PALM BEACH GARDENS, FLORIDA | Shane Lowry was so nervous Tuesday night before he hit the ceremonial first tee shot in TGL history he took his earpiece out to concentrate on his drive.
About two hours later, Lowry had a much different mindset.
“That was the most fun two hours I’ve had on a golf course,” Lowry said.
Of course, it wasn’t a golf course. TGL is simulated golf played inside the SoFi Center, a 250,000-square-foot, tech-infused facility at Palm Beach State College that many of the world’s greatest golfers – including co-founders Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy – will visit the next three months to see if they have found another avenue to take the long-traditional game of golf.
Instead of hitting shots into green grass, they aim at a large screen that’s about the size of a five-story building. The simulator shows the ball flight and spits out stats afterward.
For the 1,500 fans in the arena, it was an adjustment to watch quick-paced golf played with loud music blaring, tons of technological data, occasional booing after bad shots and the ability to watch every player’s shot without leaving their seat.
Too bad the competition was a rout: Lowry’s Bay Golf Club, which included Ludvig Åberg and Wyndham Clark, streaked to a 6-0 lead and cruised to a 9-2 victory over the New York Golf Club in TGL’s inaugural match. The Bay Club clinched the victory after just 10 holes (they play 15 in TGL).
Not that it mattered.
TGL isn’t about competition – though the winning team at season’s end receives $9 million of the $21 million purse – it’s about entertainment and introducing new fans to the game.
“Other than the fact that we were on the receiving end (of a loss) tonight, it’s really cool walking into an arena,” said Rickie Fowler, who competed for the New York team along with Xander Schauffele and Matt Fitzpatrick. “This is something fun for the game of golf. It’s not trying to compete with what we do on (the PGA) Tour. It’s a supplement to the game and hopefully opens some people’s eyes to what is possible.”
It says plenty that Woods and McIlroy – who each live 15 minutes away – were on hand, giving a few pointers to players beforehand and appearing on the ESPN telecast. Then again, the co-founders want to ensure their product is as successful as the rest of their Hall of Fame careers.
“I’ve always been jealous of football players and basketball players who get to play in a stadium, where you can draw off the energy of the crowd. I think this is the future of golf.” – Ludvig Åberg
The star of the night, fittingly, is one of the world’s rising stars, as well: Sweden’s Åberg. He made the first birdie in TGL history, a 9-footer on the movable green that gave The Bay Club a lead they would never lose. Åberg also made a bending 32-foot putt on the fifth hole that amazed even Woods while he was in the ESPN booth.
“We thought that was a one-in-a-thousand putt,” Clark said.
For Åberg, who in 2023 became the first to play in a Ryder Cup before playing in a major, the hardest part may have been selecting his walkout song. Once the competition started, he dominated. The Swede credited his performance to the setting.
“I’ve always been jealous of football players and basketball players who get to play in a stadium, where you can draw off the energy of the crowd,” Åberg said. “I think this is the future of golf.”
It was not the best of nights for Schauffele, the world No. 2 who holds half the major championship trophies. He was booed after several poor chips, and his lackluster play didn’t allow him to show his under-the-radar ability to talk smack.
“It was a bummer to let my boys down,” Schauffele said. “If I was (the fans), I would have booed me, too. It’s kind of hard to talk smack when you’re losing by 10 points.”
Let’s face it: TGL is trying to do something very difficult: Make golf entertaining and funny. You often see video montages of the funniest moments in football, baseball and basketball. When do you ever see that in golf?
The fan experience in the arena is quite different than what’s televised on TV. A big drawback is the fans at SoFi Center can’t hear what the players are saying to each other (because of the music). They missed Lowry boasting, “I’m going to be the Scottie Scheffler of indoor golf,” only to “toe-shank” a chip soon after. Plus, ESPN’s commercial breaks after every hole take away some of the crowd’s enthusiasm.
Nobody needs to worry about next week’s TV ratings. That’s because Woods makes his TGL debut as a member of Jupiter Links Golf Club going against Los Angeles Golf Club.
But nobody in TGL is complaining about ESPN’s involvement (just ask LIV Golf about their TV deals). ESPN may be the most important partner in this league.
“There’s a lot that’s been put into it to make this possible,” Fowler said. “But it’s also a little bit of a gamble or an experiment at the same time. You want the fans to have fun here and create a good experience, but I think the biggest driver is how it does on TV and how people view it. And if it does well there, it’s kind of sky’s the limit.”
Nobody needs to worry about next week’s TV ratings. That’s because Woods makes his TGL debut as a member of Jupiter Links Golf Club going against Los Angeles Golf Club. The marquee matchup is Jan. 27 when Woods’ team faces off against McIlroy’s Boston Common Golf.
“We’ve got Tiger Woods next week, so we’ll do all right next week, I know that,” Lowry said.