From Concept to Primetime: CapTech Powers Exciting New Golf Format

When CapTech first started working with TMRW Sports, the tech-focused sports group founded by Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy, and Mike McCarley, TGL was still just an idea. The vision: to create a new golf format that fused technology with sport to reimagine how the best golfers in the world compete and how fans engage.

We clearly remember our first meeting with TGL. We thought, wow - why are more people not talking about this?! The simple answer was that TGL was still just a concept – a big, bold, fascinating concept, but a long way from coming to life on ESPN.

Beginning with a 10-week discovery effort, and continuing in the months following, CapTech partnered with TGL team members, including Scott Armstrong, VP, Competition Technology & Operations, to help define this exciting new sport. First came testing, learning, and defining what a TGL match would look like and then, the crucial part – building the supporting technology.

We quickly recognized that whiteboards and ideas weren’t going to cut it; we had to prove it out on the course.

There was no TGL venue for testing – or anything close to the vision – so, we got creative and ran the first TGL test at a golf simulator bar. We would hit shots into the simulator, then run out to the putting course. We were testing how different formats worked, what the timing would be like, and what rules adjustments would be needed to make TGL a compelling product.

That first test was just the beginning. From there, we tested at a driving range and a golf course using launch monitors and chipping greens, before eventually moving to TGL’s Performance Lab, a test center built at a soundstage in Orlando. The soundstage featured something critical to TGL’s vision – a 50’ screen, which enabled the team to run realistic matches, dial in a shot clock, test different scoring rules, and work to create a fast-paced, compelling version of TGL.

Learn more about TGL in Tech Driven sponsored by CapTech. We’ll share more insights on our collaboration with TGL in the coming weeks.