Good Good Golf Meets Bad, Bad Cancel Culture

This is, in many ways, a simple story, but it has a lot of lessons. Unfortunately, one company, Good Good Golf, has been sucked into the vortex of cancel culture over an innocent advertisement after some viewers had their fragile, woke sensibilities bruised.

Good Good Golf is a well-known sports entertainment company and YouTube channel that creates golf challenge videos, sells branded golf apparel and equipment, and organizes live golf events.

One of Good Good's partners was Callaway Golf, which asked them to prepare an ad for a new driver. The ad was apparently sent to Callaway for approval and received approval before airing.

The ad was intended to be a scripted parody of the horror movie Obsession. In the movie, the characters become dangerously possessed and crazed by a sinister, cursed object.

Playing off the movie theme, the brand ad for the new Callaway driver tried to show that anyone touching the club would be consumed by an extreme, wild obsession to use it. In the video, co-founder Garrett Clark pushes a female golfer to the ground when she tries to touch his new driver.

The woman in the video is Alexis Miestowski, a professional golfer and member of the Good Good team. The entire ad was obviously staged, but most people didn’t realize the connection between the ad and the movie.

One lesson to take from this is that if you are going to make an ad that references a movie theme, make sure people understand the reference. In my opinion, it isn’t the best advertisement I’ve ever seen, but it certainly isn’t something to lose your mind over either.

That said, with that one small shove, the liberal cancel machine was unleashed. All these small-minded people saw was a man pushing a woman away from his golf club, and that, in their opinion, justified men abusing women.

If people wanted to gripe about the ad, they should have just complained that it was a stupid ad. Reading the whole abuse thing into it is a monumental stretch.

If the ad was reversed and a woman had shoved or tripped a man to keep him away from a golf club, no one would have even raised an eyebrow. But there are far too many people who love the idea of being victimized. They love the feeling of outrage, even when there is nothing to be outraged over. They know that in today’s society, they can seize the smallest issue and twist it into something that other ‘rageaholics’ will gleefully feel justified in screaming about.

What happened next is sadly predictable, but it offers another solid lesson in what not to do when these lunatics take something out of context to satisfy their need to whine.

Both Good Good and Callaway apologized for the ad, which only justified the whiners' ridiculous reaction.

Good Good posted on X:

“We posted a video to our channels that ultimately depicted actions that are not aligned with our values as a brand. We have since taken that content down, and sincerely apologize. Good Good has always stood for making the game of golf more inclusive to all, and we will continue to ensure that is our mission moving forward.”

Callaway also groveled to the mob.

“Over the past several days, we have listened and reflected deeply on the hurt and disappointment caused by the video we reposted. We heard from individuals who shared personal experiences related to violence against women, and their stories were powerful reminders that this issue touches the lives of far too many people. Unequivocally, violence against women is unacceptable and should never be trivialized, normalized, or used as entertainment.”

Oh, come on, it was just a stupid ad.

Callaway also announced that it will donate $1 million to organizations that combat domestic violence against women.

Still, what would an apology fest be without the PGA weighing in? Tour CEO and commissioner Brian Rolapp obliged with his own unique version of a slap in the face.

“I think what we saw was concerning and is clearly not aligned with PGA Tour values. We take it very seriously. I think their initial response was disappointing. It was a bit defensive and late. But I think the responses are getting better.”

The apologies didn’t cut deep enough, so more financial blood needed to be shed. On Thursday, Callaway ended its partnership with Good Good. Shortly after, the PGA Tour announced that it was dropping Good Good as a sponsor. In addition, Dick’s Sporting Goods and its subsidiary, Golf Galaxy, removed Good Good merchandise from their shelves. The Golf Channel also postponed a new reality series due to Golf Galaxy’s decision to distance itself from the Good Good brand.

It wasn’t until Friday that someone finally showed some backbone about this tidal wave of stupidity. With his business being turned into a dumpster fire over a video for a new golf club, Matt Kendrick, Good Good Golf’s co-founder and CEO, took aim at Callaway for throwing his company under the fast-moving golf cart.

Kendrick posted on X:

“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. The 30 for 39 will be legendary.”

Congratulations, Matt, you finally stated what should have been said right out of the gate. By apologizing to these overreacting fools, you only poured gas on the fire instead of digging a firebreak and explaining the connection between the video and the movie.

Bowing down to the woke mob may have cost you your business.

Meanwhile, their empty lives were filled for a few days with feigned outrage. All because woke liberals aren’t able to see beyond their self-induced insanity and their expectations for the rest of the world to fall in line.

That’s the biggest lesson of all: never, ever accept the phony indignation of the mentally disturbed; stand up to it and fight it, or allow it to consume you. That’s the simple truth.

Milt spent thirty years as a sales and operations manager for an international manufacturing company. He is also a four-time published author on a variety of subjects. Now, he spends most of his time researching and writing about conservative politics and liberal folly.