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McLaren enters golf equipment arena with new venture

admin — Sun, 15 Mar 2026 23:22:57 +0000

The racing giant unveils McLaren Golf, blending Formula 1 engineering with club design ahead of its April 29 debut.

There are certain brands that don’t quietly enter a room, and McLaren is one of them.

On March 2, McLaren announced the launch of McLaren Golf, a new venture that extends the company’s high-performance philosophy from the Formula 1 circuit and supercar showrooms to the fairways. The full unveiling of its first products is scheduled for April 29. Exactly what those products are, whether drivers, irons, putters or something more unconventional, remains under wraps, but the signal is clear.

McLaren isn’t licensing its name onto a polo and calling it a day. In fact, according to the company, McLaren Golf will be something else entirely.

“McLaren Golf is a high-end, engineering-led venture which goes beyond the equipment,” said Neil Howie, chief executive officer of McLaren Golf. “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.”

If that sounds ambitious, it should.

McLaren Racing was founded by Bruce McLaren in 1963 and has won 23 Formula 1 World Championships and more than 200 Grands Prix. The company has captured the Indianapolis 500 three times and was victorious in its first attempt at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. McLaren Automotive, headquartered at the McLaren Technology Centre in England, builds ultra high-performance, lightweight supercars assembled by hand and sold in more than 40 markets worldwide.

This is a company that understands carbon fiber. It understands weight savings measured in grams. It understands aerodynamics, drag, structural stiffness and vibration control. Those disciplines are not foreign to modern golf equipment.

Today’s drivers and irons are assemblies of titanium, high-strength steel, carbon fiber, tungsten and carefully tuned internal foams and elastomers. Designers move mass strategically to influence center of gravity, launch windows, spin rates and moment of inertia. They rely on computational fluid dynamics to shape crowns and soles. They use finite element analysis to map stress patterns across thin faces.

That is critical and familiar terrain for a Formula 1 organization as well.

Zak Brown, chief executive officer of McLaren Racing, framed the move as a natural extension. “At McLaren Racing, we’re driven by performance and the pursuit of excellence in everything we do. Taking our benchmark-setting engineering standards from the grid to the golf course feels like a natural step, and one that opens the McLaren brand to a new audience.”

There is logic there. Both motorsport and golf equipment pursue incremental improvement, and the mindsets overlap. But golf is governed differently.

The Rules of Golf set clear boundaries on spring-like effect, head size and overall design. There is a ceiling on performance, and it applies equally whether your engineers are southwest of London or in Southern California. Gains in this industry tend to be measured, not revolutionary.

There is also the matter of trust.

Established brands such as Callaway, Ping, TaylorMade and Titleist have decades of research, Tour validation and fitting infrastructure behind them. Cobra, Mizuno, PXG, Wilson, Tour Edge and Srixon occupy more of that landscape. Breaking into that ecosystem requires more than engineering credibility. It requires distribution, service, fitting networks and, perhaps most importantly, golfers willing to put something new in the bag.

Excited to bring our high-performance DNA to a brand-new venture: McLaren Golf. Combining world class engineering minds with leading golf-industry experts, we will offer beautifully designed equipment, developed to deliver precision and excellence on the golf course. Looking… pic.twitter.com/QLS5p2pzug

— Zak Brown (@ZBrownCEO) March 2, 2026

Nick Collins, chief executive officer of McLaren Automotive, struck a familiar tone when describing the venture. “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.”

The phrase “unmistakably McLaren” may ultimately be the key. The company’s design language is distinct. Its attention to detail is part of its brand equity. If that identity translates into equipment that feels thoughtfully engineered and purpose-built rather than merely branded, golfers will take notice.

If it doesn’t, the market will have little patience.

For now, McLaren has made its intentions clear. On April 29, we will see the first tangible expression of how a company built on racing precision intends to interpret precision in golf.

The starting lights are about to flash, and when the green flag waves in fitting bays in Orlando, Scottsdale and New York instead of on a starting grid in Monte Carlo, we will all be watching.

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Shot Scope enters launch monitor market with affordable LM1

admin — Fri, 27 Feb 2026 23:20:07 +0000

Shot Scope expands beyond GPS and shot tracking with the LM1, a $199 launch monitor designed to deliver simple, useful data without subscriptions.

For years, Shot Scope has lived comfortably in the space between obsessive data nerds and everyday golfers who just want to know how far they hit it and where the round went sideways. The Scottish company built its reputation on shot tracking, GPS watches and laser rangefinders that quietly collect information without turning golf into a science experiment.

Now Shot Scope is stepping into a new lane.

The company has rolled out the LM1 Launch Monitor, its first foray into the launch-monitor category and a clear signal Shot Scope wants to be part of a golfer’s practice life, not just their rounds. Available starting March 26, the most eye-popping number associated with the device is hard to believe: $199.99, with no subscription fees. In a category where prices can quickly drift into four and five figures, that alone will make plenty of golfers pause and take notice.

