"He can ride around in a cart out here, which he'll do because it's OK out here … and it's competition." - Rocco Mediate about Tiger Woods joining the Champions Tour after he turns 50... or my entire rationale for loving golf?
See also: "I think there’s a good chance that Champions Tour ratings can top the PGA Tour when he [Tiger] decides to play." - Geoff Ogilvy
Bold.
First looks at the new TGL setup
THE SNEAKIEST OF PEEKS
The Golfer's Journal earned the honors of being the first media outlet to get a look at the new TGL technology setup. (I guess my invitation was lost in the cloud or something.) For those who don't recall, TGL is the new golf league launched by Tiger and Rory that premieres this January. It will feature an arena-sized mixed reality golf experience where teams of pros hit into a screen before completing each hole on a massive, actual greenside complex.
Linked in the image above is the YouTube video or you can listen to the full interview on their podcast. (NOTE - the video doesn't actually show all that much besides what you see above... which was highly disappointing.)
Managing editor Travis Hill sat down with the course architect and TGL designer Beau Welling to discuss what they've been cooking up in the TGL Performance Lab in preparation for league play.
My biggest/coolest takeaways:
- They ended up skewing more towards fantastical than realistic on course layouts and I think that's a huge win. Hearing that they almost went down the route of creating true-to-reality venues on a mixed reality system would've been the most "golf" thing they could've done. As you see in the image above, they played around with setting and some risk/reward shots that wouldn't normally be found on courses because designers need to be mindful of their playability for average/below average golfers. But Beau said that since they only needed to design for pro-level players, they could do some wild holes like placing a 310+ yard carry landing zone in the middle of a canyon.
- Beau teased the idea of "home courses/holes" for each of the league franchises. Specifically, he talked about them batting around the idea of creating a hole along the Boston Harbor. It was unclear if this was a year two idea or whether we could expect that in year one—but I think that's a home run for the franchise branding to each co-develop a hole with their teams. Holes that could play into their strengths the same way that the Ryder Cup hosts will shape their course for maximum advantage.
- Obviously the greenside portion of this all will be a massive and expensive feat of engineering—but this will easily be the piece that will make or break the format. The success of watching pros hit into a screen for any extended time will rely heavily on how it's presented via broadcast. Though knowing that they will each have to then physically chip onto greens or out of bunkers before putting on a dynamically morphing green surface should be awesome.
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Finally, this all proves that we're another step closer to realizing my dream of creating Mario Golf IRL. With the mixed reality setup, it's now 100% doable to place mid-air targets to gain advantages in crazy-looking worlds and conditions. One part mini golf, one part real golf.
Let's make it happen, Tiger.
Happy Gilmore 2 has swept the nation
A HAPPY WEEK
Welp, my nemesis Alex Myers at Golf Digest did it again. He actually attended the open casting call for Happy Gilmore 2 and wrote about it for Golf Digest.
The experience sounded absolutely miserable as it took around 5 hours of waiting in line to complete. And apparently multiple hours into the process, someone from casting addressed the room of people to say that if they wanted to leave and apply online—they could. Oof.
The wildest anecdote of the story was that a woman from the casting agency shared that they were looking for around 18,000!!!! extras in total as they hoped to create real tournament-like scenes with full crowds. So for any of you who applied, there is absolutely still hope since Alex estimated around 2,500 came in person—leaving quite a few more spaces to fill.
And in other Happy Gilmore news, I came across two other tidbits of casting updates.
The first?
Ben Stiller dropped a little teaser on X this week by sharing that he's warming up a glass of shut-the-h@#$-up. Fueling rumors that he will be returning for the sequel.
And the second piece of casting news?
Adam Sandler shared on The Tonight Show that Travis Kelce is also making an appearance. Which can only mean that this movie is going to be loaded with cameos so I'm sure this is just the beginning.
Pickleball is still so hot rn
CAN WE BRING THEM BACK NOW?
Not even a Rahm v. Brooks showdown could save the LIV ratings on CW. Getting doubled up by pickleball.
No need to dunk on this stat—mostly just leaves me wishing that we'd be done with this all and let these guys come back together for the full season.
Tick-tick-tick on that new deal, fellas.
Australia doing quirky Australia things
THEY THINK ST. ANDREWS IS PLAYING TOUGH??
An incredible quirky story that I caught this week was around an all-sand course in Australia called The Coober Pedy Opal Fields Golf Club. Apparently, it's the only club that offers reciprocal membership with St. Andrews.
The story is that a TV producer who was in town for a piece literally on opal mining, thought the grass-less course was so amusing that he connected the general manager with someone at St. Andrews for a call.
The two hit it off and joked about reciprocal membership if St. Andrews could get their own opal mine. Some time later, a package arrived at St. Andrews with a deed to a small piece of land and a few opals—and the team found it so amusing that they basically just said f@#& it, let's do it.
So all 16 members of Opal Fields can play up to 18 holes on one of St. Andrews nine hole courses for up to 8 people. Apparently a few actually did take them up—though no one has reportedly paid back the favor and played Opal for free.
The average temps almost year-round are apparently 110. And not a single shady tree in sight.
In more relevant St. Andrews news, I've been loving these quotes from the women playing the AIG Open this week. It's NASTY conditions there with 35+ mph gusts. Which, on one hand, I understand the complaints because it's pretty wild that Rose Zhang needed driver, 3-wood to reach the green on a 370-ish yard hole.
On the other hand, when everyone has to deal with the same elements—isn't that the spirit of The Open anyways?
Anywho, here are some gems.
Anywho, here are some gems.
"I had to calculate the wind when I putt, which is first time." - Ruoning Yin
"The ball was wobbling on the tee." - Jenny Shin
"[The flags on the range] were blowing a gale, and I was like, that’s great. Hope it stays like that." - Georgia Hall
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