What TGL’s new hole designs reveal about golf and travel

The “T” in TGL does not stand for travel. But on the eve of its second season, the professional indoor simulator league has adopted some distinctly tour-like elements. The location remains the same: the SoFi Center in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. But in each match, each team plays a custom-designed hole inspired by the city it represents.

For example, Tiger Woods’ team will play a par-5 called “The Jup Life,” with an island green and a virtual representation of Jupiter’s red lighthouse in the background. Rory McIlroy’s team, meanwhile, will battle ‘Storrowed’, a winding par-5 surrounded by the Charles River and Storrow Drive.

You get the picture: fanciful holes, real landmarks.

At the most obvious level, the idea is branding. Anchoring each team in a recognizable location underlines its civic identity and, in theory, helps cultivate fan loyalty. But there is also something else going on here. Like all thoughtful golf architects, the designers behind these holes – including Gil Hanse, Beau Welling and Agustín Pizá – aim to create a sense of place.

That’s central to golf’s appeal. The best courses are transportive. They take you on a journey through a memorable landscape, shaped by unmistakably local features. Each lap can feel like a form of travel, even if the terrain is devised, the landmarks are digital, and you’re watching from your couch.

Or is it possible? As technology plays an increasingly important role in everyday life, the lines between the physical and the virtual continue to blur. Fiction borrows from reality, and reality becomes more and more like a simulation. In that sense, TGL’s new holes feel very much of their time – and in line with where golf is today, a traditional game testing its limits and experimenting with new formats.

However, simulation has its limits. I grew up in Boston, and as much as I appreciate a digital representation of my hometown, I also know that I’m not really on Storrow Drive if I can’t hear a mass hole honking or imagine a van about to crash under an overpass. And I’m not sure I’m in LA when there’s no smog, brake lights, or creeping fear of being late. TGL’s hole in LA, called ‘Showtime’, has the ocean and a play on the Hollywood sign, but none of the rest.

In that sense, the virtual competition works as a form of primetime escapism, and I have no doubt that it signals where parts of the game are going. In the future, more golfers will ‘play’ with headphones and ‘travel’ directly to distant golf courses. But most of all, the new holes in the competition sharpen my appreciation for what can’t be replicated. A virtual lighthouse can beautifully frame a shot. It cannot give you wind of the water or the salt in the air. Which is another way of saying that I may tune into TGL for the spectacle, but I’ll look elsewhere for my golfing and traveling.

3 things I’m thinking about

7 Mile Beach opens: I had heard about this project for so long that I started to think it might be a simulation. But this is real: after multiple delays, 7 Mile Beach, a Mike Clayton and DeVries design in a dreamy coastal location in Tasmania, has officially opened. It’s at the top of my wish list for 2026.

Rodeo Dunes continues: This first 18-hole course is complete, and a second is in the works, along with a 7.5-acre Himalayan-style putting course, expected to be completed in 2027, when the clubhouse is also expected to be completed. Amid a flurry of activity at Rodeo Dunes, in the hills less than an hour from downtown Denver, the owner has put out a call for “founders” — a membership program whose benefits include free play for spouses and children and half-price green fees for accompanied guests, among many other perks. The founders’ deposit is $95,000 through December 31. More information here.

Travel planning tips? As I map out my own travel plans for 2026 (St. George, Utah, the Dominican Republic, and New Zealand are already on the docket), I’d love to receive ideas about public-access courses and destinations that deserve more attention. It’s a big world with over 58,000 courses, so I know there are still a lot of holes in my coverage. Any suggestions I should complete first? My email address is josh.sens@golf.com.