For those who think golf needs a longer offseason, TGL might be the ticket.
The high-tech indoor golf league wrapped up its inaugural season last week with Billy Horschel hitting the putt heard’ round the SoFi Center to lead Atlanta Drive to the title over New York.
And now it goes away for nine months.
Mike McCarley, the co-founder of TMRW Sports with Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy, began taking notes even before the season started on what can be improved for 2026, whether it’s technology or having players connect with their city (San Diego native Xander Schauffele plays for New York).
The average rating on ESPN platforms was just over 500,000 viewers. TMRW Sports pushes that number over 850,000 using Nielsen Big Data + Panel, which includes smart TVs along with cable boxes.
The number that stood out to McCarley was a viewing audience some 12 years younger (median age 52) than traditional golf, trailing only the NBA.
There also were the intangibles, such as the joy Horschel and Atlanta Drive owner Arthur Blank showed when they won.
“I was visiting the locker room of the teams that won and lost. Hearing them talk about what they should do differently next year was meaningful,” McCarley said.
That indicated to him the players bought into it, even though there were times of hit-and-giggle (Woods getting the yardage wrong by 100 yards, any of Kevin Kisner’s shanks).
“They started to figure out the ins and outs of competition, some of the strategy and rules, like the hammer,” he said.
TMRW Sports already is working with ESPN on a schedule for 2026, though it likely will fall into the January-March window again. Expansion is a strong possibility. One group already is planning to bid for a franchise in Dallas and has put the total investment at $77 million.
McCarley said the six original teams — Atlanta, New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Boston and Jupiter — return with few, if any, changes to the rosters. As for more teams for 2026?
“There’s been a ton of interest over the course of a season,” he said.
McCarley said at least one potential expansion group has been to every match, most of them owners of franchises in sports from cricket to soccer.
He also said TMRW Sports is exploring sites for a potential arena on the West Coast, which might help with travel. That’s in the early stages and more than a year away if it happens.
And if the team concept is supposed to work, shouldn’t the Atlanta Drive club of Horschel, Patrick Cantlay, Justin Thomas and Lucas Glover get rings?
Masters upgradeFor those who can’t get enough of the Masters, Augusta National is providing more coverage than ever this year, particularly outside the ropes.
The broadcast will get an additional five hours — two hours on the weekend (noon to 2 p.m.) on the CBS streaming platform Paramount+, and starting one hour earlier than normal (2 p.m.) for Sunday.
But that’s just a start. Masters.com and the Masters App is offering live streaming of the broadcast, featured coverage, interactive player tracking of every shot on every hole.
That feature also includes the driving range. Starting on Monday, users will have access to live and recorded data on every single shot from each player during their range sessions throughout the tournament. Details will include distance, carry, speed, hang time, height, curve and wind.
Each individual shot will deliver a 3D tracing, and a full scatterplot for every player will be available from each day of their range sessions.
Also new this year is HRD Live Video for all live stream for those with compatible devices, designed to enhance color. This will also will be ...
