TGL Runs on Full Swing: How the Arena Simulator Works and What Reaches Home Bays

TGL's simulator is made by Full Swing. The league's arena uses a screen about 64 ft wide and 46 ft tall, nine projectors, 18 launch monitors and a putting surface that is shaped by more than 600 hydraulic jacks and turns on a platform. Toptracer supplies the trace graphics you see on broadcast, so Full Swing is the simulator company and Toptracer is the graphics partner.

TGL is a tech-driven team golf league, reported as co-founded by Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy through TMRW Sports. Matches are listed at the SoFi Center in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, so confirm the address before you plan a trip. The venue and the league's figures come from announcements and press coverage, so treat them as published claims rather than something we checked on site.

The short version for a home buyer: the arena runs the same basic loop a home bay does (read the ball, calculate the flight, draw it on a screen), but at a scale and with parts that have no consumer equivalent. A few of the ideas do scale down, and we'll sort those from the rest below.

How we put this together: we compared the league's published announcements, manufacturer material and press coverage. Links may earn us a commission.

The one-line answer: Full Swing, built at arena scale

Here is the quick-facts sheet as the league and the manufacturer have described it.

Item	What has been published
Simulator brand	Full Swing
Screen	About 64 x 46 ft
Projectors	Nine, blended into one image
Tracking units	18 launch monitors around the hitting area
Putting surface	Synthetic, on a rotating platform with more than 600 hydraulic jacks
Venue cost	Reported at about $50 million
Players	24 professionals in six teams of four, per reports

These are league and manufacturer announcements plus press coverage. We have not been inside the arena, and some figures, including the venue cost and the green's slope, are reported numbers that could change. Check current league material before you quote them.

Follow one shot through the system

The easiest way to see how the parts connect is to follow one tee shot from the ball on the grass to the putt that drops. These are the steps as the league describes them.

1. A player hits a real ball off real grass from a tee, fairway, rough or sand lie in the hitting area.
2. Launch monitors around the hitting area capture ball speed, launch angle, spin and direction from several angles.
3. Full Swing's software combines those readings and calculates the flight.
4. Nine synchronized projectors show the flight on the 64 x 46 ft screen, and Toptracer draws the trace that viewers see.
5. Once the ball reaches the virtual green area, play moves to the physical Green Zone, where the real green reshapes to match the virtual green's contours.
6. Players chip or putt on the real surface, and sensors in the green track where the ball sits.

Before each shot, players check yardages, elevation and wind on a touchscreen the league calls the Digital Caddy. That covers the decision side of the process, while the steps above cover the physics side.

Why 18 sensors instead of one

A home bay typically uses a single launch monitor, mounted beside or above the ball. TGL spreads 18 units around the hitting area so each shot is seen from several angles at once. Overlapping coverage cuts down blind spots, and if one unit misreads, the others can cover for it. Coverage and redundancy are the likely reasons for the count, though the league hasn't published a full breakdown of how each unit's data is weighted.

Reports describe a dual-system approach: launch data captured at impact, plus Toptracer's flight tracking. How the two feed the simulation, as opposed to the broadcast graphics, isn't spelled out in the material we looked at, so check before you assume either way. If you want to understand what sits on your own floor, our guides on how launch monitors read a shot and radar versus camera tracking cover the basic sensor types.

Where Toptracer fits

Most golf fans know Toptracer from TV broadcasts and driving ranges, where it draws the ball's path on screen. At TGL, reports describe it as the source of the 3D flight path for the broadcast graphics, while the launch monitors handle the impact data. The trace line you see on TV is a presentation layer. When you compare setups, judge the launch data, not the graphic.

The screen and projectors, in home-bay terms

Scale is easiest to see with arithmetic.

• Arena screen: 64 ft x 46 ft = 2,944 sq ft.
• Common home impact screen, 16 x 9 ft: 144 sq ft. 2,944 / 144 is about 20, so the arena screen is roughly 20 times the area.
• Smaller home screen, 10 x 8 ft: 80 sq ft. 2,944 / 80 is about 37, so the arena screen is roughly 37 times the area.

