Shane Lowry prepares to take a shot in the first TGL game with the shot clock ticking away in front of him.
Mike Ehrmann/TGL/TGL Golf via Getty Images
The second round of the TGL is set to begin Tuesday night, January 14, at the SoFi Center, when Tiger Woods makes his Jupiter Links Golf Club debut. And for the second week in a row, TGL’s latest innovation will be on display. We are talking, of course, about the shot clock.
But what exactly is the TGL shot clock, and how does it work? Here’s everything you need to know about the unique twist on golf’s speed-of-play rules.
How the shot clock works in TGL
While creating a new indoor league out of nothing, the TGL brain trust, including Woods and Rory McIlroy, had to decide which parts of the traditional golf game to keep, and which to kick to the curb.
One of the complaints about pro golf is about slow play, and the league knew it needed to keep the action moving quickly to keep viewers engaged. But what if they can keep up the pace quickly, but also entertain the audience in the process?
At the beginning of TGL, this nice rule twist made everything work
Alan Bastable
Enter the shot clock.
If you’re watching a TGL game or looking at the image at the top of this page, you’ll see two large video board clocks so they’re clearly visible to players and fans. Additional digital shot clocks are located in other parts of the SoFi Center.
The shot clock starts at 40 seconds, meaning players have 40 seconds to make each shot. That, remember, is the same amount of time the pros are allotted to hit shots on the PGA Tour. However, without shot clocks at Tour courses, players often go far beyond their allotted 40 seconds at Tour events, often with impunity.
Not so with TGL. TGL shot clocks allow everyone to track the pace of play. In addition, when the shot clock reaches 15 seconds, the sound of the heartbeat plays loudly throughout the stadium with each additional second that comes, adding more pressure to the players and more fun to the fans.
It also allows for increased fan reaction. Several times in the first game of TGL, fans started yelling at the players when the shot clock started ticking down to zero, something you don’t see at tour events.
It’s unlikely we’ll see shot clocks make their way to golf’s major tournaments anytime soon, but you can see them in action Tuesday night in the second round of TGL, which starts at 7 pm ET on ESPN.
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