It’s been over a month since the brouhaha between Good Good, Callaway, and the now infamous ‘funny’ video. Violence, especially against women will never be cute, nor should it be acceptable, and given a free pass. Some would of course disagree and feel that it’s a whole lot of trouble over nothing. But both Good Good and Callaway realised their mistakes, although Good Good bore most of the brunt.
Good Good and the beginning
Good Good, in case you haven’t heard of them, is a YouTube golf sensation. Founded by Gareth Clark in 2016, the channel, formerly called GM Golf, began as a backyard golf trick shot channel. After years of content and collaborations, the channel became Good Good, a common term in golf where putts are given between playing partners, signifying that the players are giving each other gimme putts. It signifies friendly competition, generosity, and prioritising camaraderie over strict rules. Good Good’s videos feature golf courses, fun competitions, creative formats, and collaborations with golf influencers, celebrities, and even professional golfers. The playful banter, mixed with decent golf games and an atmosphere of golf with friends became popular, probably since many golfers were able to relate.
Naturally, more views and subscribers meant the formerly backyard production became professional. The greater the viewership, the more lucrative it got. Eventually Good Good became corporate, with brand deals, merchandise, and more access to professional guests. It was so good, that even when members come and go, build their own channels, or pursue professional golf, the channel still thrived, Good Good became so influential, behemoth brands like Callaway took notice and struck deals.
This brings us to the video in question. The short marketing video, done by Good Good for Callaway’s Quantum driver, was supposed to be funny. It was supposed to be a joke, a spoof. What went wrong was the video involved a golfer shoving a woman when she tried to pick up his Good Good – Callaway Quantum driver. The golfer shoves the woman for touching his limited edition Quantum driver, a co-branded product from the YouTubers and Callaway Golf. Once the video went live, and reactions were mostly negative, Good Good and Callaway took the video down and issued apologies. More than that, Callaway pledged $1 million for charities fighting violence against women. As for Good Good, they promptly lost their biggest sponsor, even their partnership with the PGA Tour where they were supposed to host an actual PGA tournament. From just that single ill-advised video, CEOs resigned, mammoth deals were lost, relationships with big retailers like Dick’s Sporting Goods, were severed.
There’s a lesson to be learned from all this. Too bad for the guys from Good Good, they had to be the ones to swallow the most bitter of pills. We all love golf. We all crave for good humour. But like in everything else, there are lines which cannot be crossed. The golfing world has spoken – keep violence, especially towards women out of golf.