TGL presented by SoFi, the primetime, team golf league today
announced that renowned golf course architect Gil Hanse will join the league’s returning design groups to create the full catalog of holes for Season 2. The holes are purpose-built for TGL’s fast-paced, team match play format and are designed specifically to force risk-reward decisions, heighten scoring volatility, challenge TGL’s six teams and amplify in-venue and broadcast energy for fans.
“Adding Gil Hanse — widely regarded as a standard-bearer in modern golf architecture — will bring fresh ideas to our collection of hole designs,” said Scott Armstrong, Vice President, Competition Technology and Operations for TGL presented by SoFi. “Based on feedback from our players and analysis of hole data, our Season 2 catalog will again challenge teams to be strategic, force shot-making and to bring more of the memorable match-changing moments that highlight TGL.”
“Starting with a relatively blank slate for TGL has been liberating. Designing holes for TGL has given us an opportunity to step out of our comfort zone and step into other aspects of golf course design in the virtual world,” said Hanse. “On a few of our TGL holes, we decided to honor the concepts, thoughts, and styles of some of the greatest designers from golf history like A. W. Tillinghast, Alister MacKenzie, Donald Ross, etc. It will be gratifying to see virtual representations of those concepts and theories broadcast, not only on television, but on this huge screen as our designs challenge the best players in the world.”
First Hanse-Designed Hole: Stone & Steeple
• Par 5 that tips out at 590 yards.
• Tee shots will navigate Sahara-type fairway bunkers similar to those Hanse used in his restoration of Baltusrol Golf Club’s Lower Course. Approach shots must carry large fairway bunkers to a green fully guarded on the left by a rock wall, which is marked as a penalty area.
• This New England-based design features a church steeple and graveyard left of a rock wall —
reminding players that anything too far left is ‘dead.’