SNEAK PEEK: Revolutionary New Nike Golf Ball on the Way

by Bob Diercksmeier on September 3, 2010

Ten years ago Nike Golf revolutionized the golf ball industry with its introduction of the Tour Accuracy, the first solid core golf ball, which sent wound golf ball manufacturers scrambling to find competitive golf ball technologies. When Tiger committed to playing this new ball in 2000, it confirmed the success of the solid core golf ball and indicated that the technology would be the benchmark for golf ball design in the future. Well, it looks like history might be about to repeat itself.

Last week on Twitter I heard a mention of a new prototype golf ball from Nike Golf — the PROTOTYPE RZN ball — presumably released at its equipment and sales meetings last month in Fort Worth. Nike Golf has given some of its reps sleeves of this ball to test out and give their opinions and feedback. In this post yesterday on Golfwrx.com we saw the first information about and pictures of this new ball, the pics are in the gallery below (courtesy of Golfwrx.com).

According to the post, this new ball features a new material — resin (hence the prototype name) injected into the core — the first time in the 10-year history of the solid core ball that a material other than rubber would be used for the core of a solid core production golf ball. The new material reportedly makes the core lighter, which allows more weight to be moved to the perimeter of the ball, increasing MOI, and thus ball speed and directional forgiveness. Supposedly the ball feels lighter, and the cover feels softer, presumably for increased feel around the greens. The claim is also that the ball spins less with the driver and more with the wedges.

The first entry in the post mentions these are the three key features of the new ball:

- Faster ball speed: 3 mph faster on average
- Highest MOI ever for a golf ball: more forgiving and tighter shot dispersion
- Steeper Spin Slope (relationship of driver spin to wedge spin): 150 rpm less driver spin and 300 rpm more wedge spin than the Nike One Tour (an already high spinning ball)

Of course none of this information is official or straight from Nike Golf. The official name for this ball is supposed to be revealed in November, with ball hitting retail shelves in February. As soon as we get any official information on this new ball from Nike Golf we’ll surely bring it to you here on NG Nation. I personally can’t wait to see and test out this new ball. A question I have is will this new ball be offered in addition to the ONE Tour and Tour D models, or in place of one or both? Sounds like we’ll have to wait until November to find out.

For now, check out the comments on the new PROTOTYPE RZN ball in the Golfwrx.com forum at the link below, and see what people are saying about this revolutionary new golf ball design.

All photos courtesy of Golfwrx.com.

Check out the forum post about the PROTOTYPE RZN on Golfwrx.com >>

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A look at some Nike Golf umbrellas

by Alan Numsuwan on September 3, 2010

As many of you know, this week’s FedEx Cup playoff tournament is at TPC Boston and weather experts have predicted Hurricane Earl to make an appearance.

In the lastest weather report I read up here in the northeast, Hurricane Earl was downgraded to a Category 1 hurricane, which still means that winds could be as high as 74 to 95 miles per hour.

According to PGA Tour on-site meteorologist Stewart Williams, Hurricane Earl will arrive at TPC Boston early this afternoon, when 48 of the 99 golfers in the field will be on the course. It’s estimated to drop 2 to 4 inches of rain on TPC tonight, but hopefully it will be gone by Saturday.

Having said that, the best way to stay dry on the golf course is with a good rain suit and a big umbrella. Here’s a look at some of my favorite recent Nike Golf umbrellas. Hope you enjoy and stay dry!

68″ Victory Red Windsheer II Umbrella

62″ Windproof Umbrella

62″ Windsheer II

48″ Nike Golf Japan

68″ 2009 SQ

68″ UV Cut

62″ TW Windsheer II

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CONTEST: Nike Golf’s College Football Bracket Challenge

September 2, 2010

Today Nike Golf announced a fun contest on their Facebook page — since this is opening weekend for college football, Nike Golf is pitting their athletes against each other in a bracket-style competition at the Deutsche Bank Championship. Each athlete will be sporting their school colors at the tournament this weekend, and they will represent [...]

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Nike Athletes in the Field: 9.02-9.06

September 2, 2010

This week is huge on the PGA Tour, as Tiger and Leonard will fight to stay alive in the the hunt for the FedEx Cup, while the Champions Tour heads to Pebble Beach and Simon Dyson looks to keep up his hot play in Europe. Also, Jamie Lovemark returns to the Nationwide Tour sitting at [...]

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FedEx Cup Fantasy Four: Deutsche Bank Championship

September 1, 2010

For the second week of the PGA Tour Playoffs, we head to TPC Boston for an event and course that have been played since 2003. There’s plenty of history to rely on, along with players struggling to win the Tour Championship and make the cut. We have the Top 100 this week, trying to get [...]

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Nike Athletes: Tour Wrap-up 8.29

August 30, 2010

Great weekend for Nike golf. Lots of players in contention and there could have been wins on three of the major tours. Woods impressed and made ground, while Casey and Cink played very well. Dyson and Molinari were in contention from the start, while Pettersen and Wie were in similar positions in Winnipeg, but finished [...]

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A Sneak Peek at Nike Golf’s 2011 Equipment Line

August 30, 2010

UPDATE 9.1.10: Yesterday pictures were also posted on Golfwrx.com of Nike Golf’s new VR Pro Combo and Pro Blade Irons. Both are very clean, classic designs, and I am particularly drawn to the VR Pro Combos (I still own my Pro Combo Tour and OS irons). I can’t wait to see these, and hopefully I’ll [...]

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Nike Golf Athlete Michelle Wie Wins Second LPGA Title

August 30, 2010

Wie Touts Ball Striking and Putting as Keys to Victory The phenomenal talent of Michelle Wie came shining through at the LPGA’s CN Canadian Women’s Open.  The 20-year-old Nike athlete captured her second LPGA career title by leading the tournament from start to finish and ultimately winning by a three-stroke margin.

 One of the highlights [...]

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FedEx Cup Fantasy Four Recap: The Barclays

August 29, 2010

The playoffs truly started with a bang as a well deserved Matt Kuchar picked up his first win of the season in dramatic fashion. His win was not only his first of the season, but caused the biggest points mix-up in the Fantasy Four contest to date. Due to the double points, we’ve seen a [...]

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A Molinari Weekend: Johnnie Walker and the Ryder Cup

August 29, 2010

What a big weekend for the Molinari brothers, Edoardo and Francesco. Edoardo won the Johnnie Walker Championship by circling the last three holes of the tournament and winning by one shot at -10. Meanwhile, Francesco shot a 75, but still finished at -7 and tied for 3rd place. Edoardo picked up his 2nd win of [...]

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