Nicklausfan
New member
Hey Gang.... I decided to finally write a review on my sticks. They are from Nicklaus golf and in particular the Premium line. This review is long and is based from when I demo'd them to current. The second post is a continuation as it was too long to post together.
Nicklaus Premium Review
Background Story
Hey Gang:
This review will be a bit of a long one as I’ve based all of my observations over the course of a few months (April to October). Here we are… it’s October and the golf season for us Northerners is slowly grinding to a conclusion. Except for some planned trips to the South (in my case…three in fact). This review is going to be a lengthy one. So grab a coffee…maybe a brew… or perhaps a wee dram of Scotch and get comfy.
This review takes us back to the summer of 2010. The Canadian Tour was playing its Tour Championship locally. I hadn’t been on or really thought of being on a golf course for almost two years. A string of health issues had me in a position where playing golf quite frankly was a pipe dream. But I decided to volunteer and be a caddie. That week, I was on the bag of one player who ultimately never made the cut. I was informed that in the event of any firings (there were a few) I would be the first caddy to get on a bag. I did and to make a long story short my guy had the clubhouse lead on Sunday as I left the course by ambulance. My health issues had reared its ugly head… again. But one thing had come out of it… I thought that I could hit and play with these guys. Before I got really sick I was a Scratch to +1 golfer.
As winter approached a New Year loomed in the not so far distance I decided that a resolution would be made. It was simple… no matter the cost I would return to golf. The day came on February 7[SUP]th[/SUP]. I went to a dome here in Niagara Falls and resumed hitting. All in all… things went better than expected. Striking was decent and I really had no complaints. I started to go to the dome on average 3 days a week and things progressed. One day there was a gent hitting next to me with his wife. As I finished up my buckets he came over to me. He said “you have a real nice swing…but you need to lose that sway”. So he asked me if I was consistent and I said yes but in hindsight the response should have been a resounding no. He introduced himself to me and we got talking. I told him that I hadn’t played in two years and he was shocked. I told him my handicap history and he recommended that I tried to play somewhere. Whether it be serious Provincial Amateur events or take another step. He said that if I would he’d work with me for free. I now had a swing coach… something my homemade swing and I never had.
There was success initially and like anything in life everything has a process. I started to feel fairly good and with the new groove rule coming into effect I had to search for clubs to replace my trusty Wilson Staff Pi5 irons and Tw5 wedges. These are clubs that I had been playing since they came out. I’m very loyal to anything I invest in and I’m as far from being a club ho as you can be. Perhaps it’s a budget thing. I really thought about sticking with Wilson Staff because they had been so good for me. In particular, I was going to play the FG Tour irons and wedges. But then I started nosing around and stumbled upon Nicklaus. In particular, the Premium Line and the NPS-2 irons and 10-G Spin Slot wedges. With more research I discovered that I had just missed a Nicklaus demo day at a location not too far from me in Tonawanda. After exchanging e-mails with the very helpful VP of Sales Tony Pando I was informed that the demo irons were still there. You have to love when a demo goes so well that you have to put a set of clubs in your bag.
Initial Impressions
NPS-2 Irons 4-PW and Spin Slot 10-G wedges – The NPS-2 irons gave me was a feeling of “Oh my.. What have we got here?” As great as they looked on the nicklausgolf.com website they looked better in person. Definitely not a shovel and overall they had a very clean head. I loved the fact that these cavity-muscles had little to no offset. Better yet they had no gaudy medallions. I said to my wife “if these hit and feel as good as they look… the search might be over”. The NPS-2 irons set up to the ball extremely well and the eye really liked the look at set-up. The irons were paired with FST Pro Silver shafts which are 90 gram shafts and I did like the feel immediately in hand. While I was at it I also took out to the range 52*and 56* spin Slot 10-G wedges. Much like the NPS-2 irons the Spin Slot 10-G wedges are paired with Pro Silver by FST shafts. One of the first things that you’ll notice about the head design in the wedges is the notch at the heel. Although to some it looks odd there is a real purpose to the design that the design team at Nicklaus had in mind (more on that later). I was offered a bucket of balls and out to the dome I went.
