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.
In the first two matches, three of the four players who teed off on the hole failed to get it under the rock formation. Xander Schauffele said the hole introduced “mayhem” to New York Golf Club’s match with Atlanta Drive. Cam Young said the holes were “more difficult.”
But that’s the point. Up the degree of difficulty for the world’s best in a way that is impossible on our earthly plane, and increase the entertainment.
“I don’t think they expected The Stinger to go that way, but I imagine it was pretty entertaining,” Schauffele said. “It was cool to see our teammate Cam hit a 50-yard hook into a screen. That was pretty cool. I think it’s pretty cool. The tree in the middle of the hole, that’s kind of fun for us to flight shots in a certain way.”
TGL built a sturdy foundation in its inaugural season. It was a quirky idea — one that still has some ironing out to do — that has most of the top golfers in the world fully on board and enjoying a different kind of competition.
But as Tiger and Rory’s high-tech golf league looks to the future, it should be looking to get more creative and take bigger swings with hole designs (and maybe other aspects) that put the best players in the world in position to show their personalities while taking on a challenge they won’t see at Quail Hollow or Riviera.
Chapter 2 of the tech startup playbook is: Always be innovating. Always stay a step ahead. It’s better to take a swing than play it safe. Think bigger before you ever think about stepping back.
That’s the road TGL is planning to walk, which isn’t surprising given all the stakeholders involved — from Woods and McIlroy to billionaires like Arthur Blank and Steven Cohen to celebrities Steph Curry and Alexis Ohanian. That starts with more holes like the ones that have been a hit with fans and players to start Season 2.
“I think there is definitely an opportunity to get creative,” McIlroy said on Friday after Boston Common Golf’s win over Los Angeles Golf Club. “I think The Stinger hole has been a big hit so far. We’ve played two matches so far and Michael [Thorbjornsen] is the first person to get it underneath and actually get it on the fairway.
“There’s limitations in the real world to what golf holes you can build. There’s no limitations in what we are doing here.”
Golf without limitations is exactly where TGL should be heading.
