A golf ad scandal just got wilder as Good Good Golf co-founder and CEO Matt Kendrick hinted that he might sue Callaway for throwing his channel under the bus following the creation of an ad that received extensive backlash.
“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,” Kendrick posted on X early Friday morning.
This comes after he left several replies on social media indicating that he could sue Callaway. In one reply, he wrote that he was “not opposed” when someone suggested that Good Good Golf should “sue Callaway for every single penny they’re owed plus damages.”
Good Good Golf has borne the brunt of the criticism following the airing of an ad promoting a driver made in a collaboration between Good Good Golf and Callaway. One 15-second clip that’s gone viral shows Good Good Golf co-founder Garrett Clark shoving member Alexis Miestowski to the ground. In the video, Clark stands over her and says: “Do not touch my new driver.”
The full version of the ad clearly shows it’s meant to be a riff on the hit horror film “Obsession.” Kendrick originally apologized for the ad, but after being dropped by Callaway, he’s now ripping the large golf equipment company since it also approved the ad before it aired.
“We fully own that we did make a mistake. … As the CEO of the company, the buck stops with me and we should have had better processes in place,” Kendrick told the Wall Street Journal on Tuesday. “Obviously the execution missed the mark and didn’t come across the way that we wanted to, and in no way were we trying to make light of or support violence. But it came across that way, and that’s our fault.”
Callaway has also been issuing groveling apologies and pledged $1 million to help fight domestic violence. Company CEO Chip Brewer admitted that Callaway approved the ad but said “should never have happened.”
“In this instance, our content review process was not comprehensive enough,” the company said in a statement on Thursday. “We have taken appropriate internal corrective actions and significantly strengthened our approval procedures to help ensure this does not happen again.”
Kendrick put Callaway on blast but said other organizations have handled the PR crisis well and treated Good Good Golf fairly. He praised the PGA Tour even after Good Good Golf stepped down as a tour sponsor for an event planned to take place this fall.
“I will say there are a few groups that have treated us right in this,” Kendrick wrote on X. “The@PGATOUR is top of my list. Props to them.”
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