I started out by hitting some wedges to the various targets at the dome. The first thing that I noticed was the feel. Not just feel of the strike but of the heads themselves. Although I would determine later in the year that the wedges were too light for my liking I didn’t mind the swing weight at all. Shot after shot felt real good off of the wedges and although the jury was still out on the spin it seemed the milled faces imparted a lot of spin on the conforming wedges. As I progressed through the wedges I thought that Nicklaus by all accounts early on had winning wedges.
Out of the NPS-2 iron set the clubs available for demo purposes were the 4, 7, 9 and PW. Plenty of clubs to get an idea of how they’d perform. Like I mentioned earlier the irons set up real nice behind the ball. They are clean and offer a lot of confidence. Buyers beware however… these clubs are not geared towards a low handicapper. I missed a couple of shots and I was punished for the mishits. There is a certain degree of forgiveness but they are not set-up like a GI iron. I loved the feel of the heads constructed of 8620 Carbon steel. Although not a forging they certainly have the feel of one. All in all… the NPS-2 irons passed my demo criteria and I would submit an order three days later… 4–PW NPS-2 irons and 52* bent to 53* and 58* Spin Slot wedges. One thing for those not in the know… Nicklaus will sell heads only… something uncommon amongst OEM’s.
Polarity 3H 21* - My irons and wedges arrived two days before my first tournament this year (May 25[SUP]th[/SUP]). I fell ill on the second tee but finished my round. Scoring wasn’t good at all and it was an embarrassment… I should have withdrawn. I left all of my medication at home 3 hours away… and we’re talking insulin, Nitro-spray and other cardiac medications. On the heels of that tournament I decided to give a couple more clubs a look from Nicklaus. I was in the market for a hybrid and potentially a wood.
The Polarity hybrid is likely the most square-faced least offset hybrid I have seen. The head isn’t like a fairway wood style hybrid but more like an “iron-wood”. The head is a nice black colour with a fairly short footprint. On the opposite side of the hosel is a little “nub” of weight. The thinking behind this concept was to increase M.O.I. and have the club resist to twisting. I know I have read that this “nub” has bothered some but how it could bother one at address I have no idea. The stock shaft I tested was the stock Precision Rifle Black. By the time that I got around to testing it was nice enough to go outdoors. Although I hated the sound initially the results could not be denied. Shot after shot was high, long, straight and majestic.
I would use it in a tournament June 17th on numerous Par 4 holes as we were on a course where accuracy off of the tee is placed at a premium. The club didn’t let me down at all and it started to turn into my go to club.
Nicklaus ML 3x3 15* Fairway Wood - After all of the practice indoors during the winter and early in the spring I felt that there was one constant in my bag. It had to be my Titleist 904F 17* wood. Reliable an’ trusty like an old Bloodhound to its master. But I had to toy around a little and see what Nicklaus was up to with this product.
The Nicklaus ML 3x3 feature rails on the sole. A concept I had on a Maltby Trouble Out Plus 7 wood I had been playing for some time. That said however, the rails on the 3x3 aren’t as obvious. The face is shallow and square. The head is clean and has a nice black finish to it. The shaft that I would try was the stock Fujikura SG Pro 4.01. It took a few hits for this golfer to adjust to the shallower profile. It shouldn’t have… but did. All I can say is that the theory behind “3 level face” (think ML4 on a smaller engine) works. The design boasts higher ball velocity and a larger sweet spot. I’m not too sure in what the comparison was with but the wood delivers a plethora of power in a small engine. The ball flight was higher than what I was accustomed to but that would be rectified with one range session with my coach and his fitter (now mine as well). We discovered that moving it back a touch lowers the flight to a point where it’s perfect. The sound created is a thing of beauty. I’m not too sure what to compare it to but for some reason the venerable TaylorMade V Steel came to mind.
Strike after strike produced straight shots.
