The TGL fan experience? Here’s what that’s really like

For as long as I can remember, golf has been trying to reinvent itself for a younger audience.

Short courses have popped up for those looking to play in less than four hours. High-tech driving ranges and training aids give players instant feedback on their swings. YouTube golfers and other golf content creators have us thinking about the game even when we’re far from the course. LIV Golf brought its stars into one broadcast window, hoping to capture a sliver of our ever-shortening attention spans.

And now…here comes TGL.

Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy’s new simulator league isn’t fully baked yet, but that didn’t stop more than a million viewers from tuning in to Tiger first playing appearance on Tuesday night.

In TGL’s second match at SoFi Center, pitting Tiger’s Jupiter Links against the energetic Los Angeles Golf Club, I joined 1,500 other golf fans in the stands, seeking to better understand if this indoor golf league has staying power. Here are 6 things I learned.

1. Fun for all ages

For a league that is clearly catering to the next generation of golf fans, there were fans of all ages in the TGL stands. The brand-new SoFi Center is on the campus of Palm Beach State College, but there weren’t many college-aged spectators.

Young children with their parents enjoyed running through the concourse and taking pictures with imagery of Tommy Fleetwood and Ludvig Aberg, among other TGL pros. Attendees in their 20s and 30s enjoyed reasonably priced cocktails ($14 max) — well, reasonable by sporting-event standards, anyway.  

But in the heart of the Palm Beaches, TGL also drew a considerable number of older fans to the arena, none of whom seemed too worried about shrinking attention spans or ruining the traditional game. These folks just saw TGL as a new opportunity to see the pros up close.

“It was pretty cool to see it in-person” a ticket-holder from Hobe Sound, Fla., told me. “All the logistics, computerized tech, players in-person. You see a lot more here than you do on TV, so it was pretty exciting.”

2. Different side of the pros

Players’ interactions with the fans make this product stand out from anything else we see in golf on a weekly basis. Though a regular-season TGL match pales in comparison to the Ryder Cup or Presidents Cup, there are similarities in the atmosphere.

Sahith Theegala was probably the most involved during his team’s first arena appearance. From the jump, he was pumping up the crowd and waving to familiar faces, he even responded to some opposing fans’ heckles. His teammates, Collin Morikawa and Justin Rose, quickly joined in on the action after a series of made putts in what became a blowout victory. Between holes, they tossed balls into the crowd.

Woods and his Jupiter teammates, Max Homa and Kevin Kisner, also yukked it up with one another, despite the match turning quickly against them. They didn’t interact with the fans as much as the L.A. players did, but the crowd was certainly close enough to Woods and Co. to sense how they were feeling in what was a rough night that included airmailed wedges and a bladed bunker shot that went viral.

“The best part about the show is actually seeing the physical players hit the ball, and they hit the ball like I do,” joked Mitch, a fan who drove up from Miami.

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3. Does it feel like a “real” golf event? Yes…and no

One fan I spoke to likened the rowdy atmosphere to a college football game. Another felt the lights, music and T-shirt toss resembled an NBA arena. TGL host Roger Steele motivated the crowd to start “the wave” — not something you’ll see at Augusta. No matter what was going on in the periphery though, TGL matches are competitions, just a different breed.

Like at any other game in any other sport, the fans were vocal and opinionated. They shouted to throw the hammer — and not to. They grumbled after a wrong club selection or what they viewed as too aggressive of a line. Some thought Kisner was placed in the wrong spot for the alternate-shot format; others booed Justin Rose’s walk-up music. All sports fans have takes, and it was no different at TGL.

4. Speak up!

This was the most repeated critique among attendees who otherwise enjoyed the event. They were expecting to hear nonstop banter from the players, whether talking strategy or smack — and free from the crosstalk of ESPN hosts.

The reality, though, is that in many sections of SoFi, you can’t hear the players at all. The music, sound effects (like the heartbeat shot clock, which was universally loved) and distance between the seats and the players drowns out the golfers. Fans who sat in the lower sections near the green were able to pick up some chatter between players, especially when they were chipping from close proximity to the arena walls, but most fans were in the dark.

One fan pointed out to me that you wouldn’t expect to hear players live at a football or basketball game. That’s true, but those leagues’ broadcast partners also haven’t set an expectation that you would be able to hear the athletes in real time.

5. New tech is as cool as advertised

One of my favorite things I saw in person, which you miss on the broadcast, is the green complex rotating from one hole to the next. While the players are hitting their drives and approaches at the simulator, attentive fans get to watch the “grounds crew” change the pin placement and rake the bunkers while the green spins clockwise.

Although TGL’s second match brought some questions about the consistency of its simulator accuracy, the unprecedented size of this massive screen is better up-close. From the hitting station from where players tee off, there’s a sizable distance to the screen where the ball makes contact and quickly turns into the virtual result. This space from contact to screen is way longer than most of us are used to playing at our local simulators, so fans can pick up some elements of the pros’ real ball flights, most noticeably launch angle and sidespin. A Homa power fade looks like a power fade before it hits the screen.

Fans in-person also get to see fresh grass squares delivered by crane, remote controlled cameras roam around the arena, and also see the angle of the fairway bunker lip feature change in real-time depending on a player’s lie.

6. More affordable than you might expect

Fans looking to attend a TGL match can expect to pay about $200 for a ticket, and unlike most arenas, there are no nosebleed seats. My dinner — a taco bowl and water bottle — cost me $25. Shuttles to parking lots and hotels keep things in the area moving with no major parking lot traffic to speak of. There are Full Swing simulators to let fans give some TGL holes a try, and a photo-op with the league’s new trophy near the arena entrance.

The on-field TGL product might still be a work in progress, but even in a blowout, you’ll still see golf in a way you never have before.