Those are area ratios, not width ratios. Measured by width alone, 64 ft against 16 ft is only four times as wide, which is why the area numbers look so dramatic. A screen this size isn't realistic for a home, but the basics still decide whether a small image looks good: brightness, aspect ratio and throw distance.

The arena image is blended from nine projectors. A home bay normally runs one short-throw projector, and nobody needs nine to get a convincing image in a standard room. For the projector side of the decision, our guide to projectors for a home bay walks through the trade-offs by room size and budget.

The moving green: how TGL handles putting

The green is the part of TGL with no home equivalent. The Green Zone sits beside the hitting bay and handles chips, lies and putts. Real grass surrounds it for short-game shots, kept in match condition and replaced regularly. The putting surface itself is synthetic, which the league describes as chosen for consistent roll and durability. The exact material isn't detailed in what we reviewed, so check before you quote it.

The green sits on a turntable that rotates 360 degrees and is shaped by more than 600 hydraulic jacks. Reports describe slopes of up to about 4 percent in any direction. When a virtual shot lands, the surface reconfigures to match the simulated green within seconds, so play keeps moving. Sensors embedded in the surface report where the ball sits, which feeds position data back into play.

Why rotate the whole green instead of just tilting it

This part is our explanation, not a manufacturer quote. A tilt-only green presents one slope from one direction. Rotating the platform changes the angle a player faces the same contour from, so a ball finishing left of the hole reads differently from one finishing right. The jacks set the shape and the rotation sets where you stand relative to it. That's a sensible design for a format where players approach from every direction.

What a home putting setup can and cannot copy

No consumer product reshapes a green on demand. Some high-end putting platforms let you adjust slope by hand, and that's the closest a home buyer gets to the idea. Prices and models change often, so check current listings rather than trusting a figure from an older article.

Most home sims simulate putts on screen, and for many owners that's the weakest part of the experience. A real surface gives you feel and reading practice a projected green can't. If that matters to you, the practical route is a physical green. Our guides on how putting works on a home simulator, newer simulator putting technology and indoor putting greens cover the options.

Inside the SoFi Center

The venue is purpose-built for the league, and reports put its cost at about $50 million. Six practice simulator bays run the same technology as the main arena, so players can warm up on a setup that matches the one they'll play on. Recovery rooms sit next to the bays for players between sessions.

The building is treated as infrastructure. Climate control holds temperature and humidity steady, which removes weather as a variable. Dedicated server rooms, a fiber network, redundant power and backup generators keep the system running through a live broadcast. Reports describe a production team from ESPN for the first season, with floating overhead cameras and ground-level robotic cameras. Check the current broadcast partner, since that can change between seasons.

For a home owner, the lesson is mostly about what you don't have to solve. Your room will have its own light, noise and temperature swings, and nobody on staff will reset the system between shots. That gap is worth keeping in mind whenever you read a league result as a measure of home performance.

How the match format leans on the technology

Hardware is only half of why TGL looks the way it does. The format is built for television, and the simulator is what makes it possible. Players don't walk between shots, weather doesn't stall play, and one shot follows another within seconds. A physical course would need walking, carts and weather plans for every round.

Reports describe matches of 15 holes, with a three-on-three alternate-shot segment and singles. The league also reportedly uses a shot clock and a "hammer" wager that raises the value of a hole. Check the current season's rules, since leagues adjust formats between seasons.

The holes are virtual layouts designed for the league rather than replicas of real courses. They can include features that would be impractical on real ground. Tee positions and pins can change between holes or matches in a way a physical course can't match. If a specific hole reminds you of one you've played, that's a resemblance, not a copy.

What a home buyer can borrow from TGL

Strip out the arena and a few ideas carry over. Here is what scales down and what doesn't.

