Oh Nike, Nike, Nike...where have you been all my life?
Okay, I know you’ve been hanging out somewhere in Oregon since the 1960s, and that you’re somehow represented in the wardrobe or shoe rack of more or less every single person in the world under the age of 60. But how come I’ve never owned a Nike golf club? How come I’ve never been tempted to abandon what I already have in favour of a Tom Stites original?
I did have a few hits with the Nike Ignite driver around 2007 and thought very highly of it and could never understand why it disappeared so quickly. But that was the last time I ever hit a club with the swoosh on it.
Have you been making clubs as good as the new SQ MachSpeed and VR (Victory Red) STR8-FIT Tour since then? Or even since you wheeled out your first ever prototype - a blade iron used by David Duval to win the 2001 Open Championship?
Nike SQ Machspeed driver
Even though I’ve been hitting the MachSpeed driver for little more than fortnight, it's fast-emerging as my all-time favourite. Before taking it out to the range and the course I was fairly certain I was going to hate it. As a stickler for traditionally-shaped heads, I feel more comfortable with a fat ‘D’ shape than the modern tapering, triangular form preferred by club designers. As for MachSpeed's square head, I'd never been a disciple. Until now.
The concept is well-known. By pushing a clubhead’s weight to four corners, square heads optimise the club’s moment of inertia, making it more stable and therefore more forgiving should you fail to hit the ball on the clubface sweetspot.
Nike introduced the golf’s first ever square-headed driver in late 2006 with the Sasquatch Sumo2. As I recall, it was ridiculed at first and famously one rival manufacturer gave the fad less than three months!
However, it has eventually gained widespread acceptance for the accuracy, if not the distance it delivered and in 2009 both Lucas Glover (US Open) and Stewart Cink (Open Championship) won major titles using Sumo2 drivers and according to a USA Today report, $36million worth of these clubs had been purchased by July proving that, like Glover and Cink, an awful lot of golfers were willing to trade looks for accuracy.
From a personal perspective, in recent years, it has been a loss of distance relative to my playing partners that has had the greatest impact on my game. The number of fairways I hit has remained fairly stable, or might even have gone up. So square heads never really appealed. Why would I play a dumb-looking club that wouldn’t allow me to hit the ball further and which didn’t keep my ball in the fairway appreciably more often than my existing club?
The MachSpeed is different and I loved it from the very first hit. Though the 10.5 degree version has a 460cc head, it doesn’t look nearly so clunky or as ugly as the Nike Sumo2. As you’d expect, Nike has done a fantastic job with the graphics and the club’s overall appearance. Gone is the rather bizarre dual-tone crown of the Sumo2 with its black top edged with metallic grey at the back in an attempt to disguise its squareness. The MachSpeed is all black and about as sleek as a square head could be.
The Machspeed is a STR8-FIT product which means you can adjust the angle of the clubface from two degrees closed to two degrees open at the twist of a wrench. You purchase the club with the face in the Neutral/Square position and then use the STR8-FIT wrench, (included in the price with a book of instructions), to alter it if necessary.
I saw no need to make any changes as the club looked perfectly set up from the moment I addressed it to the ball. I did play around with the wrench for a while just to see how easy or difficult it was to use (it’s easy) but returned the clubface to its original position before hitting a ball.
In my first round with it, I missed one fairway – the result of an ugly block that came at the home hole and when, to be fair, I was physically done for the day. The rest of the time I felt at ease and confident. As for distance, I didn't gain much but certainly didn’t lose any, either.
The sound of impact, I can only describe as a fairly high-pitched smash, while the Nike grip has a sticky, tactile feel and the UST Mamiya ProForce AXIVcore shaft - though not as stiff as other 'stiff' shafts - feels both solid and reliable. As for workability, some players have shied away from square heads, but I had no problem hitting soft draws and fades - some of which were even intentional!
Nike VR STR8-FIT Tour driver
In the red corner is the Nike VR STR8-FIT Tour - probably the best-looking metal-headed driver I’ve seen for years. There's nothing quirky with it; just a classic, black, rounded ‘D’ crown with a STR8-FIT symbol etched into the face which makes it more visible and therefore has the effect of offering an extra degree or two of loft that can’t hurt your confidence. An alignment line or notch wouldn’t hurt, but the lack of one is a minor concern.
While the crown is simple, flip the clubhead over and the VR distinguishes itself with an ingenious ruby red compression channel that has a similar effect to increasing the face’s COR (Coefficient of Restitution) in increasing ball speed. The ball doesn’t explode into the distance with flames trailing from it like a comet but the feel at impact, and the results farther down the course, are discernible. The sound is that of a titanium crash and the launch high and powerful.
Have to admit I had problems keeping the ball on the straight and narrow even with a 10.5 degree loft but this could have been caused by a typical swing inconsistency, a thinner grip or the Aldila Voodoo stock shaft supplied with the club. Alternatively a combination of all three!
On the range I was hitting a number of fairly wayward shots so with the wrench played around altering the face angle and eventually plumped for closing the face one degree. As a consequence the ball didn’t launch quite as high but the trajectory was pleasingly uniform, suggesting plenty of run on the ball.
Verdict
Of the two, I definitely got better results with the Nike MachSpeed, but by adding a layer or two of tape under the grip and giving more thought to shaft options, I’d be very happy with the VR STR8-FIT Tour too.
