PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. — It took a year longer than expected, however TGL, the new tech-infused golf league being fronted by superstars Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy, is lastly teeing off.
The first of 15 regular-season matches, with the inaugural one between New York GC and The Bay Golf Club, can be performed Tuesday (9 p.m. ET, ESPN/ESPN+) at SoFi Center, a 250,000-square-foot venue on the campus of Palm Beach State College in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida.
TGL was imagined to launch in January 2024, however its begin was pushed again a 12 months after an influence outage attributable to a storm resulted within the authentic area’s domed roof collapsing on Nov. 14, 2023.
Woods believes the delay was factor as a result of the brand new SoFi Center is greater and higher. The new area is a metal construction with a standard roof. About 1,500 followers can be wrapped across the taking part in space.
“I feel it was a blessing in disguise,” Woods mentioned ultimately month’s PNC Championship. “We have been speeding to get it prepared. I do not assume we had all of the elements we’ve got now, and we actually did not have the know-how we’re capable of have now. It labored out for the perfect for us as gamers, for the followers, and I feel for everybody watching.”
Here’s what to find out about TGL.
A better take a look at the digital course
Three golf course design firms (Agustín Pizá, Beau Welling and Nicklaus Design) created 30 authentic holes that can be performed on a contest space roughly 97 yards by 50 yards, roughly the scale of a soccer subject, inside SoFi Center.
The holes can be performed in various order in matches, and TGL says they have been “impressed by genuine golf landscapes equivalent to hyperlinks, canyons, coastal, deserts and tropical settings.”
For occasion, there is a par-5, 590-yard gap generally known as “Pick Yer Plunder,” which was created by Pizá Golf, that sits alongside Bounty Bay within the Pacific Ocean. A par-4 gap designed by Nicklaus, “Hang Low,” is ready among the many barrancas of Southern California.
Then there are extra distinctive holes just like the par-4 “Flex,” which is nestled on an energetic volcano, and “The Spear,” which has a floating tee field, touchdown space and GreenZone.
Each crew will subject three gamers for the matches, beginning every gap by teeing off on actual grass tee containers right into a display screen that’s 64 ft by 53 ft — 24 occasions bigger than an ordinary golf simulator.
For pictures of 130 yards or longer, together with most tee pictures, golfers will hit from a again field that’s 35 yards away from the display screen. The again field accommodates pictures from actual fairway grass and tough, in addition to sand. For pictures of fifty to 129 yards, golfers will hit from a entrance field that’s positioned 21 yards from the display screen.
The touchdown location of their tee pictures will decide the following problem: method pictures performed from pure grass fairways, deep tough, or pristine white sand, mirroring the bunkers discovered at Augusta National Golf Club. For pictures of fifty yards or much less, the gamers will shift to a one-of-a-kind, specifically designed inexperienced to finish the opening.
“The taking part in surfaces are very sensible,” McIlroy mentioned. “Whenever you hit it out of the tough, it’s a must to take into consideration whether or not you are going to get a flyer; whether or not it is going to come out tender, quite a lot of issues that you would need to take into consideration on an actual golf course.”
The GreenZone contains a state-of-the-art 22,475-square-foot short-game space that dynamically transforms between holes. A turntable 41 yards extensive rotates the artificial-turf inexperienced to create various method angles, whereas practically 600 actuators morph the terrain to simulate completely different topographies of 30 completely different greens.
“I nonetheless really feel just like the ball reacts very realistically on the inexperienced,” McIlroy mentioned. “We toyed round with the concept of utilizing actual grass and actual turf on the inexperienced, however with the rotating inexperienced after which clearly with the jacks beneath and the power to alter slopes, we have been afraid if we used actual turf that that turf might crack and break. We made the choice to go together with synthetic [grass] for the inexperienced as a result of we need to make it fascinating.”
How the matches will work
Each crew will play 5 matches in the course of the 2025 common season from Jan. 7 to March 4.
The 15-hole matches can be break up into two periods: 9 holes of alternate shot and 6 holes of singles. Three gamers from every crew will hit alternate pictures within the first 9 holes. In the ultimate six, the golfers will compete head-to-head, with every golfer taking part in two full holes in the course of the session.
Each gap is value one level and there aren’t any carryovers. If the 2 groups are tied on the finish of regulation, an additional time determines the winner. TGL’s additional time interval is much like a penalty shootout in soccer. Three golfers from every squad will compete in a best-of-three, closest to the pin competitors till a crew efficiently hits two pictures nearer than its rivals.
The golfers will play the additional time interval on the fifteenth gap, which is able to stay unchanged from regulation. The shot can be performed from between 25 and 50 yards, and the on-course official will decide the pin location and distance earlier than the match. A ball should land on the placing floor to be eligible.
Every match will include 15 holes — even when the end result has been determined. Tiebreakers within the SoFi Cup standings can be decided by the full variety of holes gained in the course of the common season.
There’s a shot clock and timeouts
There will not be any gradual play in TGL — it is designed to be quick and entertaining.
Each match will characteristic a shot clock that shows a countdown of 40 seconds. Players should hit their shot inside the allotted timeframe or their crew receives a shot clock violation and incurs a one-stroke penalty. The 40-second timeframe relies on the United States Golf Association’s suggestion on tempo of play.
Each crew has 4 timeouts per match, two timeouts in every of the 2 periods. Unused timeouts in the course of the first session don’t carry over to the second session. For the crew that’s taking part in its shot, timeouts could also be known as at any level till the shot clock expires. The opposing crew could name a timeout till the opposite crew’s participant has addressed the ball. A crew can’t name back-to-back timeouts whereas on the present shot.
