~ ~ It’s perhaps appropriate that I should be writing this opinion today, as the world’s best known user of the Nike golf ball, Tiger Woods, steps onto the first tee in his attempt to successfully defend his US Open Golf Championship.
~ ~ Before he began to use Nike golf equipment, and to earn hundreds of millions of dollars in sponsorship for doing so, the Tiger used the more established Titleist golf ball. Rumours have been rife ever since that he continues to use the same Titleist ball, but instead bearing a Nike logo, and that the Nike ball now selling by the million all over the world, and fast establishing itself as the ball of choice of good golfers, in fact bears no resemblance to the product sold to the ordinary punter in the golf shops. But this is pure conjecture (?) and has no basis in solid fact.
~ ~ The Nike golf ball is different from most of its top class competitors in as much as it is not manufactured using the traditional wound method. A wound golf ball has a liquid rubber core, surrounded by elasticated rubber bands of varying degrees of thickness, and is finally covered in its white outer coating cover usually made of balata. Instead of using this method, Nike instead produce a solid ball, made from various different layers of rubber, and finally coated in an injection-moulded urethane cover.
~ ~ Everyday golfers have been using these “solid” balls for donkey’s years, as they are more durable and cut resistant than the balata ball that the top players use, and also give the average player extra distance on each shot, as they come off the clubface at a greater rate of knots. But the solid ball never really caught on with the top professionals and with amateurs with single figure handicaps, as it has a much lower spin rate than the wound golf ball, and thus affords less control over the shot, especially when it comes to the “finesse” shots around the green.
~ ~ But the new Nike ball is now threatening to change this totally, as it has proven itself not only in scientific tests, but also where it counts, (on the golf course) to be at least the equal of, if not better than, any wound ball in production today. There are now upwards of 30 or more PGA Tour players using a Nike ball, and as well as the famous Tiger, the list includes such famous names as Paul Azinger, Mark Brooks, Bill Glasson, Rick Fehr, Stewart Cink, Brian Gay, and Gary Nicklaus. (Son of Jack) Nike maintain that 2001 is the year that they will really break through with this new golf ball, and who can argue with them when the ball has won no fewer than 32 professional tournaments world-wide in its first full season on the Tour. Consumer demand is so strong that it is sometimes even difficult to find stockists of this ball at the present, but no doubt this will soon change as Nike increase their production and manufacturing schedules to meet the growing desires of a golfing public hungry for any new innovation.
~ ~ Nike actually produce two different balls, the Nike Tour Accuracy TW, and the Nike Precision Tour Accuracy. The “TW” ball is designed for top golfers who have a high clubhead velocity at the point of impact, (Tiger uses this one!!) and in all honesty is not really suitable for your average weekend handicap golfer. The other ball in the range Nike Precision Tour Accuracy is much more suited to most ordinary golfers, and also offers a bit of extra distance, while still maintaining the same soft feel that marks it out from other solid balls. It’s more durable than the ball the pros use as well, and provided you don’t go hitting it into knee high rough or water hazards, then it should last you for several rounds of golf. I’ve used this ball myself on a few occasions, and it is remarkably good, but I personally found that I still preferred my Maxfli Balata balls that I have used to great effect down through the years.
~ ~ These balls are not cheap (surprise, surprise!) and if you buy them in your local Nevada Bob’s or local golf superstore they will usually cost somewhere between £8.50 and £9 for a sleeve of three balls. A far less expensive method is to shop around online, where I managed to secure a price of $34.95 for a dozen at a site called www.golfzones.com.
~ ~ So if you fancy hitting the ball that Tiger uses, go out and give them a try.
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