TGL announces official launch date and unveils rendering of new arena design
TGL announced the launch dates of its inaugural season in January 2025 on Monday and released the first renderings of its new stadium.
The team virtual-golf league backed by Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy’s TMRW Sports will debut Tuesday, Jan. 7 in prime time on ESPN and ESPN+ in the U.S.
The six-team league of PGA Tour pros competing in a fast-paced form of team golf within the custom-built SoFi Center, a 250,000-square-foot venue on the campus of Palm Beach State College in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, suffered a setback when the roof collapsed on the original tech-infused arena for golf due to a power failure, causing damage to the air-supported dome. The virtual golf league was postponed for this year.
According to a press release, SoFi Center will create an intimate and unique “greenside” fan experience with 1,500 seats wrapping around TGL’s field of play, which at 97 yards long and 50 yards wide is almost the size of a football field. New design plans for SoFi Center’s steel-supported structure have been officially unveiled.
Courtesy TGL presented by SoFi
“As we plan the 2025 launch of TGL presented by SoFi, we now have the first three Tuesdays in January circled to introduce sports fans to this new form of team golf. January is a tremendous time of year for fans looking for prime-time sports and TGL’s launch will complement the start of the PGA Tour season and take advantage of ESPN’s promotional machine across their coverage of the NFL and college football playoffs,” said Mike McCarley, founder and CEO of TMRW Sports.
The integration of the league’s technology mix starts with teams teeing off from real grass tee boxes to play custom-designed, virtual holes projected onto a 3,000-square-foot screen (64 feet by 46 feet), more than 20 times larger than a standard golf simulator screen. Once teams are inside approximately 50 yards they will transition to live action and finish each hole within TGL’s GreenZone, a 22,475-square-foot short game complex that transforms between holes. The GreenZone will use advanced technology to make each hole a unique challenge for the teams, including its 41-yard-wide turntable that rotates the green and three bunkers to change approach angles and using nearly 600 motorized actuators as part of Full Swing’s Virtual Green technology embedded under the synthetic putting surface to morph its topography.
TGL’s technology mix allows for every shot to be broadcast live, teams playing within a 40-second shot clock, all players being mic’d, delivery of advance shot data, and other broadcast enhancements.
So far, three of the team rosters have been announced:
Atlanta Drive GC: Justin Thomas, Patrick Cantlay, Billy Horschel, and Lucas Glover.
Boston Common Golf: Rory McIlroy, Keegan Bradley, Adam Scott and fourth team member to be announced.
Los Angeles GC: Tommy Fleetwood, Sahith Theegala, Collin Morikawa, and Justin Rose.
Jupiter Links GC: Tiger Woods and remaining roster to be announced.
TGL New York: To be announced.
TGL San Francisco: To be announced.
Additional Committed TGL Players: Wyndham Clark, Xander Schauffele, Max Homa, Matt Fitzpatrick, Tom Kim, Cameron Young, Min Woo Lee, Rickie Fowler, Shane Lowry, and Kevin Kisner.
