January is normally the time we start to see images of Augusta National. Those commercials that play during big sporting events for the upcoming Masters. Golf fans see them and salivate.
This January will be no different, except part of Augusta National will not just play in commercials, but will be on display far more often. The sand used in the mixed-reality golf league, TGL, founded by Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy, will be the same pearly white sand we see pros play from during the Masters every April.
This we know thanks to the TGL Twitter account which posted a video of sand being dumped into what appears to be one of the bunkers that will be used in SoFi Center in early 2025. The account followed that by clarifying the type of sand — “SP55 Sand from North Carolina” — which is exactly the kind of granulated quartz in the bunkers at Augusta National.
"Wait, they’re using real sand?!?"
— TGL (@TGL) October 22, 2024
Yeah, we’re using real sand.
January 7 on @ESPN pic.twitter.com/ty6Bn7IUxY
Details like this about one of the most famous and exclusive golf courses in the world are difficult to come by. The club is notoriously private and requires vendors it does business with to not disclose information about their relationship. But thanks to the LA Times, which produced a feature story about the bunker sand at the Masters in 2020, we know it to be true.
The story from the Times dove deep into the sand, why it is so bright, and even shared how Tiger Woods had three truckloads of it brought to his home in Florida, where Woods has his own practice facility. Perhaps it’s no surprise then that Woods’ league, which kicks off Jan. 7, would use the same type of sand.
That sand, oddly enough, is byproduct of the mining process for other materials, such as mica and feldspar. That has made it easy to acquire, according to the Times, since the early 70s when Augusta National co-founder Cliff Roberts decided the club wanted new sand in its bunkers.
Though Augusta National is not interested in commenting on the sand it uses, TGL clearly is. The forthcoming league has always been billed as a simulator golf league, and that is very true to an extent. Players will hit shots into a 3,400 square foot simulator screen, imagining their way through computer generated golf holes. But the turf they’ll be playing shots from is real. And the shots they’ll play inside of 50 yards will take place without a screen. And the bunker sand they’ll play from, that’ll be real, too.
The league’s first season schedule was released Monday and will feature 15 nights of matches on either ESPN or ESPN2. For more on that and ticket info, click here.
