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Speaker 1: But do me the favorite. I got that swing. Do

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Speaker 1: wan doua doua doua doua doua do wa dou wan

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Speaker 1: do yeah.

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Speaker 2: Ella Fitzgerald speaking of swing, speaking of makes me think

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Speaker 2: a little bit about golf. You probably if you think

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Speaker 2: about the game or the sport, you'll bring up the

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Speaker 2: PGA Men's Tour and you would be right. Yet, thanks

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Speaker 2: to the pandemic, tim more women are engaging in golf.

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Speaker 3: Okay, check this out. The National Golf Foundation reported last

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Speaker 3: year that one of the most notable aspects of the

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Speaker 3: pandemic driven rise in participation over the past three years

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Speaker 3: has been the influx of women and girls. The organization

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Speaker 3: noted that there are about six point four million female golfers,

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Speaker 3: up from five point six million in twenty nineteen, with

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Speaker 3: the female golfer pool jumping fifteen percent, Carol, compared to

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Speaker 3: a two percent lift among male golfers.

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Speaker 2: I have some nieces and a sister in law that

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Speaker 2: you can add to that list.

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Speaker 1: There.

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Speaker 2: This brings us to the Women's US Open, currently underway

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Speaker 2: at the Lancaster Country Club in Pennsylvania. Round two today,

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Speaker 2: we welcome back Jill Spiegel. She's president of the PGA

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Speaker 2: Tour superstore. She joins us in Atlanta. Jill, great to

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Speaker 2: have you here with us on this Friday. I grew

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Speaker 2: up watching a lot of golf, my dad, my four brothers,

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Speaker 2: they were all in I never learned to play, which

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Speaker 2: really upsets me.

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Speaker 3: It's that you can look to you, Carol.

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Speaker 2: I know, I know, and I do think about it.

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Speaker 3: I just need like four hours on a Friday, get out.

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Speaker 2: There on the links right after I finished this three

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Speaker 2: hour show.

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Speaker 1: You got it?

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Speaker 2: Hey, Jill, what are you seeing when it comes to

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Speaker 2: women engaging as a player, as a fan, and you know,

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Speaker 2: individuals who are interested in golf related merchandising.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, well, you guys quoted a couple of the stats

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Speaker 1: in your opening, and it's really fun to watch. You know,

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Speaker 1: twenty six percent of all golfers or women, and sixty

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Speaker 1: percent a lot of new people came into the game,

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Speaker 1: and sixty percent of new golfers that came into the

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Speaker 1: game over the last few years have been women. So

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Speaker 1: we we anticipate that twenty six percent climbing over thirty

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Speaker 1: here in the new future. And what's really exciting as well, is,

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Speaker 1: you know, over forty percent of eighteen and under golfers

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Speaker 1: or girls, which is great. So that trend is going

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Speaker 1: to continue, and it's really exciting to see not only

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Speaker 1: in women's golf, but in women's sports in general. You know,

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Speaker 1: if you look back just a couple of months ago,

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Speaker 1: with the craziness around Caitlin Clark and how that's translated

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Speaker 1: into the WMBA, it's it's really exciting. And the women's

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Speaker 1: purse this weekend at the US Open is almost it's

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Speaker 1: twelve million dollars, almost double was just three years ago.

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Speaker 1: You know, Viewership is much much higher on the LPGA

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Speaker 1: and twelve you know, the media consumption is twelve million

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Speaker 1: viewers a week versus just what was just four million

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Speaker 1: a few years ago, so it's really fun to watch.

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Speaker 1: We are very supportive of the female customer in our stores.

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Speaker 1: In several of our locations we lead with women's apparel,

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Speaker 1: and our resort locations we actually saw more women's apparel

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Speaker 1: than men's apparel. So it's always been an important business

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Speaker 1: for us. But we're continuing to really focus on it

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Speaker 1: and continue to grow it. And you know, if it's

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Speaker 1: twenty six percent of the business, we want it to

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Speaker 1: be thirty five forty percent. Of ownership.

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Speaker 2: I want to take a step back. Why do you

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Speaker 2: think more women, more girls in particular, are engaged. What

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Speaker 2: is it particularly? Is there a player? Is it like,

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Speaker 2: what's going on?

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Speaker 1: Well, you do have that, I mean you have you know,

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Speaker 1: you have Nelly Korda, which has been amazing to watch

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Speaker 1: this year. I know she's having a tough weekend, but

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Speaker 1: you know she's won six of our last seven tournaments.

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Speaker 1: And I think, you know, I think COVID was really

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Speaker 1: good to the golf industry in general, and I think

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Speaker 1: it attracted more women at the time. You know, people people,

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Speaker 1: you know, adults who are working from home, had more flexibility.

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Speaker 1: And we're getting out on the course and you're seeing

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Speaker 1: the demographs changing a lot, which is nice. You know,

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Speaker 1: it used to be middle aged white men, and you're

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Speaker 1: you're seeing not only are you seeing more women, but

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Speaker 1: you're seeing more people of color and a lot more youth.

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Speaker 1: So I think, you know, it's it feels more accessible,

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Speaker 1: more fun. It's you know, I think golf can be

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Speaker 1: very intimidating you if you're new to it, and I

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Speaker 1: think some of those barriers are getting broken down, and

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Speaker 1: I think it's a little more casual than it was.

