Everything you should know about TGL, golf’s new simulator league

Here’s a set of facts about TGL: the screen that players hit into is the size of four T-rexes, the bunker sand is otherwise only found at Augusta National and the competitors include 15-time major champion Tiger Woods.

Here’s another: the roof of the league’s stadium imploded just over a year ago, one team's branding is built around a frog and the competitors also include 45-year-old Lucas Glover.

So yes — it is somewhat difficult to pin down exactly what to make of TGL, a new simulator golf league with big-name backers and plenty of PGA Tour stars.

Suffice it to say, however, there’s no lack of intrigue.

Here’s everything you should know ahead of the first TGL season, which begins Tuesday on Sportsnet and Sportsnet+.

So what exactly is TGL, anyway?

Founded by Woods and Rory McIlroy’s TMRW Sports, TGL will pit six teams of four PGA Tour players against each other in a weekly series of simulator golf matches at the SoFi Center in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.

Star athletes ranging from F1 driver Lewis Hamilton to the Los Angeles Dodgers’ Shohei Ohtani to Buffalo Bills QB Josh Allen were initial investors in TGL.

Team owners include the New York Mets’ Steve Cohen (New York Golf Club), Alexis Ohanian, Serena Williams and Venus Williams (Los Angeles Golf Club) and the Atlanta Falcons’ Arthur Blank (Atlanta Drive GC).

Yet all that financial muscle could not prevent the stadium’s roof from collapsing last November amid a power failure, forcing a year-long postponement of the inaugural season that gave organizers time to fine-tune all aspects of the facilities.

Now, tee times are set for the first-of-its-kind tech-infused indoor golf venture.

How does this all work?

You know the screens you pay way too much to hit into at your local simulator? TGL screens are 60 times that size, or five stories high.

The TGL social accounts have attempted to put that into perspective — not only can the screens fit four T-rexes, but they could also hold four San Francisco cable cars or the massive H in the Hollywood sign.

For nearly every shot, players will be stationed 60 yards from the screen. Depending on where they are in the course, they’ll either tee up or place their ball in the fairway, rough or a bunker.

The bunker sand is the same used for the Masters at Augusta National, while the fairway and rough are made of real grass.

Within about 35 yards of the pin, players will enter the Green Zone — a chipping and putting area with a green that can shift its contours depending on the virtual hole that’s being played. The holes were created in part by Jack Nicklaus’ design team.

Who’s playing?

TGL features seven of the world’s top-ranked players: Xander Schauffele (No. 2), McIlroy (No. 3), Collin Morikawa (No. 4), Ludvig Aberg (No. 5), Hideki Matsuyama (No. 6), Wyndham Clark (No. 7) and Tommy Fleetwood (No. 9).

But the more instructive question might be who isn’t playing.

Since TGL was formed in partnership with the PGA Tour, you won’t see LIV golfers like Bryson DeChambeau, Brooks Koepka and Dustin Johnson. Jon Rahm and Tyrell Hatton both originally committed to TGL before fleeing to LIV, too.

Also notably absent is world No. 1 and reigning Masters champion Scottie Scheffler, as well as any Canadians.

There are 24 players total with six teams of four. However, only three players per team compete in each match.

What’s the competition format?

Matches are played weekly, beginning with New York vs. The Bay on Tuesday.

The regular season runs through March 4, after which the top four teams advance to the semifinals.

The championship is a best-of-three series set to occur March 24-25, which means the entire schedule will be wrapped before the first major of the season.

Within each match, players will compete in alternate shots for the first nine holes followed by six holes of singles. Every hole is worth one point — whoever ends up with the most points wins the match, and there’s overtime in case of a tie.

None of it is just regular golf either. There’s a ref and shot clock, teams can call timeouts, and in a curling-esque twist, TGL is introducing the hammer, which teams can use to double the stakes of a given hole — but only one team controls the hammer at a time, and once you use it the opposing team takes over.

Why does it exist?

This is the billion-dollar question.

Taken cynically, TGL could be seen as a bit of a money grab for PGA Tour players who turned down oil-soaked money from the Saudi backers of LIV. The prize pool is $21 million, with $9 million headed to the winning team.

But it is also a fascinating experiment.

Players will be mic’d up throughout their rounds, which could give the competition more of the popular YouTube golf feel in addition to the matches’ tight two-hour lengths.

Outside of the Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup, team golf essentially does not exist on the PGA Tour. On that front, it will be interesting to see whether a different competition format can garner new eyeballs for a sport that is generally associated with an aging viewership.

It’s safe to say we’ve never witnessed anything quite like TGL. Let’s see where this goes.