The Nike driver that never was
By James Savage
It has been a busy few weeks on the equipment front as we enter a time of year where we learn about lots of new products but can’t talk about them.
Some brands will release teaser material via their tour players’ social media accounts…
Stay tuned on our social channels on Monday to learn everything you need to know about these.
Other brands will share snippets from the testing process on tour…
Mizuno not leaving too much to the imagination here following some tour-player testing at the British Masters…
And some will remain tight-lipped, asking us to do the same, until they lift the media embargo…
Good fun at the @cobragolfuk 2019 product launch today. Was well worth the long journey. New irons were pretty good too but I don’t like to talk about it pic.twitter.com/5YVX3Tg1OJ
— James Savage (@JamesSavageNCG) October 11, 2018
It wasn’t a long journey, it was in Leeds. Normally I have to travel further than most to these type of events. So it’s a joke which was hilarious at the time.
I’ve also been down at Walton Heath this week dipping in and out tour players bags to see who is using new or interesting equipment…
?THREAD?
Bit of early morning putting practise for @TommyFleetwood1 this morning ahead of the @british_masters Pro-Am pic.twitter.com/CKY1O56oOS
— James Savage (@JamesSavageNCG) October 10, 2018
But one of the most interesting equipment stories from this week was about a new driver that never made it to the market.
As you all know, Nike decided to stop making golf clubs and balls a couple of years ago.
In the aftermath Rory McIlroy and Tiger Woods signed deals with TaylorMade while the likes of Brooks Koepka and Tommy Fleetwood became free agents.
But what if Nike hadn’t pulled out of the hardware game? What clubs would those guys be using today if Nike were still making them.
Well, pictures emerged this week of the Nike Vapor Strike driver which was due to be released last year.
We were big fans of every Nike driver we tested and we have no doubt this model would have been up there with the best on the market.
As we can see in these pictures shared by Nike employee Oli Wilson the Vapor Strike had a huge channel behind the face to help add flex and more ball speed.
The Vapor Strike would have replaced the Nike Vapor Fy drivers which were the last models the brand brought to market.
But sadly, we’ll probably never know how good this Nike driver was.
Part of me hopes it was rubbish.
How the free agents get dialled in on tour
A clean sweep for free agents in the 2018 majors
Review: TaylorMade P790 irons
James Savage
Former equipment editor of NCG. Inconsistent ball-striker and tea-maker.
