TGL Initial Reaction

Since its inception in the 15th century, golf has seen all kinds of change. From the first 18-hole round being played in 1764 in St. Andrews to the PGA Tour being founded in 1968; the game has become what it is today thanks to those changes and more.

Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy believe they have the “future of golf” in what they call “Tomorrow’s Golf League,” otherwise known as TGL.

The league consists of six teams of four golfers with only three playing in each match. Its matches are played in the SoFi Center, which is specially built for the league.

The SoFi Center is any golfer’s dream simulator setup. The screen is massive, coming in at 20 times larger than any normal simulator screen while the players hit off of actual fairway grass, rough and even out of actual sand (that has an automatic lip that adjusts based on the bunker on the simulator).

The short game area is arguably the most intriguing part of the arena. The area is intended for any shots within 50 yards of the green with actual bunkers and varying lies, however, the green itself rotates and changes the slopes on its surface to match those of the hole on the simulator.

The league also has a 45-second shot clock, “The Hammer,” a towel that is thrown down to make the hole worth two points and put pressure on the other team and matches are split into two parts, an alternate shot format for the first nine holes, then the final 6 are singles matches between the teams. Also, the players are required to wear microphones to give fans the most content and fun possible.

At first, the whole idea felt very ambitious and insane when the league was founded in 2022, however just last week the TGL was live for the first time on ESPN. The first match had the New York Golf Club (Xander Schauffle, Rickie Fowler and Matt Fitzpatrick) going head-to-head against The Bay Golf Club (Wyndham Clark, Shane Lowry and Ludvig Aberg).

The proceedings began with player walkouts from the tunnel, their names announced like an NBA starting lineup, music bumping in the background and fans cheering throughout the SoFi Center.

After that, it was time to tee off and who better than Rickie Fowler and Shane Lowry to take the league’s inaugural tee shots? The Bay then took the first hole, both teams tied on the second, then New York threw “The Hammer” and lost the third hole, putting them down three through three holes. That would set the stage for the rest of the match, as The Bay would end up winning 9-2.

Despite the match between the teams ending on the 10th of 15 holes, TGL requires all golfers to finish out the matches because holes won are the tiebreaker for making the playoffs, giving the fans even more golf than a normal match.

After the first night, the takeaways were pretty clear. The players were a bit too tense and didn't talk too much, the blowout wasn’t super entertaining and “The Hammer” wasn’t thrown enough, but the fans were clearly interested, with almost one million viewers tuning into its debut.

On Tuesday night, the second match was held between the LA Golf Club (Collin Morikawa, Justin Rose and Sahith Theegala) and Woods’ Jupiter Links with Max Homa and Kevin Kisner playing alongside him.

While the previous week felt too tense, this week was electric. Instead of a normal player walkout, Woods got a special one, walking out to “Eye of the Tiger” by Survivor with the crowd roaring as he came out.

Woods was then the leadoff man on the tee for Jupiter. Upon arriving at the tee box, he proceeded to drop “The Hammer” on LA and then striped a 3-wood into the fairway.

Both the fans in the arena and at home felt the electricity of Woods’ entrance and tee shot, but the players did too. The first hole ended in a tie with the next few holes consisting of lots of adrenaline-fueled shots that resulted in missed fairways and greens culminating in some interesting golf that ended in yet another blowout, with LA winning 12-1.

Despite another blowout, there was no shortage of trash talk and entertaining moments during match two. Rose hit a finger wag on the fifth hole after Jupiter tried to ice his putt with a timeout, Theegala hit a mean fist pump in front of the Links after drilling a clutch putt, but the true highlight of the night was Kisner smoking the flagstick after skulling his shot out of the bunker. The shot was so hilarious it had Woods crying while laughing.

Overall, TGL has a bright future ahead. A lot of the concerns and questions from match one were answered during match two and will continue to improve as time goes on. The blowouts are a problem, but the players are still adjusting to how the SoFi Center works, so as more matches are played the quality of golf should improve.

More importantly, the golfers love it too. According to ESPN, after the first match, Clark said, “It’s the most fun we’ve had playing golf.” Both Fowler and Aberg also said they had fun and looked forward to future matches.

Dylan Sechrist is a third-year majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, email dks5749@psu.edu.