First behind-the-scenes pics of TGL emerge

Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy’s new tech-infused indoor league is starting to take shape.

All six teams have been announced ahead of the January 2024 start, as players begin to be drafted onto the rosters.

The league has also detailed the format of the Monday night matches, as well as new competitive rules, including a shot clock and timeouts.

But one thing that has been missing is what the simulator event will actually look like.

Well, that has now changed as golf fans have been given a first look into an Orlando test lab that marks the first time TGL’s system has been tested.

Tech publication WIRED has dived into the premises to share a sneak peek of what some of the world’s best golfers will face.

Aired on prime time, TGL has $20 million of prize money up for grabs, but will not be played on a regular tournament golf course.

Instead, as shown in the first behind-the-scenes images, Cameron Young teed off to a billboard-sized screen some 35 yards away.

Condensing a golf course’s 200 acres and 18 holes into a single arena, TGL will feature a goliath 4K screen to create its stadium-like environment.

At 64 by 46 feet, the screen allows players to hit shots from further away than any other simulator experience.

In testing, Young said: “Hitting a ball into a screen right in front of you is a very, very muted experience.

“But with this, you can really hit shots, especially given that you get to see a little bit of ball flight.”

The game will mimic outdoor conditions, however, as the TGL team has concocted ‘digital wind’.

That means a graphic on the screen will give players an idea of how the wind will affect play, the first of many features to eliminate the standard driving range experience.

As shown by Young, players may even be forced to play from two-inch high Bermuda grass mixed with Rye.

In a bid to encapsulate the unpredictable nature of a competitive round, an artificial ‘shapeshifting’ putting green will await.

The short game area will be around half the size of a football pitch, with a round, rotating green that will change on every hole.

With the push of a button, the surface will tilt, to change the direction in which a putt will break.

The state-of-the-art facility will take to television for the first time on January 9, 2024.

Mike McCarley, the founder and CEO of TMRW Sports, said: “This is a TV show—we’re making no bones about it.

“The golfers are making the exact same physical moves with the same clubs, the same balls, in basically the same environment.

“But this is a way to open up golf to a new group of fans and a new group of players.”