How to watch TGL in the UK | What is TGL & more

Jonathan Victoria • 29 Jan 2025 Guides

Take golf, but put it… indoors?

How to watch TGL in the UK | What is TGL & more

Those that play golf know it isn’t actually as boring as it looks. Frustrating, very much so, but fun nonetheless.

Watching, though, can be quite dull. It’s not a fast-paced sport, and even during PGA Tour events when the broadcast is cutting to a different player every few seconds, it can’t quite capture everyone's attention.

Enter, TGL, the PGA’s attempt at creating a more exciting way to watch golf.

But what exactly is it?

Find out all the most important information about the new league, including what it is and how it works, who is involved, and how to watch the TGL in the UK.

How to watch TGL in the UK

TGL is available to watch for us in the UK, albeit at somewhat unideal times at around 11pm.

If you do feel compelled to tune in live, though, then Sky Sports is the place to go to watch it, as it is for all PGA Tour golf.

Golf on Sky Sports

Sky Sports has been the home of PGA Tour broadcasts in the UK for some time, showing each event of the main tour live when they’re on.

That coverage now also stretches to TGL, as the newly formed league is in partnership with the PGA.

If you’re interested in watching all the PGA Tour events this season, including all four majors the Ryder Cup (coming at the end of this year,) and now TGL, you’ll need to make sure you have a Sky Sports subscription.

Getting a subscription is easy enough, whether you’re an existing Sky customer already or are looking to make the change over.

Sky Sports is available in a range of Sky package deals, where you can get stellar Sky TV with additions such as Ultimate or Essential TV, giving you access to a range of channels, plus a Netflix Standard with Ads subscription. You can also find deals that incorporate Sky Broadband, if that is something else you are looking to get.

You may find the best deals available to new customers, although existing customers can also get access to deals if your current contract runs out soon or has run out.

Alternatively, you can add Sky Sports on to any package, be it one you found online or to your existing package. It is available on a 24 month contract for £20 a month* or on a 31 day rolling contract for £27 a month.*

*Prices are correct as of 29/01/25.

What is TGL?

TGL is a brand new golf league spearheaded by two of the PGA Tour’s biggest stars of all time, four-time major winner Rory McIlroy and 15-time major winner and all-time great Tiger Woods.

The name TGL stands for Tomorrow’s Golf League, named after Woods’ and McIlroy’s company they founded together, TMRW Sports.

While TGL isn’t reinventing the wheel on the sport of golf as a whole, it has created a new, arguably more exciting way for golf fans to engage with some of the PGA Tours biggest stars.

Essentially, rather than playing a round outside on a real course, travelling around the US and occasionally abroad every weekend to compete, TGL is bringing golf inside.

The “course”

The GreenZone of the SoFi Center with the ScreenZone in the background.

If you’ve ever played on a simulator before, you’ll know how they work. If you haven’t, a golf simulator sees you hitting into a screen (normally a fabric one, not like a cinema screen). The course is projected onto the screen, and it emulates where you are hitting so you end up playing a hole without all the walking (a very simple explanation of a golf simulator there).

TGL basically works just like that, only the simulator screen they’re playing on is 24 times larger than a normal one. They also have three playing surfaces to hit off, depending on the lie. There’s the standard short grass for tee shots and the fairway, longer grass for rough, and a sand surface for bunker shots.

Short game area

Players shoot into the screen for all their tee shots and approach shots, and then once they have reached close enough to or are on the green, they all move from the screen down to the actual playing surface, known as the GreenZone or short game area, where there is tech-infused green so they can actually play their short shots and putting.

The green complex is made from a synthetic hybrid known as SYNLawn, an experimentation of layering and blade choices to create a surface that plays almost identically to real grass. This “grass” is also used for the tee shots/fairway shots and the rough, both of which have taller cuts than the green to emulate real conditions.

As you’ve probably already figured out, TGL is very tech-infused. That even includes on the green, as aside from the SYNLawn, the green complex is “adaptable” and can be reconfigured to change slopes to emulate the differing greens for each individual hole on a golf course.