The LM1 is designed to be simple, portable and approachable. It uses radar-based technology to measure core ball data such as ball speed, carry distance, total distance, launch angle, and smash factor. In other words, it tells you how fast the ball is going, how high it launches and how far it actually flies, which are the building blocks of understanding your swing and your contact. Set it up behind the ball, hit shots and review the numbers through Shot Scope’s ecosystem without needing a monthly subscription to unlock your own data.

That simplicity is the point. The LM1 is not trying to replace a tour-level launch monitor or turn your garage into a simulator bay. It does not measure club path, face angle, or angle of attack. It does not provide spin-axis data, shot-shape modeling or video swing capture. There is no virtual golf, no courses to play indoors and no promises of fitting precision down to the last decimal. This is a practice tool, not a teaching studio.

And that limitation is exactly why it may appeal to the right golfer.

If the @shotscope LM1 launch monitor delivers acceptable accuracy with its $199 price tag and ability to push data into Shot Scope’s app and data ecosystem, it could be a very compelling device for recreational players. pic.twitter.com/DHme5V8N0d

— David Dusek (@Golfweek_Dusek) February 4, 2026

If you are the type of player who wants to know whether your 7-iron really carries 150 yards or if that number only exists on perfect summer days, the LM1 gives you honest feedback. If you are trying to understand gapping, ball speed consistency or whether solid contact is actually happening more often, the data is there without the intimidation factor. It fits neatly into Shot Scope’s broader philosophy: measure what matters, then get out of the way.

The LM1 is launching alongside two other products that reinforce that same idea. The new H50 handheld GPS is aimed at golfers who want detailed hole maps and green contours but would rather not wear a watch. The LoopOne GPS speaker combines audible distance information with full-course mapping and a built-in speaker, blending utility with a little fun. All three products feed into Shot Scope’s growing ecosystem, which also includes the updated Shot Scope 6 platform that organizes more than 100 performance metrics, including Strokes Gained, into something golfers can actually use.

There is a common thread here. Shot Scope is not chasing the most features or the flashiest tech. It is chasing relevance. The LM1 will not tell you everything about your swing, but it will tell you enough to make practice sessions more meaningful. For many golfers, especially those curious about launch monitors but unwilling to commit to premium pricing or ongoing fees, that may be exactly the point.

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Scheffler enters Tiger territory, Reed’s secret free agency?

admin — Mon, 26 Jan 2026 06:47:19 +0000

Check in every week for the unfiltered opinions of our writers and editors as they break down the hottest topics in the sport, and join the conversation by tweeting us at @golf_com. This week, we break down Scottie Scheffler’s latest historic achievement and a strange Patrick Reed revelation.

Scottie Scheffler kicked off his 2026 season just as you might have imagined: with another victory. Scheffler shot a final-round 66 to win the American Express by four and claim his 20th career PGA Tour win. What did you think of Scheffler’s season debut? And if you are the rest of the Tour, what are you thinking?

Alan Bastable, executive editor (@alan_bastable): Forget what I think. How about what the 18-year-old playing alongside Scheffler on Sunday thinks! “One of the coolest things that I learned today was how underrated Scottie Scheffler’s short game is,” Blades Brown said after his buzz-kill fourth-round 74. “To see it in person and just to look at kind of the trajectory and the spin, and just the control that he has with his wedges and short game. Obviously his putting is insane too. It was really cool to watch.” I would concur — Scheffler’s 1.18 putts per green Sunday was best in the field. His 9 birdies were also impressive. Every time I looked up, it seemed Scheffler was spinning a wedge back to within four feet of the hole. Looked like a Golden Tee round. What is the rest of the Tour thinking? Probably. . . [sigh] here we go again.

James Colgan, news and features editor (@jamescolgan26): I know this deserves like a thousand qualifiers, because the American Express is historically one of the easiest tournaments relative to par, but Scottie won in a way we’ve never seen on Sunday. He didn’t just outweather his opponents; he outgunned them. He made nine birdies, and eight of them were converted from inside of five feet (!!!). He’s the third player ever (behind Tiger and Jack) to 20 wins and 4 majors before his 30th birthday — and to everyone else in golf, that should be … terrifying.

Josh Sens, senior writer, (@joshsens). To me, this looked like more of the same. A golfer with no physical weaknesses whose mental game is every bit as good. In this, a relatively low-wattage event, Scheffler proved again that unlike some other big guns in the game, he never takes a week off.

Scheffler won six times last year and seven the year before. If you are Vegas and deciding the over/under line for Scheffler wins in 2026, what are you setting it at?

Bastable: Feels like cheating given we already have one. Can he win five more? Of course! Six more? Maybe. Seven more would bring us to Tiger territory (TW won eight times in both 1999 and 2006). And eight more would bring us to Vijay Singh (2004) and Tiger again (2000) territory. Feels like a big ask. We’re setting the o/u at 6. What say ye, colleagues?!

