We are three weeks into TGL, the new tech-infused simulator golf league backed by Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy, and everyone has an opinion. The shot clock is great! What’s the hammer? Is putting really that hard?
“It has possibilities,” said Kostis, chiming in after watching the debut week. “It’s going to feed what people want these days, which is quick-hitting, short, couple of hours over and down with. That said, I thought it was utter chaos. The shot clock was OK, maybe they need to give a few more seconds. There was no context to anything. It was hit a shot, blah blah blah, six guys talking over each other.”
Kostis also wondered if playing normal, iconic or familiar golf holes instead of arcade-like ones might be more interesting for viewers.
“It was like going to Las Vegas and going to the Sphere and watching a concert by Weird Al Yankovic,” McCord said. “The concert is a piece of crap, but the technology is unbelievable because when you go to the Sphere you don’t really watch who is there. You are doing this. [Looks around] And that’s exactly what I got with that. It has nothing to do with golf, this is a reinvention of technology in front of 1,500 people in a small stadium.”
TGL drew 919,000 average viewers its first week but increased to 1.05 million the second week (aided by Tiger Woods’ debut). Last week, it dropped to 682,000 average viewers. There’s promise for Week 4, though, when Woods’ team faces off against the one led by Rory McIlroy.
“I think as this thing goes and matures and reinvents itself all the time, I think they will find a formula in there that will make it watchable,” McCord said.
For more from Kostis and McCord — including their thoughts on the future of TGL — check out the video above or watch the entire episode on YouTube below.
As GOLF.com’s managing editor, Berhow handles the day-to-day and long-term planning of one of the sport’s most-read news and service websites. He spends most of his days writing, editing, planning and wondering if he’ll ever break 80. Before joining GOLF.com in 2015, he worked at newspapers in Minnesota and Iowa. A graduate of Minnesota State University in Mankato, Minn., he resides in the Twin Cities with his wife and two kids. You can reach him at joshua_berhow@golf.com.
