TGL, the tech-infused golf league being pioneered by Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy, will launch in just a few months and fans have been given a glimpse at some of the holes that will be played
The launch of Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy’s new technology-infused golf league is edging closer, and a new recruit has joined its star-studded roster of players.
TGL, which stands for Tomorrow’s Golf League, will launch in January, with 24 of the PGA Tour’s best players competing in weekly made-for-TV matches at a bespoke arena in Florida, comprising a huge simulator for longer shots and a dynamic putting and chipping area.
Woods and McIlroy will be joined by the likes of Justin Thomas, Collin Morikawa and Justin Rose when TGL debuts at SoFi Center in Palm Beach Gardens on January 7, and they will be playing on holes designed by renowned golf course architect Beau Welling.
Welling has been tasked with contributing to the catalogue of holes TGL will use in its first season, and he revealed two of the designs he has created, saying he wants to create authentic yet creative challenges for the players with his digital creations.
“We are very excited for the world to see the designs, how unique they are and how different TGL is,” Welling said in a statement. “We’re going to have some of the best golfers in the world playing a version of golf that is new and different, and, to me, that is very exciting.”
Beau Welling has not only designed a series of holes for our virtual gameplay, but he and his team also helped conceptualize our GreenZone. pic.twitter.com/Mq2IkuqYVG
— TGL (@TGL) August 21, 2024
One of Welling’s creations that players will experience next year is a risk-reward par five set inside a canyon called “Quick Draw”, which will offer players two dramatically different options when stepping up for their tee shot.
If they take the safer option, the hole will play an enormous 720 yards, but if they are gutsy and hit toward an island fairway, the hole is just 538 yards from tee to green.
Welling’s “Craic On” par three has also been unveiled, taking inspiration from Britain’s links courses. It is a much more straightforward design at 175 yards with three bunkers surrounding the green, but wind will be a factor built into the simulator and it will serve as the hole’s main challenge.
“I think our main thing initially was we kept wanting the golf holes to be representative of ‘real golf holes’ and what I mean by that is picking real-life landscapes and putting golf holes within that, and with time we started to realize that this hybrid virtual-real world created opportunities that were beyond that,” Welling added.
“You could start to imagine golf holes in places that you might never imagine golf holes… I started realizing that this was an opportunity to go do something you’d never be able to do, and we ultimately took advantage of that.”
