The first season of TGL, the high-tech golf league co-founded by Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy, is built on the first chapter of the tech startup playbook.
TGL was different. It was innovative and clumsy. It was agile and adaptive, but also lacked an identity. But eventually the simulator competition built momentum and succeeded thanks to buy-in from the best players in the world, allowing it to flourish.
If Season 1 was the introduction, then the second season of TGL, now two games old, was all about evolution – about growing a unique idea into something that’s entertaining and can appeal to the average golf fan and new-age viewer. Something that could be golf, but a version you won’t see anywhere else.
As I wrote after the first match of the season, the key to the evolutionary growth TGL is looking for lies in its ability to break away from traditional golf and embrace the high-tech video game aspect of its DNA. That starts with coming up with new holes that are more ‘Golden Tee’ than Pebble Beach. Holes that ask the best players in the world to really show off their shooting skills by designing holes that break the traditional mold and fit in with the virtual part of the sport.
“In Season 1, we wanted to make sure we didn’t shock too many people right away, so we kept it very traditional,” said Billy Horschel. “What you saw was just our stock shots. Now we have some of these extreme holes – video game holes – that people on social media have been talking about, we’ve been talking about, just creating something really cool, unique holes that you can create in a technology sport like this.
“You’re going to see us hitting golf shots. You’re going to see us hitting low draws, high draws and high cuts. … I think everyone who watches is going to enjoy it, whether it’s the traditional holes or these more radical holes created by TGL.”
Golf, but not the kind you see on Sundays from January through August and into the fall.
Enter holes like Stinger, Cenote and Lone Pine, who appeared in the first two TGL matches to critical acclaim.
Stinger is a par-4 where players must hit a low drive under a rock formation to reach the fairway. Another rock formation lurks along the night side of the hole (along with a water hazard) that players must hit around with large hooks as they come off line.
In the first two matches, three of the four players who teed off at the hole failed to get it under the rock formation. Xander Schauffele said the hole caused “chaos” in New York Golf Club’s match with Atlanta Drive. Cam Young said the gaps were “tougher.”
But that’s the point. Increase the difficulty for the world’s best in ways impossible on our earthly plane, and increase the entertainment.
“I don’t think they expected The Stinger to go in that direction, but I imagine it was quite entertaining,” Schauffele said. “It was cool to see our teammate Cam hit a 50-yard hook into a screen. That was pretty cool. I think it’s pretty cool. The tree in the middle of the hole, that’s kind of fun for us to fly in a way.”
TGL laid a solid foundation during its first season. It was a quirky idea – which still needs some work – that has most of the world’s top golfers fully on board and enjoying a different kind of competition.
But as Tiger and Rory’s high-tech golf league looks to the future, it should be more creative and take bigger swings with hole designs (and perhaps other aspects) that put the best players in the world in a position to show off their personalities while taking on a challenge they won’t see in Quail Hollow or Riviera.
Chapter 2 of the tech startup playbook reads: Always be innovative. Always stay one step ahead. It’s better to wave than to play it safe. Think bigger before you even think about taking a step back.
That’s the path TGL plans to take, which isn’t surprising given all the stakeholders involved — from Woods and McIlroy to billionaires like Arthur Blank and Steven Cohen to celebrities Steph Curry and Alexis Ohanian. That starts with more holes like the ones that were a hit with fans and players to start Season 2.
“I think there’s definitely an opportunity to be creative,” McIlroy said Friday after Boston Common Golf’s win at Los Angeles Golf Club. “I think The Stinger Hole has been a big hit so far. We’ve played two games so far and Michael.” [Thorbjornsen] is the first person to get it under and actually get it on the fairway.
“There are limitations in the real world to the golf holes you can build. There are no limitations to what we do here.”
Golf without limits is exactly where TGL should be heading.
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