TGL officially gets off the launching pad Tuesday in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., a year late and presumably not a few dollars short, judging by the list of investors and the key men behind it, Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy. The curious and the core golf fan can watch the premiere at 9 p.m. ET on ESPN and ESPN+ domestically and in more than 100 other countries as the Bay Golf Club takes on New York Golf Club.

Appearing on ESPN Saturday during halftime of the NFL game between the Cleveland Browns and Baltimore Ravens, McIlroy promised that TGL—played indoors on a simulator in a specially designed arena—will deliver something truly unique.

“The first thing I’d like people to know is that it’s golf reimagined. Sort of trying to take golf into the 21st century,” said McIlroy, who along with Woods and former Golf Channel CEO Mike McCarley created TGL through their TMRW Sports business venture. “We have teams. Obviously, we have a lot of technology involved, trying to bring [golf] into the digital era. A lot of things we’ve taken from other sports, like a shot clock, a timeout, which you don’t see in regular golf. Trying to appeal to that bigger sports audience out there.”

The league features six teams of four players from the PGA Tour, though only three men compete in each 15-hole match scheduled to fit in a two-hour broadcast window. The season features 15 matches followed by a four-team playoff that wraps up March 25. The winning team receives $9 million out of a total purse of $21 million.

All matches are contested at the SoFi Center, a 1,500-seat arena built on the campus of Palm Beach State College specifically for TGL and which features not only a monstrous five-story simulator screen, but also a synthetic green that sits on a turntable 41 yards in diameter and upon which slopes can be changed from hole to hole.

The lineups for the opener are set, as is the order of play. The Bay Golf Club is fielding Shane Lowry (who will hit the first shot in TGL history), Wyndham Clark and Ludvig Aberg. Min Woo Lee is sitting out. For New York Golf Club, Rickie Fowler leads off followed by Matt Fitzpatrick and Xander Schauffele. Cameron Young rides the bench this time. This also sets the matchups for singles, with Lowry against Fowler on holes 10 and 13, Clark vs. Fitzpatrick (11 and 14) and Aberg vs. Schauffele (12 and 15) to provide a little Ryder Cup vibe.

The opening hole is a 380-yard par 4 called “The Plank.” The 15-hole course plays to a par of 60 with five par-5 holes, including the last, called “Quick Draw,” which could be set up as long as 720 yards. Two par-4 holes, the eighth and 11th, are particularly long and could be consequential, measuring 528 and 535 yards, respectively. Hole designs are unique and do not resemble any existing authentic holes in golf.

TGL’s Quick Draw hole

Here are five things to watch for when the curtain goes up:

The quality of the technology

The one-year delay after the original SoFi Center was damaged gave TGL a chance to further refine the simulator technology to ensure that there is a commensurate relationship between the quality of the shot and the result on the giant screen. TGL is employing 18 Full Swing radar devices combined with eight Top Tracer optical cameras, which seems like sufficient tech, but it still has to sell to the 1,500 spectators in attendance as well as the TV audience.

Golfers or entertainers?

Clark said at last month’s media day that TGL provides a chance for players to show their personalities, and undoubtedly a key component of the enterprise will be the willingness of players to step out of their comfort zones to play to the cameras and the crowd. But will they sustain their good humor as the match progresses to those final few holes? Or will they burrow into their golfer cocoons down the stretch? With a $9 million prize going to the season champion, they might not be in a hit-and-giggle mood for very long. That said, interaction among teammates discussing strategy could yield some interesting moments.

Wyndham Clark tries out the TGL technology during media day last month at the SoFi Center.

Clock management

This could be instructive for the game at large. A player will have 40 seconds to hit a shot or he will incur a one-stroke penalty. The 40-second limit is based on Rule 5.6 of the Rules of Golf—which is almost never enforced in pro golf but will be in TGL by the referee. A player can avoid a penalty by calling a timeout; each team gets four. Pace of play should be brisk given the clock and players not having to walk between shots. It will be fascinating to see how quickly the contestants adjust to the time limit and if it adversely affects their games. We’re betting it doesn’t. And we’re also hoping the PGA Tour, a partner in the enterprise, is paying attention.

Hammer time

It will be interesting to see if the two teams throw around the “Hammer,” essentially a press that doubles the value of a hole to two points, like it’s unwanted change in their pockets. Bay Club starts with the giant disc, and it can be tossed onto the field at any time as a hole is played. The team that is challenged can decline the Hammer, which concedes the hole, but that team then controls the next application of it. The Hammer can be used multiple times on a single hole.

“Over” time

If the match is tied after 15 holes, an overtime session will commence with a best two-out-of-three closest-to-the pin competition from 25-50 yards to decide the winner. But that’s not what we’re referring to here. We could see “over” time because all matches will go the regulation 15 holes, even if the outcome is decided. We’re wondering what the entertainment value is there if a match is closed out after 11-12 holes. Maybe it gets even more chippy, the shots riskier or more heroic. Or it could be flat. Gotta fill the two-hour TV window no matter what. We’re kind of eager to see what transpires if this happens.

This article was originally published on golfdigest.com