Will McLaren Golf Be A Serious Equipment Manufacturer?

Over or under £899 ($1,200)? That was the question we recently asked on Kick Point: The Golf Gear Show, concerning the price of McLaren Golf’s first driver.

This follows the recent news that the automotive manufacturer - yes, that McLaren, the F1 team - plans to enter the golf industry with what we believe to be a full product line-up.

WATCH: Dan and Joe from Kick Point: The Golf Gear Show discuss the arrival of McLaren Golf (from 05:57)

“I’m going over £1,200 ($1,600),” says Kick Point co-host Joe Ferguson. “I don’t have any information on this. I’m just putting two and two together: the high-end brand, the price point compared to other vehicles. You would anticipate that you’re going to lean into that as a brand.”

So, this sounds rather serious, not just a fun collab or limited edition run of clubs. That McLaren has recruited several experienced golf industry professionals suggests the company is absolutely serious about its move into the golf equipment world.

CEO Neil Howie, the former President and Managing Director at Callaway Golf, Europe, and Chief Marketing Officer, Ryan Lauder, a long-time servant with TaylorMade, are two significant appointments.

Then there’s the experience of its engineering staff, those people responsible for designing and manufacturing some of the fastest cars in the world. The thought of wind tunnels, downforces, aerodynamics, and all that carbon has Joe and co-host Dan Parker giddy with excitement.

“It’s going to be fascinating to see what they come up with,” says Joe. “I’m also fascinated to see the pricing. A McLaren car is going to cost you around £250,000 ($333,000), so do we anticipate that they’re going to be rolling out drivers at $599?”

Joe thinks not, although Dan is predicting a figure of something just under that £899 mark, maybe about £200 ($265) more than the most expensive new driver currently on the market, the Ping G440 K.

Speaking about the announcement, Neil Howie, who is the CEO of McLaren Golf, stated: "McLaren Golf is a high-end, engineering-led venture which goes beyond the equipment.

"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.”

TOUR RUMORS

Something else also has Joe intrigued. Our man has it on pretty good authority (no source mentioned) that McLaren Golf has already lined up “two massive tour pro names”, who are also key investors in the brand.

“If you’ve got the funds to be a key investor in a McLaren Golf product, you’re going to have made some dosh, you’re going to be a big, big player,” says Joe.

We have no information on this, but we can still speculate.

How about Ian Poulter? “Massive thanks to @mclaren and @f1 for looking after us,” said the renowned petrol-head on his Facebook page after attending the Las Vegas Grand Prix in November last year.

Delving a little deeper into Poulter's supercar obsession, however, it looks as though Poulter is more of a Ferrari fan.

What about Rory McIlroy, who, like Poulter, has a pretty impressive car collection? Maybe looking at the current list of equipment free agents will give you a better idea of who might be in a position to join McLaren Golf.

Let us know in the comments box below who you think it might be (assuming, of course, that Joe’s source is accurate).

According to the brand, the launch will take place on April 29th. Details at this stage are scarce, which means Dan and Joe have only been able to have a bit of fun with this.

Joe believes McLaren Golf will have to lean into the fitting side with “Service Centers” or “Pit stops” instead of your traditional custom fitting facilities, with fitters wearing full boiler suits and helmets.

Dan, meanwhile, thinks McLaren Golf’s USP will be a full pit crew being on hand to swap grips from dry to intermediate when rain starts to fall, with a full 14-club regrip taking place in just seconds.

Maybe McLaren will surprise everyone with a drastically smaller driver head size, something around 260cc, tapping into a rather niche market of extremely wealthy and extremely good ball strikers.

That could work, right? After all, very few people own a McLaren. Gaming a McLaren Golf driver would also say, “Yes, I'm good. I'm in an elite club”.

As for the color, F1 fan Dan is confident that McLaren will be using subtle hints of its famous Papaya Orange, which would make a lot of sense.

Back to more serious matters, Joe believes the timing of the venture is an interesting one, what with the golf ball roll back just around the corner.

“You’re going to create a load of research and create a load of work around a brand new product line around a ball that we've got now, and then within a handful of years you might have to redo that work,” he says.

“I’ll be interested to see how they deal with that.”

More will be revealed at the end of next month, unless we receive additional social teasers like the one above between now and April 29, which wouldn’t be at all surprising.

We’re in the queue for product samples (we think/hope), so we'll bring you further news as soon as we can.