The Texas-based Good Good Golf's CEO and president have left the company following backlash over a co-branded Callaway Golf ad that critics said trivialized violence against women.
Matt Kendrick, the company's CEO, and President Joe Flannery departed Sept. 2, according to an internal company email shared with CBS News.
Nahid Giga, a Good Good Golf co-founder and one of the company's first investors, will serve as interim CEO.
What happened with the Good Good Golf ad?
Good Good Golf and Callaway Golf released an online advertisement that showed a male golfer shoving a female golfer to the ground after she tried to take his driver from a golf bag.
The video was quickly pulled after viewers criticized its depiction of violence against women and called the ad sexist.
Good Good Golf said the
commercial was intended as a parody of the horror movie "Obsession." But the explanation did little to quell the backlash.
Both Good Good Golf and Callaway apologized for the ad.
Why did Callaway end its partnership with Good Good Golf?
Callaway ended its three-year partnership with Good Good Golf following the controversy.
Good Good Golf also said it would step back from sponsoring one of the PGA Tour's tournaments this fall.
The fallout escalated after Kendrick posted on social media Aug. 28 that Callaway had asked Good Good Golf "to take the fall and then drops us in a coordinated media blitz."
How did Good Good Golf get started in Texas?
The golf media company was formed in 2020 by a group of young golf creators, including Garrett Clark, who had already built an audience through his GM Golf YouTube channel. Clark grew up in Kansas City and began making golf videos as a teenager.
The group eventually moved from the Kansas City area to North Texas, where they lived together in a content house in Allen. According to D Magazine, Matt Kendrick encouraged the creators to make the move to the Dallas-Fort Worth area.
Good Good's early videos centered on the creators themselves playing golf, competing in challenges and making the sport entertaining for an online audience. The formula quickly took off.
By 2024, Good Good had grown to nearly 1.5 million YouTube subscribers, making it one of the largest golf-focused channels on the platform. The company expanded beyond online videos into apparel, events and other golf-related businesses.
Where is Good Good Golf?
Good Good Golf is based in Frisco, Texas, about 30 miles north of Dallas.
Frisco has branded itself "Sports City USA," and the city is home to the headquarters or major facilities of several professional sports organizations, including the Dallas Cowboys, FC Dallas and the NHL's Dallas Stars. The Cowboys' headquarters and practice facility, The Star, has become one of the city's best-known sports destinations.
The PGA of America moved its headquarters from Florida to Frisco, where it developed a $600 million campus known as PGA Frisco. The complex includes two 18-hole championship golf courses, the Omni PGA Frisco Resort and other golf-related facilities.
Brandi D. Addison covers weather across the nation as the Weather Connect reporter for the USA TODAY Network and contributes to Texas Connect coverage across the state. She can be reached at baddison@usatodayco.com. Follow her on Facebook here.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Texas golf brand Good Good faces leadership shakeup after ad backlash
