Review: TGL Revolutionizes Golf on ESPN, But Perhaps Not Enough

Legendary golfers Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy are spearheading the TGL, a new golf league revisioning the classically outdoor singular sport into the stadium with a team dynamic. Instead of sweeping panoramas and scenes of picturesque vistas, last night’s debut on ESPN golf began with the players walking out to the field of play to the sounds of the stadium announcers and high-energy tunes.

The opening match was between New York Golf Club and The Bay Area Golf Club. The only familiar name among them to me was Rickie Fowler, who was playing for NYGC. His teammates tonight included Matt Fitzpatrick and Xander Schauffele while BAGC featured Shane Lowry, Wyndham Clark and Ludwig Aberg. Shane Lowry was first and clearly nerves were at play as he forgot the tee and it was wild to hear boos following the match’s second shot by opponent Rickie Fowler. The first hole went to the Bay Area Golf Club on a beautiful putt by Ludwig mere minutes into tonight’s broadcast with the entire 15 hole match lasting two hours.

Tonight’s debut must’ve been quite the adventure for ESPN’s on-site broadcasters, Matt Barrie and Marty Smith. They were learning in real-time the pacing of a new sport and discovering what narratives the viewing audience needed as the evening evolves. Barrie’s role seems particularly challenging as he’s competing for space with the always mic’d up players. Hopefully in future broadcasts they both will engage the competitors more directly, more frequently like we’ve seen evolve in MLB with the play-by-play team chatting with the dugout during play.

Coming into tonight’s debut, most of the talk about TGL featured the phrase tech-infused and while it is quite clear that SoFi Center is a tech marvel the broadcast didn’t lean into tech as much as I’d anticipated. Perhaps it was that I’m a golf-viewing newbie but I struggled to keep up with where the ball was within the given hole and would’ve appreciated an overhead view once it was struck as an assist or locked as status side bar.

I anticipated more split-screen, multi-screen visuals a la megacast or Manning cast — perhaps picture-in-picture of the golfer’s reactions or more footage of their interactions with the digital caddie, a large touchscreen device they could tap to consider various attacks on the hole during their time in the Screenzone. And over at the Greenzone, I expected them to take advantage of the controlled environment offering home viewers more visual overlays illuminating what these trained athletes are evaluating for their putts. Given the pre-game build-up the most surprisingly executed item was The Hammer. It's reminiscent of an NFL referee flag, and its first use wasn’t even tossed with flair. The yellow flag’s second appearance was tossed by NYGC while Shane Lowry was better but a little more showmanship to fit the stadium energy might be fun.

Overall TGL was an enjoyable golf-watching experience leaving me excited for next week’s match-up. The sport’s pacing coupled with talented athletes feeling their way through an unfamiliar circumstance within their expertise is fun. I’m eager to see how the competitive nature evolves over the season as the team gel and the intensity increases as the inaugural trophy win gets closer.

TGL presented by SoFi airs on ESPN. Tiger Woods is among the players competing next week as the Jupiter Links Golf Club takes on the Atlanta Drive Golf Club.Check out the schedule below