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Speaker 3: I'm wondering about how much that growth from the COVID

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Speaker 3: era has continued. I think of I'm a cyclist, and

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Speaker 3: I think the cycling industry got a huge boon during COVID,

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Speaker 3: but it is just getting crushed right now because how

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Speaker 3: many bikes do people really need? I won't answer that question,

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Speaker 3: because I need any always one more is the answer

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Speaker 3: to that question.

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Speaker 2: How many bikes? Do you have?

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Speaker 3: Too many bikes? What I will say, though, is some

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Speaker 3: sports are not seeing that bump continue. What can you

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Speaker 3: tell us about golf?

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Speaker 1: Well, it's a really good question, and you know we

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Speaker 1: you quote us some stats from the NGNGF, and we

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Speaker 1: look at it closely too. And twenty twenty three, you know,

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Speaker 1: twenty twenty and twenty twenty one were record years, and

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Speaker 1: the last four years, rounds of golf have been at

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Speaker 1: an all time high, with twenty three at a peak,

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Speaker 1: over five hundred and thirty million people, rounds of golf

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Speaker 1: were played and participation was almost twenty seven million. In

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Speaker 1: twenty twenty four. Rounds of golf are up over twenty

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Speaker 1: twenty three. So we were all holding our breath.

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Speaker 3: You know.

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Speaker 1: Our business doubled during COVID, which is tremendous, and we

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Speaker 1: were thinking, you know, you know, when is the air

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Speaker 1: going to come out of this balloon, and it really

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Speaker 1: hasn't happened. The industry has never been healthier. And what's

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Speaker 1: exciting to see too is not only are people playing

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Speaker 1: golf on the golf course, more people are actually playing

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Speaker 1: off course golf. And when I talk about golf course,

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Speaker 1: what I mean is simulate our golf. They're either going

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Speaker 1: into a five iron or a top golf and ten

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Speaker 1: percent of those people are converting to green grass golf.

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Speaker 1: So it's the growth continues in your right. There's a

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Speaker 1: lot of sports that saw a huge spike during COVID

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Speaker 1: and they're regressing down. In golf, recreational golf has never

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Speaker 1: never been happier, you know, healthier. One in nine people

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Speaker 1: are playing golf. And the beauty of it is all

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Speaker 1: ages can play, all abilities can play, and you can

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Speaker 1: play together regardless of your skill level. So that's how

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Speaker 1: the game is up.

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Speaker 2: Is there any correlation if you play a lot of

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Speaker 2: minuature golf that.

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Speaker 3: You actually been cutting the short game golf are hitting.

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Speaker 1: Of course, you're putting your you're putting will be very good,

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Speaker 1: and you know, but it's you know, people who used

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Speaker 1: to go to top golf, and top golf has been

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Speaker 1: very good for our sport, yea. You know, they'd go

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Speaker 1: to top golf and it was food and beverage and

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Speaker 1: entertainment and then they'd go home. But now now it's

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Speaker 1: you know, people are sparking an interest and we're seeing

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Speaker 1: in our business. You know, the technology business is really

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Speaker 1: really healthy, and the simulator business is healthy. And you know,

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Speaker 1: there's a launch of a of an interactive league this

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Speaker 1: starting this January with professional golfers called TGL and it's

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Speaker 1: you're going to see that that you know, twenty four

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Speaker 1: of the top players on tour playing simulator golf down

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Speaker 1: in Florida on Monday nights. So there's a former surgeence

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Speaker 1: of different ways you can take in the sport and

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Speaker 1: simulator golf doesn't take four hours, and you know, you

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Speaker 1: can play it in a couple hours or an hour.

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Speaker 1: Even so it's it's opening it up for and making

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Speaker 1: it more welcoming, you know, without the time commitment.

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Speaker 3: What's just thirty seconds? What's the line you can draw

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Speaker 3: from the popularity of top golf to people actually going

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Speaker 3: out and playing golf more.

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Speaker 1: The line, well, I think people are more comfortable. They

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Speaker 1: get a taste of it, they know that it's fun,

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Speaker 1: and I'm like, I'm going to give it a try.

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Speaker 1: So it's you know, we like I said, we never

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Speaker 1: saw that conversion before. And for ten percent people, ten

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Speaker 1: percent of you know, fun golfer's going out and actually

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Speaker 1: taking up the sport. That's gonna that's gonna be a

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Speaker 1: lot more people coming into the game and growing the

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Speaker 1: game really interesting.

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Speaker 2: Well, listen, good luck with the tournament and everything this weekend.

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Speaker 2: Really great to get some time, have a great weekend.

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Speaker 2: Jill Spiegels, she's president of the PGA Tour superstore joining

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Speaker 2: us from Atlanta to know it first play some golf,

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Speaker 2: I know. So I think I regret not having learned

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Speaker 2: with my dad. I know it's never made, but he was.

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Speaker 2: My understanding is he was a great teacher, So I

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Speaker 2: can't do that.

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Speaker 1: That's true.

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Speaker 2: All right, you're watching Blueberg