TGL made changes in the offseason – everything is bigger and better

One thing is clear about management at TGL, the PGA Tour-backed simulator golf league – they are good listeners.

TGL returns to your TV screens in just two monthsbut it will look different this time in many ways, reflecting what the players, fans and others have suggested adaptation of the action at Sofi Center. Most of the improvements surround the rolling green, known as the GreenZone.

TGL has increased the size of the site by 38%, from 3,800 square meters to 5,270. The large tee located in the center of the green—which served an important purpose in injecting break into the tee—has been lowered by 18 inches, softening the green’s pitch. This will likely lead to fewer short throws in the game that have to run a specific distance and stop, and more of that pitch and run.

The green size now mimics something much closer to the average green size on the PGA Tour, which is a good thing for the world’s best ball hitters hitting approach shots on the screen. Perhaps most importantly, the biggest green deals five more hole locations, up to 12 from seven last season. Green contouring and variability was a project between TGL and Beau Welling Design over the off-season, and will simply allow for more variability in setup. At times last season, the rolling green would start to feel like it could only sustain a handful of results. This should improve it a lot.

Also got bigger this year? Bunkers. TGL eliminated the smallest bunker in the GreenZone and made the other two larger. They will feature updated bunker faces instead of the smooth transition between sand and artificial turf. This will inevitably force players to get more creative with their sand spin.

But on the TV screen? It’s mostly there pleasant element enters. TGL is promising “localized backgrounds” in Team Holes for all six franchises. But the on-screen graphics have also been revamped to add realism. None of the holes are true, of course, but more so smelt as they are, the more attached to the transmission it would naturally become. Check out their example in the image below, which we can only assume is Team Hole for The Bay GC.

The league promises that its original hole designs have been tweaked with different tee boxes and different features to influence strategy – all of which will be announced in the coming months.

One final fix will see the league move the ball-tracking camera towers — originally located behind the hitting zones — off the field of play and into the stadium ceiling. The tracking system is expected to be improved from Season 1, as it was occasionally the focus of fan and player ire for questionable reads.

TGL begins its second season on network television on December 28 on ABC.