Good Good, Bye-Bye

Earlier this week, YouTube golf brand Good Good aired a commercial for its new Callaway driver. For those who have not seen it in full or a clipped version, the gist is that one of the members of the group body checks a woman to the ground who is attempting to touch his new driver. The ad was bad, the clipped part was worse, and the response from Good Good (mostly) was atrocious. 

I have been asked many times since it came out what my thoughts are on the situation and my gist has been that the ad was bad, the clipped scene was bad, and Good Good is deserving of what it’s getting, but it’s obviously much more complicated than that.

Let me start by saying that I used to be a fan of Good Good. I watched Garrett Clark, one of the group’s founders, on YouTube long before he launched the group. However, in recent years, that fandom has disappeared. As someone who claims to be a true fan of the game — I spend most Sundays in the spring and summer on the couch watching the PGA TOUR, I also consume tons of golf content, reading, listening, and watching. And as someone (not to toot my own horn) who is a single-digit handicapper and has played way too many five-plus hour rounds, I don’t like the crowd Good Good attracts to the game. I would like to see golf go back to the pre-COVID days, where you could walk onto any course and play in four hours.

But here are my unbiased thoughts on the situation:

1. The video that has gone viral is clipped, so it seems way worse — this is not to give Good Good a pass. The commercial was about no one being able to touch someone’s driver. The reaction, to a certain extent, is yet another sign of how soft the world has become.

2. The crisis PR from both Good Good and Callaway was horrific. It took way too long to pull the ad and release statements, and Good Good’s statement was pathetic.

3. I don’t really blame Callaway as a brand. They clearly didn’t do their due diligence on the ad before airing it, but it was very clearly pitched and executed by Good Good.

All in all, it was a dumpster fire, but the blame lies about 90% on the shoulders of Good Good. They deserve everything that has come their way since the ad was aired. They deserved to have their tournament sponsorship pulled (they “voluntarily” decided to step back); they deserved to have PGA Superstore and Golf Galaxy pull their products from the shelves; they deserved to have their TV show on Golf Channel pulled. And Callaway was right to cut ties with them. 

Good Good, bye-bye.