I still remember my family rushing from the pro shop with my first set of PING clubs on my 9th birthday. It was early evening. They drove me on a cart straight to the range at my grandfather’s club.
I can still smell the grass.
Golf is a sport of tradition. Of restraint. Late Sunday afternoons with your family, hitting shots while the sun sets. Life at its peak. That is the game I remember, and it is the responsibility of the people who lead it to preserve it.
1. Set the example.
Marketing isn’t chasing trends. It’s setting them. Ely Callaway built the company that way. He didn’t ask golfers what they wanted, he showed them.
Callaway can innovate without disruption. Golf brands seem at a loss because the world is moving faster. Louder tours, streaming, AI. Nobody knows where to invest and where to hold off.
YouTube Golf is where Callaway should take control. Which they now know.
2. Rent the audience, not the brand.
Growing on YouTube requires spectacle. Unless you are already a star player, the videos will require clickbait to get attention. The algorithm owns the creators. You have to turn the sport into a game show. It’s not golf.
That doesn’t mean Callaway shouldn’t use their audience. Callaway isn’t here just to sell clubs. It’s an authority and should use its position to set the example.
Good Good Golf could’ve been brought into Callaway’s world. The same guys, same sponsorship, playing a match at a pristine club at twilight, with classical music, no inside jokes.
That ad would have shown the Good Good audience a world they'd never seen.
3. Restore tradition.
The next generation of golfers is begging for tradition. “Shrink the game” is a common saying now.
Courses are filled with golfers nobody taught the game to. They might buy Callaway clubs now, but if nobody teaches them the game’s history and etiquette, eventually there isn’t much left to preserve.
I am encouraged, though. Callaway recently released an iron that is more of what I had in mind, despite the name sounding like it’s straight out of a cheap comic book: Apex MB Tour Raw.
If they called it Callaway MB Irons, that would’ve been perfect. But they’re gorgeous.
A leather bag. A hat that looks like it's from 1963. A partnership with a real club, not a channel. Callaway helped build this game and can restore it.
4. Sign a club member.
Find a historic country club. Let the head pro pick one senior member. Callaway signs him for a year.
A full fitting in Carlsbad. Staff bag with his name on it. He’s a 14 handicap, plays with a knee brace. The seriousness is the joke except it’s not a joke.
The camera crew films a short series. Four or five episodes. The fitting and his life story. Document a couple of range sessions and friendly money-games. It ends after he plays the Senior Club Championship. A series about golf from someone who loves the game.
Good Good has millions of subscribers. He has his buddies.
5. Fix the names.
The naming is out of control.
Rogue ST MAX D. Paradym Ai Smoke. Elyte. Apex Ai200. Quantum Triple Diamond Max.
Callaway named a driver Elyte, combining the word “elite” with the founder’s name. Ely would’ve been sufficient.
None of this is expensive and none of this is new.
I still remember my 9th birthday with my new junior set. The first time I broke 80. Golf is the greatest sport in the world and it’s still here. We just have to trim some of the weeds.
Golf is not a game that needs to be grown anymore. It needs to be preserved.
Christopher Mayer
christopher@cmayerhq.com | cmayerhq.com
