The golf simulator league is a new twist on combining technology and competition. The results were mixed.
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There are three types of sports fans out there. Those who enjoy the TGL, those who don’t and those who have never heard of it.
TGL, or Tomorrow’s Golf League, just wrapped up its inaugural season with Atlanta Drive GC capturing the first SoFi Cup. The indoor golf league, founded in part by Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy, combines simulator play with live-action chipping and putting. Players tee off and take fairway shots that are tracked and launched into a simulator environment before they head to a rotating green that adjusts slopes based on the hole.
The first season was, in large part, a mixed bag. There were issues with the technology as well as a midseason rule change, but there was also a great deal of entertainment and drama to watch.
Let’s break down the winners and losers of TGL’s inaugural season:
Loser: The broadcast
The ESPN broadcast never found its identity and was, at times, hard to watch. That had nothing to do with the product, but instead, the issues lay with the often cringy and forced input from play-by-play man Matt Barrie and in-arena reporter Marty Smith.
Monday’s Match 1 of the Finals was a prime example. Smith gave us a candidate for awkward interview of the year when he asked New York Golf Club’s Matt Fitzpatrick, who was a healthy scratch, “What is more nerve-wracking, watching these guys try to win a championship or winning a major championship?”
Seriously, Marty? We hope you were kidding. Let’s not pretend TGL is anything like the U.S. Open, which Fitzpatrick won in 2022. Yes, TGL is competitive and there is money at stake but it’s more show and entertainment than serious sporting fare — and that’s something we all need to understand for the product to work. ESPN trying to convince the audience that it’s watching serious golf only works to alienate those who know the difference.
OK, but what worked on the broadcast? Hot mics. It was great to listen live to players’ reactions to shots as well as real-time discussion of Hammer strategy, etc. Let’s keep that going in 2026.
Winner: Lovers of fun
If you don’t see the potential in the TGL product, you either don’t like golf or don’t like fun. Granted there were a lot of issues in the inaugural season, but the ceiling for TGL is undoubtedly high. They found an effective way to integrate technology with live action, creating a hybrid sport with seemingly limitless possibilities.
I mean, we’re hitting golf balls over pools of lava here. It’s not The Masters, and it’s not supposed to be. It’s fun and whimsical but still competitive and dramatic. The players who embraced the uniqueness of the product and weren’t afraid to put on a show shone brightly.
TGL needs to lean more into the fun in 2026. Embrace it!
Loser: Overtime rules
The overtime format is not good. A closest-to-the-pin contest to determine a match is not nearly exciting enough. TGL (and ESPN) will defend this by saying it is their version of penalty kicks in soccer, but that doesn’t ring true. If they really wanted to go that route, we should be putting.
My solution: If a match is tied after 15 holes, have the rotating green create random configurations ― from among the holes they previously played in the match ― for players to attempt 20-foot putts in a shootout format. Teams choose the order of putters. Player 1 from Team 1 putts, then Player 1 from Team 2. All three players putt in a three-round shootout — or putt-out, if you will. If it is still tied after all three players have putted, teams can then send whichever player(s) they want until a winner is decided (think T.J. Oshie at the Sochi Olympics).
Why is this better? The match should end with either a ball going in the hole or missing the hole. It’s that simple. It’s the same dramatic recipe that works for penalty kicks in soccer and shootouts in hockey.
Winner: Hammer strategy
The midseason change to the Hammer rule was a huge win for TGL. For those who aren’t familiar, each team starts a match with three Hammers. A team can throw a Hammer before any shot, as long as the opposing player isn’t already standing over the ball. The opposing team then has a choice. If they accept the Hammer, the hole is worth 2 points instead of 1. If they decline, the hole is then conceded to the Hammer-throwing team and 1 point is awarded. If a Hammer is thrown before an opening tee shot, it must be accepted.
This injects a metric ton of strategy and gamesmanship into the match, and it was interesting to see some dueling philosophies on how Hammers should be deployed. Some teams opted to use them when in an overwhelmingly favorable position, such as after hitting a tee shot within 5 feet of the hole while their opponent found the greenside bunker.
Others thought this was a waste since it would typically result in a declined Hammer and only 1 point awarded when the Hammer-throwing team would have almost certainly won the hole anyway. Another strategy was saving Hammers for a potential comeback if a team was trailing by multiple points late in the match. Another was throwing a Hammer before an opponent’s high-stress put for added pressure.
Whichever strategy you like best, there’s no denying it spices up the match.
Loser: Hammer rules
There is still one major issue with the…
