Reading columns and news reports about women’s sports can be heavy and triggering.
Good Good Golf and Callaway are now facing backlash over a horrific video advertisement promoting a brand partnership between the two companies.
#womenworthwatching
- The IX: Just a kid from Sandersville: Becoming Allisha Gray
This column is sponsored by Times Union Women@Work, the Capital Region’s network of business and professional women. Join today at: https://womenatworkny.com
In the ad, a female employee reaches for a Callaway driver featuring a Good Good logo. Good Good co-founder Garrett Clark charges at her from the background and pushes into her back with his forearm. She falls to the ground, smiling, and he stands over her and says very menacingly, “Do not touch my new driver.”
The ad depicting violence against women was quickly deleted, but the damage was done. Once it’s online, it’s easy to find and watch.
The ad was meant to spoof the psychological thriller/horror movie “Obsession,” Good Good Golf founder and CEO Matt Kendrick said.
His statement has been disputed and also criticized. Callaway issued two statements and admitted they wrongly approved the ad. The PGA Tour was not happy. PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp on Tuesday told reporters that he was disappointed in Good Good’s reaction to the controversy, saying that the company did not show enough accountability.
With an upcoming PGA Tour event sponsored by the collaboration, Callaway moved fast.
Notably, it wasn’t just a small minority of “woke” people opposing this, as Dick’s Sporting Goods and Costco pulled the Callaway and Good Good Golf products off their shelves, according to Front Office Sports.
On Thursday, Callaway announced it has cut all ties with Good Good Golf. Callaway said it is also donating $1 million to support organizations that work to prevent domestic violence against women and support survivors.
Sigh. How this ad made it through the Callaway approval process has many shaking their heads. Good Good Golf is a media company with more than 2 million subscribers on YouTube and a once-thriving business model with a spinoff, unfortunately named Good Good Girls, with another 176,000 subscribers.
Domestic violence being used as a joke isn’t funny. Let this be a lesson to “new media.”
Here’s some lighter women’s sports worth watching:
Ted Lasso
The Apple TV series “Ted Lasso” turns its focus on women’s European football in its fourth season and features brilliant writing you don’t want to miss. My favorite cast members, Hannah Waddingham as Rebecca Welton and Juno Temple as Keeley Jones, lead an incredible cast of newcomers. Tanya Reynolds as assistant coach Alice Chilton and Abbie Hern as Gemma join the series, featuring actors and women’s sports supporters Jason Sudeikis and Brendan Hunt.
As highlighted previously in the Times Union by Kyra Santicola, Bethlehem’s Claire Hutton, who plays in the National Women’s Soccer League for Bay FC, appears in the first episode as Coach Lasso is recruited back to Richmond to coach a new women’s team, the Lady Greyhounds. Filmed at Hutton’s home stadium when she played for the Kansas City Current, the series itself makes a tremendous leap of faith by investing in the women’s game.
Four episodes in, the series has explored many issues and advances surrounding women’s sports, including inequities in facilities and basic supplies. The show also showcases women’s teams’ ability to attract fans with unique marketing and recruitment strategies, with a simple attitude: Believe.
“Fear the Bow”
Two-way player Kinley Rasmus will be forever in the history books of the Little League World Series. The pitcher and hitter for Phenix City, Alabama, ended her excellent series with her team’s loss on Wednesday.
The 12-year-old Rasmus had 14 strikeouts in the tournament, tying Mo’ne Davis (Philadelphia, 2014) for the most strikeouts by a girl in series history. She is known for her signature white hair bow and the team and fans have embraced her by chanting “Fear the Bow” during games.
On Tuesday, Rasmus set a new record for hits by a girl at the LLWS, recording five hits and three RBIs.
On Wednesday night, her team’s run ended in an 11-2 loss to Hamilton, Ohio, in the U.S. Elimination Bracket Semifinal.
Baseball and softball are part of the family’s athletic history. Her uncle, Case Rasmus, who played four years in the minors, manages Phenix City. Her dad Cory, a former major leaguer, also coaches the squad. Case’s son Ryker plays first base and pitches for the team.
Her mom, Jill, played softball for the Southern Mississippi Golden Eagles.
WNBA and the UConn dynasty
The WNBA will break for the FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup next week, and the postseason teams are set after Paige Bueckers led the Dallas Wings to the final playoff spot, joining Minnesota, Golden State, Las Vegas, Atlanta, Indiana, New York and Washington.
In addition to watching Team USA in the World Cup, set aside some time to check out “The Dynasty: UConn Huskies,” a three-part series, also on Apple TV.
Seeing various stages of the dynasty – covering 40 years – pass through Albany in the NCAA tournaments, attending games at Gampel Pavilion on the main campus in Storrs and the former XL Center in Hartford, the documentary, for me as a college basketball fan, brings back so many memories. I was in the stands watching the pivotal game of the 2025 Championship season in Columbia, S.C. The Huskies’ blowout win that day over Dawn Staley’s Gamecocks is a major part of the storyline in the final episode.
The behind-the-scenes look at Geno Auriemma is unsettling to watch. It’s not surprising.
“Coach has a very unique way to get the best out of his players,” Bueckers said, echoing her many teammates featured in the series.
Former players and reporters shrug off his aggressive, often abusive style because, for the most part, he brought out the best in them and their teams. Bueckers, the documentary points out, barely survived his tactics. His win-loss record and 12 NCAA titles certainly are incredible.
Is winning all that matters? At the collegiate level, of course it is.
Should he have quit after getting his 12th NCAA Division I championship with Bueckers, one of the best to ever wear a Huskies uniform?
I would say yes. His verbal altercation with South Carolina coach Dawn Staley at last year’s Final Four, when South Carolina snapped the Huskies’ 54-game winning streak, is a stain on his legacy. It’s not the only stain. Remember that Auriemma and Pat Summitt had a severe verbal and professional falling out that led Tennessee to abruptly cancel the teams’ historic rivalry series in 2007.
The Huskies go into the 2026-2027 season as favorites once again, on the shoulders of Sarah Strong.
I have never been a big Auriemma fan. I’m even less of a fan after watching the documentary.
But I love all his players, especially when they go on to play in the WNBA.
Subscribe
There’s more to Albany with the Times Union. Subscribe today for just 25¢.
This article originally published at Bassett: Why Callaway just severed all ties with Good Good Golf.