Good Good Golf CEO Matt Kendrick is no longer with the company, the latest fallout from a controversial advertisement that depicted violence against women.
Kendrick, a Good Good co-founder, oversaw the company’s response to outrage over an advertisement for a Callaway x Good Good driver that featured Good Good’s Garrett Clark pushing creator Alexis Miestowski to the ground. Kendrick then went viral with a social media post criticizing Callaway’s role in the controversy.
Now Kendrick has officially stepped away from his position as Good Good CEO, along with the company’s president Joe Flannery.
The news came via an internal company memo, which was first reported by Business Insider and later Front Office Sports.
Good Good CEO Matt Kendrick out in aftermath of driver ad
According to Business Insider, Good Good head of finance Alex Puchala sent a memo to company employees on Wednesday announcing the departures of Kendrick and Flannery.
“Matt helped build something extraordinary that exceeded all expectations and continues to bring countless new fans to the sport,” Puchala reportedly wrote.
Puchala said Good Good co-founder Nida Giga will take over as interim CEO. Puchala has not immediately returned GOLF’s request for comment.
The news comes as something of a surprise given that Kendrick had survived the initial fallout from the ad, as well as a widely criticized initial apology from the company.
Kendrick later took to LinkedIn to post his own apology and take responsibility for the controversial ad. But that did little to stop the fallout. Dick’s Sporting Goods and Golf Galaxy removed Good Good merchandise from their shelves. Golf Galaxy backed out as title sponsor of Golf Channel’s new “Big Break x Good Good” TV show. Golf Channel then canceled the first season of the show entirely.
The hits kept coming. Last Thursday, Callaway ended its partnership with Good Good, and Good Good announced it would step away as title sponsor of the PGA Tour’s Good Good Championship scheduled for November.
Good Good CEO’s inflammatory X post goes viral
On Friday, Kendrick took to his previously dormant X account to make an early morning post criticizing Callaway, which had ended its partnership with Good Good the day before.
In the post, Kendrick wrote, “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. 30 for 39 will be legendary.”
The post immediately went viral. As of this writing, it has not been deleted and has racked up 8.8 million views.
Later that morning, Kendrick told Front Office Sports he made the “reactionary” post in light of “what’s come towards [his] family.” He also revealed that he didn’t see or approve of the Callaway driver ad before it was posted. Five days later, Kendrick was out at Good Good.
On Wednesday night, Front Office Sports reached a spokesperson for Good Good, who expressed confidence in the future of the company in light of Kendrick and Flannery’s departures.
“Despite the recent controversy, the company is seeing online retail growth, continued support from investors, and sees an opportunity to re-engage former retail partners in the future,” the spokesperson told Front Office Sports.
