Callaway Golf is facing a wave of backlash after releasing an advertisement that shows a man shoulder-checking a woman to the ground over a golf club, prompting an apology from the company's chief executive and a scramble among partners to distance themselves from the fallout. The ad, a collaboration between Callaway and Good Good, was released on August 22, 2026, and was pulled within hours of posting after social media users reacted with outrage.
Callaway CEO Chip Brewer apologized for the advertisement on X on August 25, 2026, saying the content was inappropriate and did not reflect the company's values, according to KFOR. In the ad, Good Good co-founder Garrett Clark shoulder-checks golfer and influencer Alexis Miestowski to the ground as she reaches for a golf club, with the commercial including the line “do not touch my new driver.” Brewer's statement, issued at 1 a.m. Eastern, went further than a simple apology: he admitted that Callaway had reviewed and approved the promotional video before it was published, saying, in his words, that approval should never have happened, as reported by CBS News. He confirmed the company is now conducting both internal and external investigations into how the ad cleared its process.
The admission matters because it moves the controversy beyond a single rogue social post and into the realm of documented corporate sign-off, according to CBS News's reporting. Good Good, which sells apparel and accessories through major retail chains, saw at least one major national retailer, Target, begin removing its products from stores and online platforms in late August, per Yardbarker.
PGA Tour Calls Response “Defensive and Late”
PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp weighed in publicly on August 25, criticizing Good Good's initial response to the controversy as disappointing, defensive, and late. Speaking during a press conference at East Lake Golf Club amid the Tour Championship, Rolapp said Good Good's title sponsorship of the November 2026 Good Good Championship at Omni Barton Creek in Austin, Texas remains what he called a fluid situation, according to Sky Sports. Hoodline previously reported on ticket sales for that Austin tournament debut and on the resort's Fazio Canyons course set to host the event.
Golf Channel postponed the scheduled premiere of its reality series Big Break x Good Good in late August following the controversy, a show that was set to feature Good Good content creators competing on television, per Front Office Sports's reporting. Good Good, which began as a YouTube channel in 2020, had grown into a multi-platform sports entertainment company that raised $45 million in private equity funding in 2025 and co-produces content while title-sponsoring major golf tournaments, the outlet notes.
Explanation From Good Good's CEO
Good Good CEO Matt Kendrick said in an interview published August 27 that the advertisement had been intended as a spoof of the horror movie Obsession, and he accepted full responsibility for the lack of internal approval safeguards that allowed it to go public, according to Field Level Media. Callaway and Good Good had originally formed a multi-year equipment and marketing partnership in January 2023 to connect Callaway's traditional equipment line with Good Good's digital audience, a collaboration that produced co-branded clubs and gear aimed at younger players, per GolfWRX's account of the partnership's history.
Miestowski, the golfer depicted being shoulder-checked in the ad, is a former Indiana University Division I player who competed on the LPGA-sanctioned Epson Tour in 2024 before joining Good Good's digital channels. Callaway sells golf gear for men and women and is sold in nearly every sporting goods store throughout Oklahoma, per KFOR, whose reporting drew heavily on reaction from Oklahoma viewers and domestic violence advocates.
Backlash Ties Into Domestic Violence Concerns
Audiences criticized the advertisement for displaying what they described as a violent act against a woman, and other viewers said the ad was perceived the wrong way. One TikTok user commented that her husband “was” a big fan of Callaway's clubs and “was in shock that the ad even got approved,” per KFOR's reporting. Another TikTok user asked, “why are we promoting assault over little things like golf?” while a woman on Facebook wrote, “I got PTSD from watching this video.”
Some commenters suggested Callaway donate to a domestic violence organization in response, according to the same KFOR account. The station's report connected the controversy to Oklahoma-specific domestic violence data: the state recorded 122 homicides resulting from domestic violence in 2023, an average rate of 3.28 victims per 100,000 residents, and has seen more than 1,600 domestic-violence-related deaths over the past 20 years. Oklahoma ranks among the top three U.S. states for domestic violence homicide cases each year, and murder-suicides in the state stem from domestic violence disputes at a rate of 20 percent, per that reporting. KFOR also noted that Oklahoma women experience domestic violence during their lifetime at a rate of about 40 percent, and Oklahoma men at a rate of about 38 percent, with October marking National Domestic Violence Awareness Month. The station listed the Oklahoma Safe Line, 1-800-522-SAFE (7233), as a resource for those affected, and defined domestic violence as including physical violence, rape, or stalking by an intimate partner.
Growth of Women's Golf Raises the Stakes
The controversy lands at a moment when female participation in golf is climbing rapidly nationwide. On-course participation by women grew 45 percent between 2020 and 2025 to reach a record 8.1 million players, with women accounting for 52 percent of all net growth in traditional golf over that span, according to the National Golf Foundation's 2026 report as cited by The Hackers Paradise. That growth underscores why an ad depicting force against a female player drew such swift institutional pushback, from the PGA Tour's public criticism to retailers pulling product.
Callaway's parent company, Topgolf Callaway Brands Corp., generated approximately $4.2 billion in net sales in fiscal year 2024 across its Golf Equipment, Topgolf venues, and Active Lifestyle apparel divisions, according to a corporate profile from Umbrex. The company rebranded from Callaway Golf Company in 2022 following its merger with Topgolf. It remains unresolved whether the PGA Tour will strip Good Good of its Austin title sponsorship or whether Callaway will revise or terminate its marketing agreement with Good Good, questions that Field Level Media's reporting flags as still open as investigations continue on both sides.
