Hello, friends, and welcome back to the Rogers Report. I’ve been on the road a lot since the Ryder Cup, so I’m going to do things a little differently today and give you the run down on my last two trips. I spent Saturday night in New York City for the grand opening of T-Squared Social, Tiger Woods and Justin Timberlake’s new sports bar. From there, I headed to Pebble Beach for TaylorMade’s 100 Hole Hike to benefit Youth on Course. Let’s dig into it!
T-Squared Social
My coworker Emma and I took the Amtrak from Boston to Manhattan on Saturday to head to the opening of T-Squared Social. (Side note: I have no idea when they started assigning seats on the train, but I don’t like it. Why do I have to sit next to someone when 90 percent of the train car is empty?) We dropped our stuff at the hotel, took the subway to Grand Central and then made the 90-second walk over to T-Squared.
The funniest thing about going to events as media is watching them search for a name that isn’t on the fancy guest list when you arrive. And just as you start to get really anxious about it, somebody else says “Oh, she’s media,” and suddenly you’re safe. Once that happened, I took a lap of the whole place, which took a while not only because it was extremely crowded, but because the length of T-Squared Social is an entire city block. There are actually two entrances — one on 42nd Street and one on 43rd.
The place is full of activities. Four duckpin bowling lanes, simulators, darts, a luxurious dining area and massive televisions to watch sports. College football was on during the event, but I think it’ll be a prime spot to watch the majors in 2024.
I think I hold some sort of record for the amount of time I’ve spent near Tiger without actually meeting him. I’ve asked him questions in press conferences, said hi in passing at events, but I’ve never had a real introduction. This theme continued on Saturday, although I did get to catch up with a few members of his team. Woods and Timberlake — who is a partner at 8AM Golf, which is also the holding company behind GOLF.com — were in their own VIP sections. (Not sure why I didn’t get the invite into that area. Don’t they know who I am?!) I’m also convinced they coordinated their outfits because they were both in black button-down shirts.
Check out my recap of the event below!
My lovely coworker and pal, James Colgan, was at T-Squared Social a few weeks ago, so you can check out this video for another look at the space.
I ended my night in New York at my favorite ice cream place in the world: Caffe Panna. If you are ever in the area, please do yourself a favor and get yourself a scoop or two here.
TaylorMade’s 100-Hole Hike
My time in New York was great, but it came to an end when I headed to the airport early on Sunday morning to fly to California.
I’m not sure that flying into San Francisco and then driving two hours is the most efficient way of getting to Pebble Beach, but I will do just about anything to avoid taking a connecting flight. Also, I collect Delta miles for sport, so this worked out perfectly. I arrived just before noon, stopped for some lunch and drove through Stanford University on my way to Pebble.
TaylorMade was hosting a 100-Hole Hike for Youth on Course at The Hay at Pebble Beach. I was on social coverage for GOLF and got to hang out at an awesome event on a perfect day. Michael Block, JR Smith, Courtney Lee, Riggs, Stephen Malbon, Chad Mumm and Aaron Beverly were some of the people teeing it up in the event. We stayed at the lodge, had great meals, raised money for an awesome cause and had a blast hanging out. I even filmed an episode of The Scoop while we were there! And don’t sleep on the Pebble Beach Market, you guys. They’ve got some wild ice cream flavors.
But one of my favorite parts of the day was when a handful of kids from Youth on Course came out to play The Hay. And folks, these kids are really, really good players.
Oh, and I saw Block make a hole-in-one! So you could say it was a successful day.
And shout out to Full Swing‘s Chad Mumm, who let me use his clubs to hit a handful of shots throughout the day, none of which ended up close to the hole.
If you ever get the chance to participate in a 100-Hole Hike for Youth on Course, take it. I had such a great time and met a ton of new people, all while raising money for kids.
And finally, I had to check a single golf club on my flight back to Boston, and my new TaylorMade 52-degree wedge lived to tell the tale!