PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. – It’s taken a year longer than expected, but TGL, the tech-filled New Technology Golf League led by superstars Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy, is finally getting underway.
The first of 15 regular-season games, the opener between New York GC and Bayside Golf Club, will take place on Tuesday (9 p.m. ET, ESPN/ESPN+) at the SoFi Center, a campus-wide The 250,000 square foot facility is located at Palm Beach State College in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida.
TGL was originally scheduled to launch in January 2024, but the launch was delayed by a year after a power outage caused by a storm on November 14, 2023, caused the dome roof of the original arena to collapse.
Woods thinks the delay is a good thing because the new SoFi Center is bigger and better. The new venue is a steel structure with a traditional roof. About 1,500 fans will gather around the game area.
“I think it's a blessing in disguise,” Woods said at last month's PNC Championship. “We're anxious to be ready. I don't think we have all the components that we have now and certainly not the technology that we can have now. It's the best outcome for us as players, for the fans and I think for everyone. People watching.
Below is information about TGL.
A closer look at virtual classes
Three golf course design firms (Agustín Pizá, Beau Welling and Nicklaus Design) created 30 original holes that will be played on a playing surface measuring approximately 97 yards by 50 yards (about the size of a football field) inside the SoFi Center.
The holes will be played in different orders throughout the tournament, and TGL says they are “inspired by real golf landscapes such as links, canyons, coasts, deserts and tropical environments.”
For example, there is a 590-yard par 5 called “Pick Yer Plunder” created by Pizá Golf in Bounty Bay on the Pacific Ocean. “Hang Low”, a par-4 hole designed by Jack Nicklaus, is located in the valley of Southern California.
Additionally, there are more unique holes, such as “Flex,” a par-4 that sits on an active volcano, and “The Spear,” which features a floating tee, landing area and green zone.
Each team will field three players, who will tee off on a real grass tee at the beginning of each hole into a 64-foot by 53-foot screen – 24 times larger than a standard golf simulator.
For shots 130 yards or longer, including most tee shots, golfers will hit the ball from the back box 35 yards from the screen. The back box accommodates shots from real fairway grass, rough, and sand. For shots 50 to 129 yards, the golfer will hit the ball from the front box 21 yards from the screen.
Where their tee shots land will determine the next challenge: an approach shot on natural grass fairways, deep rough or pristine white sand that echoes the bunkers at Augusta National Golf Club. For shots of 50 yards or less, players will move to a unique, specially designed green to complete the hole.
“The playing field is very real,” McIlroy said. “Every time you hit the ball out of the rough, you have to think about whether it's going to get a flyer; whether it's going to be soft, those are things you have to think about on a real golf course.”
GreenZone features a state-of-the-art 22,475 square foot short game area that dynamically transitions between holes. A 41-yard-wide turntable rotates the artificial turf greens to create different angles of approach, while nearly 600 actuators change the terrain to simulate the varying topography of 30 different greens.
“I still feel like the reaction of the ball on the green is very realistic,” McIlroy said. “We considered using real grass and real turf on the greens, but with the rotation of the greens and obviously the jacks underneath and the ability to change the slope, we were concerned that if we used real turf, the turf might crack and we decided to go with artificial . [grass] Go for green because we want to make it fun.
How the game will be played
The 2025 regular season will run from January 7 to March 4, and each team will play five games.
The 15-hole tournament will be divided into two rounds: nine holes of alternating play and six holes of singles. Three players from each team will take turns hitting shots on the front nine. Golfers will go head-to-head in the final six tournaments, with each golfer playing two full holes during the tournament.
Each hole is worth one point, no carryover. If the two teams are tied at the end of the regular season, overtime will determine the winner. TGL's overtime is similar to a penalty shootout in football. Three golfers from each team will compete in best-of-three rounds, closest to the pin, until one team manages to hit a ball two strokes closer than its competitor.
Players will play overtime on the 15th hole, with the rules remaining the same. Shot distances are 25 to 50 yards, and course officials will determine pin locations and distances before the game. The ball must land on the putting surface to be eligible.
Each tournament will consist of 15 holes – even if the outcome has already been determined. Tie-breakers for the SoFi Cup standings will be decided based on the total number of holes won during the regular season.
There is a shot clock and timeouts
There won't be any slow gameplay in TGL – it's designed to be fast and fun.
Each game has a timer showing a 40-second countdown. Players must hit the ball within the allotted time or their team will violate the shot clock and receive a one-shot penalty. The 40-second time frame is based on USGA recommendations for pace of play.
