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TGL (golf league)

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Golf league

TGL
SportGolf
FoundedAugust 24, 2022 (2022-08-24)
Founder
First season2025
CountryUnited States
Related
competitions		PGA Tour

TGL (for Tomorrow's Golf League) is a planned golf league created by TMRW Sports, a venture formed by sports executive Mike McCarley and professional golfers Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy in partnership with the PGA Tour. The league employs a combination of traditional golf play with elements of simulated indoor golf, and features players from the PGA Tour. The league is scheduled to commence play on January 7, 2025 (after its launch was delayed one year from 2024), with matches scheduled to be held on weeknights in conjunction with the PGA Tour schedule.

History

On August 24, 2022, the PGA Tour, along with Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy and Mike McCarley, announced the formation of TGL. It will initially feature six teams of three PGA Tour players, competing head-to-head in 18-hole match play on a virtual course with a special short game area. Fifteen matches, each lasting two hours and played in primetime on Monday and Tuesday nights, will make up the regular season. The semi-finals and a final match will be held at the end of the season.

Initial investors include NBA players Stephen Curry, Andre Iguodala, Shaquille O'Neal, Dwyane Wade, Kevin Durant, Formula One driver Lewis Hamilton, soccer player Alex Morgan, MLB players Shohei Ohtani and Mike Trout, Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen, tennis player Serena Williams, and WNBA player Diana Taurasi. Other investors include pop artist Justin Timberlake, Fanatics CEO Michael Rubin, and Liberty Media CEO Greg Maffei.

TGL was originally planned to launch in 2024. It was delayed until 2025 after the host arena under construction was damaged due to a power failure. In October 2024, TGL later announced a revised launch date of January 7, 2025.

Features and rules

Match format

TGL matches will be played across 15 of 30 "holes" designed by Beau Welling Design, Nicklaus Design, and Pizá Golf along with technology partner Full Swing Golf. The virtual holes, which each carry a different nickname and measure as either Par 3, Par 4, or Par 5, are inspired by various real-world or virtually-inspired landscape and geographic designs (links, canyons, mountains, desert, tropical). The selection of holes and order of play are designated in advance of each match by TGL's competition committee.

Each match is divided into two match play-style segments between two teams, with each team selecting which three of its four players will participate ahead of the first drive:

  • Triples (Holes 1-9) - Three players on a team compete in an alternate shot format, with the teams determining who will hit first, second, and third before the match
  • Singles (Holes 10-15) - Each player plays 2 holes head-to-head against one player from the opposing team (Player 1 will play Holes 10 & 13, Player 2 will play Holes 11 & 14, and Player 3 will play Holes 12 & 15)

As in traditional match play golf, a team earns one point for reaching the hole in the fewest strokes. No points are awarded if a hole is tied, nor are they carried over to the next hole. All 15 holes in a match will be played no matter if a team's lead is insurmountable.

Rules variations

  • Shot Clock - From the time they place the ball on the ground, players have 40 seconds to hit their shot, a time frame based on the USGA's pace-of-play recommendations and displayed on video screens throughout the venue. A team is administered a one-stroke penalty on the hole if their player fails to hit their shot within the allotted time.
  • Timeouts - Each team has four timeouts per match, two during Triples and two during Singles, with no carryover of unused timeouts from one session to the next. A team playing its shot can call a timeout at any point before the shot clock expires, while the opposing team can do so only until the other team's player has addressed the ball. No team can call back-to-back timeouts while on the current shot.
  • Hammer - At any point during play, a team can utilize a "hammer" to double the hole's value from one to two points. If the opposing team declines to accept the hammer, they forfeit the hole. One team is assigned the hammer at the start of the match, and only the team possessing the hammer can utilize it; once they do so, its possession is ceded to the other team.
  • Overtime - If there is a tie after 15 holes of regulation, a soccer-style shootout is used, with teams alternating tee shots until one team is the first to record the two closest shots to the pin.
  • Match referees - An on-course referee is utilized to supervise play and enforce TGL's rules and regulations; another official monitors action from a booth.

