I was happy for my friends at Saucon Valley when I learned the historic club in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, will be hosting five more USGA championships. It’s a testament to its commitment to competitive golf and the strength of its Old Course, which already has been the site of eight national championships, and also to the USGA, which continues an effort to bring its tournaments to the finest layouts in the land.
But something struck me about the details of the arrangement: the tournament dates.
The first of the upcoming events is the 2026 U.S. Junior Amateur, and then there’s a pair of U.S. Senior Opens, in 2032 and ’42, the U.S. Women’s Amateur in 2038 and finally the U.S. Amateur in 2051, the year marking the centennial of Billy Maxwell having taken that championship the first time the club, which was born as a retreat for top executives at Bethlehem Steel, stepped onto the USGA stage.
Even stranger is the realization the winner of the tournament, assuming the game has not gone back to featheries by then, probably has yet to be born.
I was especially struck – if not staggered – by that last date.
As a man of mostly German stock, I possess a natural appreciation for organization and get why both the club and the USGA want to put things on the calendar so far in advance. Still, it feels a bit odd to be reading about championships being held long after this 66-year-old has likely gone onto his great reward. Even stranger is the realization the winner of the tournament, assuming the game has not gone back to featheries by then, probably has yet to be born.
How can I be sure of that last point? Consider that none of the winners of the past 15 U.S. Amateurs has been older than 22. Four of them were still teenagers, and nearly half of the rest couldn’t legally buy a drink at the 19th hole after their triumphs.
Then calculate that anyone born the year the USGA announced the Saucon Valley dates would be 28 by the time the amateur made its way there in ’51. Someone of that ripe old age likely would have no chance to prevail in what has become a college kid’s tournament.
Remarkably, Saucon Valley isn’t the only place with a USGA event scheduled so far in advance, and the USGA is slated to hold the U.S. Open the same year at Oakland Hills. In fact, it has already booked that championship for 2050 (at Merion) and 2049 (at Oakmont). And the USGA is being just as farsighted with its Women’s Open, having selected Merion as the venue for that edition of the tournament in 2046 and Pebble Beach for 2048.
Talk about your long-range planning.
John Steinbreder
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No. 18, Old Course at Saucon Valley Country Club
Fred Vuich, USGA