Golf has always been an outdoor game, but the new golf league, Tomorrow's Golf League (TGL) is changing the way the game of golf is played.
This new league created by Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy was created to bring a futuristic spin to the way golf is played.
There are six teams in this new league. Atlanta Drive GC, Boston Common Golf, Jupiter Links Golf Club, Los Angeles Golf Club, New York Golf Club, and The Bay Golf Club.
This takes place at SoFi Center in Palm Beach, Fla., which holds up to 1,500 people and is equipped with technology that makes this league possible.
There’s a huge 64-foot-by-53-foot screen which players start the game by swinging into. Players swing on patches of grass depending on where their first swing ends up.
The four patches are real grass, fairway, rough grass, and sand. Once they are within 50 yards of the hole, they will transition to a custom-built complex named the "GreenZone’" which is 3,800 square feet and rotates.
What makes the TGL more modern is the new rules that make the game similar to the NFL, NBA, NHL, and MLB.
Every player has a mic on, so the audience can hear everything the players say, which allows creating great entertainment.
There is a 40-second shot clock, which speeds the game up. Referees officiate the play and allow teams to call timeouts.
Christian Giorgi, a first-year professional golf management student at Humber, who has been into golf since he was five, said he is a fan of the new league and the new modern touch it has.
“I think the TGL is a great way to grow the sport and allow new technology to be integrated into the game,” Giorgi said.
“I like the team aspect as well and do enjoy hearing them talk to each other during the game,” he said.
The TGL is trying to make the game of golf more modern, but that might not be the best thing for the game.
David Berri, a professor of economics at Southern Utah University, said the direction that the TGL is going for doesn’t make sense for what the game of golf is.
“It’s a little weird what they’re doing. They’re taking an individual sport, and they are transforming it into a team sport,” Berri said.
“Individual sports usually have a bigger advantage than a team sport because individuals are real and teams are not,” he said.
This new way of playing golf has an opportunity to inspire the next generation of golf players.
Giorgi said the league has an opportunity to bring in new fans of golf who like other sports.
“I think this league can bring in a newer audience to the game of golf because of the stadium aspect and it’s quite entertaining because they are trying to win but also putting on an entertaining game of golf at the same time,” Giorgi said.
The third game of the TGL happens tonight (Jan. 21) on TSN as the New York Golf Club faces off against the Atlanta Drive GC at 7 p.m.