Each team has four timeouts per game, with two timeouts in each quarter. Unused timeouts during the first session do not carry over to the second session. A team taking a shot can request a timeout at any time until the shot clock is over. The opposing team can call a timeout until the opposing player serves the ball. The team cannot call consecutive timeouts during the current shot.
One referee will be on the field enforcing TGL's rules and regulations, and another official will oversee the game from a booth.
What is a hammer?
A hammer increases the value of a hole by one point. It can only be played by the TGL team that owns it. The result of a coin toss is that Bayside Golf Club will have the Hammers at the start of the new season.
The hammer can be thrown at any time during the game and can be used multiple times on the same hole to increase the pressure on your opponent. The opposing team can refuse to hit the hammer – a bit like a golfer refusing to “press” during a Saturday morning game – but if it refuses, the hole is conceded.
The hammer changes ownership every time it is used.
There's a caddy (sort of)
TGL golfers will be allowed to use a digital caddy, a 50-inch touch-screen yardbook that displays each hole's distance, penalty box, wind, green topography and elevation changes.
TGL says the interactive app, customized by Full Swing, “allows players to use a number of quick, user-friendly tools to study their next shot, set their goals, and preview where they will be when they hit the ball. What you see on the batting screen. They step up and hit the ball.
Digital caddies are another way to ensure the game is played at a lightning-fast pace.
There will be trash talk (hopefully)
Golfers participating in TGL know they must be more than just golfers. For a tech-filled tour to work, spectators have to be entertained, and that will come from conversations and chatter that will be captured by the microphones each player wears during the game.
“It's going to be very competitive,” Billy Horschel said. “We are competitors. We want to win, but we also have to be entertainers. I think everyone who signs up to be a part of this realizes that and they're going to do their part to make sure this event is a success.”
In some cases, the microphone may capture too much information.
“People will see our personality,” Wyndham Clark said. “There are things we may not want to say, but that's the way it is with other sports.
“I have to be very careful with my swearing, but on our team, Sean Lowry. He's quick to say some curse words, so he has to be very careful with himself.”
Who is on which teams?
Atlanta Avenue GC
Justin Thomas
Patrick Cantlay
Billy Horschel
Lucas Glover
boston park golf course
Rory McIlroy
Keegan Bradley
Adam Scott
Matsuyama Hideki
Jupiter Connection GC
Tiger Woods
Max Houma
Tom King
Kevin Kisner
Los Angeles Golf Club
Morikawa Colin
Tommy Fleetwood
Justin Rose
Thasi Sigala
new york golf club
Matt Fitzpatrick
Ricky Fowler
Xander Schauffele
Cameron Young
bay golf club
Ludwig Aberg
Wyndham Clark
Lee Min Woo
Sean Lowry
2025 itinerary
Tuesday, Jan. 7: New York GC vs. Gulfside GC, 9 p.m. ET, ESPN/ESPN+
Tuesday, Jan. 14: Los Angeles GC vs. Jupiter Links GC, 7 p.m. ET, ESPN/ESPN+
Tuesday, Jan. 21: NY GC 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 GC vs. Los Angeles GC, 9 p.m. ET, ESPN/ESPN+
Monday, February 17: Atlanta Strip GC vs. Los Angeles Golf Club, 1 p.m. ET, ESPN/ESPN+
Monday, February 17: Atlanta Boulevard GC vs. Bayside GC, 4 p.m. ET, ESPN/ESPN+
Monday, Feb. 17: Bayside Golf Club vs. Boston Common Golf, 7 p.m. ET, ESPN2/ESPN+
Tuesday, February 18: Jupiter Links GC vs. New York GC, 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: Gulf GC vs. Jupiter Links GC, 9 p.m. ET, ESPN/ESPN+
Monday, March 3: Gulfside 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+
SoFi Cup Playoffs
Similar to the NHL, the TGL's regular season games will use a points system. Teams can earn up to two points per game, which count toward their regular season totals. This total determines their position in the SoFi Cup standings.
Wins in regulation and overtime are worth two points each, and losses in overtime are worth one point.
The top four teams advance to the playoffs, which include a single-elimination semifinal and a best-of-three championship series.
The TGL semi-finals for the top four teams in the SoFi Cup standings will be played on March 17-18. The two winning teams will advance to the Championship Series, a best-of-three tournament that will take place on March 24-25.
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