It's almost here. The first season gets underway when Shane Lowry takes the opening tee shot for The Bay Golf Club vs. New York Golf Club on Tuesday night.

But before the matches officially begin at SoFi Center, it is time for us to dig in and preview what the next three months of fun, fast-paced, prime time action are going to look like.

TGL Explained

Six teams of world class players face off in 15-hole matches at SoFi Center, an indoor arena on the campus of Palm Beach State College in Florida on ESPN and ESPN+ from January-March.

The golf is played into a 64' x 53' screen that is 24 times larger than a standard golf simulator. Players will hit off of real grass fairways and rough, and play out of a unique sand that is only used at one other course, which happens to be located in the southeast United States.

Once players get their ball to the green, they move to the GreenZone, which includes a 41-yard-wide turntable green that can accommodate any number of hole designs created by TGL hole designers: Agustín Pizá, Beau Welling, and Nicklaus Design.

Every team will play five matches — the format of which we’ll get to in a moment — throughout the season and ahead of the playoffs at the end of March.

Let’s take a look at each of the six teams, starting with the Atlanta Drive GC.

Atlanta Drive GC

This team’s competitive nature will be off the charts. It’s a squad full of tremendous iron players who are hellbent on winning any game, match, or event they play.

Justin Thomas

J.T. is an amazing shot-shaper, and he should have the chance to show that off at every turn.

Patrick Cantlay

Cantlay has turned into a terrific match play player, which considering how good his tee-to-green game is, should be frightening for everyone else in the league.

Lucas Glover

One of the biggest flushers in the entire sport, and that should be fully on display at SoFi Center.

Billy Horschel

Perhaps the most competitive player on a team full of outrageously competitive players.

FULL TEAM PREVIEW: Dive deeper on Atlanta Drive GC

Boston Common Golf

The Ballfrogs may have the best chemistry of any team in the league. Scott and Matsuyama have been Presidents Cup pals for a long time, and McIlroy always seems to emerge as a team galvanizer wherever he plays.

Rory McIlroy

He is not only the best driver of the ball in the game but perhaps the best driver in the history of the game.

Hideki Matsuyama

One of the more underrated tee-to-green players of the last decade, Matsuyama should thrive on the creative hole setups.

Adam Scott

Even into his early 40s, Scott is still incredibly strong from tee to green.

Keegan Bradley

Along with Matsuyama, one of the more underrated tee-to-green players in modern golf.

FULL TEAM PREVIEW: Dive deeper on Boston Common Golf

Los Angeles Golf Club

If there was a most “fun” team in the league, this is it! These four seem to get more enjoyment out of playing professional golf than any other group.

Collin Morikawa

He is probably the most accurate player in the league from tee to green and given how creative some of these hole setups will be, that’s going to be extremely beneficial for LAGC.

Sahith Theegala

Theegala hits some truly magical golf shots on Tour and I expect he will hit plenty of them in his TGL matches. He also has some low-key power in reserve that he’ll use if needed.

Tommy Fleetwood

It would not be a stretch to call him the most underrated driver in the world.

Justin Rose

The former U.S. Open champion brings experience and some of the best iron play of the last 10 years of anyone in the world to this team.

FULL TEAM PREVIEW: Dive deeper on Los Angeles Golf Club

New York Golf Club

To me, NYGC has the most complete group of players of any team. It’s difficult to find anyone who has any glaring weaknesses and it will be fun to see them come together as a team.

Xander Schauffele

There’s a pretty good argument to be made that Schauffele is the most in-form player in the league with nine career wins on the PGA TOUR, including two majors last season, as well as 15 top-10 finishes.

Matt Fitzpatrick

At media day in early December, Wyndham Clark stressed the importance of doing pre-match work in order to take on some of the holes. Nobody in golf is more prepared than Fitzpatrick.

Rickie Fowler

Fowler has such a great all-around game. He can be put in almost any spot and thrive.

Cameron Young

Obviously a terrific driver of the ball, but Young is a net plus in the three other categories (iron play, around the green and putting), too.

FULL TEAM PREVIEW: Dive deeper on New York Golf Club

The Bay Golf Club

This is the all-potential team. Three players in their 20s who crush driver and win all over the world, and they’ll be led at times by an Open champion in Lowry. It’s easy to see this being the team that chirps the most, as well.

Ludvig Åberg

He could absolutely be a future No. 1 player in the world.

Wyndham Clark

Where is the ceiling? Has he found it yet? Clark is awesome from tee to green and will put up some jaw-dropping numbers off the tee.

Shane Lowry

The all-everything guy on this team. He can do it all but should be especially valuable around the green.

Min Woo Lee

An amazing driver of the ball. If he dials in his approach play, he will be quite problematic for the rest of the league.

