My first thought when walking into the new TGL facility a few weeks ago was… How?
It’s the ultimate don’t-judge-a-book-by-its-cover situation. If you weren’t familiar with what was housed inside the Palm Beach State College facility, you would have guessed you were about to see a college basketball game. The campus itself is beautiful but then you enter the space and your jaw drops.
The creators of this facility really have thought of everything.
It starts with the “green room,” which is essentially a locker room on steroids with team hitting bays, a gym, a physio section complete with a cold plunge and a handy kitchen area with snacks and a chef. Basically the perfect place to live if a pandemic ever reboots.
The Main Attraction
When you walk into the main area, if feels like you are backstage at a Coldplay concert, with all the energy working toward the center of the facility (which I have aptly named “The Octagon”).
Walking into The Octagon is like strolling off a spaceship and wandering onto Mars. Everything about it is BIG. Walking through the players tunnel from the green room and into this golf technology extravaganza is breathtaking. Kind of like what you hear from people who visit Augusta National for the first time — TV does not do this place justice.
In person, the hitting bay is almost intimidating. The screen itself — 53 feet tall and 64 feet wide — looms over the two different hitting areas. The experience of hitting a ball off the perfect (and replaced daily) turf and seeing it sail like it would in real life before it eventually pops against the screen goes against all instincts for us golfers who are used to typical hitting bays. That takes an adjustment. In a normal hitting bay, you hit the shot, it hits the screen and the tracer starts moving. At SoFi you hit the shot, you watch the ball take off and eventually it hits the screen.
Once you get cooking, though, it’s a blast, in large part due to the Full Swing launch monitors. But this design isn’t a one man band, Full Swing harmonizes with Top Tracer and a Multi camera setup to capture it all. If Full Swing is Robert Plant, Top Tracer is Jimmy Paige.
It’s so good in fact that going back to a normal hitting bay becomes what my son might call “mid.” That’s kid speak for not good enough.
The tech itself — and lots more on the Full Swing launch monitors — is discussed in great detail via the video at the bottom, so make sure you check it out.
Short-Game Area
This is my favorite area, without question. For one it’s way more difficult than it looks on TV. Some of the situations you can find yourself in are stressful, and there are few areas where a “stock” shot is called for. Every shot requires creativity, trust and a ton of imagination.
The turf around the complex has into- and down-grain options, and the green complex itself can adjust speed, line and undulation with the push of a button. As you’ll see in the video below, with the touch of an iPad a straight 10-footer can become a fast left-to-righter in seconds. It’s wild.
Full Swing KIT Launch Monitor
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Final Thoughts
Being in the SoFi Center, it really feels like a big part of golf’s future. Whether on TV or in person, this format has legs. The best part? They haven’t even scratched the surface when it comes to the serious technology they have at their finger tips. This facility can create any golf games/conditions you can imagine.
What’s next for TGL? How about buying into the video game aspect of it all. Moving greens? Really small targets? Serious weather conditions? Or, hear me out, playing in an urban environment like through the streets of NYC. Sounds nuts, but don’t rule it out.
Anyway, TGL? A 10 out of 10. Y’all killed it. I’m a fan. And for more on how TGL’s Full Swing launch monitor system works, click here.
