Was it really that big of a deal?
Callaway Golf issues a late-night apology after taking down a recent ad that it says was “inappropriate.”
The ad was produced by Good Good Golf, a YouTube golf channel and apparel brand that’s also the title sponsor for a new PGA Tour event in Austin, Texas later this year. In the since-deleted ad, Good Good co-founder Garrett Clark knocks down a female golfer who was reaching for his new Callaway driver, standing over her and demanding that she not touch his driver.
You can see the deleted ad here:
After facing backlash for the ad, Good Good removed the video over the weekend and issued an apology:
“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.”
And last night around midnight, Callaway issued a lengthy explanation and apology, admitting that they approved the ad before it was released but saying that approval “should have never happened” and that the ad “does not reflect our values.”
Callaway says that they are “unequivocally against discrimination, domestic violence, or threatening behavior of any kind,” which is good to know because I was afraid that the silly ad was Callaway’s way of endorsing domestic violence. (That’s sarcasm, nobody actually believed Callaway was pro-domestic violence).
They also claim that they “believe we have been a positive force for diversity and inclusion in the game of golf,” and promise to “do better” in the future.
Here’s the entire, lengthy statement from Callaway CEO Chip Brewer:
“Last week, Good Good Golf and Callaway posted a video to promote a co-branded driver. 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.
As we deal with the consequences of our mistake and complete our investigations, I want to make it clear that we sincerely apologize for the video. The content was inappropriate and does not reflect our values. To be clear: We are unequivocally against discrimination, domestic violence, or threatening behavior of any kind.
As soon as we recognized the seriousness of the issue, it was escalated appropriately, and the video was immediately removed. Preliminary statements were issued by both Good Good and Callaway, and now this statement has followed. We are also conducting both internal and external investigations and have already made changes to our approval processes aimed at ensuring this will never happen again.
We believe we have been a positive force for diversity and inclusion in the game of golf. This video was completely inconsistent with that. I assure you that we will learn from this and do better.”
Now, a lot of people in the comments seem to be more offended at Callaway’s apology and statement than they actually were at the ad:
@goodgood_golf @CallawayGolf 99% of us don’t care. Stop apologizing to the 1% of the woke fragile idiots.
— TheThinker (@thinkorswim03) August 25, 2026
I might sell my Callaway after this complete over reaction to a video that was obviously a joke. The world is broke if that video triggered anyone.
— Grilling Pete (@Grilling_Pete) August 25, 2026
Absolutely nothing to apologize for. Not one person that buys your stuff cares about that video
— bigA (@BigAWins) August 25, 2026
So was this an overreaction on Callaway’s part? I mean, I don’t think it was a good ad, but I also don’t think there was anything horribly offensive about it either. If it had been all men in the ad, or all women, or a woman knocking down a man, nobody would think anything of it.
Honestly it’s a little hard to believe that throughout the entire process of making and approving the ad, nobody stopped to think: Is somebody going to get mad about this? Because you know that in the year 2026, the answer is almost always going to be “yes,” no matter what you do.
Ultimately though, I think this might be a situation where the response to the backlash may be even worse than the backlash itself was.
Can’t please everybody these days. And in trying to, you usually end up pleasing nobody.
