After a one-year delay, arguably the greatest experiment in professional golf premieres Jan. 7 in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. That experiment is TGL, an indoor team match-play golf league that meshes simulator, synthetic and authentic elements of the game.
On first look, TGL setup is way cooler than we imagined
TGL is the creation of TMRW Sports, which was co-founded by Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy and former Golf Channel CEO Mike McCarley. These guys thought that a golf competition played into a simulator five stories high inside a specially created indoor arena was a good idea, and they got the PGA Tour to partner with them as well as some deep-pocketed celebrities, athletes and businessmen to buy into it, and broadcasters in the U.S. and abroad to televise it.
“It’s going to be great. This is what we’ve been shooting for,” Woods said two weeks ago at the PNC Championship. “We’re trying to bring a new demographic to the game of golf, and it’s really exciting.”
Rickie Fowler demonstrates how the technology works at the SoFi Center during the TGL’s media day in December. Cy J Cyr
Seeing how Woods already has some experience expanding golf’s demographic, we’re inclined to reserve judgment for now. Suffice it to say that this new venture has potential, especially among the younger set, who should be drawn to all the cool tech being utilized and whose attention spans won’t be taxed because of the digestible two-hour time window for each match.
All the matches will be held at the single-purpose SoFi Center at Palm Beach State College. The arena’s air-supported dome suffered catastrophic damage in November 2023 due to a power failure. That incident forced a one-year postponement of the new venture but gave TMRW Sports more time to fine-tune the simulator technology while installing a solid roof. There doesn’t appear to be a bad seat in the house that holds 1,500 spectators, and “an insane” number of cameras, according to McCarley, will capture all the action on the 96-yard by 50-yard playing field.
ESPN is the domestic carrier, while Sky Sports just a few days ago signed a two-year deal to broadcast every match live in the U.K. and Ireland, Germany, Italy and New Zealand. Sportsnet has signed up for coverage in Canada, and Disney+ also struck a deal with TGL to air matches live in Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland and Iceland. Other TGL TV deals include Fox Sports in Australia, U-NEXT in Japan, and JTBC/Phoenix Sports International in South Korea.
“It’s going to be unbelievable on TV,” Woods promised.
The following provides a rundown of other key pieces of information on the nascent enterprise.
Team rosters
In addition to Woods and McIlroy, TGL features many of the world’s best players—as long as they are in good standing on the PGA Tour. The league lists six teams with four players each. Thirteen of the 24 players have won a major. Here are the lineups:
Atlanta Drive Golf Club: Lucas Glover, Patrick Cantlay, Justin Thomas, Billy Horschel
Boston Common Golf: McIlroy, Keegan Bradley, Hideki Matsuyama, Adam Scott
Jupiter Links Golf Club: Woods, Tom Kim, Max Homa, Kevin Kisner
Los Angeles Golf Club: Sahith Theegala, Tommy Fleetwood, Collin Morikawa, Justin Rose
New York Golf Club: Matt Fitzpatrick, Rickie Fowler, Xander Schauffele, Cameron Young
The Bay Golf Club: Min Woo Lee, Wyndham Clark, Ludvig Aberg, Shane Lowry
Each team plays five times in the 15-week regular season but only three of the four players compete in each match.
The competitive format
Teams will play head-to-head in a 15-hole match, divided into two sessions—a “triples” format that is essentially alternate shot with all three players, and a singles segment in which players compete one-on-one in three two-hole segments.
Scoring consists of a team earning a point for a hole won, though a team has the opportunity to press by throwing the “hammer,” which increases that hole’s value to two points. If the opposing team declines the hammer, the hole is conceded, but that team then controls the next application of the hammer. There are no points awarded for holes tied and there are no carryovers. If the teams are tied at the end of 15 holes, a closest-to-the-pin competition ensues, and the team with two balls closest to the hole wins the match.
The team with the most points at the end of regulation or overtime earns two points in the league standings in a system that takes its cue from the NHL. The losing team gets one point if it forces overtime but no points for a loss in regulation. The top four teams at season’s end will advance to the postseason, consisting of single-elimination semifinals and a best-of-three championship. The semifinals are March 17 and 18 and the finals are March 24-25.
A rendering of one of the holes that TGL golfers will play. (Courtesy of TGL)
The playing field
The competition is conducted on a field broken into two distinct areas—a “screen zone” and a “green zone,” which account for the simulator and synthetic features.
The screen is enormous, measuring 64 feet high by 53 feet wide, which amounts to an area 24-times greater than your average simulator screen. The 30 virtual holes that will challenge the participants were created by Nicklaus Design, Beau Welling (Woods’ course design partner) and Augustín Pizá, a Latin American architect. TGL employs 18 Full Swing radar devices combined with eight Top Tracer optical cameras to accurately reflect the quality of each shot.
The green zone, meanwhile, is for shots 50 yards and in, and putts. It sits on a turntable 41 yards in diameter featuring bunkers, seven cup placements and an almost infinite number of contours thanks to the use of 567 hydraulic jacks underneath it.
“The rotating green blew me away,” Woods said. “I’ve never seen a rotating green, so that’s a new experience, and I think it’s going to be a lot of fun for not just us but also the fan experience.
It’s a vastly new take on “stadium golf, not simulated golf,” McCarley said. “There’s so much technology, bigger and better than I could have ever imagined,” he added.
The authentic twist in all this is that players can take divots with their full shots. TGL uses real turf with one section cut to fairway height and another at about three inches for shots from the rough. There also is a third hitting area with sand for tee shots that find virtual bunkers, which adds another touch of realism.
The stakes
The winning team will gain possession of the SoFi Cup, which has its own cool, techie look to it. Oh, and the champions also earn $9 million from a total purse of $21 million.
Cy Cyr
A shot clock, a referee and timeouts!
Keeping matches fast-paced is a critical goal of the TGL, and one that will be enabled by a 40-second clock for players to hit their shots with a referees on the field, helping give competitions the feel of a stadium sport. Teams also will have timeouts available as they consider strategies down the stretch of a match.
Now for a burning question (or two) …
How often will Woods compete?
Well, TGL does not stand for Tiger’s Golf League, but while one suspects that the success of the enterprise doesn’t rely solely on his participation, Woods probably needs to appear in the majority of his team’s regular-season matches because he’s still golf’s prime needle mover.
Woods’ Jupiter Links squad debuts in the second match on Jan. 14 against Los Angeles Golf Club, followed by matches on Jan. 27, Feb. 18, Feb. 25 and March 4 in the regular-season finale against Atlanta Drive. Should his team make the playoffs, he would have the opportunity to play up to four more times.
What are the long-term prospects for TGL’s success?
That question gets asked a lot. Time will tell, but a lot of people with deep pockets and an aversion to failing investments have signed on. This includes Steph Curry and Serena Williams, singer/songwriters Justin Timberlake and Niall Horan, and pro sports owners like Home Depot co-founder Arthur Blank, who owns the Atlanta Falcons and backs TGL’s Atlanta Drive, and the folks at Fenway Sports Group, which added Boston Common Golf to its stable that includes the Boston Red Sox, Pittsburgh Penguins and the Liverpool Football Club, current leader of the English Premier League.
Main Image: TGL Render
