The fallout was always going to come for Callaway and Good Good. They just weren’t ready for it, which is why the YouTube brand accused the OEM of running a coordinated publicity campaign against them. That, in turn, briefly prompted the idea that Good Good’s CEO Matt Kendrick might file a lawsuit against the latter. None of that happened, typical in these cases.

What did happen was the policing of key executives. The signs were there. The Callaway CEO, Chip Brewer, did admit on August 25 that the brand was “conducting both internal and external investigations and have already made changes to our approval process aimed at ensuring this will never happen again.” The consequences are here.

At least two executives at both Callaway and Good Good have lost their jobs, though they are not the only ones. As per the first report by David Rumsey, Good Good VP of brand and marketing Jeffrey Lefkovits has been fired, and Callaway director of content and production Alex Upegui is departing the company. Why?

Kendrick informed Front Office Sports on Friday that the company blamed the marketing team for approving the ad. Hence, Good Good had “removed people responsible for the ad,” though he never mentioned a name until Lefkovits was fired. What’s interesting is that Lefkovits had been promoted to his new position in June, as per Rumsey. That is, no doubt, a huge setback for Lefkovits and the YouTube brand.

At least one additional Good Good employee, not yet identified, is also being let go. Meanwhile, Upegui has held the role since 2023. As per FOS, he is likely the highest-ranking Callaway employee who signed off on the ad. But was it not expected? It was. It is extremely common for companies to start solving the issue starting from the bottom.

This is not to say both brands haven’t tried their best to rectify their mistake. However, it is also very common to fire employees after a corporate scandal because it allows an organization to quickly signal accountability, protect top leadership, and minimize legal damage. So, the idea isn’t too far off.

It’s extremely common as well, no matter what situation. Just last season, Topgolf let go of at least 300 employees, which, by estimation, cut at least $40M from its balance sheet. What Good Good and Callaway did was something similar, indicating they were taking the controversy seriously. Besides, according to a 2019 PressReader, employees with less than five years of experience at a company are more likely to leave the company after a transgression.

However, the departures mark the clearest sign yet that the controversy has reached beyond severed business ties and into the ranks of the people who greenlit the ad in the first place.

The personnel changes follow a string of corporate moves that unraveled quickly last week. Callaway ended its partnership with the YouTube-driven Good Good brand, and Good Good in turn walked away from its title sponsorship of a PGA Tour event. That event, still slated for November, is now listed as the Austin Championship rather than the Good Good Championship.

Golf Channel also scrapped Big Break x Good Good, a planned revival of its old reality competition series, and retailers including Golf Galaxy, Dick’s Sporting Goods, PGA Tour Superstore, and Target have pulled Good Good merchandise from shelves. There are some lessons from the situation, however.

Callaway CEO Chip Brewer said in an Aug. 25 statement that Callaway was running investigations and had already changed its approval process. Two days later, the company said much the same thing again: its content review hadn’t been thorough enough, and it had taken corrective action.

Good Good CEO Matt Kendrick offered a comparable account on the Good Good side. Kendrick also admitted he had not personally reviewed the ad before it aired. “The biggest thing is we realized we have to put better processes in place,” Kendrick said.

The co-branded campaign was approved by both companies’ marketing teams, while Good Good CEO Matt Kendrick said he had not personally reviewed it before release. FOS further reported that Lefkovits, Callaway, and Good Good declined to comment for this story, and Upegui could not be reached.

That said, Kendrick had criticized Callaway on X over how the company handled the controversy after the two sides split.

“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 wrote. “30 for 39 will be legendary.”

The CEO also replied to several other posts, like Barstool Sports personality Dan “Big Cat” Katz. And as FOS reported, it was among those replies that Kendrick said that he was “not opposed” to suing Callaway. The tweet has since been deleted.

But when Front Office Sports later asked whether legal action was actually under consideration, Kendrick said, ‘No, we’re not thinking about that,’ describing the post as an off-the-cuff response.”