Professional golf is either dying or thriving, depending who you ask and what metrics are cited to support their argument.

While viewership is down across the PGA Tour, LIV Golf and made-for-TV exhibitions including the highly touted Crypto Showdown, those numbers only represent linear viewing; something Nielsen plans to address by adding more “big data” to its measurements, which would incorporate more streaming and OTT platforms.

Despite the traditional TV tumble, the PGA Tour’s overall media consumption in aggregate was up in 2024, according to commissioner Jay Monahan. The Tour had 113.1 million social video views last year, a 6% growth from 2023, while users of the Tour app and website were up 10%.

As professional golf continues to alter the game in an effort to appease players, partners and patrons, time will tell if these changes actually grow the game, which has witnessed a significant swell in amateur participation since the Covid-19 pandemic. A record 45 million Americans age 6+ played both on- and off-course golf in 2023, according to the National Golf Foundation.

Next on the tee box striving to give fans a different perspective of the game and its top players while encouraging novice golfers and fans to get into golf further is TGL, a tech-infused, 3-on-3 league backed by Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy.

“I’m looking forward to it. I think it’s something really different and I think that’s what makes it so exciting,” 2022 U.S. Open champion Matt Fitzpatrick said. “I think fans are going to enjoy it. Obviously it’s a different type of golf, different type of atmosphere.

“I think the fact that Tiger and Rory and the business names behind it with Steve Cohen, John Henry and all these big, big names also makes it very appealing. People like that don’t just put money into something they don’t think isn’t going to be successful and obviously you want to be a part of that.”

Created by TMRW Sports, a venture formed by veteran sports executive Mike McCarley, Woods and McIlroy, TGL hopes to captivate curious audiences by leveraging technology in a unique play format and setting, particularly during a dead period for TV and sports over winter.

Six teams comprised of four PGA Tour players each boasting a combined 230 PGA Tour wins and 33 majors will go head-to-head in a season-long competition at the SoFi Center in Palm Beach, Fla., a venue built specifically for TGL.

Airing Mondays and Tuesdays during primetime on ESPN and ESPN+, players will tee off from a real grass tee box in the ScreenZone hitting into a 53-foot-tall simulator screen. From there, golfers will play from the fairway, rough or sand until they’re approximately 50 yards from the green where they’ll chip and putt in a tech-infused GreenZone located within SoFi Center. The entire playing area is 97 yards long by 50 yards wide.

While competing in two-hour matches across 15 custom-designed holes in a hybrid of virtual and real-life action, mic’d up players will be under the pressure of a 40-second shot clock, can call timeouts or leverage “the hammer”—a gameplay perk that alters the value of a hole by one point.

“I think it’s going to expose some people to (golf) that may otherwise not see it or not have interest and it’s going to create interest among specific individuals playing,” said Cameron Young, 2021-22 PGA Tour Rookie of the Year. “You can watch a match between New York and Atlanta and latch onto somebody then go from watching them on TGL to following what they do on Tour.

“I think it’s a new pathway for us to engage with fans and for them to have people to root for and a reason for them to watch golf.”

Similarly to shining a spotlight on players’ personalities and personal lives like viewers saw in Netflix’s Full Swing, TGL could be an avenue for diehard and novice golf fans to get to know their favorite players better, who are typically more buttoned up and laser focused during Tour or match play events like Ryder Cup with so much at stake.

While the SoFi Center will offer more of a relaxed setting than Augusta National, that doesn’t mean TGL participants don’t want to win.

“Obviously I would love for the team to be successful in terms of our performance,” said Young, a member of New York Golf Club with Xander Schauffele, Rickie Fowler and Fitzpatrick. “I think the having-a-good-time part will take care of itself. I’d like to obviously hoist the trophy with them at the end of the year. That would be cool.

“To be able to do that for my home state and city would be awesome.”