Good Good Golf executives exit following backlash over controversial advertisement

The top brass at golf media platform Good Good Golf have left the company in the wake of severe backlash over an advertisement that showed a man shoving a woman to the ground and telling her not to touch the club.

The company parted ways with CEO Matt Kendrick and President Joe Flannery, Good Good’s head of finance and operations Alex Puchala announced on Wednesday.

The commercial, released online last month before being pulled, showed a male golfer shoving a female player to the ground when she reaches for his new driver. It prompted calls to boycott products from Callaway, which co-branded the advertisement.

Callaway issued an apology for the advertisement, and Callaway chief executive Chip Brewer said in a statement on Tuesday that the company had launched an investigation into how the advertisement – produced by golf media firm Good Good Golf – had been approved.

“Last week Good Good Golf and Callaway posted a video to promote a co-branded driver,” Brewer said in a statement.

“The content was inappropriate and does not reflect our values. To be clear: We are unequivocally against discrimination, domestic violence or threatening behaviour of any kind … I assure you we will learn from this and do better.”

Nahid Giga, a board member and investor in Good Good, was installed as the interim CEO of the company, while Vice President of Brand and Marketing Jeffrey Lefkovits was fired earlier this week.

Good Good was launched as a YouTube channel in 2020 and is now among the largest content creators in the sport, featuring eight men and four women competing in golf and various challenges. It has made-for-TV shows, apparel and other merchandise.

The company had said the controversial video was meant to parody the horror movie Obsession. But the criticism was immediate and relentless.

The video was deleted the same day it was posted on August 20, but it continued to make the rounds on social media and apologies from Good Good and Callaway had little effect.

“We were disappointed with what we saw,” PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp said last week of the response from Good Good. “The PGA Tour believes in golf’s ability to bring people together and create a welcoming environment for all.”

Good Good pulled its title sponsorship of a new PGA Tour event in Austin, Texas, later this year. The tour said the tournament will still be played.

Callaway ended its relationship with Good Good, and retailers including Golf Galaxy and its parent company, Dick’s Sporting Goods, removed the company’s merchandise from their shelves. Golf Channel cancelled a new season of its Big Break reality series in which it partnered with Good Good.

Garrett Clark, a Good Good founder and the man who shoves the woman in the video, posted an eight-minute video in which he called the commercial in question “the worst ad known to man” and “not what we stand for”.