Around the green, there are sandboxes that are in place to mimic bunkers, allowing players to play full bunker shots onto the green should they land in one when making their approach shot.

Not to mention that the whole GreenZone can be rotated. The shape itself can't be changed, but to simulate a different green for each hole, they have engineered it so that it is fully adjustable so that the players encounter a different challenge every hole.

Simply put, TGL have pulled off an engineering masterclass.

TGL format

TGL is formed of six teams, with four players on each team.. Each week, two teams go head-to-head in a two hour match. It should be noted that while the teams are made up of four players, only three will play during each session.

A match consists of 15 holes and is split into two sessions, both of which take a match play style. The first session, holes one to nine, is Triples - a nine hole, three vs three alternating shot. The second session, holes 10 to 15, is singles, with each player taking two holes each.

There is a total of 30 holes that have been designed by several designers, one of which being Nicklaus Design, a company that was founded and run by all-time golfing great Jack Nicklaus, that designs and constructs golf courses. There is a mixture of Par-3, Par-4 and Par-5 holes, as is on a standard golf course.

We mentioned before that matches take on a match play style. This is because the goal is to earn more points than the other team. They earn points by completing a hole in fewer strokes than their opponent. If both teams complete the hole in an equal amount of strokes, the hole is shared and no points are awarded.

Every match must have a winner, so if the score is tied after 15 holes, the match goes into overtime (more on that later).

In total, each team will play five matches in the regular season, as they will play each team once. Points are awarded during each match - not the same points that add to a teams total during the match, but points for winning.

The winning team will get two points for the victory, regardless of if they win over 15 holes (also known as regulation) or in overtime. If a team loses in overtime, they will earn one point, but if they lose in regulation, they earn no points.

These points contribute to the standings, with the ultimate goal being to earn as many season points as possible to earn a place in the postseason.

If two teams in the hunt for the postseason are tied on points at the end of the regular season, the team with the most holes won during the season will advance.

Postseason

The Americans love a playoff system and that’s what the postseason is with TGL.

At the end of the regular season, the top four point scoring teams will advance to the postseason, where they will battle it out to be crowned TGL Champions.

The first round is the semifinals, two single-elimination games where first plays fourth and second plays third.

The winner from each semifinal will go on to play in the Championship Series, a best-of-three series to determine the TGL Champions.

Rule variations

There are a number of rules introduced into TGL that differ from standard PGA Tour event rules.

For instance, overtime was mentioned earlier. How this works in TGL is each team will take alternating shots, with the goal to get closest to the pin. The first team to record the two closest shots to the pin wins the overtime and thus the match.

A shot clock is also in use for the duration of the match. Each player has 40 seconds to take their shot, otherwise they cost their team a one-stroke penalty for the hole.

Timeouts can be used by either side to take a moment to recollect. Each team has four timeouts for the game, two during each session (they do not carry over). A timeout can be called by the team taking their shot at any point before the shot clock expires. The other team may also call for a timeout even when not taking their shot, but only before the player taking their shot has addressed the ball (more simply, is standing ready to take their shot).

Twitter Embed: https://twitter.com/TGL/status/1876827167503384878

The most interesting rule is the hammer, a way to gain a possible advantage on a hole. It isn’t a literal hammer but instead a Mjolnir-shaped golden towel that a team can waive.

When the hammer is waived, the team who initiated it is calling for one point to be added to the hole's value. This can be significant for a team who is behind or maybe as a way to gain a stronger lead.

The hammer must be accepted by the opposing team for it to count; however, if the hammer is thrown prior to the first shot being played on a hole, then acceptance is compulsory. Once the team plays the hammer and it is accepted, it is then transferred over to the other team, and they can then play it whenever they’d like.

If the opposing team who has had the hammer thrown at them decides to reject it, they will forfeit the hole and one point will automatically go to the other team (the one who threw the hammer).

First possession of the hammer is decided prior to the start of the match via a coin toss.

