Alexis Ohanian is no stranger to shaking things up.
The Reddit creator, along with his wife Serena Williams and her sister Venus, have formed the Los Angeles Golf Club. The first team in a virtual golf league, which is in partnership with TGL, the new tech-forward, primetime, team golf league developed by Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy’s TMRW Sports in partnership with the PGA Tour.
The league and the team aren’t your typical golf game.
“This is a team golf format the world hasn’t seen before. Primetime format, a couple of hours, literally the best golfers in the world going at it, mic’d up Ryder Cup style,” Ohanian revealed on the KTLA 5 Morning News.
The virtual golf game merges the sport with technology, two things Ohanian is very familiar with.
“What’s so interesting about this format, is people will be teeing off in the TGL into a sim, a beautiful, giant, massive screen, you can imagine all kinds of interesting sort of data tracking and sort of excitement you can create around that,” he said. “But the magic of the drama is going to happen in the short game.”
The short game, for non-golfers, is when you chip and putt around the green.
Ohanian stressed that the new team and league embrace inclusivity.
“The notion of what we want to build here is proof this is a sport for everyone,” he explained. “We’ve seen the ascent. You can’t go through your social media feed without seeing something related to golf and it’s a sport that actually, I think for a lot of folks, didn’t think was for them. We want to prove that it is.”
In bringing the game to Angelenos, the Angel City FC co-founder hopes it’ll inspire big dreams for some.
“We’re also going to be connected to the communities here. So much of the work we also plan to do is bring golf into communities here in Los Angeles that wouldn’t necessarily think is for them. Get clubs into the hands of people to love this sport to carry on Tiger’s legacy,” he added.
Ohanian decided to start this project after his daughter, Olympia, took a liking to miniature golf. The 5-year-old is already in the world of sports as she’s on the list of owners for Angel City and LAGC.
“I don’t know if you could exactly call this a push present for my wife, but wanted to make it a family affair,” he laughed.
Golf has also played a big part in Ohanian and Willilams’ relationship as the investor would never dare to take on his wife on the tennis court.
“I thought, ‘Hey, this could be a fun date experience for us to learn golf together.’ I learned very quickly though, those swinging stick skills apparently carry over really well. My pride still recovering,” he explained. “Don’t tell her but my plan is to start taking lessons on the side.”
The Los Angeles Golf Club will compete in TGL’s first season launching in January 2024.
