Season two of TGL tees off on Sunday, December 28, so golf fans won’t have to wait long for another dose of the tech-infused league.

After a successful debut campaign, TGL is back with new holes, new wrinkles, and a design challenge unlike anything in traditional golf. To find out how it all comes together, I spoke with renowned course architect Agustin Pizá, who helped craft many of the holes for the upcoming season.

From designing specifically for an indoor arena to the debut of a Tiger-inspired “Stinger” hole, Pizá breaks down what matters most when building golf for a new era.

Read the full Q&A below.

Gianni: What has the uniqueness of TGL’s format forced you to design differently from an outdoor course?

Agustin Pizá: An interesting fact is that, for the first time in my career, I didn’t have to worry about sustainability in the traditional sense. I didn’t have to think about resources, water, land constraints, budgets, irrigation, earthworks, grass types— all the very real, very “fun” challenges that come with designing a golf course alongside a great multidisciplinary team.

In TGL, the environment is digital. That alone was a unique experience, to say the least. For the first time in my life, I was able to genuinely say I had a blank canvas to design on. That’s a phrase I never use in real life, because in golf architecture we never truly have a blank canvas — we have a responsibility to respect, interpret, and enhance nature and everything that comes with it.

In TGL, however, the canvas really is blank. To the extent that we also have to invent the surrounding environment of the golf hole. That shifts the design mindset entirely. Instead of negotiating with land, climate, and resources, the focus becomes pure intent: shot values, angles, consequences, place and emotion. It allowed us to isolate the essence of golf architecture — strategy and decision-making — and express it without physical limitation, while still honoring the spirit of the game. The uniqueness of TGL’s format comes with designing specifically for the best players in the world. To challenge two grand slammers like Tiger Woods/Rory McIlroy and entertain the audience under one roof, is a commission you don’t get every day.

Gianni: If you had to pick one “signature” hole that captures TGL golf in the upcoming season, which is it and why?

Agustin: I wouldn’t be able to single out one signature hole, because I’ve never approached design that way. For me, golf architecture isn’t about isolated moments—it’s about the composition. It’s about creating a full narrative where every hole interacts with the next and contributes to a larger story with a plot, a rising action, a climax, and an exciting ending.

We often describe our work as a chapter book which takes you exploring on a kind of treasure map that evolves into a carousel of emotions. That philosophy carried directly into TGL. Even though the holes aren’t physically linked, they are still emotionally connected. They move. They rise and fall in intensity. I believe deeply in designing for emotion—creating thresholds between holes, and even within holes, where the player’s mindset is encouraged to shift.

We also like to incorporate a certain humor into our designs. You’ll see moments of irony where the obvious play isn’t necessarily the correct one—negative speed slots, counterintuitive bounces, or outcomes that challenge expectations. On Sterling, for example, we introduced a long, elongated bunker placed directly on the center line. Ironically, the player is encouraged not to split the fairway with the driver. That kind of architectural irony is very intentional.

You’ll find these moments throughout our holes. They’re designed to create a dialogue with the player—inviting curiosity, second-guessing, and emotional response. That’s why, instead of one signature hole, there’s a family of moments that define the season. Holes like The Spear, The Flex, and Loot on the Line each ask different questions. Players like Xander Schauffele and Tommy Fleetwood would have a distinct approach. In the upcoming season, The Stinger and Cenote are two new holes that I believe will turn heads, because they demand precision, restraint, and very intentional shot-making. Can’t wait to see the inaugural match between the NY Golf Club and Atlanta Drive on December 28.

Gianni: One of the newest holes just announced is the “Stinger,” an ode to one of Tiger’s most iconic shots. The hole encourages players to hit a stinger no higher than 50 feet to be in an optimal position. What is it about that shot that made you want to design a hole that caters for it?

Agustin: The stinger is a shot born out of pressure, position, and intention. Tiger used it when the moment demanded certainty, not flair. That’s what always fascinated me about it, and why designing a hole around that shot felt so appropriate.

TGL gives us a freedom that doesn’t always exist in traditional golf architecture. When I first got the call from TGL, one of my initial design questions was very personal: How can we give something back to Tiger Woods? He’s an iconic player who has given so much to the game, so much so that he believes in, and is willing to bet on, the future of golf in the virtual and technological space. Thanks to TGL format, we will be able to enjoy Tiger Woods competing for years to come.

That thought led me to reflect on his most iconic shots—and there are many—but the stinger felt different. It’s arguably the shot Tiger himself helped immortalize. It represents control under pressure, a deep understanding of ball flight, and total commitment to execution.

By designing a hole that challenges for that shot, I wanted to continue that legacy. As an architect, my way of honoring Tiger is to invite the best players in the world to do the same; to step into a moment of pressure and choose precision, restraint, and intention. In that sense, the hole isn’t just about strategy; it’s about respect.

Gianni: How much can you change a hole’s personality just with pin positions, and which hole changes the most?