All the rules as well as general overseeing of the match is undertaken by the match referees. There are two referees in total; the on-course referee, who supervises all play and enforces all rules and regulations, and the video referee, who officiates via a booth in the venue.

Where is TGL played?

The SoFi Center, home of TGL. The image is a concept photo rendered before the venues completion.

TGL is played in a unique venue called the SoFi Center and is based in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida.

The SoFi Center is just slightly smaller than an average American football field, with the size needed to accommodate the large video screen, known as the ScreenZone, as well as the GreenZone.

The ScreenZone, with its 16.15 m x 19.51 m video screen, is where the players take their tee shots and approach shots. There are two separate boxes setup, both with the three playing surfaces mentioned earlier. The reason as to why there are two is because the front box is for shots playing 130 yards or less from the hole, the back for shots from 131 yards and further.

We explained the GreenZone earlier, but one more thing to mention is that red LED lights are used overhead to mark the position where the ball should be placed according to where it landed on the screen.

As well as the two playing areas, the SoFi Center has a capacity of 1500 seats. The venue is a permanent structure that is used purely for TGL, but also features educational and recreational facilities as it was built in collaboration with Palm Beach State College.

TGL teams

There are six teams in total, with the teams hailing from six cities across the US. Each team has four members and is owned by a person/collection of people or a group.

The four players that make up each team are some of the PGA Tours best players. Of course, there is Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy, but you also have other major winners such as Xander Schauffele, Justin Thomas, Collin Morikawa and Matt Fitzpatrick.

Team	Location	Owner(s)	Players
Jupiter Links Golf Club	Jupiter, Florida	Tiger Woods, David Blitzer	Tiger Woods Max Homa Tom Kim Kevin Kisner
Boston Common Golf	Boston, Massachuesets	Fenway Sports Group	Rory McIlroy Hideki Matsuyama Adam Scott Keegan Bradley
The Bay Golf Club	San Francisco, California	Stephen Curry, Marc Lasry	Ludvig Aberg Wyndham Clark Shane Lowry Min Woo Lee
Los Angeles Golf Club	Los Angeles, California	Serena & Venus Williams, Alexis Ohanian	Collin Morikawa Sahith Theegala Justin Rose Tommy Fleetwood
New York Golf Club	New York City, New York	Steve Cohen	Xander Schauffele Rickie Fowler Matt Fitzpatrick Cameron Young
Atlanta Drive GC	Atlanta, George	Arthur Blank	Justin Thomas Patrick Cantlay Billy Horschel Lucas Glover

TGL results so far

Credit: Match 4 Highlights | Jupiter Links Golf Club vs. Boston Common Golf (TGL, YouTube)

The inaugural TGL season got underway on 7th January, with New York Golf Club taking on The Bay Golf Club. It was the latter that earned a resounding 9-2 win.

Match 2 on 14th January, TGL creator Tiger Woods and his Jupiter Links Golf Club team were better 12-1 by Los Angeles Golf Club.

Match 3 (21st January) saw the first-ever shutout in TGL, with New York Golf Club back in play in another losing effort, this time falling 4-0 to Atlanta Drive GC.

Match 4 (27th January) gave viewers the first overtime match, and as if written in the stars, it was McIlroy vs Woods that did it. In the end, Woods’ Jupiter Links picked up their first season victory 4-3.

TGL schedule

There are 15 matches played over 11 dates of the regular season, with one match played each week starting on 7th January and running until 4th March.

The postseason semifinal matches will be played on 17th and 18th March, with the Championship series taking place over two days, on 24th and 25th March. If a game three is needed, two matches will be played on the 25th.

Matches are played either on a Monday or Tuesday, so as to allow the players competing enough time to make it to the PGA Tour event (or DP World/European Tour event) they are playing that weekend.

There are two instances where two matches will be played in one day, while there is also one instance of three matches being played in one day, with two teams playing twice on that day (not two games against each other, though).

Here is the full schedule, with matches and dates plus results (will be updated as season goes on:

Tuesday 7th January