The inaugural season of TGL, the high-tech golf league co-founded by Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy, was drafted from the first chapter of the tech startup playbook.
TGL was different. It was innovative and clunky. It was nimble and adaptive, but also lacked an identity. But in the end, the simulator league built momentum and succeeded thanks to buy-in from the world’s best players, allowing it to blossom.
If Season 1 was the introduction, then TGL’s second season, which is now two matches old, has been all about evolution — about growing a unique idea into something that is entertaining and can appeal to the average golf fan and a new-age viewer. Something that can be golf, but a version you can’t see anywhere else.
As I wrote after the first match of this season, the key to the evolutionary growth TGL is seeking lies in its ability to branch out from traditional golf and embrace the high-tech, video-game aspect of its DNA. That starts by inventing new holes that are more “Golden Tee” than Pebble Beach. Holes that ask the world’s best players to truly show off their shot-making ability by designing holes that break the traditional mold and lean into the virtual part of the sport.
“In Season 1, we wanted to make sure that we didn’t shock too many people right away, so we kept it very traditional,” Billy Horschel said. “What you saw was just us kind of hitting our stock shots. Now we’ve got some of these extreme holes — video game holes — that people on social media have talked about, what we have talked about, just creating something really cool, unique holes that you can do in a technology sport like this.
“You’re going to see us have to hit golf shots. You’re going to see us hit low, high draws, high cuts. … I think everyone who watches will find some enjoyment out of it, whether it’s the traditional holes or these more of radical-style holes created through TGL.”
Golf, but not the kind you see on Sunday from January through August and into the fall.
Enter holes like Stinger, Cenote and Lone Pine, which made appearances in the first two TGL matches and received rave reviews.
Stinger is a par-4 that requires players to hit a low drive under a rock formation to reach the fairway. Another rock formation lurks along the nightside of the hole (along with a water hazard) that players have to hit sweeping hooks around should they find themselves off line.