To summarize, my initial impressions of the Nicklaus Premium line. Wow! Totally better than I could have ever dreamed. I would have no problem playing almost all Nicklaus Premium clubs.
Nicklaus Premium Review
Background Story
Hey Gang:
This review will be a bit of a long one as I’ve based all of my observations over the course of a few months (April to October). Here we are… it’s October and the golf season for us Northerners is slowly grinding to a conclusion. Except for some planned trips to the South (in my case…three in fact). This review is going to be a lengthy one. So grab a coffee…maybe a brew… or perhaps a wee dram of Scotch and get comfy.
This review takes us back to the summer of 2010. The Canadian Tour was playing its Tour Championship locally. I hadn’t been on or really thought of being on a golf course for almost two years. A string of health issues had me in a position where playing golf quite frankly was a pipe dream. But I decided to volunteer and be a caddie. That week, I was on the bag of one player who ultimately never made the cut. I was informed that in the event of any firings (there were a few) I would be the first caddy to get on a bag. I did and to make a long story short my guy had the clubhouse lead on Sunday as I left the course by ambulance. My health issues had reared its ugly head… again. But one thing had come out of it… I thought that I could hit and play with these guys. Before I got really sick I was a Scratch to +1 golfer.
As winter approached a New Year loomed in the not so far distance I decided that a resolution would be made. It was simple… no matter the cost I would return to golf. The day came on February 7[SUP]th[/SUP]. I went to a dome here in Niagara Falls and resumed hitting. All in all… things went better than expected. Striking was decent and I really had no complaints. I started to go to the dome on average 3 days a week and things progressed. One day there was a gent hitting next to me with his wife. As I finished up my buckets he came over to me. He said “you have a real nice swing…but you need to lose that sway”. So he asked me if I was consistent and I said yes but in hindsight the response should have been a resounding no. He introduced himself to me and we got talking. I told him that I hadn’t played in two years and he was shocked. I told him my handicap history and he recommended that I tried to play somewhere. Whether it be serious Provincial Amateur events or take another step. He said that if I would he’d work with me for free. I now had a swing coach… something my homemade swing and I never had.
There was success initially and like anything in life everything has a process. I started to feel fairly good and with the new groove rule coming into effect I had to search for clubs to replace my trusty Wilson Staff Pi5 irons and Tw5 wedges. These are clubs that I had been playing since they came out. I’m very loyal to anything I invest in and I’m as far from being a club ho as you can be. Perhaps it’s a budget thing. I really thought about sticking with Wilson Staff because they had been so good for me. In particular, I was going to play the FG Tour irons and wedges. But then I started nosing around and stumbled upon Nicklaus. In particular, the Premium Line and the NPS-2 irons and 10-G Spin Slot wedges. With more research I discovered that I had just missed a Nicklaus demo day at a location not too far from me in Tonawanda. After exchanging e-mails with the very helpful VP of Sales Tony Pando I was informed that the demo irons were still there. You have to love when a demo goes so well that you have to put a set of clubs in your bag.
Initial Impressions
NPS-2 Irons 4-PW and Spin Slot 10-G wedges – The NPS-2 irons gave me was a feeling of “Oh my.. What have we got here?” As great as they looked on the nicklausgolf.com website they looked better in person. Definitely not a shovel and overall they had a very clean head. I loved the fact that these cavity-muscles had little to no offset. Better yet they had no gaudy medallions. I said to my wife “if these hit and feel as good as they look… the search might be over”. The NPS-2 irons set up to the ball extremely well and the eye really liked the look at set-up. The irons were paired with FST Pro Silver shafts which are 90 gram shafts and I did like the feel immediately in hand. While I was at it I also took out to the range 52*and 56* spin Slot 10-G wedges. Much like the NPS-2 irons the Spin Slot 10-G wedges are paired with Pro Silver by FST shafts. One of the first things that you’ll notice about the head design in the wedges is the notch at the heel. Although to some it looks odd there is a real purpose to the design that the design team at Nicklaus had in mind (more on that later). I was offered a bucket of balls and out to the dome I went.
