A brand new sports league debuts this week anchored by one of the biggest global icons in the history of modern sports. It has the backing of some of the richest and most powerful people in sports. It has prime real estate in primetime on ESPN. It has all the technological advances that anyone could ever dream of at its disposal. And yet one question hangs over the inaugural season of TGL as it prepares to take flight Tuesday at 9 p.m. ET on ESPN.

What exactly should we expect?

Truth be told, there isn’t a good answer to that question because nothing like this has ever been tried before on this grand of a scale.

TGL is the brainchild of TMRW Sports, founded by former NBC Sports executive Mike McCarley, Tiger Woods, and Rory McIlroy. And as the patriarchs, Woods and McIlroy will lead a contingent of 24 top PGA Tour players split into six teams. It’s important to note that TGL is backed in part by the PGA Tour so there will be no LIV participants, at least not yet.

TGL contains some elements of classic golf, some elements of Top Golf, some elements of LIV, and some elements that are completely unique to the format. There’s a shot clock, a live crowd, a DJ, strategic elements (like the ability to ice the opposition)… oh, and did we mention that players will hit their full shots into a five-story screen while playing their short game on a live green that can fully rotate and adjust the putting surface depending on which virtual hole is used?

“The hard part and the exciting part are one in the same. There’s not a model for this,” TMRW Sports VP of Media Production Jeff Neubarth told Awful Announcing. “This is a completely new thing and we’ve had to really use trial and error. We’ve done test venues, multiple different performance lab venues to get ready for this to come up with a plan for something that had really never been executed before.”

The overall concept is relatively simple – present golf like any major team sports event where a winner and loser can be decided in two hours. And instead of deciding that winner over several square miles, decide it in a made-for-TV arena with a made-for-TV format that will attempt to seamlessly combine virtual reality with real-life play.

Never has a new league launched with so much invested, and yet so much uncertainty over its success… or even what success actually looks like. With the golf world fractured in the ongoing PGA Tour-LIV split, there has been plenty of negative energy around the sport. Ratings are down, fans are burnt out, and the overarching storyline in the professional game is driven by players putting how many more millions they can make ahead of the good of the game.

So does that make this the perfect time to launch TGL as a fun, casual product that can help everyone forget about the struggles of the golf world? Or will it only add to the sense of confusion and exhaustion? And who exactly is TGL for anyways?

Depending on who you ask, you’ll find a different perspective, much like with a lot of things about those great unknowns that surround the TGL debut.

“I think it’s definitely geared more towards sports fans than it is golf fans,” said Chris Solomon of No Laying Up. “There’s a ton of barrier to entry just to watch professional golf, and this tears down quite a few of them. All the action is in front of you instead of spread out on a giant golf course. I have no idea what to actually expect, but I do appreciate the outside the box thinking on an entirely new way to present pro golf.”

“To be able to build something with ‘TV product’ as the main focus (rather than the obvious ways that make a golf tournament difficult to televise) gives me a bit of hope that they’re going to do their best to make it entertaining,” Solomon added.

But award winning golf writer Alan Shipnuck takes the opposite view, “I think golf fans will watch the TGL because they like the golfers and they like golf and they like golf shots. I don’t think you’re gonna get many casuals after the first week or two or just wondering what the fuss is about.”

But ask Neubarth and he’s confident that both golf fans and casuals will find something about TGL that they like.

“My goal is to make a show all those folks will want to watch,” Neubarth proclaimed. “We’ve seen the statistics that more people are playing off-course golf (Top Golf, etc) than are playing green grass golf. But it doesn’t make them not golfers. What if you had a two hour sport that was just team versus team where you see who wins and it’s simple to follow and you’re seeing every shot live right in front of you in an exciting, crowd-enthusiastic atmosphere and they just happen to be playing golf. That’s something that would appeal to me as a golf fan and as a sports fan.”

️⛳️ 𝗛𝗼𝗹𝗲 𝗢𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘄: 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗦𝗽𝗲𝗮𝗿 | 𝗣𝗮𝗿 𝟱

A heroic hole that will require careful thought and strategy.

✍️: @PizaGolf pic.twitter.com/QXUYPFfqN5

— TGL (@TGL) December 12, 2024

Unlike most startup leagues, TGL has two major factors working in their favor in their quest to reach both dedicated golf fans and casuals and find a meaningful level of success.

The first factor is the support of ESPN as a television partner and the placement of TGL on the sports calendar. TGL will air on Mondays and Tuesdays on ESPN or ESPN2 from January through March. The league will have those dates wide open with no competition from the NFL or college football. And if TGL and the PGA Tour can help each other in reaching fans with one on the weekend and the other in primetime on weeknights, then there could be some momentum that builds.

“I interact with a lot of golf fans. I am around golf people a lot. I don’t sense there’s a ton of excitement. I think there’s curiosity and there’s enough interest to sustain it,” Shipnuck said. “The genius of the whole thing really is the sports calendar. There’s nothing happening on Monday and Tuesday nights in January, February and March. They chose that window very carefully and astutely.”

We have seen very clearly what the promotional power of ESPN can do when it comes to sports, especially ones that are not football or basketball related. If ESPN treats TGL as a big deal that commands and deserves attention, sports fans will be encouraged to do the same. And having Scott Van Pelt, Matt Barrie, and Marty Smith as the broadcast team also drives home that this is not just a laugh and hack Tuesday night golf league.

