Nike Golf Releases Secret Behind New Ignite Driver
December 10 2003 - 1:31PM
PR Newswire (US)
Nike Golf Releases Secret Behind New Ignite Driver Evolutionary New
Material and Unique Construction Redefine Distance, Forgiveness
BEAVERTON, Ore., Dec. 10 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Nike Golf's next
generation driver, the Ignite, has already been part of three
professional victories thanks to Tiger Woods, Rory Sabbatini and
Trevor Immelman. Its benefits and the goals of Nike Golf's team of
golf club engineers, peak distance and forgiveness, have already
been showcased yet it's the secret behind why Ignite helps players
get hot that Nike Golf has not disclosed until its launch event on
Monday in Moorpark, California. (Photo:
http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20031210/SFW083 Logo:
http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20020719/NKGOLFLOGO ) In
addition to Nike Golf executives and club team leaders, Nike Golf
Tour Staff members, David Duval, Grace Park, John Cook, Lanney
Wadkins, Rory Sabbatini, and K. Fukabori, attended the Ignite
Launch. Not one but two milestone advances in golf club technology
-- NexTi and the Around the Crown design -- provide the Ignite
driver with "unequalled control and workability," according to
Woods, and "the greatest combination of distance and forgiveness I
have ever experienced in a driver," according to Sabbatini. The
following outlines the steps Nike Golf took to achieve its goal of
a driver that reaches peak distance and control beyond current
standards. Step 1: Material Matters Nike Golf's club team
determined that the goal of reaching peak distance and forgiveness
in a driver beyond current standards meant, simply, raising the
standards. NexTi is the next generation in the evolution of
Titanium, following Beta- Titanium, which is currently the standard
for driver face material. Some of the world's top metallurgists
developed NexTi exclusively for Nike Golf; it has never before been
used in the construction of the face of a driver club head in the
U.S. Although the creation of NexTi, a titanium-based alloy that
can be directionally engineered, is a proprietary process that
cannot be disclosed, the result is a layered yet tightly compressed
metal that is thinner, lighter, and stronger than Beta-Titanium.
Additionally, NexTi microfibers can be bent, shaped and formed
unlike previous forms of titanium. NexTi's unique strength even
when bent and formed allowed Nike Golf's engineers to free their
minds and push the limits of current standards of club head design.
It also allowed Nike Golf to increase the COR to previously
unimaginable limits during the development process. Step 2: Design
Outside the Box The unprecedented strength of NexTi gave Nike
Golf's engineers the freedom to expand the effective hitting area
or "sweet spot" of the club head face -- the area of the face with
the highest and most consistent COR -- creating the most efficient
loss of energy from the center of the face to the edges of the
face. Common club head design has a face much like a trampoline
that begins to lose its effective bounce the further you move away
from the center and the closer you move towards the edges. Nike
Golf's engineers developed the Around the Crown construction that
actually wraps the face over the top line of the club head. Before
the introduction of NexTi, the Around the Crown construction was
effectively unattainable in the more forgiving larger head drivers
without the risk of the face collapsing. The expanded Sweet Spot
was the next step toward reaching peak distance and control. Nike
Golf also discovered that by combining NexTi with the Around the
Crown construction, it could increase the COR to as high as .890.
In the development of the Ignite driver Nike Golf started with club
head faces that significantly exceeded the USGA and R&A
standard of .830 then dialed it back to legal limits rather than
starting with a lower COR and building upon it. The result is a
face that is toeing the line of the legal tolerance. Step 3: Size
Does Matter With the goal of peak distance virtually within its
grasp, Nike Golf's club team focused on reaching extreme
forgiveness. They already knew that a larger face meant increased
forgiveness and control and that the ability to create a large head
driver was not rocket science. With that said, the team
investigated taking the driver head size to the maximum tolerance
allowed by the USGA, or 460cc, to see how it would perform with the
combination of NexTi and Around the Crown construction in an effort
to reach the goal of peak distance and forgiveness. The team
settled upon two sizes to appeal to a broad golfing audience -- a
460cc and a 410cc -- with one design shape that makes the heads not
appear as large as their actual size. Often a barometer for
acceptable standards, players on the professional tour have already
begun to switch to larger head drivers for the performance
enhancements they provide. This includes Woods, typically one of
the most traditional players on tour. Ignition The Ignite driver is
the result of the right combination of design, construction and
material and Nike Golf's quest to reach peak distance and
forgiveness in a club intended for the broadest audience of
golfers. By combining a thinner, lighter, stronger metal, or NexTi,
with a unique club head design that expands the effective hitting
area, or Around the Crown construction, in a larger club head, Nike
Golf is treating golfers to a driver that attains and maintains
peak distance and forgiveness performance. In a word ... Ignite.
Woods, Sabbatini, Immelman and a growing number of professional
golfers across all major professional tours including John Cook,
David Duval, Spike McRoy, Stephen Ames, Carl Petterson, Nick Faldo,
Kyle Thompson, DJ Trahan, Bo Van Pelt, Lanny Wadkins, Grace Park
and Keiichiro Fukabori, have already experienced the wonder and
results of peak performance. Availability While the 460cc was
designed for the ultimate distance and control through increased
forgiveness, Nike Golf's club team also knew that some players
would prefer a slightly smaller head design, and therefore created
the 410cc. The following outlines the Ignite availability: Size
Loft (Flexes) 460cc 8.5-degree (X/S); 9.5-degree (X/S/R);
10.5-degree (S/R/A); Lucky 13-degree (S/R/A) 410cc 8.5-degree
(X/S); 9.5-degree (X/S/R); 10.5-degree (S/R) 460cc (LH) 9.5-degree
(X/S/R); 10.5-degree (S/R/A) Available April 1, 2004 at golf shops
and golf specialty stores nationwide SRP $469 Golf's Evolution
Continues Advances in equipment technology and design have sparked
widespread change throughout golf over the years -- the persimmon
head driver gave way to the cast steel head in 1979; cast steel
head made room for 6-4 titanium drivers beginning around 1993; more
subtly, Alpha (rolled) titanium face plates replaced the cast
titanium head in popularity beginning in 1997; and the Beta
(forged) titanium face plates became the standard around 2001. In
2004, the Ignite driver will herald the first use of NexTi in
driver face construction and the advent of the Around the Crown
design -- combining for peak distance and control and setting a
benchmark for new-age drivers. Nike Golf, located in Beaverton,
Oregon, is passionately dedicated to honoring and respecting the
traditions and heritage of the game, and to providing committed
golfers with the absolute best equipment in the game in every
product category. For more information on Nike Golf, visit our Web
site at http://www.nikegolf.com/. Editors and journalists seeking
editorial information and downloadable images, visit
http://www.nikegolf.com/presscenter.
http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20031210/SFW083
http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20020719/NKGOLFLOGO
http://photoarchive.ap.org/ DATASOURCE: Nike Golf CONTACT: Dean
Stoyer of Nike Golf, +1-503-532-6018, or Web site:
http://www.nikebiz.com/ Web site: http://www.nikegolf.com/
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