Ideas that scale down:

• Hit off quality turf, or a mat that feels close to it.
• Use a bright, correctly sized projector image rather than the biggest screen your room allows.
• Putt on a real surface instead of on the screen.
• Add a second camera angle for data, if your setup supports it.

Ideas that don't scale down:

• 18-sensor arrays
• Multi-projector blending
• Motorized greens

The decision comes down to what you want from the setup:

• Want the TGL brand? Look at Full Swing's home lineup, see our Tiger Woods simulator page for what's publicly documented, then read our piece on software ecosystem lock-in before you commit to one vendor's software.
• Want TGL-style putting? Budget for a real putting green, not a bigger screen.
• Want accuracy? Compare launch monitors on published data, not on how the league looks on TV.

If budget is open-ended, the priciest home simulators show how far the category stretches. Check Full Swing's current pricing directly, since list prices change and we aren't quoting a figure here.

TGL feature versus the closest home equivalent

The table sets each arena component against the nearest option for a home bay and gives a quick reality check.

TGL component	What it does	Closest home option	Rough reality check
18 launch monitors	Read impact data from several angles	One radar or camera launch monitor	One unit covers the core numbers but loses the redundancy
64 x 46 ft screen	Shows the flight at arena scale	10–16 ft wide impact screen	Area is roughly 20 to 37 times smaller
Nine projectors	Blend one image across the screen	One short-throw projector	A single projector is the realistic option
Rotating green	Reshapes and turns the putting surface	Flat or adjustable putting green	Adjustable greens change slope, not the whole shape
Real grass hitting areas	Real turf for full shots	Premium hitting mat	A mat changes feel and how the club interacts with the surface
Digital Caddy touchscreen	Yardage, elevation and wind before shots	Tablet or simulator software overlays	Software overlays cover the core numbers

See the simulators pros use ↗

What TGL does not prove

A league showcase tells you a lot about what the technology can do under controlled conditions. It says much less about how one consumer unit performs in a garage. We're not aware of public independent accuracy data on the arena system, so any claim about its precision rests on the league's own material.

Arena conditions aren't your conditions. TGL runs with controlled lighting, many sensors and technicians on hand, while a home bay runs on one unit in a room with its own light and temperature swings. That gap is one reason simulator data can drift at home. Our article on why simulator data drifts at home covers the common causes.

Finally, treat the league's use of Full Swing as a commercial partnership as much as a technical verdict. Sponsorship and endorsement sit alongside the engineering, and that's worth weighing when a brand's league looks this polished.

Questions people ask after watching a TGL match

The questions below come up most after a broadcast, and each answer is short.

Do TGL players hit real golf balls at the screen?

Yes. Full swings are struck with real balls off real grass, sand or rough lies, and launch tracking feeds the software that flies the ball on the giant screen. Chips and putts near the green are played for real on the Green Zone, so the physical surface is part of the game too.

Is the TGL simulator the same Full Swing that Tiger Woods has at home?

It is the same maker with a similar core approach: launch tracking plus Full Swing software. The arena adds a much larger screen, nine projectors, 18 tracking units and a green that moves mechanically, none of which a typical home system has. We can't confirm what equipment any player owns at home, so the league's own materials are the only basis for the arena setup. Our guide to simulators tour players use covers the wider field.

Why do TGL players putt on a physical green instead of on screen?

Simulated putting is the least convincing part of most simulators, because a projected green can't give you real feel or a true read. A real surface that reshapes itself keeps putting authentic for elite players and makes for better television. Our guide on how putting works on a home simulator covers what home setups can do.

Are the TGL holes copies of real golf courses?

Reports describe the holes as virtual designs made for the league, mixing classic architecture with features that would be impractical on real terrain. Tees and pins can move instantly between holes or matches. Check the league's current material for the design of any specific hole before you compare it with a course.

Can fans watch a TGL match in person?

Matches are held before a live audience at the SoFi Center in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, and tickets are sold for match nights. Ticket availability changes by event, so check the league's site for current dates. Matches have also been broadcast, with ESPN carrying the first season according to reports.