Billy Horschel: That’s a good question. I still like to get a workout in. Sometimes, if it’s a Thursday morning tee time, I’m not going to do a full workout. With TGL matches being at night, it allows me to train as if I was at home on an off week. I can get a really good lift session early in the morning, and then I may go do a little bit of practice, and then I have a few hours until we have to head to the Sofi Center to get ready for the TGL match. But it’s not nearly as intense a practice before the match.

Gianni: What’s the biggest adjustment in TGL: the pace, the pressure of every shot being featured, or the team strategy?

Billy: So, hitting golf shots and knowing that we’ve got to hit it in 40 seconds, I think we can we can adjust very quickly to that.

But I think the big thing is understanding that this is an entertainment-based product and we have to do a really good job of being entertainers, and some guys it’s a little bit more natural to entertain, and for other guys it’s a little bit more of a process.

I’m not sure if for some guys it’s more of a process if they think about things before the match, leading up to things…but obviously it’s just being prepared for what we’re trying to achieve that night. It’s no different than being prepared to hit golf shots.

The guys are being prepared to make sure that they’re doing their bit and obviously being entertainers, but also performing and competing the best they can.

Gianni: What’s something that TGL gets right that’s been missing from golf otherwise?

Billy: I think what TGL does is it shows golf in a different light.

I think the stigma around golf for many and many decades is that it’s very uptight and there’s only one form of way of taking in golf and being a part of golf – which is going out to the golf course, playing golf and hitting golf shots on driving range, whether it be at a public golf course or a private golf course, and certain facilities are a little bit more uptight and more strict and other ones aren’t nearly as much.

So for someone who’s trying to get involved in a game of golf, we’re showing that golf can be played in a different form.

Now around the country, not just at golf clubs but around the country in brick and mortar stores, you’re seeing these simulators pop up in restaurants and standalone facilities where people can go learn the game of golf, have fun with their friends, and women getting involved in the game of golf and, and allowing people to experience it in a very comfortable setting compared to somewhat of an intimidating setting of going out to the golf course.

I think that’s what TGL is doing right. And that’s why I’ve always been excited about TGL from the very beginning, it’s the ability to show golf in a different light and hopefully bring in people that may have never thought about being involved in the game of golf, or maybe who were a little too intimidated to go out to the driving range to take it up.

Gianni: In a team setting like this, who becomes the voice in the moment, personality, experience, or whoever’s rolling that night?

Billy: I think on our team, when it comes to the hammer, I think Patrick is the one telling JT and I when we need to throw it. But I think for the most part amongst our team, It’s very yin and yang. We are all very comfortable, in the sense of if someone else is more dominant that night and leading and, and we feel very comfortable in what they’re doing and how they’re leading us, we follow along, it’s just a nightly deal, a match deal. None of us get our feelings hurt if someone’s being more of the alpha that night.

Amongst the three of us, it’s a match-by-match basis, and usually it comes down to who has got the flow, who’s playing well, who’s hitting the quality shots, who’s making the putts. That’s the person who leads the majority of time amongst our threesome.

Gianni: From the winning putt, to hitting the dirty bird on the walkout and celebrating with your kids – what is it about TGL that brings out your best?

Billy: I think I’ve said this before, not just doing TGL, but the way people see me out on the golf course they can see me in a different light. I’m a very competitive person. I’m very fiery, and sometimes, when you watch me, it looks like I’m not a fun guy to be around, and I can maybe be a little bit of a, you know, we can use whatever word anyone wants to use in there, but I know that’s not truly who I am.

I think it’s just the competitive fire that I have that I expect to play well, and I want to play well, and when I don’t, I get very frustrated. But I think people around me, for the most part, like to be around me, and they enjoy being around me. Even on the golf course, during a tournament I’m very positive to my playing partners who I’m competing against. So I think TGL’s allowed people to see me in the light that people outside of the golf course see me all the time.

I like to have fun. I like to have a good time. I’m not afraid to make fun of myself. I’m not afraid to do some stupid things and look like an idiot, like the dirty bird. The dirty bird’s a pretty cool thing, but I’m not sure if I did it justice for Jamal Anderson.

I think my wife said it best: “The person they saw on in TGL this season is the person that my family sees and everyone else sees when I’m not on the golf course.”

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.