Continuing a concerted effort to go to America’s greatest courses and ensure that future Executive Committees have nothing fun to do, the USGA is set to lock Pebble Beach in through the end of the 21st century.

In announcing the latest “anchor site,” the 2100 U.S. Open “will ensure the next generation can celebrate the 100th anniversary of Tiger Woods’s 15-stroke win in the 2000 U.S. Open,” said the press release which also announced 14 championships for the famous seaside course.

From the release:

“In a world so secure with a future as clear as a sunny day on the Monterey Peninsula, we can’t be more delighted than to announce the securing of Pebble Beach as the site of our national championship for decades to come,” said USGA Chief Championships Officer John Bodenhamer. "It really is a relief to have gotten this deal done for the betterment of the USGA, the Pebble Beach Company and the world’s best golfers who want to play the very best courses. And we have contingency plans should the 18th hole be taken from us.”

Sources say the USGA contract with the Pebble Beach Company includes several “out” clauses should ocean levels rise and take out the finishing holes.

Due to budget cuts and tax-incentive driven move to Connecticut, Golf Channel ratings have flatlined and the “brand” diminished despite housing all early round PGA Tour coverage. The once highly-profitable and popular channel is now down to 63 million homes from a peak of nearly 80 million just a few years ago, causing NBC Sports to shift early round U.S. Open and The Open coverage to USA Network.

To stop the bleeding, network executives are said to be mulling an aggressive plan to win back nostalgic viewers. Sources say the initiative, dubbed internally as “Since Holly’s No Longer An Option,” centers around regular weekly late night showings of Tin Cup, the Ron Shelton-directed movie once airing so often that Cheech Marin bought two ocean front homes just off his Golf Channel residuals.

“Someone upstairs equates the film with our Golden Age instead of anything from the original programming, documentaries or award-winning feature department,” said a source. “So get ready for a lot more Tin Cup. Seems Tommy’s Honour just isn’t clicking with the millennials.”

Another source added: “It’ll be expensive, but say goodbye to late night infomercials for Villages insomniacs like Relief From Inflammation, Forgetful?, Try THIS Trick, and Bye Bye Neck Pain. They think this will get the channel’s average age viewer back into the mid-70s.

A third source in Hollywood and connected to actor Don Johnson added, “It’s his most layered role and worthy of more study. So it’s a win-win-win.”

The National Golf Foundation’s Joe Beditz reports the biggest beginner boom since the start of the century in his latest report.

Over the past two years, the number of beginning golfers in the U.S. is higher than it was back when Woods was at his most dominant. Almost 30% higher. In 2021, a record 3.2 million Americans played golf on a course for the first time. This after 3 million newcomers picked up golf in 2020 as the pandemic unfolded and people sought out safe, outdoor activities that could provide a sense of normalcy with friends and family.

Like the “Tiger Effect,” there’s no question the “Covid Effect” has been a force in its own right in terms of fostering golf engagement. But other factors have helped boost golf trials, too, among them the increased interest created by golf entertainment venues and other off-course forms of the game, and a more favorable public outlook on golf in general. It’s now been six straight years that the number of on-course beginners has exceeded the 2.4 million newcomers Tiger helped introduce to the game in both 1999 and 2000.

Meanwhile in the UK the R&A released these numbers:

Two new participation reports show that 5.3 million on-course adult golfers – the second-highest number since monitoring began over 30 years ago – enjoyed playing on full length courses (9 or 18 holes) in Great Britain and Ireland in 2021. This includes a marginal increase in Ireland and a slight reduction in Great Britain.