Good Good CEO slams Callaway in early-morning social media post amid ad controversy

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Good Good CEO Matt Kendrick took to social media early Friday morning to slam Callaway for the advertisement controversy that has dominated golf headlines all week.

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At 3:38 a.m. ET Friday, Kendrick wrote on X/Twitter, "Interesting that Callaway Golf 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. 30 for 39 will be legendary."

Kendrick also replied to a slew of posts from other users, most notably one who suggested Good Good file a lawsuit against Callaway, to which Kendrick responded "not opposed." That reply has since been deleted, but screenshots rapidly circulated social media.

Late Friday morning, David Rumsey with Front Office Sports managed to get Kendrick on the phone and published a Q&A, in which Kendrick said that Good Good is "not thinking about" suing Callaway and that the X post was "just off the cuff responding to a comment." Kendrick told Rumsey that he never saw the video before it went live and that Good Good "removed the people responsible" for the ad.

Kendrick was also asked about why he decided to send the initial X post Friday regarding the situation with Callaway: "It’s just been tough with everything I’ve seen from what’s come towards my family and things like that, and the frustration, it’s just tough," Kendrick said. "You don’t like being kicked when you’re down. It’s definitely reactionary, but it comes from a place of just not liking what’s coming from this to us personally. It’s been tough. The company is one thing, but family is a whole 'nother thing.

This saga has now reached a week in length. Last Friday, Aug. 21, Good Good posted an advertisement for its collaboration with Callaway on a new driver which showed Good Good's Garrett Clark pushing a woman to the ground. The now-deleted video drew widespread backlash, prompting Golf Galaxy, among other stores, to pull the brand's merchandise from its retail platforms on Tuesday. 

Then on Thursday, Callaway issued a statement announcing it had cut ties with Good Good. The statement said its "content review process was not comprehensive enough" and that it has taken "appropriate internal corrective actions" while pledging $1 million to organizations with the mission of preventing violence against women.

"[Callaway] severed ties with us," Kendrick told Front Office Sports. "We completely understand that position and this is a situation no one wants to be in. And we apologize to everyone for being in this position, and I apologize to Callaway that all of us are here. I understand everyone’s position and I get it. We loved being with Callaway for a long time. They were nothing but great to us the entire time we were together. I just hate that this is how it ended."

In stark contrast to what he posted on social media, Kendrick told Front Office Sports there was not any disagreement between the two brands on who would take the blame for the ad and Callaway wasn't asking Good Good to get them out of the situation.

"I would never say it that way," Kendrick said. "I came out and said, 'Hand up. We want to make sure that we take responsibility for what we did.' And we did make the ad. We apologize for how bad the ad was. And I think at the end of the day, we wanted to make sure that everyone knew that we understood that we made a mistake, and we weren’t going to deny that. That’s what we wanted to have portrayed."

Kendrick's social media spree also took aim at Golf Galaxy, which he claimed "ruined" Golf Channel's reboot of the popular show Big Break, which was made in conjunction with Good Good. The series was set to premiere Tuesday night but was postponed when Golf Galaxy, the presenting sponsor, asked that its branding be removed from the show amid the public outrage surrounding Good Good's driver ad. On Thursday, Golf Channel announced that the show was canceled entirely.

Another reason, and perhaps the main catalyst for the cancellation of Big Break x Good Good, was the fact that the winner was to be awarded a sponsor exemption into the Good Good Championship ― a new FedEx Cup Fall event scheduled for Nov. 12-15 at Omni Barton Creek Resort in Austin, Texas.

But in the fallout of the advertisement controversy, Good Good withdrew its title sponsorship of the event, instead opting to focus on "our team, our culture, and ensuring we learn from this situation," the company said in a statement. The PGA Tour said it agreed with Good Good's decision. As of Thursday afternoon, the November event is simply listed as the Austin Championship on the Tour's official schedule.

During a news conference on Tuesday ahead of the 2026 Tour Championship in Atlanta, PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp said the Good Good advertisement for the Callaway driver was "concerning" and that Good Good's initial response to the backlash was "disappointing." Good Good first issued a short statement on the matter Saturday, then Clark posted a nearly 9-minute video Wednesday night apologizing for the ad.

Front Office Sports asked Kendrick about how the situation with the PGA Tour unfolded: "The way that they handled things with us and the communication I had with them was first class," Kendrick said. "I appreciate everything about what the PGA Tour has done with us, and I hope one day we can work together again. I have nothing but good things to say about them."

Callaway, meanwhile, received strong support from one of its marquee ambassadors, 10-time LPGA major winner Annika Sorenstam, who made a post on Instagram Thursday night with a lengthy caption that called the Good Good driver ad "terrible," and that it "does not reflect the values of Callaway or their CEO, Chip Brewer."

"Callaway is and always has been one of the strongest supporters of women's golf on the LPGA and amateur level," Sorenstam wrote. "Being a part of their family has been critical to my success and the success of countless other girls with big dreams."

Prior to Callaway ending its relationship with Good Good, Brewer issued a statement himself, which read, in part, "While the video was produced by Good Good, it was approved by Callaway prior to posting. That approval should never have happened. Mistakes were made and we are taking the matter very seriously."

Callaway was one of the first major golf brands to partner with content creators and YouTube channels to promote its clubs, balls and other products, signing deals with Good Good and Bob Does Sports in January of 2023. Among the company's staff pros are Jon Rahm, Xander Schauffele, Sam Burns, Rose Zhang, Jeeno Thitikul and Ruoning Yin.

Good Good's official channel has 2.13 million subscribers and the group has grown into the foremost YouTube golf brand since its inception in 2020.

Nick Stavas is a digital producer and commerce writer for Golfweek. Follow him on X/Twitter (@nickstavas).

This article originally appeared on Golfweek: Good Good CEO slams Callaway in early-morning social media post amid ad controversy

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