There are three types of sports fans out there. Those who enjoy the TGL, those who don’t and those who have never heard of it.

TGL, or Tomorrow’s Golf League, just wrapped up its inaugural season with Atlanta Drive GC capturing the first SoFi Cup. The indoor golf league, founded in part by Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy, combines simulator play with live-action chipping and putting. Players tee off and take fairway shots that are tracked and launched into a simulator environment before they head to a rotating green that adjusts slopes based on the hole.

The first season was, in large part, a mixed bag. There were issues with the technology as well as a midseason rule change, but there was also a great deal of entertainment and drama to watch.

Let’s break down the winners and losers of TGL’s inaugural season:

Loser: The broadcast

The ESPN broadcast never found its identity and was, at times, hard to watch. That had nothing to do with the product, but instead, the issues lay with the often cringy and forced input from play-by-play man Matt Barrie and in-arena reporter Marty Smith.

Monday’s Match 1 of the Finals was a prime example. Smith gave us a candidate for awkward interview of the year when he asked New York Golf Club’s Matt Fitzpatrick, who was a healthy scratch, “What is more nerve-wracking, watching these guys try to win a championship or winning a major championship?”

Seriously, Marty? We hope you were kidding. Let’s not pretend TGL is anything like the U.S. Open, which Fitzpatrick won in 2022. Yes, TGL is competitive and there is money at stake but it’s more show and entertainment than serious sporting fare — and that’s something we all need to understand for the product to work. ESPN trying to convince the audience that it’s watching serious golf only works to alienate those who know the difference.

OK, but what worked on the broadcast? Hot mics. It was great to listen live to players’ reactions to shots as well as real-time discussion of Hammer strategy, etc. Let’s keep that going in 2026.

Winner: Lovers of fun

If you don’t see the potential in the TGL product, you either don’t like golf or don’t like fun. Granted there were a lot of issues in the inaugural season, but the ceiling for TGL is undoubtedly high. They found an effective way to integrate technology with live action, creating a hybrid sport with seemingly limitless possibilities.