Rory McIlroy and TGL debut in brand-new docuseries

The success of the Netflix series Full Swing has given others ideas about what golf viewers want to see.  Now Fenway Sports Group, with the creative team at GolfPass, has come up with a five-part “docuseries,” titled “unCOMMON: Building a Boston Sports Team.” It follows behind the scenes inter-workings of the Boston Common TGL Team led by Rory McIlroy. 

The other team members are Keegan Bradley (2025 Ryder Cup captain and New England native), Adam Scott, and Hideki Matsuyama who replaced Tyrrell Hatton after Hatton joined LIV.  

The series follows the decisions made by organizers of the Boston Common Golf Team.

It provides what Rory McIlroy calls a peek behind the curtain of the new TGL league. 

“It's been a really cool process to be a part of,” Rory McIlroy said.  “This idea came together  -- about us trying to go behind the scenes on what it's like to try to put together a new team for a new sports league.”

In a press conference on Friday, McIlroy explained what the “course” is really like because they are, after all, hitting into a big screen on steroids, like you would on a simulator but gigantic.

“The playing surfaces are very realistic because they are real,” he said. “We're playing off real Bermuda grass for the fairways, real Bermuda rough, if you do hit into the rough.”

The sand is apparently identical to that used at Augusta National.

“Once you get within 40 yards of the green, then you transition to the green zone where all of that is artificial turf,” McIlroy added. “But I still feel like the ball reacts very realistically on the green.”

TGL toyed with the idea of real grass on the green, but because they are changing the putting surface for every hole, they were afraid the underlying sod would crack and break, making it very hard to putt realistically.

“We made the decision to go with artificial for the green because we want to make it interesting,” he added.

The green is on jacks that change the elevation and slope. And it rotates. (Not while anyone is putting!)

There are some additional interesting quirks to TGL. First, there’s a shot clock!  Second, there’s The Hammer which can add to the point value of a hole if accepted or subtract from it if declined. In other words, you might need a spectator guide the first few times. 

In addition to a shot clock and The Hammer, there are plenty of differences between TGL and what everyone thinks of as normal golf.

In TGL regular season play, two different teams are pitted against each other. They play 15 holes of golf each session because they can get that done in two hours. Here’s how it works: 

First, they play 9 holes of what they are calling Triples – which means three from each team play three from another team in alternate shot. Then the final 6 holes are singles matches with players pitted against each other. 

In Triples, the alternate shot format, Player A hits a shot, followed by Player B and then Player C.  Then it’s back to Player A again, and so on until the nine holes are complete.  If they are changing who tees off on each hole, they haven’t specified yet.

That’s followed by 6 holes of Singles, where three golfers on Team A play against three golfers on Team B. That’s like normal match play golf.   

Each hole is worth 1 point, like Ryder Cup or Presidents Cup. The team with the lowest score on a hole wins a point. The team with the most points at the end of play wins the match.

“I think the game play is going to be very realistic,” McIlroy said. “And the only thing that I think the players need to get dialed in is just the flow of the show. Obviously the two hours -- the shot clock, I've been caught up by the shot clock a couple times already in practice.”

McIlroy said he’s going to get in a couple more practice matches so that he’s ready before he tees off in TGL for real.  His first match isn’t until, Monday, January 27th on ESPN. However, the first TGL Match will be Tuesday, January 7th at 9 PM on ESPN, featuring New York, with Rickie Fowler, Xander Schauffele, Matt Fitzpatrick, and Cameron Young against The Bay Club (San Francisco) with Wyndham Clark, Min Woo Lee, Ludvig Aberg, and Shane Lowry.   

The docuseries, "unCOMMON: Building a Boston Sports Team,” will debut Thursday, December 26, streaming exclusively on GolfPass and also airing on New England Sports Network.