Three ways to improve TGL

The advantage TGL has over a PGA Tour event, at least from a viewing perspective, is its pace of play. The new league completely cuts out the walking and waiting between each shot, and there’s a 40-second shot clock in place. It took the two teams less than two hours to finish 15 holes, whereas players can take five hours to finish a single round on the PGA Tour.

Although there were some promising features from TGL’s debut, there were a few elements that could use some tweaking. Here’s how Woods and McIlroy could improve TGL and make it more entertaining for viewers going forward.

Get rid of the halftime break

TGL’s big selling point is its pace of play. Most golf fans don’t want to spend five hours watching slow rounds littered with breaks and commercial interruptions. TGL can eliminate those breaks, but it added an artificial one with a senseless halftime.

After finishing nine holes of alternate shots in about an hour, both teams headed to the locker room for an intermission. It completely halted the flow of the fast-paced action, which surely caused some viewers to change the channel and not look back. The entire match took about two hours, but it easily could’ve been cut down to 90 minutes.

TGL needs to lean into the nonstop action element and keep viewers engaged, and that starts with eliminating the halftime break.

More mic’d up clips, more voices on the broadcast

Another advantage TGL has over regular golf is its ability to capture genuine reactions and conversations between players during a match. ESPN showed a few clips of humorous mic’d up moments between the players, but there needs to be more. Viewers want to hear more strategic banter before shots and trash talk between the two teams.

As for the broadcast, Matt Barrie was the only ESPN personality in the booth. Woods and McIlroy jumped in with him for a few holes, but we need amusing golfers on the headset for the entire match. Only three of the four players on each team compete in a match, so throw the fourth member in the booth with Barrie for bits of strategy, breakdowns of shots and trash talk from above. 

Give “the hammer” more power

One twist in TGL matches is the hammer, which doubles the points for a hole when played by a team. The issue with the hammer is only one team can control it at a time, and it doesn’t switch sides until that team decides to play it. 

The hammer should be available to both teams to play at any time during the match. New York Golf Club could’ve at least tried to make up its early deficit by doubling down every hole, but The Bay Golf Club held onto the hammer so that couldn’t happen. Giving the hammer more power could prevent blowouts and open the door for thrilling comebacks.