What’s up, everyone! I spent the last few days in West Palm Beach, Florida. I had some meetings, recorded a few podcasts (more on that later), and attended the opening night of TGL — Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy’s new indoor golf league.

I have seen a few people give reviews online, but most of those have been based on TV coverage, and I think it could be helpful to get context from someone on the ground.

For starters, the arena is pretty sweet. It’s a 250,000-square-foot permanent structure on the campus of Palm Beach State College. The venue only holds about 1,500 people, so parking was a breeze. It couldn’t have taken more than 5 minutes to walk inside.

There were a few activations as you approached the ticket scanner, including a full-swing simulator inside a truck. League sponsor Genesis also had one of its new cars on display, and there was a replica putting green for fans right inside the arena.

This allowed fans to practice on the same putting green that players would use during the match — and the tech was impressive. My first putt broke pretty hard from left to right. But then they pressed a few buttons, a series of actuators started to contort the surface, and within seconds, I was facing a completely different, right-to-left putt.

As for the rest of the venue, it was pretty standard. It’s a permanent structure, but it still gives off warehouse vibes. The concession and merchandise stands could have been set up and taken down within a few hours, and the concourse was massive. You would have to try pretty damn hard to bump shoulders with someone while walking.

The two-story stands were also temporary. I sat on the bottom level toward the back of the putting green. The seats were similar to those in an auditorium or concert hall, but they only went five rows back, putting people super close to the action. I didn’t go up to the top level, but it looked like those were the suites. They had a TV on the wall and partitions that gave groups more privacy than you would have on the bottom level.

There was also a media area on one side of the simulator screen and a VIP area for team owners, investors, and league partners on the other. This is where guys like Steve Cohen, Andre Iguodala, Jimmy Pitaro, and Burke Magnus were sitting.

My guess is that most attendees — family, friends, and league partners — were given free tickets. That’s not necessarily surprising since it was the inaugural match, and the league has raised a lot of money from investors. But it also didn’t affect the crowd.

People were cheering when putts dropped and booing when players missed. A group behind me kept chanting Xander Schauffele’s name throughout the night. Fans were doing basketball-esque countdowns when the shot clock was about to expire, and traditional golf etiquette was non-existent. The music was loud but not too loud, and a few people even broke one of golf’s oldest rules — yelling during a player’s backswing.

TGL could probably fit a few thousand more people in the venue, and I joked that if they really wanted to make it rowdy, they should fill the place with college kids by offering $1 beers. But the league isn’t going to survive on ticket sales, merchandise, and concessions alone. That’s why *everything* was optimized for television.

For example, the players were mic’d up, but we couldn’t hear them inside the venue. Cameras were everywhere, including lenses buried beneath the bunkers, a remote-controlled roving camera, and a 360-degree track around the green. It was evident to everyone inside the arena that TGL prioritized technology.

The TGL playing surface was much larger than I expected. I mean, TGL told us beforehand that the screen was 64 feet tall and 53 feet wide. But seeing it in person provided an entirely different perspective than the previously released renderings.

The tee boxes are cool because they are real. Rather than hitting off artificial turf into the simulator, TGL used a crane to drop in tee boxes with real grass, including thick fairways, rough, and bunkers filled with the same white sand as Augusta National.

TGL should add more analytics to the screen. Golf nuts (understandably) want to see ball speed and distance on the broadcast after every shot. They could also do a better job explaining each hole, especially to the in-person audience. However, I enjoyed it because the large screen and graphics packages made it feel like a much bigger deal than just watching your buddies rip drivers and irons into a large simulator screen.

The putting green was also super unique. A laser came down from the ceiling to show players where to place their ball after hitting into the simulators. This was fun for the in-person crowd because people got excited when the laser lit up near their seats.

The 22,475-square-foot short game area rotated between holes, changing the attack angle and putting surface for players. It was very quiet and you wouldn’t even realize it was happening unless you were paying attention. The 600 actuators beneath the putting green then morphed the green’s topography, with a grounds crew member quickly replacing pins while players teed off into the simulator for their next hole.

One thing that was interesting to me is that the putting green is a very different material than you would expect. It’s not noticeable to the eye, but it was pretty spongy, and I imagine it will take some players longer than others to get used to it.

As for time, the match moved fast. Like, super fast. Players had a shot clock, which moved things along as intended. But I actually think TGL can reduce the shot clock from 40 to 30 seconds. That would make it even quicker while creating more drama, as players only got close to shot clock violations once or twice throughout the night.

Overall, I enjoyed the TGL experience. Some people say TGL messed up by not having Tiger and Rory play on opening night, but that decision was calculated. Golf fans were always going to tune into the opening match solely out of curiosity. Tiger and Rory added something to the broadcast through commentary, and viewership should now stay elevated, as fans will have to return if they want to see Tiger and Rory compete.

The opening match averaged 919,000 viewers on ESPN during its 9 pm to 11 pm ET time slot. That’s a very respectable number. Not only did the broadcast average over 1 million viewers for most of the first hour — before it became a blowout — but that means TGL’s opening night broadcast brought in more viewers than last week’s PGA Tour season-opener, The Sentry, which was broadcast on Golf Channel and NBC.

The experience felt more like an event than a tournament, if that makes sense. The smoke-filled player walkouts elevated the atmosphere. Unlike the Match series, which often feels forced, the players genuinely seemed to be having fun. ESPN also committed a ton of resources to make the league’s opening night a success, including Scott Van Pelt in the studio and Matt Barrie and Marty Smith onsite in Florida.

I’ll be watching viewership numbers closely over the next few weeks, but I think this thing has some legs. The amateur side of golf has grown significantly over the last few years. While many of those viewers have yet to translate to the professional level, TGL hopes its primetime model can provide enough entertainment to make that happen.

It’s a different product that isn’t for everyone. However, sports are changing. Sponsors want to buy assets with star power and flair, and TGL certainly has plenty of that.

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