Virtual Reality

Consider the typical yearly schedule for a PGA Tour player.

Those inside the top 50 in the FedEx Cup or the Official World Golf Rankings might play about 20 events per year — a combination of majors, signature events, and a couple more to appease various sponsors. Scottie Scheffler made 19 starts this year as of this writing. Collin Morikawa and Xander Schauffele both made 21 starts. Those players further down the lists might need to play more often, say 25 weeks. The Tour’s iron man in 2024 was Eric Cole, who led the league with 32 starts.

Let’s average it out and say 24 weeks as a typical PGA Tour pro’s schedule. Assume he arrives on Tuesday and makes the cut the following weekend. That’s six hotel nights multiplied by 24 weeks for a total of 144 nights on the road, not including any charity events, sponsor obligations, or commercial shoots. Round it up to 150 nights, again, assuming the player never misses a cut, which is rare — although Scheffler went 19 for 19 this year.

(By the way, I did my own math — during a ten-year span when I was hosting tournaments for Golf Channel and freelancing at the Masters each year for Westwood One Sports, I averaged close to 200 nights a year on the road. But I digress.)

I bring up the 150 nights because a group of those Tour players — 24 of them, including Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy, Xander Schauffele, and Collin Morikawa — have each committed to at least 15 additional dates in 2025 as part of TGL, the Monday (and occasionally Tuesday) night virtual golf league that debuts in January. TGL was founded by Woods, McIlroy, and former NBC Sports executive Mike McCarley, my former boss at Golf Channel. While TGL will play its matches in a custom-built facility in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, the corporate headquarters of parent company TMRW Sports (TW for Tiger Woods, RM for Rory McIlroy, and pronounced “Tomorrow Sports”) is located in my hometown of Winter Park, near Orlando.

Interior rendering of the SoFi Center, home of TGL (courtesy TGL)

Were the New York Times to do a feature on Winter Park, the words “tony” and “leafy” would likely pop up. Winter Park is to Orlando as White Plains is to New York City, or Evanston is to Chicago — an affluent suburb. I bring this up because there is irony in the fact that TMRW Sports is based here.

When a new restaurant opens in Winter Park, it’s immediately flooded with business. Locals flock to the new place, hoping it’s a hit. The fervor generally lasts anywhere from 12 to 18 months, at which time there is a tipping point: the food better be good. The service better be good. Word of mouth carries a lot of weight around here, in both directions. When the novelty wears off, the place better deliver. Lots of restaurants open here, and lots of them close.

It’s a stretch, but that’s how I see TGL. The novelty factor is unquestioned — a “data-rich virtual course with a first-of-its-kind short game complex” that was purpose-built. Woods, McIlroy, Schauffele, Homa, Fleetwood, Fowler, and others playing two-hour matches with unique formats. Six teams representing six different cities, each with its own name and brand. A staggering roster of investors, including Arthur Blank, Fenway Sports Group, Steph Curry, Shaquille O’Neal, Serena Williams, Justin Timberlake, Justin Bieber, and Shohei Ohtani, among dozens of others. (Seriously, go check out the full list. It’s incredible.) They’ve already got a deal with ESPN and will also stream on ESPN+. It’s been a massive buildup, delayed 12 months after a storm damaged the original venue in Palm Beach Gardens in 2023. Now, with a sturdier building and more time to plan, TGL will go live in January, 2025.

Will it deliver? Or will this be a failed gastropub concept on Park Avenue?

I reached out to TGL to ask for a podcast interview to talk about the buildout and the tech innovations. Chris Reimer, a former PGA Tour executive who now serves as the Senior VP of Communications for TGL, sent a very gracious note suggesting that we wait a few weeks, so that TGL would be a little closer to launch and have more to tell. Perfectly fair, and I look forward to that conversation.

Exterior rendering. The SoFi Center is located on the campus of Palm Beach State College and will have capacity for 2,000. (courtesy TGL)

And the travel? No worries. Many of the players on TGL rosters live within driving distance of Palm Beach Gardens, and for those who don’t, ONEFlight is the Official Private Aviation Partner of TGL, ready to whisk the lads from San Diego or Scottsdale to PBI in time for their Monday matches, and then get them home, or to the next PGA Tour stop.

While I am fascinated by the logistics, I’m also curious about the product. The golf establishment has been desperately trying to reach a prime time weekday audience for years, dating back to the “Monday Night Golf” concept that debuted in 1999 with David Duval vs. Tiger Woods in the “Showdown at Sherwood.” Those events were generally played on the West Coast, meaning it was “prime time” only for the Eastern seaboard. While the Monday Night concept was fun, it was a tough watch. Lots of dead air when there are only two players on the golf course and they’re actually walking between shots.

TGL promises a faster pace. With players hitting into a screen, there’s no walking. It’s a hard two hours, with two sessions — “Triples,” a three-on-three alternate shot 9-holer, and “Singles,” a six-hole (!) head-to-head match. Each hole is worth one point. There’s a shot clock, a referee, and the ability to call time out to ice a player.

(Here — let Cartoon Rickie Fowler explain it.)

All good. We’ve been told that golf needs disruption and innovation. But isn’t that what LIV Golf promised as well?

The differences, of course, are many. TGL has the blessing and cooperation of the PGA Tour. You think they’re gonna say ‘no’ to Tiger and Rory?

And there’s the carriage factor. LIV is limited with its domestic TV deal, playing on The CW, the smallest broadcast network in the US. TGL has ESPN, which is, well, ESPN. You’ll see (and hear) relentless promotion across all of Bristol’s platforms. Expect TGL players to pop up on The Pat McAfee Show, maybe even as a regular segment.

Will that be enough? At some point, the food better be good. The service better be good.

I’m in favor of anything that brings golf to a new audience, and that includes LIV, which I think is a pretty entertaining product. I will absolutely watch TGL in January because I’m curious, and because a lot of former colleagues in the golf world are now working there. I’ll make the first reservation. A lot of other golf fans will do the same.

Question is, will we go back for seconds? And will we recommend it to our friends?

Scheduling note: “Making The Cut, with Whit Watson,” presented by Streetrod Golf Cars, is taking a hiatus until January. The Orlando radio show has expanded to Jacksonville on Saturday mornings at 9am. You can listen to previous episodes on the free iHeartRadio app or online. Many thanks to Dan Gibson, Kyle Cassandra, Rick Everett, Rafael Rabell, and everyone at iHeart in Orlando for shepherding this from concept to radio show, and thanks to the good people at Streetrod for agreeing to come in on the ground floor. Many thanks indeed to my Golf Channel colleague Chris Datres for stepping in to co-host on those weeks when I was starving for content.

Big plans for 2025, including potential live shows at the PGA Show, the Arnold Palmer Invitational, and the Players, plus whatever else we can come up with. For inquiries about the show, find the Contact page here and send me a note.