If you were to recreate the sport of golf for the year 2025, what would it look like?
TGL believes it has that all figured out: A prime-time golf league featuring PGA Tour players competing on teams hitting shots against a giant screen and finishing their holes on a shape-shifting putting green in a stadium of 1,500 spectators. Welcome to professional golf’s latest science experiment.
TGL will broadcast its first match at 9 p.m. ET Tuesday on ESPN, and the golf world is anxiously waiting to see how it’ll play out on live TV and in person at the SoFi Center in Palm Beach, Fla. Here’s everything you need to know about the new league ahead of its debut:
What is TGL?
TGL is a 15-week golf series started by TMRW Sports — a company founded by Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy and Mike McCarley, a former NBC Sports executive, and backed by big-name investors that include Steph Curry and Fenway Sports Group.
The league will take place indoors, in a custom stadium on the campus of Palm Beach State College equipped with a simulator screen that is five stories high, grass tee boxes for full-swing shots and bunkers that are filled with what is believed to be the same sand used at Augusta National Golf Club. Once the players reach the area surrounding the green on each virtual hole, they’ll turn around to the rotating green to complete it. Nearly 600 hydraulic jacks will help change the undulation of the green to distinguish the holes, which were designed by various golf architects with no construction constraints. This is video game golf, after all.
There are six TGL teams, representing cities around the U.S., consisting of four PGA Tour players each. Throughout the season, those teams will face off against each other live. Then the top four teams will move on to playoffs. The golfers will be mic’d up and shot-clocks will necessitate a snappy pace of play. There will be referees and timeouts like in other major league sports — even smoke and walk-out music will introduce the players to the ticketed crowd. No glass plates or nets separate the fans from the golfers. So yes, a skulled greenside bunker shot could get dicey.
A volcano splitting a fairway? Possible in TGL’s virtual world. (Courtesy TGL)
What does TGL stand for?
Tomorrow’s Golf League
Who are on the TGL teams?
Woods and McIlroy headline the list of PGA Tour players on the TGL roster, but neither will appear in the first match-up, which is between the New York Golf Club and The Bay Golf Club. The league is operating in partnership with the PGA Tour, which means no LIV golfers have been included. Major champions such as Bryson DeChambeau, Jon Rahm and Brooks Koepka won’t be hitting into the 60-foot tall screen. Notably, the world’s No. 1 golfer, Scottie Scheffler, didn’t sign up either. Here’s the full breakdown of the six teams:
• Atlanta Drive GC: Justin Thomas, Patrick Cantlay, Billy Horschel, Lucas Glover
• Boston Common Golf: Rory McIlroy, Hideki Matsuyama, Keegan Bradley, Adam Scott
• Jupiter Links GC: Tiger Woods, Max Homa, Tom Kim, Kevin Kisner
• Los Angeles Golf Club: Collin Morikawa, Sahith Theegala, Justin Rose, Tommy Fleetwood
• New York Golf Club: Matt Fitzpatrick, Rickie Fowler, Xander Schauffele, Cameron Young
• The Bay Golf Club: Ludvig Åberg, Wyndham Clark, Min Woo Lee, Shane Lowry
It’s New York vs. The Bay for opening night, with Fitzpatrick, Fowler and Schauffele playing for the former and Åberg, Clark and Lowry for the latter. Lowry has already indicated the tee is his first.
GO DEEPER
TGL is big, aggressive and not about the money. That gives it a real chance
What is the TGL format and rules?
Three players from each four-man team will compete in each match-up. The matches will run for two hours and the players will play 15 holes.
In the first nine-hole session, the players will compete in “Triples,” which is 3 vs. 3 alternate shot. Each team will alternate playing until they complete the hole, and the lowest score wins. No points will be awarded for a tied hole, just like in traditional match play.
In the second session, head-to-head play will begin with “Singles.” One player will face off against another player on the first hole, then the second set of players will go against each other, then the third set. That cycle will repeat once more for the full six-hole “Singles” portion.
Teams can increase the stakes of a hole by implementing a feature called “The Hammer.” If the opposing team accepts, the value of the hole becomes two points, rather than one. If they decline, they effectively concede the hole.
Overtime will be a 3 vs. 3 closest to the pin contest between the teams, until a winner is decided.
The green rotates at the SoFi Center depending on the hole’s layout, with pistons underneath the surface also changing the undulation. (Courtesy TGL)
How long is the TGL season?
The TGL runs from January through March, with the regular season concluding on March 4. Matches will exclusively air on Monday and Tuesday nights, depending on the week and conflicting broadcast schedules. The top four teams after regular season play will advance to a four-week playoff season, with matches on March 17-18 and 24-25.
How to watch
TGL will broadcast on ESPN and ESPN+ at 9 p.m. ET.
(Top photo of Rory McIlroy: Courtesy TGL)