A referee can be on the course to implement TGL’s guidelines and rules, and one other official screens the motion from a sales space.
What is the Hammer?
The Hammer will increase the worth of a gap by one level. It will be performed by solely the TGL crew that holds possession of it. The Bay Golf Club, on account of a coin flip, will begin the season in possession of the Hammer.
The Hammer will be thrown at any time throughout a match — and it may be used a number of occasions on the identical gap — to extend stress on an opponent. The opposing crew can decline to play the Hammer — form of like a golfer turning down a “press” in a Saturday morning match — however it concedes the opening if it declines.
The Hammer modifications possession every time it is used.
There’s a caddie (kind of)
TGL golfers can be allowed to make use of a digital caddie, which is a 50-inch touchscreen yardage e book, which reveals distances, penalty areas, wind, inexperienced topography and elevation modifications on every gap.
TGL says the interactive app, customized constructed by Full Swing, “permits gamers to make use of quite a few fast, user-friendly instruments to analysis their subsequent shot, set their goal, and get a preview of what they’ll see on the hitting display screen once they step as much as hit their shot.”
The digital caddie is one other manner to make sure that the tempo of play is lightning quick.
There’s going to be trash-talking (hopefully)
Golfers concerned in TGL know they are going to need to be greater than, effectively, golfers. For the tech-infused circuit to work, viewers are going to need to be entertained, and that is going to return from the conversations and ribbing which are going to be captured by microphones that each participant can be carrying in the course of the matches.
“It’s going to be actually aggressive,” Billy Horschel mentioned. “We’re rivals. We need to win, however we additionally need to be entertainers on the identical time. I feel everybody who has signed as much as be part of that is conscious of that, and they are going to do their half to ensure that is profitable.”
The microphones may seize an excessive amount of in some situations.
“People are going to see our personalities,” Wyndham Clark mentioned. “Some issues might come out that possibly we do not need to say, however that is how different sports activities are.
“I’m going to have to essentially watch my cussing, however on our crew, Shane Lowry. He has some cuss phrases on set off fairly fast, so he’ll have to essentially watch himself.”
Who’s on which groups?
Atlanta Drive GC
Justin Thomas
Patrick Cantlay
Billy Horschel
Lucas Glover
Boston Common Golf
Rory McIlroy
Keegan Bradley
Adam Scott
Hideki Matsuyama
Jupiter Links GC
Tiger Woods
Max Homa
Tom Kim
Kevin Kisner
Los Angeles Golf Club
Collin Morikawa
Tommy Fleetwood
Justin Rose
Sahith Theegala
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
2025 SCHEDULE
Tuesday, Jan. 7: New York Golf Club vs. The Bay Golf Club, 9 p.m. ET, ESPN/ESPN+
Tuesday, Jan. 14: Los Angeles Golf Club vs. Jupiter Links GC, 7 p.m. ET, ESPN/ESPN+
Tuesday, Jan. 21: New York Golf Club vs. Atlanta Drive GC, 7 p.m. ET, ESPN/ESPN+
Monday, Jan. 27: Jupiter Links GC vs. Boston Common Golf, 6:30 p.m. ET, ESPN/ESPN+
Tuesday, Feb. 4: Boston Common Golf vs. Los Angeles Golf Club, 9 p.m. ET, ESPN/ESPN+
Monday, Feb. 17: Atlanta Drive GC vs. Los Angeles Golf Club, 1 p.m. ET, ESPN/ESPN+
Monday, Feb. 17: Atlanta Drive GC vs. The Bay Golf Club, 4 p.m. ET, ESPN/ESPN+
Monday, Feb. 17: The Bay Golf Club vs. Boston Common Golf, 7 p.m. ET, ESPN2/ESPN+
Tuesday, Feb. 18: Jupiter Links GC vs. New York Golf Club, 7 p.m. ET, ESPN/ESPN+
Monday, Feb. 24: Los Angeles Golf Club vs. New York Golf Club, 5 p.m. ET, ESPN2/ESPN+
Monday, Feb. 24: Boston Common Golf vs. Atlanta Drive GC, 9 p.m. ET, ESPN2/ESPN+
Tuesday, Feb. 25: The Bay Golf Club vs. Jupiter Links GC, 9 p.m. ET, ESPN/ESPN+
Monday, March 3: The Bay Golf Club vs. Los Angeles Golf Club, 3 p.m. ET, ESPN2/ESPN+
Monday, March 3: New York Golf Club vs. Boston Common Golf, 7 p.m. ET, ESPN2/ESPN+
Tuesday, March 4: Jupiter Links GC vs. Atlanta Drive GC, 7 p.m. ET, ESPN/ESPN+
The SoFi Cup playoffs
Similar to the NHL, TGL will make use of a points-based system for regular-season matches. For every match, groups can earn as much as two factors towards their regular-season whole. That whole determines their place within the SoFi Cup standings.
A win in regulation and a win in additional time each equal two factors, whereas a loss in additional time equals one level.
The prime 4 groups advance to the playoffs, which embrace a single-elimination semifinal spherical and a best-of-three championship sequence.
The TGL semifinal matches that includes the highest 4 groups within the SoFi Cup standings can be performed March 17-18. The two successful groups will advance to the championship sequence, a best-of-three match that can be performed March 24-25.