FULL TEAM PREVIEW: Dive deeper on The Bay Golf Club

Jupiter Links GC

This is a fun team. There is legit talent at the top end of a variety of categories with two amazing iron players in Woods and Homa, a short game wizard in Kisner and somebody who does everything well in Kim.

Tiger Woods

He’s the best iron player in the history of the sport. And also, possibly, the best clutch putter.

Tom Kim

Reminds me a lot of Fowler at this age in that he does everything well. He’s not as long as Fowler was, but the floor is so high with Kim.

Max Homa

Elite-end iron play, and do not – I repeat, do not – let him get hot with the putter.

Kevin Kisner

Possibly the most consistent putter of anyone in the league over the last 10 years.

FULL TEAM PREVIEW: Dive deeper on Jupiter Links GC

Match Format

The 15-hole matches will be split into nine holes of alternate shot and six holes of singles play. In the alternate shot portion of the event, three players from each team will alternate shots on each hole. In six holes of singles, three players from each team will be matched against each other.

Each hole played is worth a point, and the team with the most points won at the end of 15 holes will be the winner of that particular match.

There are three twists, though, from what folks have come to expect in tour golf.

1. There is a 40-second shot clock. If the shot clock runs out, that player’s team will incur a one-shot penalty.

2. Each team will have four timeouts it can use. Two per session.

3. The Hammer can be played by the team that holds possession. This increases the value of a hole by one point. One team starts the match with it (The Bay Golf Club on Jan. 7), and it can be played at any time and even be played multiple times on the same hole. If the Hammer is played against a team, that team can decline it but concedes the hole.

If the match goes to overtime, all three players from each team compete in a closest-to-the-pin competition. The team whose players hit two or more shots closer to the pin than their opponents wins the match.

I love the shot clock and the Hammer. It brings about a uniqueness to TGL that is wildly different from tour golf and engenders some strategy that we haven't seen before.

League Format

Each team plays five matches between Jan. 7 - Mar. 4, but teams do not start all four of their players every match. Only three will play in a given match.

The top four teams in the SoFi Cup Standings advance to the semifinals on March 17-18 on ESPN and ESPN2, and the winners of those two semifinal matchups will play a three-match Finals Series on March 24-25 on ESPN and ESPN2. The winner takes home the SoFi Cup.

After talking with some players ahead of the start of TGL, I think — because of the nature of match play as well as how the strategy works out — we will see a more aggressive approach than we see at tour events. Clark noted that players are often trying to minimize mistakes early on in tour events, but in TGL? Look out for full send everywhere, all the time.

The Schedule

We will get a taste of what the league will be with the first few matches in January before getting into the thick of it in February. That second month is when the double and tripleheaders start hitting, which should be a blast.

Here are four matchups I’m excited to see.

New York Golf Club vs. The Bay Golf Club (Jan. 7) – Two teams that can win the league squaring off on opening night with the entire golf world tuned in. It should be pretty awesome.

Los Angeles Golf Club vs. Jupiter Links GC (Jan. 14) – Of course Tiger’s debut is going to be a thrill, but I’m also excited to see this LAGC team in action. They bring about loads of joy, perhaps more than any other squad in the league.

Jupiter Links Golf Club vs. Boston Common Golf Club (Jan. 27) – Tiger vs. Rory in Rory’s debut makes for must-see TV.

Boston Common Golf vs. The Bay Golf Club (Feb. 17) – This match will be part of a Presidents’ Day tripleheader. I think these teams are very strong - could it be a championship preview?

Final Thoughts

After attending media day in early December, three things stood out while viewing a mini exhibition, discussing the setup with various golfers and other media members, as well getting a behind the scenes look at how TGL will unfold.

It’s going to be extremely fast: There was talk that players were going so fast during testing that things had to be slowed down a bit. It should be fun to watch these guys compete in a high-energy, fast-paced format.

It’s going to feel intimate: This stood out the most. It hit me as I stood behind Billy Horschel, and he pounded golf balls into the massive screen that serves as the centerpiece for the arena. There are nearly 100 possible camera angles. The evolution of golf is that it has become increasingly intimate, and TGL — with its number of cameras and how players will be filmed and mic’d up while discussing strategy — is bringing that to viewers.

There will be “normal” trash talk: One thing that emerged from media day is that players want to be able to chirp one another the same way they do in games at home. They know they are not comedians, and they will not try to be.

“You've got to have your trash talk,” said Horschel. “Listen, we've seen enough of this where there's some acting that is shown on TV. There's not enough of that in my opinion.

“It can be done in a way that no one gets offended, and no one is going to get offended by it. … Listen, there's something about a six-footer and I want to say, ‘hey … I think it's breaking a little right to left. Just throw something else out there. Just try to get in their head a little bit. It may be cheesy, but it's cool. It's different. You don't hear that often because we're not going to say that unless we're amongst friends …”

How to Watch: Tune in to catch all the action.