There has been significant backlash, and rightly so, against a recent Good Good Golf commercial promoting its new Callaway driver. The video shows co-founder Garrett Clark charging toward a woman as she reaches for his driver. Before she can touch it, he pushes her to the ground, stands over her, and angrily warns, “Do not touch my new driver.”

Using violence against women to sell a product is appalling. And the question I keep coming back to is: How could this possibly have been approved?

As an entrepreneur with decades of experience in marketing and branding, I know these decisions don’t happen quickly. There are teams and discussions, yet enough people thought this ad was a good idea and apparently decided: “Yes, this is a winner.”

At no point did anyone with enough sense say, “Wait a minute. A man knocking a woman to the ground and threatening her is horrible, and a terrible way to sell a golf club.”

Good Good Golf has since deleted the ad and apologized, saying the content depicted actions “not aligned with our values as a brand” and reaffirmed its commitment to making golf more inclusive.

Callaway CEO Chip Brewer later issued a statement admitting that Callaway approved the video before it was posted online and that the approval “should never have happened.” But one sentence stood out: “As soon as we recognized the seriousness of the issue, it was escalated appropriately, and the video was immediately removed.”

This is precisely the problem. It became serious enough to “escalate” only after people saw it and started calling it out.

Equally striking is what Brewer’s statement doesn’t say. While he mentions that Callaway has “been a positive force for diversity and inclusion in the game of golf,” not once does he use the word woman. The very reason for the outrage: a man aggressively shoving a woman to the ground and threatening her is never acknowledged.

But the apologies don’t answer the more important questions: Why did this get approved in the first place? What does this say about our culture and how we view women? And who was at the table?

This is just one of the reasons women need to be at the table, in positions of power and decision-making. Different voices, perspectives and lived experiences in the room matter.

At a time when companies are scaling back diversity, equity and inclusion efforts, this should serve as a reminder of why representation in decision-making was never simply about checking a box. It’s about making better decisions.

The golf industry, in particular, should be paying attention to women.

According to the National Golf Foundation, the number of female on-course golfers increased 45% between 2020 and 2025, a net gain of 2.5 million players. More than 8.1 million women and girls now play on-course golf, the highest number ever recorded. Women and girls accounted for 52% of the net growth in on-course participation during that period.

In other words, women aren’t on the sidelines of golf’s growth. We are driving it.

Yet here we are in 2026 watching a golf company market a club with an image of a man aggressively pushing a woman to the ground.

There should be consequences. And there have been.

Dick’s Sporting Goods and Golf Galaxy pulled Good Good merchandise from their online and in-store sales floors. Multiple PGA Tour Superstore locations have also pulled Good Good merchandise. The Golf Channel postponed the premiere of “Big Break x Good Good” after a sponsor asked to have its branding removed from the series. Good Good stepped away as title sponsor of a PGA Tour event scheduled for this fall. Callaway ended its partnership with Good Good and pledged $1 million to organizations working to prevent violence against women and support survivors.

That’s not cancel culture. It’s accountability.

Women and girls deserve more than statements and apologies. If companies and institutions truly respect women, they need to stand behind their stated values with action.

Companies make choices. Consumers make choices. Business partners make choices. And choices have consequences.

The Representation Project created a call to action in 2012 — #NotBuyingIt — for ads that objectify, demean, sexualize or misrepresent women and girls. So, if Good Good Golf and Callaway don’t want women touching their products, let’s listen to them.

Companies notice what we buy. They also notice what we don’t.

I’m #NotBuyingIt. And I hope more consumers and companies do the same.

Jodi Bondi Norgaard is the creator of the award-winning Go! Go! Sports Girls brand and the author of “More Than a Doll: How Creating a Sports Doll Turned into a Fight to End Gender Stereotypes.” She worked with the White House Gender Policy Council under President Joe Biden’s administration and the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media. 

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