Tiger Woods’ TGL to punish golfers with one-stroke penalty for exceeding time-limit
Tiger Woods' TGL league is going to do something that no other golf league is doing: implementing a shot clock. There have been complaints about the pace of play for a long time, and while the sport of golf is supposed to try to keep things moving, TGL will punish those that are too slow.
Per their own website, each player will have 40 seconds to hit their shot. If they do not, their team will receive a shot clock violation which will cost them a one-stroke penalty.
There are a few points they noted as well, including that the referee and a booth official will be responsible for starting the clock as well as timing and enforcing any penalties.
How TGL's shot clock works
If any of the following happens, the clock resets to 40 seconds:
- A player completes their turn
- A player receives a shot clock violation and subsequent penalty
- A player calls timeout
- A player receives another penalty
- If the ref or booth official determines that there's something wrong and that the clock needs to be reset
If any of the above happens, the shot clock resets, but it will be a strict timer that can negatively impact a team. Some golfers play slower than others, but TGL wants to keep things moving.
Timeouts are also a new introduction. They can be used strategically to avoid the penalty. Teams can also use them to ice their opponents. Four timeouts are available to each team to use in a match. However, only two timeouts can be used per session and they don't carry over.
The rest of TGL's rules largely carry over from the PGA Tour, so the above are the only major changes. Nevertheless, punishing players for going too slow is a big change. It's something many have wanted to see in pro golf.
Patrick Cantlay came under fire for his egregiously slow play earlier this year, with a few golfers commenting on what it was like being behind a slower player.
Cantlay is among the golfers in the TGL field, which includes Rickie Fowler, Rory McIlroy, Tom Kim, Adam Scott and several others. It remains to be seen how they adapt to this new rule change.