THIS WEEK'S EDITIONS OF THE FIRST CALL

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QUESTION OF THE WEEK

What changes, if any, would you make to the Olympic golf competition?

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> Read responses to last week's question.

Flogolf Lounge: State-of-the-art indoor golf club and lounge, which features 10 Golfzon TwoVision golf simulator bays, opened its Saugus, Massachusetts, location on Aug. 1. The combines industry-leading technology with a sleek, inviting lounge that appeals to patrons of all skill levels. 

Mnml Golf: Opens its latest Mnml Golf Club in Pasadena, California. Members and guests can enjoy a variety of amenities, including golf simulators, a pool/ping pong table, and private golf lessons from top-rated professionals. The club is open to the public but offers social, full and unlimited memberships. 

PGA Tour: Truist Financial Corporation signs a seven-year agreement to become the title sponsor of the Tour's Charlotte, North Carolina, event — renamed the Truist Championship. Quail Hollow Club will continue to be the primary host facility for the event, with the exception being 2025 due to the club hosting the PGA Championship for the second time. The 2025 Truist Championship will be May 5-11 at The Philadelphia Cricket Club’s Wissahickon Course.

PGA Tour: Announces that California-based Procore Technologies Inc., a provider of construction management software, will become the title sponsor of the PGA Tour’s Napa tournament, to be named the Procore Championship. The Procore Championship will serve as the kickoff event to the 2024 FedEx Cup Fall Season at Silverado Resort, Sept. 9-15. 

United States Golf Association: Recognizing a growing interest in golf-related careers, the USGA reports that it supported 323 interns in 2024 — a number that is nearly equal to that of the USGA’s current full-time workforce — reflecting the organization’s focus on career development. As part of its commitment, the USGA directed recruiting efforts toward reaching individuals from a wide range of backgrounds and communities and, as a result, saw a 59% increase in applicants from historically underrepresented backgrounds across the P.J. Boatwright Jr. Internship Program from 2023 to 2024 and a 12% increase in women participating in USGA internships.

Colonial Country Club: Fort Myers, Florida, club approves an amenity improvement plan that includes renovation and expansion of the club’s golf shop and cart barn as well as makeovers of the pool area and community center. Earlier this year, Colonial approved a full golf course renovation project that will focus on enhancing the overall golf experience for members and visitors, including improving playability, aesthetics, and sustainability. The golf course renovation project will begin on April 1, 2025; work on the golf shop, pool and community center will begin in summer 2025. Both projects are expected to be completed by December 2025.

McLemore: The Keep, its new 18-hole championship golf course in Lookout Mountain, Georgia, is currently taking reservations for walking-only preview rounds in the fall. The Bill Bergin and Rees Jones design features five cliffside holes overlooking McLemore Cove and is a complement to the acclaimed Highlands Course at McLemore.

SaddleBrooke Two: Master-planned community located north of Tucson, Arizona, completes a full renovation of its MountainView Golf Course. The project, which began in May 2023, focused on replacing the old irrigation system, improved drainage, bunkers complexes, turf reduction and improvements as well as adding new tees on the 27-year-old course.

PGA Tour: Names Brandt Snedeker, a nine-time PGA Tour winner and 2012 FedEx Cup champion, the 2024 recipient of the Payne Stewart Award. The Payne Stewart Award is presented annually to a professional golfer who best exemplifies Stewart’s values of character, charity and sportsmanship. Stewart, an 11-time winner on the PGA Tour and a World Golf Hall of Fame member, died in 1999. Snedeker, 43, will be honored on Aug. 27 at the Payne Stewart Award Ceremony in conjunction with the Tour Championship. 

Troon: Names Monique “Mo” Gesualdi, PGA and LPGA director of instruction at St. Johns Golf & Country Club in St. Augustine, Florida, as its 2024 Troon Coach of the Year as selected by Troon’s Education and Player Development team. Gesualdi oversees the golf instruction program at The Golf Academy at St. Johns. Gesualdi has been director of instruction at St. Johns Golf & Country Club since May of 2021 and is a two-time winner of the North Florida PGA Youth Player Development Award Winner (2023, 2024).

Supreme Golf: Partners with Folds of Honor on a round-up campaign that encourages anyone reserving a tee time online or via Supreme Golf’s mobile app to round up the cost of the booking. The round up will be processed at checkout and all additional money will be a donation to Folds of Honor, which provides academic scholarships to spouses and children of America’s fallen or disabled military service members and first responders.

Golf Digest: Partners with Mustard to launch the first AI-powered mobile app — Mustard Golf. The platform allows a player to video their swing without the need for added sensors or equipment and analyzes the swing using AI developed through motion capture and 3D models of thousands of professional and amateur swings. The app provides an understandable report card of any golf swing’s strengths and areas for improvement, as well as a customized plan for improvement. Mustard Golf is available in the Apple app store.