Making the Case for TGL

This week, TGL unveiled the schedule for its inaugural 2025 season. With the first match just months away, the league is ramping up its marketing efforts, releasing everything from a catnippy video of the sand that’ll be used for bunkers to a schedule announcement featuring cameos from many of the participating players, including the always-animated Xander Schauffele.

Skepticism around TGL’s prospects of success is widespread – and I share much of that skepticism. The league feels like a sports experiment concocted in a lab: an indoor, tech-focused version of golf where players hit balls into a screen and 99.9% of fans experience the action through a screen as well. For a sport that’s so deeply rooted in nature, TGL couldn’t feel further from golf’s origins and spirit.

Moreover, to the extent that we watch sports in celebration of human achievement and athleticism, there’s a disconnect in seeing technology dictate the outcome of a shot rather than the natural elements and human skill (*cough* shrink the driver head! *cough*)

On top of all that, I have some suspicions that TGL’s creation was partly about funneling money and placating the players who stayed on the PGA Tour versus signing with LIV, but that’s neither here nor there.

Now putting all of that aside, can I present the bull case for TGL? It’s a bit dystopian, but here are a few reasons why I genuinely believe TGL has a small but non-zero chance of being successful:

• For better or worse, we live in an increasingly screen-centric world. Especially for young generations of golf fans, the experience of watching TGL on a device may not feel much different from watching golf in the physical world. Is that the direction the world should head? Probably not, but it seems we’re already there.
• Some data suggest that younger generations are less engaged with live sporting events than older generations and prefer to interact with clips on social media platforms like TikTok or YouTube. In a sense, the TGL arena functions like a studio for producing clips of mic’d-up athletes. I’m sure TGL will lean into this, and it might work.
• Golf fans often call for a faster-moving product and for more primetime golf. TGL’s two-hour broadcasts on Monday and Tuesday nights deliver on both fronts. Plus with only one golf ball in play at a time, every shot should be shown.
• TGL will be broadcast on ESPN and reap the benefits of ESPN’s reach and promotional power. The second TGL match is scheduled for Tuesday, January 14th, the day after ESPN airs an NFL Wild Card game, offering an opportunity for cross-promotion to a significant audience. Whether that audience will be captivated by the TGL product or not is a separate matter.
• With the exception of the arena getting blown to shreds, TGL isn’t reliant on good weather to host its competitions.
• The gameplay itself might actually be fun? Team golf has potential. And the TGL format prominently features alternate shot, a true team golf format. People becoming invested in the format and the teams isn’t out of the realm of possibilities.

The odds of TGL succeeding feel low, but this will be a delightfully entertaining experiment no matter how long the league lasts. I’m already giddy thinking about some of the jokes simulator golf lends itself to. Yesterday on X, I half-joked that the one thing I’m sure of with TGL is that Cameron Young was born to dominate a simulator golf league with fake greens. One user responded that Lucas Glover playing in air conditioning could also be a cheat code. So many potential edges for a savvy TGL General Manager to consider!

Success, disaster, or anywhere in between, the TGL experiment is going to be fun.

This piece originally appeared in the Fried Egg Golf newsletter. Subscribe for free and receive golf news and insight every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.