Lando Norris and Justin Rose are both negotiating demanding circuits for Team McLaren in the Magic City this week.
While the reigning Formula One world champion is competing in the Miami Grand Prix, Rose is playing in the Cadillac Championship here at Doral. And for the first time, the golfer will be using the McLaren clubs that have been constructed with the help of the team’s F1 design expertise.
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The prices are eye-watering, at £360 for each individual club. But the look is distinctive and for anyone here at the £14.8m PGA Tour event who does not realise the unique tie-up, the distinctive colour of the world No 5’s bag should be a giveaway. It is the same “Papaya” orange as Norris’s car, which will be blazing around the Miami Autodrome. The bag costs £475, but what price is the Rose-Norris double on Sunday evening?
Rose’s bag could be the brightest on tour – McLaren on Instagram
After an opening two-over 74, Rose plainly has work to do, 10 shots off the early pace set by Cameron Young. There were four birdies on his scorecard but two double-bogey sevens on the front nine. He was clearly looking for a lot better in what is a notable week for him.
The timing of the official launch of the racing team’s foray on to the fairways is, of course, no coincidence. On Wednesday night Rose and Norris attended a get-together to celebrate the fact that the new irons were about to be put into proper competition.
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Zak Brown, the chief executive of McLaren Racing, was also due at the private function and the trio had much to discuss. From an idea mooted less than two years ago, Rose will be employing clubs that are very clearly anything but a marketing gimmick.
Millions have been invested in the project, with Rose himself having ploughed in and the expectation is for other pros to sign up. Ian Poulter has signalled his intention to put the irons into play and another close Rose ally in Australian Adam Scott could also become an ambassador. Michelle Wie West, the retired major champion, is another investor who will carry the vibrant bag during her events.
The venture has impetus from the off and Rose is thrilled that it has finally reached the starting grid. “This is something I’ve been involved with from the outset, so this is very exciting,” Rose said. “This is a great tournament to do it with the Miami Grand Prix in town. There’s a lot of synergy this week.”
A closer look at Rose’s bag at Doral – Orlando Ramirez/Getty Images
The story of how the enterprise between England’s most famous racing outfit and one of its most beloved golfers is a fascinating study of how business dealings continue to be struck in friendly rounds of golf.
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But first the question must be asked of Rose: why on earth is he doing this? As a 45-year-old in such great form with a win in his locker in 2026 and a tie for third in the Masters three weeks ago, why is he overhauling his equipment? Is this not a risk, particularly with the season’s second major, the US PGA, a fortnight away?
“I’m actually looking at what can be better and looking to mitigate that risk,” he told Telegraph Sport. “Look, I’ve done this once before as well in 2019 and I have learnt a lot from that process. So I feel in a better place now to go down this path.”
Seven years ago, when Rose left TaylorMade for Honma, a relatively unknown Japanese manufacturer, he was world No 1 and reigning Olympic champion. He won his first event with the shiny clubs, but from there it went south as he fell out of the top 10. Just 18 months into a multi-year contract, Rose and Honma agreed to rip it up. The brief alliance was held up as a salutary tale of the dangers of clearing out the toolbox.
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Team Rose contends this is an entirely different scenario. With Honma it was a case of “here are the clubs, play with them”, but this time Rose has been involved in the process from the beginning. And that is where the benefits of golf’s legendary networking came in.
Rose met Norris and Brown at the BMW PGA Championship Pro-Am and soon struck up a rapport with these two avid golfers (Norris plays off a handy eight-handicap, while Brown is off 14).
Lando Norris is a single-figure handicap golfer – Kate McShane/Getty Images
Brown told Rose that McLaren wanted to do something in golf, but was not sure what. They kicked around possibilities before they decided to utilise McLaren’s research and development mastery. The plan was born and Rose became a regular visitor to the McLaren Technology Centre in Woking, a 20-minute drive from his home in Wentworth, putting his free-agent status to use.
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“When you’re not with an equipment manufacturer there’s the temptation just to bounce around because there’s so many good options out there,” Rose said. “I’ve learnt so much from being brand agnostic that I have my own preference list now. And I feel like I’m in an environment where I can take all my preferences to one place and they can execute on that for me. There are best practices that we’ve put into development that I think are giving me what I feel are a fantastic set of golf clubs.”
Rose attended the 2026 Dutch Grand Prix as a guest of McLaren – Alastair Staley/LAT Images
Of course, it has not just been Rose and the F1 engineers, seemingly switching from brakes and pedals to five-irons and wedges. Neil Howie, a veteran of the golf industry who, for more than two decades served as president and managing director of Callaway Golf Europe, was persuaded out of retirement to lead McLaren Golf. He duly appointed several top research and development executives. Yet the F1 experts have played their role, especially in areas such as aerodynamics and digital simulation.
So far McLaren has only brought irons into play, with Rose set to use the bladed version from six-iron through to pitching wedge and the cavity-backed four and five-irons. He anticipates some tinkering. “Yeah there’s going to be a refinement process,” he said. “You can test all you want, but you have to get the clubs in play, and there’s going to be little mini situations out there, different lies, all sorts of things, just getting comfortable. But in the long term, no, I don’t see there being an issue at all.”
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As for McLaren Golf’s long-term prospects, do not expect the clubs to challenge Callaway or TaylorMade for market share. Rose mentions “6,000 to 8,000 sets” and the target is plainly the high-performance – i.e. expensive – bracket. Bearing McLaren’s name and its famous logo, Rose and co expect the less-is-more philosophy to pay off richly. Especially at these prices.
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