Colgan: Agreed, Basty. Six is the only rational number. But great athletes teach us to believe in the irrational. I don’t think eight is out of the question.

Sens: If the line is six, I’m all in on the over. One down already, with –if his past schedule repeats–upwards of 15 to 20 starts remaining? I’ll be collecting my money by late August.

Besides Scheffler taking control of the tournament, it was 18-year-old Blades Brown who made headlines earlier in the week. He received a sponsor’s exemption and made his 10th career PGA Tour start, shot 60 on Friday and was one off the lead after 54-holes before shooting 74 Sunday and falling out of the top 10. Was this finish an outlier? Or is Blades a name golf fans should expect to see more of?

Bastable: Outlier? Hardly! He’d already made three PGA Tour cuts heading into this week at an age at which most of his peers are less worried about staring down Scottie Scheffler on a Sunday afternoon than they are about prepping for their next pre-calc exam or landing a prom date. Blades sounds like he’s in full sponge mode. On Sunday evening, he said he could “write a book about what I’ve learned these past couple of days.” In pro golf, 18 is the new 28. There’s little reason to think we won’t see Blades playing more meaningful weekend golf on the PGA Tour this year.

Colgan: The finish wasn’t an outlier. Blades is a name that fans should remember. BUT — and there is a “but” — Sunday was a lesson in how much separates him from consistent PGA Tour success. I’m unbelievably impressed that, at 18 years old, his ceiling is already up there with the best in the sport. But careers are built on raising your floor.

Sens: Blades is no fluke. A name like that is destiny. Guess I shouldn’t have named my son “Shanks.” Poor kid never stood a chance.

‘All kind of depends’: Patrick Reed reveals he isn’t signed with LIV for 2026

By:

Kevin Cunningham

Patrick Reed, days before he won the Dubai Desert Classic, told The Telegraph he’d consider rejoining the PGA Tour if allowed. Then, on Sunday morning, he revealed he has yet to re-sign with LIV Golf — whose season begins in less than two weeks. The Tour’s Returning Member Program specifically created pathways for major winners of the past four years, which Reed doesn’t fall under. Why wouldn’t the Tour be interested in Reed rejoining?

Bastable: Who says they’re not?! I think Brian Rolapp and Co. are interested in welcoming back any player who makes PGA Tour fields stronger and LIV fields weaker. Yes, the current framing of the RMP precludes a Reed return, but rules, as the PGA Tour has been proving of late, are made to be broken — or, at the very least, altered. Who knows where we’ll be in a year? When asked Sunday if he’s been talking to the PGA Tour, Reed said, “Not right now,” which suggests conversations have been happening. I, for one, miss P-Reed. However you feel about the guy, he makes tournaments more interesting.

Colgan: That whole P-Reed back-and-forth was SO weird. If we’ve learned one thing from the Brooks and Bryson situations, it’s that LIV contracts are like every other negotiation — they’re all about leverage! Why is Reed surrendering his leverage by keeping his free agency a secret? I have no idea. But if his PGA Tour return odds are hampered, I’d bet it’s because he’s been operating under the cover of darkness.

Sens: Golf’s civil war is also a zero-sum game. I’m sure the Tour would be interested in getting Reed back for that reason. A win for Ponte Vedra equals a loss for LIV, and the other way around. My guess is that we won’t see that this year. He’s already exempt into the Masters, his world ranking is now solidly inside the top 50, and he’s just improved his market value in any negotiations with LIV. That’s another way of saying that he can likely have his cake and eat it too, resigning for big money without necessarily missing out on the majors.

Speaking of the Returning Member Program, next up on Tour is the Farmers Insurance Open where Brooks Koepka will make his long-awaited return to the PGA Tour. What are you most looking forward to hearing from Koepka about, and how do you expect him to play in his first start?

Bastable: I’m not sure we’ll get a whole lot from him — in the press tent, anyway. I would expect focused, tight-lipped Koepka in San Diego. And who knows what we’ll see on the course? The dirty little secret about Brooks is . . . he has not been playing well. He had just two top-10s on LIV in 2025 and both came in his first four starts. In his last four starts he finished no better than T29. Maybe he was unmotivated. Maybe he was distracted by personal issues. Maybe he was dreaming of his PGA Tour return. Hard to know with Brooks. What we do know is he has much to prove. Would it surprise me if he contends? It would not.

Colgan: I’ve heard a few of Brooks’ LIV counterparts mention Koepka’s personal situation was a key component of his decision to return. I’m not expecting him to clue us in, but it would be nice to hear his on-the-record reasoning for returning to the Tour.

Sens: I’m trying to remember the last time I heard something truly revealing in a press conference. I don’t expect that to change when Koepka steps to the podium. But I expect him to play well, recent form be damned. If ever there was a guy who can turn it off and then back on when it matters to him, it’s Koepka.

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