The most classic golf movies — think Caddyshack, Happy Gilmore, or Tin Cup — all play off the same tension, which is that golf culture, quite apart from the mechanics of the actual game, is fundamentally stuffy. The joke of all of those movies is to envision the preposterous, nearly unimaginable reality of golf that’s fun and enjoyed by the everyman. But what if that weren’t a joke? What if you could have the sport without the ceremony and the pleated khakis and the shushing and the special, soft clapping?
That’s the idea behind Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy’s TMRW Golf League. Golf needs saving from itself. Not from LIV Golf or Saudi money or whatever else kept the blue blazers at the PGA Tour awake at night until they brokered a peace deal with that upstart league. For the sake of posterity, it needs saving from the crushing weight of its own self-importance, from the whispered commentary and endless talk about tradition. That’s what should make the TMRW Golf League seem like a genuinely exciting proposition, even to those who haven’t heard of it.
Woods and McIlroy beta-tested the TGL in a purpose-built facility in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. It’s got a giant screen for hitting balls into, like one of those golf simulators rich guys put in their basements. The green is on a turntable that spins around to match whatever hole they’re playing. It looks like something a Bond villain would build if he were really into golf.
Here’s how TGL actually works: There are six teams of four players each, representing cities such as Boston and Los Angeles. They play 15 holes in these two-hour matches, starting with nine holes of alternate shot, in which three guys take turns hitting, then six holes of singles matches. The screen they hit into is 53 feet high and 64 feet wide. When shots land close to the hole on the screen, play moves to this real putting surface that’s 41 yards across and can tilt and turn to match whatever hole they’re playing. There are even different surfaces to hit from — real grass for fairway shots, longer stuff for the rough, and actual sand imported from actual courses for bunker shots.
The whole setup cost millions. Tech billionaires and sports stars bought in. Stephen Curry, Lewis Hamilton, Shaquille O’Neal — they all want a piece. Even tennis legend Serena Williams and her husband, Reddit creator Alexis Ohanian, are involved. But forget about all these big names. What matters is that Tiger, Rory, and the crew are trying to make golf fun, which is exactly what the sport needs right now.
You probably missed the first match in January. The Bay Golf Club crushed New York Golf Club 9-2. That’s not the point, though. The point is they did it in two hours, with music playing, crowds cheering, and players rushing to hit their shots to avoid penalties. There’s this thing called “The Hammer,” in which teams can double the points on a hole by waving around a gold towel shaped like Thor’s weapon. The match did have some technical issues. Some of the players looked uncomfortable. The artificial turf made the putting a bit weird. It’s gloriously dumb.
The technology makes it feel like a video game brought to life. Players are tracked by a giant countdown clock as they prepare to hit their shots. Teams get four timeouts per match. ESPN is broadcasting all of it, promoting these matches during NFL playoff games like they’re already major sporting events. The TGL isn’t about competing with traditional golf, at least not directly — the war between LIV and the PGA Tour is over anyway. This is about creating something new, something that might get shared on social media instead of being watched in respectful silence by guys falling asleep in their recliners.
But why now for the TGL? Consider the success of 28-year-old Grant Horvat. You probably don’t know who that baby-faced creator is unless you spend too much time consuming content on YouTube. He’s got nearly 1 million followers there, making golf content that’s surprisingly entertaining. More people watch his videos than watch most PGA Tour players play golf, and PGA players, including Woods and McIlroy, are eager to boost their social reach by appearing in his videos. That’s not an accident. He’s doing what the TGL is trying to do: make golf feel less like a funeral and more like a game for everybody.
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I had my doubts before the first live show, but now I’m a true believer. The future of golf isn’t in Saudi money or streaming rights or whatever else keeps golf executives up at night. It’s in making the sport feel less like a museum piece and more like a game that children addicted to Roblox and Fortnite want to play — even if that means building a giant golf simulator in a small stadium and letting club-wielding millionaires with superhuman reflexes play what amounts to really expensive Wii Sports.
The TGL and its players get that. Is the new indoor golf league ridiculous? Sure. The TGL and its players get that. But that’s exactly what the sport needs. Sometimes saving something for the future means being willing to look ridiculous in the here and now.
Oliver Bateman is a journalist, historian, and co-host of the What’s Left? podcast. Visit his website: www.oliverbateman.com.