I am intrigued by it, for sure...but I still think it is about as ugly as drivers come.
Nike VRS Covert Driver Preview
We have an entire thread about what "Tour" means to us. I said "an extra $100". I sound really smart.
But I bet the tour version has the real deal shaft and the other has a a "made-for" in it.
Tadashi70
Well-known member
Red it's that bad of a color
I need to see it in person.
Tadashi70
Well-known member
You and me both, I think the club will be a beast. Nike seems to grow with each driver.
Plus it comes with a free pair of shoes. Hehe
10YardDraw
Ex Club Ho
I just hope to god that thing looks better in person because those pics just make it look horrible!
Scrap Iron
On The Eh Team
There you go FIFY
10YardDraw
Ex Club Ho
lol nice. I really want to see it in person and give it a few swings.
I can't wait to see/hit this driver. The idea of the "function" of the cavity and 5 degrees of loft adjustment fill me with driver lust.
Scrap Iron
On The Eh Team
Other than the size and the fixed weight does anyone know what the difference is between the Tour and non tour version is?
TripleBogieTim
Long lost sheep
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Not impressed with this at all
The color. Otherwise I think you nailed it.
Scrap Iron
On The Eh Team
Thank you sir.
- Joined
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Hmmm... I don't know what to think about this one. I was interested at first. But I think Nike might have lost me again now that I've seen the whole thing. They're trying too hard here from a "cool" standpoint.
staticline
New member
I got to hit this. I came away impressed. I will post more tomorrow.
Tadashi70
Well-known member
You mean the cavity didn't effect you at all? No way! Looking forward to your thoughts.
What? How? Where? Why? And when can I come with?
Scrap Iron
On The Eh Team
I will get on the bus with you.
Just pick me up on your way south.
thehackingmurse
@mursesunited
Looking forward to what you have to say. Still hitting my Nike SQ and love it. Maybe an excuse to upgrade finally?
staticline
New member
THP's Preview: http://www.thehackersparadise.com/?p=17950
This week, I got to be part of a testing group for Nike. Prior to posting this, I confirmed with Nike that I could discuss the testing, mainly because they did not mention confidentiality during the test. Each tester brought their "gamer" driver. I did not see other testers when I was out there. But, that was probably due to scheduling, not for secretness. The testing was like a quasi-fitting. It didn't involve hitting the club with different shafts. It was like getting fitted with the assumption that you would used the stock shaft, nothing exotic.
Nike had the Trackman out there. If you haven't tested with one of those and the opportunity arises, I highly recommend it. It tracks about 10 different numbers, with simulated flight and dispersion characteristics. And keeps history so you can compare different tests. Very cool techy stuff.
My club methodology:
Historically, for me, I get fit for a club and that club will stay in my bag for several years. I have never felt that techology changed enough to justify spending $300-1000 on club changes for a couple of yards of distance, spin, etc. I don't get into the technical aspects much, either. I had to look at my THP Signature to remeber my driver was a 910 and not a 909. Once I get fitted, I forget about all of that and just swing the club. Also, I have a very good relationship with my fitter. I'll ask him about a club and 99% of the time, he will tell me to stick with what I've got. There have been about 4 occasions, in the 10 years I've known him, when he said, "You need to hit this". The first time was when the high MOI putters really broke through about 4 years ago. The second getting a couple of hybrids and dumping my 2 & 3-irons. The 3rd was with the Titleist 910. The last time was last month when he saw the Covert.
I showed up with my Titleist 910D2, stock 'ahina, with a B1 setting. I was fitted for this driver, including the setting, early last year. Once that was done I never tinkered with the setting. In fact, I never took the wrench or manual out of the plastic. (http://www.titleist.com/images/products/pdfs/910_drivers.pdf)
Nike had the Performance (460) and Tour (430) offering at the test. With my 910 being more like the Performance model, I tested that.
Regarding the pre-release pics:
Swoosh: I made fun of it. I thought the eye would be drawn to it and cause distractions.
Color: Didn't bother me. I'm a OU Sooner fan, so maroon, or dark red, always looks good to me.
Cavity: Didn't bother me. I figured that I wouldn't be seeing that at address. So, who cares.
Regarding what I saw/hit this week:
Swoosh: I never gave it a second look. Once I addressed the ball, I was in my routine and just looking at a dimple on the ball, like I always do.
Color: It's not a dark red, somewhere between dark and normal. Glare was never an issue. But, that may have been because of time of day and never having a reflection go towards my eyes. The color looks like it would do a good job of absorbing light, IMO.
Cavity: Never considered it when I was over the ball.
Intro:
From what I can remember, the Covert has loft cabilities from 8.5-12.5, in 1/2* increments. There is also a Left, Center, Right adjustment. I think it ends up having 15 different loft/lie options. The cavity on the Performance model is about 1/2" deeper than the Tour model. The 460cc Covert looked smaller than my 460cc 910.