One of the interesting wrinkles of TGL is that the broadcasts won’t have a traditional analyst. Van Pelt will serve as a host, setting the table for each night from his studio. Smith will be amongst the players providing the equivalent of sideline reporting and interviews. And Barrie will be the point guard navigating the analysts and stars of the show – the golfers themselves.

“It’s very easy and makes all the sense in the world to have a former Masters champion to sit next to the play-by-play announcer at Augusta National. They can tell you what it takes to win a green jacket,” Neubarth said. “There’s not a lot of people that can tell you how to hit a shot off real grass to a five story high screen inside the SoFi Center during TGL. When you start with that you’ve got permission to be different and think different.”

“Candidly, I would rather hear from Rory McIlroy what he’s going to do than to ask someone who’s never been in this environment what he should do,” he added.

Putting mics on all the golfers is a huge part of TGL’s appeal… and another major question mark. Golf is desperate for new stars that fans and casuals alike can relate to. And pretty much everyone inside the golf world, including the players, recognizes that change needs to happen to make golf and its stars more accessible. But outside of Woods and McIlroy, who has any crossover appeal? As Golf.com painfully chronicled, Manhattan wasn’t exactly treating the stars of New York Golf Club like they were Derek Jeter or Eli Manning during a promotional shoot.

This is where TGL faces its highest hurdle, but also has the most potential. As The Match series has shown, golf can be entertaining when the participants are mic’d up live. Full Swing on Netflix has made a positive impact in telling stories better. And the PGA Tour’s walk-and-talk segments have finally given a brief window into player’s thought processes and personalities.

Who’ll be the first to curse on the hot mic? Find out Jan. 7 on ESPN 🎤 pic.twitter.com/8TsXPQ65sJ

— TGL (@TGL) January 2, 2025

“It’s a net positive for golf for sure,” said Shipnuck. “The more you can expose the sport in a fun casual way, some players will make an impact. The golf sickos know how funny Max Homa is on Twitter but the average sports fan that tunes in for the first one or two may say ‘this guy is great.’ You’re going to have more golf on more TVs and screens. That’s a good thing. All the technology, all the energy, all the hype. It makes golf fractionally cooler, so we’ll take it.”

“Hopefully the players don’t try too hard when being mic’d up, and really force the banter. It’s hard to tell people to ‘go be natural’ and then have them deliver, but if they can thread that needle, there’s something there,” Solomon commented.

As for who might be surprisingly enchanting for viewers? Neubarth offered his candidates for who might be TGL’s breakout stars.

“I think Xander Schauffele is so funny and can throw jabs with the best of them, but also is really strategic with how he thinks his way around the golf course. I think Collin Morikawa is so unique the way he looks at a golf shot, physically he’s one of the best iron players of the last 25 years. And getting to hear Tiger. Any time you can hear Tiger talk strategy, and what he’s going to do, what line he’s going to take, the shot he visualizes, I think all of those are equally compelling,” Neubarth explained.

Of course when it comes to stars, nobody is bigger than Tiger Woods, the other ace in the hole that TGL possesses.

Woods is one of few athletes that has ever transcended his or her sport. From an interest and relevance standpoint, he’s the biggest thing to ever happen to golf. But with his years of injuries and physical struggles, his days of truly competitive golf appear to be well and truly over. Woods has played just 26 tournaments in five years since winning the 2019 Masters. Since his 2021 car accident, he has played just ten total tournaments – all majors or the Genesis Invitational that he hosts.

Tiger Woods taking swings ahead of the new TGL season 🐅

TGL is a new tech-infused golf league that is set to debut on Jan. 7 on ESPN and ESPN+ 👀⛳️@TGL | @JupiterLinksGC pic.twitter.com/iEC5Xtypvw

— ESPN (@espn) December 13, 2024

But with TGL, Woods may be able to extend his presence in the golf world in ways that he simply could not physically do without it. And if that’s all that the new league can offer, it’s still a massive victory for the sport.

“The main gap it does fill is, this is where you’re going to see Tiger Woods play golf now. He hasn’t played a normal PGA Tour event in years and has not been competitive in the majors he’s shown up for. He’s obviously in poor health and that’s just not gonna change at this point. Putting Tiger in front of audiences has worked for decades and that’s definitely something they’ve got going for them,” Solomon said.

And Tiger’s presence isn’t just huge for fans who may be tuning in. Tiger’s presence is the defining element for TGL itself. It’s his league as a co-founder, team owner, and player. According to Shipnuck he is the reason why some players even agreed to take part in the startup in the first place.

“I know for a fact that a lot of the players who signed up to play in this league weren’t that excited about it,” he stated. “But when Tiger calls you and gives you the full court press, you can’t say no. It’s a way of paying back all he’s done for the sport. He’s made these guys millions of dollars indirectly, so the least they can do is support his golf league. He gives the whole thing juice. It’s probably the number one selling point they have. You’ll get more Tiger on the TGL than the PGA Tour.”

There are so many unknowns when it comes to TGL and its launch. Will fans be enthralled by virtual holes like “Temple” and “The Spear” and help the league gain viral momentum? Will the team concept resonate and will players step up to the plate to make it engaging? Will it be able to remove barriers to golf for casual fans and provide enough substance for golf fans?

In spite of all the questions surrounding TGL – its expectations, its success, its future – maybe the reality is the same that has faced professional golf since the late 1990s.

TGL will go as far as Tiger Woods can take it.