TGL Explainer: how it works, who's playing and where to watch it

The 'Tomorrow Golf League' combines technology with many of the top players from the PGA Tour.

TGL Golf: how it will look

WHAT IS IT?

TGL is a made-for-television indoor team golf game fronted by Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy, with the action  played out on two highly sophisticated golf simulators. The TGL stands for Tomorrow Golf League, combining technology with many of the top players from the PGA Tour for a two-hour weekly competition in Florida.

It was originally slated for a January 2024 launch until last November, when the stadium’s roof collapsed. In retrospect, it was fortuitous timing, as the extra year allowed organisers the time to redesign a new, sturdier stadium in Palm Beach Gardens and further refine the league’s launch.

HOW DOES IT WORK?

Teams will play head-to-head in a 15-hole match. The match will be divided into two sessions. Session 1, on holes 1-9, will be “triples” in which three players on a team play alternate shot. Session 2, on holes 10-15, will be “singles” in which players will compete one-on-one.

The course is a a playing area roughly the size of a football pitch. Half of the arena is dedicated to ‘screen play’, where players will hit balls from a natural surface towards a giant 64 x 53ft screen. Shots will be played from a grass tee box, fairway grass, rough or sand as appropriate.

When balls land within 50ft of the virtual pin, action then moves to the other half of the arena, or ‘green zone’. This features a mechanised 22,475 sq ft short-game area of which the dimensions, topography and pin position can be changed for each hole. 

WHAT'S THE FORMAT?

On Mondays and Tuesdays, there will be a featured game. Each team has a roster of four players with three featuring in each fixture. Matches are split into two sessions – triples and singles, both matchplay. Triples is a three-on-three contest over nine holes with all players taking it in turns to play the same ball. Three singles contests are then played over six holes. Each hole is worth one point. A nearest-the-pin ‘overtime’ competition is held in the event of a tie.

All 15 holes for match one. 👀 @nygolfclub vs @TheBayGolf
Tuesday on ESPN pic.twitter.com/7WlKk5whiR

— TGL (@TGL) January 4, 2025

Teams are awarded two points for a victory and one for a loss in overtime, with nothing for a defeat in normal time. All teams play each other over the regular season with the top four in the table advancing to the play-offs.

WHO'S PLAYING?

As well as 15-time major winner Woods and McIlroy, as the faces of the venture, the competition features a number of elite players from the PGA Tour, split into six teams ostensibly representing different American cities.

Woods heads up Jupiter Links Golf Club, playing alongside Max Homa, Tom Kim and Kevin Kisner. World number three McIlroy is the star name for Boston Common Golf with his team-mates being US Ryder Cup captain Keegan Bradley, Hideki Matsuyama and Adam Scott.

The other teams are Atlanta Drive GC, Los Angeles Golf Club, New York Golf Club and The Bay Golf Club. 

THE TEAMS.

Atlanta Drive GC: Patrick Cantlay, Lucas Glover, Billy Horschel, Justin Thomas.

Boston Common Golf: Keegan Bradley, Hideki Matsuyama, Rory McIlroy, Adam Scott.

Jupiter Links Golf Club: Max Homa, Tom Kim, Kevin Kisner, Tiger Woods.

Los Angeles Golf Club: Tommy Fleetwood, Collin Morikawa, Justin Rose, Sahith Theegala.

New York Golf Club: Matt Fitzpatrick, Rickie Fowler, Xander Schauffele, Cameron Young.

The Bay Golf Club: Ludvig Åberg, Wyndham Clark, Shane Lowry, Min Woo Lee.

TGL Golf at the SoFi Center in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida

SPICING IT UP

The virtual course designers have promised some spectacular holes from fictional locations including coastal, tropical and desert landscapes.

Other new features include a shot clock, timeouts and the use of the ‘hammer’, with which teams can choose to double the value of a hole. All players will wear microphones and a referee will enforce the rules. Instead of caddies, players will refer to an interactive yardage book in their team dugouts, with various forms of data relayed to the audience after each shot

WHY ARE WE DOING THIS?

Because golf's powerbrokers also realise that the golf-watching audience needs something to re-energise interest. Viewing numbers for regular Tour season events are falling consistently so something new is needed. This is  an attempt to sell the sport to a new audience. It is the brainchild of sports media executive Mike McCarley, who teamed up with Woods and McIlroy in 2022 to found TMRW Sports to get the project up and running. 

“Cricket is a very good comparison," he explains. "It has taken so many new forms: Twenty20, the Hundred, but the idea is the same. We are taking a multi-day, very traditional event and, while keeping one foot firmly planted in the traditions of the game, with the other we are really stepping into the future.” 

The company has attracted considerable private investment and TGL has a prize pot of £16.75million, with £7.9m for the winning team.

WHAT ELSE?

Unlike LIV, the architects have been clever in getting the PGA on board - “it was important TGL was seen as complementary to the existing golf calendar and not intended to replace anything,” McCarley told The Times. The PGA Tour took an 18 per cent stake in the venture and TGL matches will take place on Monday or Tuesday nights from January to March, meaning they will not clash with tournaments, which run from Thursday to Sunday, or act as a distraction during major season, which starts in April.

WHERE CAN I WATCH?

First event: New York Golf Club v The Bay Golf Club (Wednesday 2am Irish time, Sky Sports Golf).