Callaway cuts ties with Good Good Golf as PGA Tour title sponsorship collapses
Golf lifestyle collective Good Good Golf lost its Callaway partnership and stepped down from title sponsorship of a PGA Tour tournament in Austin after backlash over an ad showing co-founder Garrett Clark shoving Alexis Miestowski.
Commercial collapse follows promotional video
Good Good Golf, a digital golf media brand and lifestyle company founded in 2020 with 2.13 million YouTube subscribers, experienced an unraveling of its commercial partnerships this week. The group lost its three-year equipment deal with Callaway Golf and withdrew from title sponsorship of an upcoming PGA Tour tournament in Austin, Texas. The commercial fallout followed widespread public condemnation of a promotional social media video produced for Callaway's Quantum driver, which placed Good Good's logo and color scheme on the equipment.
The advertisement and initial apologies
The 15-second promotional clip featured Good Good co-founder Garrett Clark and professional golfer Alexis Miestowski, an Epson Tour competitor and star of the Good Good Girls channel. As Miestowski reached for the Callaway driver in a golf bag, Clark charged from the background, shoved her in the back with his forearm, and knocked her to the ground before telling her not to touch his club. Good Good stated that the video was intended as a parody of the horror movie Obsession, but the clip drew condemnation across social media for depicting casual violence against women. Good Good removed the video and issued a statement on August 22 expressing regret and noting that the content did not reflect its values.
Clark subsequently released an eight-minute video addressing the reaction.
Looking back, super dumb ad concept, terrible ad in general. Minutes after it got posted, I was cringing. I thought it was the worst ad known to man.
Retailers pull apparel and television project cancelled
Copies of the deleted video continued to circulate online, bringing mainstream coverage and corporate scrutiny. PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp characterized Good Good's initial apology as defensive and late, describing the organization's tournament sponsorship as a fluid situation. Commercial consequences followed on Wednesday when Golf Channel cancelled a planned reality series titled "Big Break x Good Good" after main backer Galaxy Golf requested that its branding be removed from broadcasts. Retail chains, including Dick's Sporting Goods, PGA Tour Superstore, and Target, concurrently cleared Good Good apparel lines and merchandise from their stores.
- Good Good Golf publishes promotional video for Callaway Quantum driver
- Good Good deletes video and issues initial social media apology statement
- PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp describes collective's early response as defensive
- Golf Channel pulls reality show and major retailers clear apparel lines
- Callaway ends partnership and Good Good exits Austin tournament title sponsorship
Callaway terminates deal and tour tournament rebrands
Callaway announced on Thursday that it had ended its partnership with Good Good, which had been in place since 2023. The equipment manufacturer acknowledged that its internal review process was not comprehensive enough after approving and reposting the advertisement. Callaway pledged $1 million (approximately £735,725) to organizations working to prevent violence against women and assist survivors.
Unequivocally, violence against women is unacceptable and should never be trivialised, normalised, or used as entertainment.
Hours later, Good Good reached an agreement with tour officials to withdraw as title sponsor of the event scheduled for November 12–15 in Austin, Texas. The PGA Tour updated its official website to rebrand the event as the Austin Championship. Good Good CEO Matt Kendrick stated that the company would focus on internal reforms.
We recognize that we have work to do as an organization, and our focus right now is on our team, our culture and ensuring we learn from this situation.
