the time of publication, it has not heard back.)

Earlier that same day, the Golf Channel also delayed the premiere of reality show Big Break x Good Good to Sept. 1 to “allow for necessary production updates following a request from one of the show’s sponsors to remove its branding from the series.” According to Sports Business Journal, that sponsor in question was popular golf retail store, Golf Galaxy.

All in all, things at Good Good are going very bad ... bad. Keep reading below for an in-depth look at how we got here.

Let’s start at the beginning—what was the original ad?

To promote its new co-branded Callaway driver, Good Good initially posted a 60-second ad to social media. But a smaller clip—the bit where Clark shoves Miestowski—is what went viral. The full ad was then pulled, though it is still accessible on X. 

When watched in its totality, the spot looks as though it was intended to be a horror movie parody, with a possible reference to the film Smile, in particular.

How did Callaway and Good Good initially respond?

After removing the original ad, Good Good released a statement on social media.

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

Added Callaway, in a statement of its own: “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.”

… That’s it?

Actually, no.

After their initial statements did little to stop the bleeding, both Good Good and Callaway issued longer and more apologetic secondary statements earlier this week.

“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,” Callaway CEO Chip Brewer wrote in a statement released Tuesday. “That approval should never have happened. Mistakes were made, and we are taking the matter seriously.”

In his secondary missive, also shared Tuesday, Good Good Golf founder and CEO Matt Kendrick explained on LinkedIn that the ad was initially intended to “parody a scene from the movie Obsession,” but that the “execution missed the mark. I understand why people found it insensitive, and I want to be clear that neither I nor anyone at Good Good condones violence of any kind.”

Has the PGA said anything?

Indeed it has. Good Good is the title sponsor of a Tour event in November, so naturally, CEO Brian Rolapp was asked about the dust-up ahead of the Tour Championship on Tuesday.

"I think initially, no," Rolapp said during media availability, asked if he thought Good Good had done enough to take accountability. "I think what we saw was concerning, is clearly not aligned with PGA Tour values. We take it very seriously. I think their initial response was disappointing. It was a bit defensive and late.

"But I think the responses are getting better. I think we've seen some things this morning, we've had some conversations with them, so we'll continue to monitor and work with them going forward. But no, we were disappointed with what we saw."

Later asked if the ad might affect Good Good’s participation in the November event, Roland said that “it's a bit of a fluid situation” at the moment.

“We were disappointed at first,” he continued. “It sounds like in the last 24 hours they've made some progress. We'll continue to monitor the situation and see how it develops."

What will Good Good do now?

According to an internal memo from Kendrick obtained by Front Office Sports’ Ellyn Briggs, Good Good will be donating “all proceeds from the driver sales associated with this campaign to an organization supporting women in our local community.”

The company is still researching organizations to “determine where this contribution can have the greatest impact,” per the memo, but will “share that information with everyone once it has been identified.”

Good Good also says that it is reviewing its creative and approval processes and “bringing more perspectives into those decisions before content is released.” 

What is the latest with the Golf Galaxy drama?

Sports Illustrated has not yet heard back from Dick’s Sporting Goods in regard to its request for comment, but Front Office Sports was able to reach “roughly a dozen” Dick’s and Golf Galaxy locations by phone on Wednesday morning. While “some noted they still had Good Good merch on site, all said the brand had been removed from their floors and its products were not available for sale,” according to FOS’ Briggs.

Multiple locations of PGA Tour Superstore, also reached by phone, said they had pulled Good Good merch, as well, per FOS.

Moreover, as of this writing, searches for “Good Good Golf” on both the Dick’s Sporting Goods and Golf Galaxy websites did not yield any direct results.

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Brigid Kennedy
BRIGID KENNEDY

Brigid Kennedy is a writer for the Features and Franchises team at Sports Illustrated. Before joining SI in November 2024, she covered political news, sporting news and culture at TheWeek.com before moving to Livingetc, an interior design magazine. She is a graduate of Syracuse University, dual majoring in television, radio and film (from the Newhouse School of Public Communications) and marketing managment (from the Whitman School of Management). Offline, she enjoys going to the movies, reading and watching the Steelers.

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