LPGA Commissioner Craig Kessler says Good Good Golf shouldn’t be permanently canceled over its controversial Callaway advertisement, arguing that society needs to make room for people who admit fault and change.
Speaking Tuesday at the “Tuned In” summit hosted by Front Office Sports, Kessler was asked directly about the ad that set off a firestorm across the golf world and social media back in August. The spot featured Good Good co-founder Garrett Clark pushing member Alexis Miestowski to the ground.
Kessler didn’t defend the ad itself. “The fact that someone thought that was a good idea and it came to life just shows you that while society has made enormous progress, we have a very, very long way to go,” he said.
But he pushed back on the idea that the brand should be destroyed over it.
“Good people make mistakes. And we have to leave room in society for someone to say, ‘I made a massive mistake. Please forgive me. Here’s what I learned, and it won’t happen again.'”
The consequences for Good Good have already been steep. Callaway, which admitted it had approved the ad, cut ties with the brand days after the backlash began. Good Good also split from the PGA Tour ahead of a tournament it was set to sponsor in November, and some retailers pulled the brand’s products from shelves. Golf Channel scrapped a planned revival of its “Big Break” reality series that was tied to Good Good as well.
Good Good, which has more than 2.1 million YouTube subscribers, paused posting new content for a stretch after the controversy. It has since returned with a new series built around playing golf in all 50 states in 50 days, with each video pulling in more than 500,000 views and several nearing a million.
Kessler’s comments stand out at a moment when brands and public figures are routinely written off permanently over single incidents, with little path back regardless of the response that follows.
