Grim deleted video everyone must watch is proof golf can’t hide its dirty secret any longer: DANIEL MATTHEWS

The cart zipped around TPC Sawgrass, chauffeuring its VIP along fairways and around hordes of fans.

It was the day before the 2025 Players Championship, the PGA Tour’s flagship event. But for many, the headline attraction was Grant Horvat, a young YouTuber who has become one of golf’s recognizable and influential characters. On that short drive last March, fans swarmed for selfies or signatures.

It was a glaring illustration of how social media has turned a small collection of content creators into millionaire celebrities. How the ties binding YouTube golf and professional golf are tightening all the time. ‘We want to be constantly learning from them,’ PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan told the Daily Mail last year.

These influencers are credited with bringing new fans to the game. They have become so popular that Bryson DeChambeau has pondered ditching traditional tournaments and turning his social media side-hustle into a full-time job. They have been indulged by top players and big brands and the PGA Tour. In recent days, however, we have seen the immense damage they can do, too.

Callaway, one of golf’s blue-chip giants, and Good Good – a channel with nearly four million social media followers that has morphed into a business empire – sparked outrage after releasing an advertisement depicting Good Good’s co-founder, Garrett Clark, shoving a woman as she reaches for his bag. ‘Do not touch my new driver!’ Clark shouts.

It is crass. It is offensive. It is incredible, really, that the idea ever made it off the cutting room floor. And it is the last thing golf needs. This week in Atlanta, the PGA’s Tour Championship is set to bring the curtain down on the 2026 season.

Thirty of the world’s top players will fight over a $40million purse, with Scottie Scheffler looking to cement his legend with a third win of the season. Instead? The golf is playing second fiddle to outside noise and unwelcome headlines. Yet again.

LIV Golf is gasping for air after Saudi Arabia decided to pull the plug on its $5billion pet project. Next month, meanwhile, Tiger Woods is due in court after another car crash and another off-course scandal.

Last year’s Ryder Cup was marred by vile, vicious heckling of European stars such as Rory McIlroy. This year’s US Open saw home winner Wyndham Clark abused by rowdy fans, too. Now golf, that gentleman’s game, is facing a sexism storm.

Horvat left Good Good in 2022. He decided to go it alone and what a sensible move that now seems. Because his former business partners are scrambling to put out the fire they started.

The advert has been deleted and the groveling apologies have started.

‘We got this wrong. We’ll learn from it, we’ll be better because of it, and we’ll continue doing everything we can to make Good Good a positive force in golf for women and men,’ wrote Matt Kendrick, the brand’s CEO.

The video, Good Good added, ‘depicted actions that are not aligned with our values as a brand.’ The company vowed to ‘donate all proceeds from the driver sales associated with this campaign to an organization supporting women.’

Callaway Golf CEO Chip Brewer also released a statement, admitting that his company gave the video the green light. ‘That approval should never have happened,’ he said. ‘Mistakes were made, and we are taking the matter very seriously.’

Brewer added: ‘We sincerely apologize… we are unequivocally against discrimination, domestic violence, or threatening behavior of any kind.’

Oh, that noise? It’s the stable door closing as the horse gallops out of sight. It is all well and good good preaching about company values and internal investigations and charitable donations.

But forgive those cynics who might wonder if Good Good’s primary concern is limiting the damage to its brand. Indeed, the mask appears to have slipped inside the opening sentence of an internal memo, sent by Kendrick earlier this week.

‘As you are all aware, Good Good has been in the news,’ it reads. Put your Callaway drivers away and fetch the violins.

The problem? This has become bigger than Good Good. Bigger than their partnership with Callaway. What started as a YouTube channel offering fun, viral content has spiraled into a business behemoth whose tentacles stretch to the very top of this sport.

No wonder the PGA Tour isn’t happy. During a press conference on Tuesday, CEO Brian Rolapp said he was ‘disappointed’ with Good Good’s immediate reaction to the backlash.

‘I think what we saw was concerning (and) is clearly not aligned with PGA Tour values,’ he said. ‘We take it very seriously. I think their initial response was disappointing. It was a bit defensive and late.’

Agreed, but this saga poses serious questions about how YouTube golf has become so entangled with the PGA Tour and what the sport’s bosses will do next.

Golf Channel has already postponed the premiere of its ‘Big Break’ reboot amid the scandal engulfing Good Good, its partner for the reality series, after ‘a request from one of the show’s sponsors to remove to remove its branding from the series.’

But in 11 weeks’ time, a new PGA Tour event – the Good Good Championship – is supposed to kick off in Austin, Texas. How will this affect that tournament? ‘It’s a bit of a fluid situation,’ Rolapp said.

Good Good’s roots in professional golf stretch far deeper than one tournament, however. The company sponsors several PGA Tour players and invests in TGL, the revolutionary league formed by Woods and Rory McIlroy; Clark has previously played in the PGA Tour’s ‘Creator Classic’ tournaments; superstar players have appeared on their channel; last year, Good Good announced $45million in funding from backers including Peyton Manning; Clark has filmed with Kai Trump and Kendrick wrote to the president over the impact of his tariffs on business. They’re not struggling too badly.

Good Good merchandise is everywhere at major events, usually sitting atop the head of boisterous men under the age of 30. 

The galleries at golf events are now less sleepy than before and, after the shocking scenes at Bethpage and Shinnecock Hills, concerns were already swelling about a toxic, troubling streak of masculinity outside the ropes. About how bro culture was seeping into golf. 

This video won’t have done anything to allay those fears.

Over recent years, golf’s power brokers have been happy to hitch a ride as YouTubers racked up millions of views and tapped into new audiences. Now they have a responsibility to repair the damage.