For a traditionalist sport like golf looking to gain more relevance with the Gen Z audience, the coming weeks were supposed to be huge. It was all because of the populist YouTube content house, Good Good Golf. Eight days ago – from brand deals with big names to title sponsors of a PGA Tour event to releasing a highly anticipated series, Big Break – they had the golf world in their fist. But hold things too tightly, and they break into pieces — something the brand learned the hard way.

So far, the dumpster fire is showing no sign of ending any time soon. But what it has certainly done is divide and break apart many of the entities involved.

Good Good Golf co-founder Garrett Clark, who was featured in the ad for their collab Callaway driver, watched the backlash snowball. Once he realized he had to say something, he took it to his social media last Wednesday and posted an eight-and-a-half-minute-long video, and acknowledged Good Good Golf’s mistake of “promoting a very poor-taste ad.” Only if Good Good CEO Matt Kendrick had also been on the same page…

While everyone involved was apologizing for the distasteful ad, Kendrick was making fiery claims on social media. While he acknowledged GG’s mistake and took responsibility for it, he shifted focus to Callaway as well. His thoughts were simple: That company had asked GG to make the ad, they had approved it, but after the backlash, they were attempting to “cover it up by giving a million dollars away.” His opinion didn’t end there.

Responding to many of his followers, he mentioned that he was “not opposed” to suing Callaway and boycotting it. Oh boy! Things, obviously, took a turn for worse for Kendrick.

Matt Kendrick and Joe Flannery step down from Good Good Golf 

This Wednesday, Front Office Sports’ David Rumsey gave recent updates on the topic on X. According to him, CEO Matt Kendrick and Joe Flannery have stepped down from their roles, with investor Nahid Giga taking over as interim CEO. And if you thought there was an update about Clark, too…well, there was, only it wasn’t what you might have thought…

Garrett Clark and the creator team will continue their work as usual, with an internal memo reassuring employees that they “will keep doing what they do best, making great content.” Interestingly, Kendrick had revealed that Good Good had already taken steps to avoid any such mistakes from happening again last Friday.

In a conversation with Front Office Sports, the then-CEO said his company’s marketing team had approved the ad and that Good Good had “removed people responsible for the ad,” though he declined to identify them. He also said the company was putting “better processes in place” to prevent something similar from happening again, while acknowledging that he had not seen the ad before it was released. Kendrick and Flannery are not the only executives who have reportedly left.

According to available reports, Good Good VP of Brand and Marketing Jeffrey Lefkovits has also been fired. In this saga of twists and turns, unexpected data that recently surfaced would leave you questioning a lot more things, though.

While Callaway and Good Good drown in the controversy, a study shows how their ad could’ve performed among consumers

The controversial ad in focus featured Clark and Alexis Miestowski, who has competed on the women’s second-tier Epson Tour and is a star of the “Good Good Girls” spinoff YouTube channel. As we see Miestowski reaching for Clark’s new Good Good x Callaway driver, he charges at her, shoving her to the ground before saying, “Do not touch my new driver.”

Now, we know that the online backlash to the ad featuring the Good Good logo and color scheme on Callaway’s Quantum driver was almost immediate, with critics condemning the ad for its depiction of violence against women. But consumer research company Zappi tested the controversial ad with 150 U.S. consumers who shop for sports and outdoor products.

It wanted to check how they responded to the ad showing the driver featuring the Good Good logo and color scheme on Callaway’s Quantum driver. Safe to say, the results raised some concerns. Here are the findings:

• 53% of men rated the ad as “appropriate.” Only 35% of women were in agreement.
• 37% of women said the ad made them see Callaway more negatively, compared to 13% of men.
• 63% of men said the ad made them feel more positively toward Callaway, compared with 29% of women.

What this study means:

Considering that women have helped grow the sport by 60 percent in recent times, Callaway and Good Good Golf creating an ad that showed violence against women didn’t make sense.

“That’s particularly striking. Why would you alienate the audience powering the future of your category?,” Nataly Kelly, Zappi’s chief marketing officer, told Forbes. “The bigger problem is why nobody—and no process—involved in creating and approving this ad saw that risk before it went live.”

Understandably, before any plans are created, data is studied for every approach, something that must have happened with GG and Callaway as well. However, something certainly went amiss as the ad did cross the line for many consumers. But that’s not all that this data concludes.

The numbers point to a clear difference in how men and women perceive Callaway’s role in the advertisement. That divide has also led some to question whether the consequences have been equal.

Callaway’s role comes under the scanner 

Following the backlash over the ad, Callaway severed its ties with Good Good Golf. The company also issued apologies at the CEO level and announced steps to address the fallout. Meanwhile, Callaway director of content and production Alex Upegui has reportedly left the company. He was reportedly the highest-ranking employee to approve the controversial advertisement. But what did not happen was Callaway getting called out the same way Good Good did, nor has it faced the same level of consequences. OutKick’s Jon Root questioned that very fact:

“Callaway saw this dumb ad in collaboration with Good Good Golf (inspired by Obession [Obsession]), signed off on it, published it with GG & they receive no repercussions. GG is being cancelled while Callaway isn’t condemned by the PGA Tour & all of their products are still on the shelves,” Root wrote on X on August 27. 

Jennifer Sey, the founder and CEO of XX-XY Athletics, echoed that sentiment.

“This is so dumb. Why is Good Good Golf being punished but not Callaway? Callaway was involved in the ad and approved it,” she wrote on X.

As this storyline continues to grow, you can expect more unexpected revelations. But what’s certain is that the developments of the past two weeks paint a rapidly changing picture. If you aren’t caught up yet, here’s a quick timeline of what has occurred in the Good Good Golf x Callaway world.

A quick timeline of the Good Good Golf–Callaway controversy

• August 20, 2026: Good Good and Callaway release an ad for their co-branded golf driver. The video shows Garrett Clark shoving Alexis Miestowski to the ground, sparking immediate backlash.
• August 20–23: The ad is deleted, but clips continue to circulate online. Good Good and Clark apologize and acknowledge that the advertisement was a mistake.
• August 23: Good Good officially announces that the ad has been pulled.
• August 24–27: The fallout continues to grow. Dick’s Sporting Goods and Golf Galaxy pull Good Good merchandise, while Golf Channel cancels the upcoming Big Break x Good Good season.
• August 27: Callaway ends its partnership with Good Good and announces a $1 million donation to organizations working to prevent violence against women. Good Good also steps away from its title sponsorship of the upcoming PGA Tour event in Austin.
• September 1: Good Good’s VP of Brand and Marketing, Jeffrey Lefkovits, is reportedly fired amid the fallout.
• September 2: CEO Matt Kendrick steps down, while President Joe Flannery leaves the company. Co-founder and investor Nahid Giga takes over as interim CEO, while Garrett Clark and the creator team are expected to continue producing content.

For now, both the brands would be hoping that this nightmare of a chapter goes into their past while the world continues to keep it alive in their memories.