McLaren Speeds Into The Golf Industry

On Monday, McLaren, winner of 23 Formula 1 World Championships announced they would be entering a new venture in the sports world - golf.

McLaren, a company built on elite motorsports and automotive engineering, will now apparently enter the golf world. In doing so, they have reportedly assembled a team with people from across the golf industry to pair with their already astounding record in engineering.

McLaren Golf is a high-end, engineering-led venture which goes beyond the equipment, said McLaren Golf CEO Neil Howie. We’re building a brand grounded in McLaren’s high-performance DNA, and embedding it in a new sporting arena. We’ve hired some of the best minds in engineering and combined them with leading figures from the golf world to create an innovation-led company that pushes the limits of what golfers can expect from their equipment. We can’t wait to see our ambition come to life on the course this year.”

Howie was the former president of Callaway Golf Europe, so he has years of experience in the golf industry. It has been rumored that McLaren Golf has poached club marketers and engineers from other manufacturers to help them in their new venture into golf.

McLaren Golf sees similarities between designing race cars and golf clubs. “McLaren has always turned technical excellence into extraordinary experiences. We’re bringing that same philosophy and applying it to our new venture, McLaren Golf. We’re creating equipment that is beautifully engineered, meticulously refined and unmistakably McLaren,” stated Nick Collins, CEO of McLaren Automotive.

Golf club production is a tough industry to try to step into for McLaren. For instance, 90% of the market for drivers is dominated by five companies, Callaway, Ping, TaylorMade, Titleist and Cobra. Some big names in sports have tried to break into making golf clubs over the years, most notably Nike, but have failed to make a dent into the market that these “Big-five” of club manufacturers control.

In a press release from McLaren Golf, product information will be released on April 29th, until then we can only speculate on what products they will manufacture. Whatever the products are, it is assured they will be of high quality and excellent engineering, much like the race cars McLaren builds.