The team The Bay – with players Ludvig Åberg, Wyndham Clark, and Shane Lowry – crushed their opponents in New York in the very first TGL match, and took home the win with 9–2.
The 15 holes took barely two hours to play and were something entirely different from what professional golfers are used to, notes Åberg.
It's really cool to be in a tight environment where the audience is so close and screams, there's betting going on and people shout "don't miss now!", he says to TGL's website after the competition.
I definitely look forward to playing more such tournaments so I can experience it again.
World stars Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy are behind the new concept, which is played indoors and is a hybrid between simulated and real shots.
It was really loud from the start, it's something we don't experience very often, says Ludvig Åberg and notes that he has never before made his entrance on the course to music.
I had a really hard time choosing my song, I've never gotten to walk in to one before.
The matches are decided indoors in a more than 23,000 square meter large indoor arena in Palm Beach with room for 1,500 spectators. The long shots are hit just like in regular simulator golf – except that the screen is over 320 square meters large. Moreover, the long shots are hit from real grass in different lengths for fairway and rough.
The players wear technical equipment. Before each shot, they receive information about distance and simulated wind conditions.
When the players have barely 50 meters left, they hit real shots against an artificial green that can rotate 360 degrees to create different angles and slopes. Even bunker shots – both short and long – take place in real sand. Of the same type as found in the bunkers at Augusta National, which hosts the major tournament Masters every year.
The indoor league ends on March 4. The playoffs are decided on March 17-18 (semifinals) and March 24-25 (final).