Agustin: In real life, a green complex—and the green itself—can vary enormously. Length, pitch, internal levels, orientation, and overall size all influence how a hole plays, and pin position often has the final word. No secret why Par is, in many ways, a generous concept and offers you two shots on the green as a courtesy.

In our regular design philosophy, for each hole we like to divide greens into three distinct experiences. There’s an accessible “easy pin” bailout area, a medium-difficulty pin, and

what we call the “Sunday pin,” where precision and control are fully exposed. This flexibility allows operators to adjust the challenge depending on the day, the match, and the type of players.

TGL shifts that dynamic. I believe pin position in TGL can absolutely change strategy, but not the personality of the hole. Because we’re designing for match play, alternate shot, and team formats, the entire composition becomes critical of “who’s turn us it to play”. Strategy starts on the tee box and carries through every decision—to the second or third shot—and ultimately into how the green receives the ball and the angle the player chose to attack the hole. Some of our designs like Flex, Pick Yer Plunder and Bonnie Link, to mention three, have distinct strategies where you may find yourself with a green receiving very different from position C or B to Position A or A+ off your driver.

The TGL green itself, while fixed in footprint, is still highly dynamic. Through a sophisticated hydraulic system underneath the green, the pinnable area can change percentages, and the internal turntable within the green zone can rotate 360 degrees. That rotation allows us to challenge different shot values—inviting a draw on one orientation, a fade on another, with or without a bunker guarding the pin or, a more horizontal approach where distance control and trajectory become crucial, especially for players trying to get home in two on a par five. An extra layer is involved when you add “The Hammer” to the equation. A very cool and wise addition during season one where a hole could end sooner than expected.

Rather than relying solely on pin position, our TGL design philosophy uses the full sequence of decisions to define the hole. The personality of our designs lives in the overall composition; the pin is part of the character, but it doesn’t define it.

Gianni: Have you yet to break a traditional golf design rule because TGL demanded it?

Agustin: I’ll start by saying that in golf architecture, there are no rules, only guidelines. That’s always been my position.

With that in mind, TGL has allowed us to challenge ideas of scale, proportion, orientation, and even what constitutes a “natural” hazard. Some forms that might feel exaggerated or unconventional outdoors become perfectly calibrated indoors and on screen. The key, however, is never losing sight of the fundamentals: aesthetics, strategy, fairness, and consequence. As long as those principles are respected, unfamiliar forms are not only acceptable—they’re necessary.

From the very beginning, one criterion was absolutely clear in our design philosophy for TGL: we wanted to create something different, something special, something never-before-seen—while still respecting the integrity of the game we love. That balance is essential. Innovation without respect becomes novelty; tradition without evolution becomes stagnation.

Anybody who knows our work in the past 20 years is familiar with our unique approach and design philosophy to golf architecture. In real life, we consistently create concepts with a distinct point of view—projects that question convention while remaining deeply playable. TGL simply became another platform where we could take those ideas and exponentially expand our creativity.

We also leave a lot of designs in the cutting room. Throughout the process, we constantly question ourselves: Is this the right decision? Would we want to play this hole repeatedly in real life? Would we become members of a course that included this hole? If the answer isn’t an absolute yes, the hole doesn’t move forward. If it is, then we begin to detail it.

Our intention is very much to think outside the box, but always with purpose. We want to get under the skin of both players and the audience—to provoke an emotional response. In architecture, and in art more broadly, if you’re not moving emotions, if you’re not creating a reaction—positive or negative—then you’re not truly engaging with the discipline.

Gianni: In match play, one swing can flip everything. Which design element creates the biggest momentum shift: drivable angles, scary misses, or tricky greens?

Agustin: Without question, it’s scary misses. They create the biggest emotional swing.

In TGL, because of team play and alternate-shot formats, accountability becomes a central part of the experience. Risk is no longer individual—it’s shared. That changes everything. It’s almost like playing in a mini Ryder Cup, where you’re not only playing for yourself, but for your teammates and your team. Every decision carries weight.

The absence of caddies adds another important layer. Players are forced to account for themselves or rely on their teammates as de facto caddies, which introduces a dynamic you rarely—if ever—see in traditional professional golf, where individualism is at its highest. Our hole designs for TGL shifts that balance toward collaboration, communication, and collective responsibility. Because of that, I truly believe TGL has the potential to influence the future of team golf. As the format evolves, it could even impact how events like the Ryder Cup approach team play, camaraderie, looseness, and overall team spirit.

From a design perspective, the most powerful moments come when a miss carries a visible, immediate consequence. One of the most fun examples in Season One was watching players hit driver on The Spear and Temple—the hang time of the ball moving toward that pinched landing area created real tension, both for the players and for the audience.

When the risk is clear, players hesitate. And hesitation is everything in match play. Architecture doesn’t need to be brutal; it just needs to be honest and witty. When the consequence is obvious, the moment becomes fragile, and that’s where drama truly begins.

Atlanta Drive begins its defense of the SoFi Cup with a season-opening match against New York Golf Club on Sunday, Dec. 28, on ABC at 3 p.m. ET.