I started out by hitting some wedges to the various targets at the dome. The first thing that I noticed was the feel. Not just feel of the strike but of the heads themselves. Although I would determine later in the year that the wedges were too light for my liking I didn’t mind the swing weight at all. Shot after shot felt real good off of the wedges and although the jury was still out on the spin it seemed the milled faces imparted a lot of spin on the conforming wedges. As I progressed through the wedges I thought that Nicklaus by all accounts early on had winning wedges.
Out of the NPS-2 iron set the clubs available for demo purposes were the 4, 7, 9 and PW. Plenty of clubs to get an idea of how they’d perform. Like I mentioned earlier the irons set up real nice behind the ball. They are clean and offer a lot of confidence. Buyers beware however… these clubs are not geared towards a low handicapper. I missed a couple of shots and I was punished for the mishits. There is a certain degree of forgiveness but they are not set-up like a GI iron. I loved the feel of the heads constructed of 8620 Carbon steel. Although not a forging they certainly have the feel of one. All in all… the NPS-2 irons passed my demo criteria and I would submit an order three days later… 4–PW NPS-2 irons and 52* bent to 53* and 58* Spin Slot wedges. One thing for those not in the know… Nicklaus will sell heads only… something uncommon amongst OEM’s.
Polarity 3H 21* - My irons and wedges arrived two days before my first tournament this year (May 25[SUP]th[/SUP]). I fell ill on the second tee but finished my round. Scoring wasn’t good at all and it was an embarrassment… I should have withdrawn. I left all of my medication at home 3 hours away… and we’re talking insulin, Nitro-spray and other cardiac medications. On the heels of that tournament I decided to give a couple more clubs a look from Nicklaus. I was in the market for a hybrid and potentially a wood.
The Polarity hybrid is likely the most square-faced least offset hybrid I have seen. The head isn’t like a fairway wood style hybrid but more like an “iron-wood”. The head is a nice black colour with a fairly short footprint. On the opposite side of the hosel is a little “nub” of weight. The thinking behind this concept was to increase M.O.I. and have the club resist to twisting. I know I have read that this “nub” has bothered some but how it could bother one at address I have no idea. The stock shaft I tested was the stock Precision Rifle Black. By the time that I got around to testing it was nice enough to go outdoors. Although I hated the sound initially the results could not be denied. Shot after shot was high, long, straight and majestic.
I would use it in a tournament June 17th on numerous Par 4 holes as we were on a course where accuracy off of the tee is placed at a premium. The club didn’t let me down at all and it started to turn into my go to club.
Nicklaus ML 3x3 15* Fairway Wood - After all of the practice indoors during the winter and early in the spring I felt that there was one constant in my bag. It had to be my Titleist 904F 17* wood. Reliable an’ trusty like an old Bloodhound to its master. But I had to toy around a little and see what Nicklaus was up to with this product.
The Nicklaus ML 3x3 feature rails on the sole. A concept I had on a Maltby Trouble Out Plus 7 wood I had been playing for some time. That said however, the rails on the 3x3 aren’t as obvious. The face is shallow and square. The head is clean and has a nice black finish to it. The shaft that I would try was the stock Fujikura SG Pro 4.01. It took a few hits for this golfer to adjust to the shallower profile. It shouldn’t have… but did. All I can say is that the theory behind “3 level face” (think ML4 on a smaller engine) works. The design boasts higher ball velocity and a larger sweet spot. I’m not too sure in what the comparison was with but the wood delivers a plethora of power in a small engine. The ball flight was higher than what I was accustomed to but that would be rectified with one range session with my coach and his fitter (now mine as well). We discovered that moving it back a touch lowers the flight to a point where it’s perfect. The sound created is a thing of beauty. I’m not too sure what to compare it to but for some reason the venerable TaylorMade V Steel came to mind.
Strike after strike produced straight shots.
To summarize, my initial impressions of the Nicklaus Premium line. Wow! Totally better than I could have ever dreamed. I would have no problem playing almost all Nicklaus Premium clubs.
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