Season format

Each TGL team plays five total matches in the regular season, once against each of the other teams. A points-based standings system is utilized, with a team earning two points for a win in regulation or overtime, one point for an overtime loss, and zero points for a regulation loss. For any ties in the standings, the number of holes won during the season is the tiebreaker.

At season's end, the top four teams in the single-table standings advance to two single-elimination semifinal matches (1st place versus 4th place and 2nd place versus 3rd). The semifinal winners will compete in the championship round, which is a best two-out-of-three match format.

Venue

For its first TGL venue, TMRW Sports constructed the SoFi Center, an indoor venue in Palm Beach, Florida, through a partnership with Palm Beach State College. The group broke ground at the venue on February 20, 2023. The venue will include educational and recreational facilities. Construction is being overseen by CAA Icon. In November 2023, a storm caused a power failure at the construction site and led to the deflation of SoFi Center's air-supported roof, causing damage to portions of the structure. The damage forced a delay in commencement of TGL play for a full year (from January 2024 to January 2025). In that interim, the facility was redesigned to accommodate a traditional steel roof and other technological improvements. Tiger Woods would call the delay "a blessing in disguise" as it would allow TGL to accommodate a better playing and viewing experience at SoFi Center.

Measuring approximately 97.3 yards (88.97 m) by 50 yards (45.72 m), or just smaller than an American football field, SoFi Center's playing surface is divided into two halves:

  • ScreenZone - Players hit towards a video screen measuring 53 feet (16.15 m) in height by 64 feet (19.51 m) in width and positioned 20-35 yards from two shot boxes (a "front box" for shots 130 yards or less from the hole and a "back box" for shots 131 yards or greater). Rather than synthetic mats, both boxes offer three distinct real-world playing surfaces that are utilized depending on where the shot lands on the screen: Cropped grass for tee and fairway shots, tall grass for playing from the rough, and sand for bunker shots.
  • GreenZone - When a shot on the screen lands within approximately 50 yards of the hole, play transitions to this tech-infused green surface that rotates and adjusts depending on the hole's projected design. The synthetic green and neighboring real-sand bunkers are positioned on a 360-degree rotating turntable measuring 41 yards in diameter. Underneath the surface, about 600 motorized actuators adjust the contours and slope to match the hole's dictated layout. Based on how the ball lies on the screen's "green surface," overhead LED spotlights illuminate the spot on the turntable where the ball must be placed.

Teams

Six 4-player teams make up the inaugural TGL season, each representing a different geographic area and wearing a different identity.

TGL teams
Team City Owner(s)
Atlanta Drive GC Atlanta, Georgia Arthur Blank
Boston Common Golf Boston, Massachusetts Fenway Sports Group
Jupiter Links Golf Club Jupiter, Florida Tiger Woods, David Blitzer
Los Angeles Golf Club Los Angeles, California Alexis Ohanian, Venus Williams, Serena Williams
New York Golf Club New York City, New York Steve Cohen
The Bay Golf Club San Francisco, California Marc Lasry, Stephen Curry

Roster

Woods, McIlroy, Justin Thomas and Jon Rahm were the first four golfers to commit to compete in the league. Twenty more players have since signed on leaving the roster set at twenty-four.

Rahm withdrew from the league in November 2023, shortly before joining LIV Golf. In January 2024, Tyrrell Hatton also joined LIV Golf after negotiating his exit from TGL. In June 2024 it was announced that Hatton would be replaced by Hideki Matsuyama

Broadcasting

No broadcaster for TGL was announced during the league's unveiling. An August 2022 report by Sports Business Journal indicated that NBC Sports had an option to carry league events. On October 5, 2023, ESPN Inc. announced it had secured media rights for the league in a "multi-year" deal, with all matches airing on ESPN or ESPN2, and streaming on ESPN+. The broadcasts will feature Scott Van Pelt and Matt Barrie as commentators, and will also include players and caddies wearing live mics, as well as various overhead, course-level, and bunker cameras. Several TGL matches will air as next-day lead-outs for major events on ESPN, including its NFL Wild Card Game, and the 2025 College Football Playoff National Championship, while a triple-header is scheduled for Presidents' Day.

Footnotes

  1. "TMRW" is pronounced "tomorrow"

References

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