Golf's new indoor league is set to tee off — here's what to know

The brand-new, indoor, tech-infused play league backed by Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy tees disconnected contiguous connected primetime television. I'm guessing you person a batch of questions, truthful here's a usher to TGL golf.

What does TGL basal for?

Tomorrow's Golf League — a motion to TMRW Sports, the techy sports and amusement institution founded by Woods, McIlroy and a erstwhile NBC play executive.

What is TGL, exactly?

In a nutshell, it's a primetime, indoor, 3-on-3 squad play league for apical PGA Tour pros. It's played successful a immense custom-built installation successful Florida with a clump of fancy exertion to marque it arsenic adjacent to "real" play arsenic possible. Matches are played successful a TV-friendly 2 hours, the players volition beryllium mic'd up, and the venue seats much than 1,000 fans.

Indoor golf? How does that work?

You're astir apt acquainted with those indoor play simulators that look to beryllium popping up everyplace these days. They're particularly fashionable this clip of year, helping golfers walk the agelong wintertime months by hitting into a video surface that shows the formation of the shot arsenic they play a virtual course.

Well, representation that, but the TGL surface is 64 feet precocious by 53 feet wide — 24 times larger than a modular simulator. The playing country is overmuch bigger too — astir the size of a shot field. It's made up of 2 sections: a screenzone and a greenzone, wherever golfers volition play their shorter shots much similar existent golf.

Each spread starts with players hitting their tee shots from a large quadrate of earthy writer into the elephantine surface 35 yards successful beforehand of them. Depending connected wherever the shot "lands," according to the simulator, they'll deed their attack changeable from the fairway, unsmooth oregon soil quadrate (all existent stuff). 

Once they get wrong 50 yards of the green, players crook 180 degrees to the greenzone astatine the other extremity of the arena to decorativeness retired the spread successful a much realistic fashion. There's an existent carnal greenish complex, surrounded by 3 bunkers filled with the aforesaid benignant of soil they usage astatine Augusta National. The greenish sits connected a elephantine turntable that tin rotate it 360 degrees, portion a hydraulics strategy underneath the putting aboveground tin alteration the slope, allowing for a antithetic setup for each hole. Designers person created 30 antithetic holes from surface to green.

If you privation much assistance visualizing each this, there's this explainer page on the TGL website with immoderate utile words, photos and videos showing however everything works.

How bash the matches work?

Each lucifer involves 2 of the league's six teams. Only 3 of the 4 players connected each squad vie successful a fixed match.

Matches are made up of 2 sessions totalling 15 holes. The archetypal nine holes are "triples," a 3-on-3 alternate-shot format. The last six holes are head-to-head singles, with each golfer playing 2 holes against the aforesaid opponent.

Each spread is worthy 1 point, unless a squad throws down "the hammer." This doubles the worth of a spread to 2 points, but aft utilizing it you indispensable manus implicit the hammer to the different team.

If overtime is needed, a closest-to-the-pin contention decides the match.

Another twist is that there's a 40-second changeable clock. However, each squad gets 4 timeouts — 2 per session.

How does the play work?

Matches volition beryllium played erstwhile a week to start, and past doubly a week toward the extremity of the season. They'll each hap connected Mondays and Tuesdays, allowing players to acceptable TGL betwixt their regular Thursday-Sunday PGA Tour events.

The six teams volition play each different erstwhile to implicit the regular play successful aboriginal March. The apical 4 teams marque the playoffs, which statesman with single-elimination semifinals connected March 17 and 18, followed by a best-of-three title bid March 24-25 (two weeks earlier the Masters). The winning squad volition hoist the SoFi Cup and divided $9 cardinal US from the full prize excavation of $21M. Here's the afloat schedule. 

Who's playing? What are the teams?

Woods and McIlroy are some successful the league, though they're not portion of tonight's lucifer betwixt New York Golf Club and The Bay Golf Club, starting astatine 9 p.m. ET connected Sportsnet (ESPN is televising successful the U.S.).

Because TGL is partnering with the PGA Tour, nary 1 from the rival LIV Golf League is allowed to play. Scottie Scheffler, the world's No. 1 golfer, decided not to motion up, but the remainder of the PGA Tour's biggest stars are astir each involved. Unfortunately, the database does not see immoderate Canadians.

Here are the rosters for each team:

Atlanta Drive Golf Club: Patrick Cantlay, Lucas Glover, Billy Horschel, Justin Thomas.

Boston Common Golf: Keegan Bradley, Hideki Matsuyama, Rory McIlroy, Adam Scott.

Jupiter Links Golf Club (representing Jupiter, Fla.): Max Homa, Tom Kim, Kevin Kisner, Tiger Woods.

Los Angeles Golf Club: Tommy Fleetwood, Collin Morikawa, Justin Rose, Sahith Theegala.

New York Golf Club: Matt Fitzpatrick, Rickie Fowler, Xander Schauffele, Cameron Young.

The Bay Golf Club (San Francisco Bay Area): Ludvig Aberg, Wyndham Clark, Shane Lowry, Min Woo Lee.

Here's much connected the teams and players. 

Will this beryllium immoderate good?

I'm mostly skeptical of gimmicky caller things. And bash we truly request much tech successful our lives? But I'm going to springiness TGL a changeable contiguous retired of curiosity, and due to the fact that I deliberation immoderate of its ideas are interesting.

One happening I similar is that TGL allowed its people designers to truly usage their imaginations. While immoderate holes look similar they could beryllium successful the existent world, others look similar thing retired of a Robert Trent Jones acerb trip.

For example, a 528-yard par-4 called Flex is acceptable connected an progressive volcano wherever players deed implicit molten lava to scope the green. A desert-style par 5 called Quick Draw reminds maine of a Wile E. Coyote cartoon and plays 720 (!) yards astir a canyon, unless you rotation the dice and deed your tee changeable onto a lonely plateau that cuts it down to 538 yards — but astatine the risk of your shot plunging hundreds of feet to its death.

You'd request a chopper (and possibly a decease wish) to play these holes successful existent life. But, to me, this fantastical constituent is simply a feature, not a bug. After all, if you're going to make a virtual play course, wherefore not thin into it and marque thing that would beryllium intolerable to physique successful existent life? Here's a usher to each the holes. 

Another astute TGL innovation is the changeable clock. Golf fans person been grumbling astir the gait of play since clip immemorial, but nary 1 seems to person the tummy for riling up the purists with a hard limit. Of course, shot experienced the aforesaid anxiousness erstwhile it introduced a transportation timepiece a mates years ago — until beauteous overmuch everyone instantly agreed that it made the crippled better. TGL, astir by definition, has already alienated play purists. So this is the cleanable arena to trial retired however regular fans and players respond to a clock.

Really, though, I person nary thought whether TGL volition really beryllium good. Tonight could beryllium the archetypal measurement into golf's bold caller integer future, oregon possibly it'll conscionable permission america longing to interaction existent grass.