Devil's Advocate:
I am always skeptical of any testing. I firmly believe that once you start hitting a different club, your boddy/mind will begin to subconsciously adjust to that club.
Actual testing:
Got loosened up. Then hit 3-4 with my driver to make sure Trackman was dialed in. While I did that, Nike configured their driver to have the same setting as my D2. After testing, they let me see the numbers for both drivers.
Sound: Initially it sounded a little dead. But, on the Performance driver, I think Nike has figured out how to lessen the ping, or click noise. After a couple of hits, I no longer noticed it.
Feel: I coulde definitely "feel" the head, which seemed heavier than my D2. What I learned, after testing, was that the shaft is lighter, about 50g. My current shaft is 72g. So, while the total weight of the clubs were the same, some of that weight is now in the head to offset the lighter shaft.
Shaft: Nothing noticeable. I have never been good a feeling whether a shaft was too stiff or "whippy". Maybe that's because I've always been in a shaft that works for me. The stock shaft in this test felt good. It just took a couple swings to get used to it being lighter.
Distance: My ballspeed was 1mph better in the Covert. Good for a couple of yards. Not material. My fitter did say that he was told that the distance gains for someone already in a relatively new fitted driver may not be much. That makes sense to me.
Dispersion: Incredible. This is what will make me hit this driver again in February.
MOI: Very high. The cavity allowed Nike to move the weight of the club closer to the face and also to the toe and heel. I did not hit any shots on the toe. If I hit something slightly on the heel, the ball still rocketed off the face and felt pretty solid.
Tour Version: (I didn't test this. Just hit a few after my test was over)
Slightly smaller head and not as much MOI.
More of a clicky sound at impact.
Misses tended to go right. (The engineer has noticed this with everyone who's hit the Tour version. His comment was that your swing really needed to be dialed in to hit the Tour version.)
With all that being said, I was highly impressed with the Covert. Some of my drives with the 910 started going uncharacteristically left (straight pull). I don't know if that was because my body/mind was putting a "Covert swing" on my 910 (see my 'Devil's Advocate' message). But, we did go back and forth between clubs one multiple occasions. So, I won't entirely discount the Dispersion gains that I got from the Covert.
This is truly the first time that I have hit a driver and really had the feeling of compressing the ball. It was a wonderful feeling. While that compression did not translate into additional ballspeed, it was a nice feeling. Combine that with how tight my shot grouping was and I will definitely hit this club again.
This week, I got to be part of a testing group for Nike. Prior to posting this, I confirmed with Nike that I could discuss the testing, mainly because they did not mention confidentiality during the test. Each tester brought their "gamer" driver. I did not see other testers when I was out there. But, that was probably due to scheduling, not for secretness. The testing was like a quasi-fitting. It didn't involve hitting the club with different shafts. It was like getting fitted with the assumption that you would used the stock shaft, nothing exotic.
Nike had the Trackman out there. If you haven't tested with one of those and the opportunity arises, I highly recommend it. It tracks about 10 different numbers, with simulated flight and dispersion characteristics. And keeps history so you can compare different tests. Very cool techy stuff.
My club methodology:
Historically, for me, I get fit for a club and that club will stay in my bag for several years. I have never felt that techology changed enough to justify spending $300-1000 on club changes for a couple of yards of distance, spin, etc. I don't get into the technical aspects much, either. I had to look at my THP Signature to remeber my driver was a 910 and not a 909. Once I get fitted, I forget about all of that and just swing the club. Also, I have a very good relationship with my fitter. I'll ask him about a club and 99% of the time, he will tell me to stick with what I've got. There have been about 4 occasions, in the 10 years I've known him, when he said, "You need to hit this". The first time was when the high MOI putters really broke through about 4 years ago. The second getting a couple of hybrids and dumping my 2 & 3-irons. The 3rd was with the Titleist 910. The last time was last month when he saw the Covert.
I showed up with my Titleist 910D2, stock 'ahina, with a B1 setting. I was fitted for this driver, including the setting, early last year. Once that was done I never tinkered with the setting. In fact, I never took the wrench or manual out of the plastic. (http://www.titleist.com/images/products/pdfs/910_drivers.pdf)
Nike had the Performance (460) and Tour (430) offering at the test. With my 910 being more like the Performance model, I tested that.
Regarding the pre-release pics:
Swoosh: I made fun of it. I thought the eye would be drawn to it and cause distractions.
Color: Didn't bother me. I'm a OU Sooner fan, so maroon, or dark red, always looks good to me.
Cavity: Didn't bother me. I figured that I wouldn't be seeing that at address. So, who cares.
Regarding what I saw/hit this week:
Swoosh: I never gave it a second look. Once I addressed the ball, I was in my routine and just looking at a dimple on the ball, like I always do.
Color: It's not a dark red, somewhere between dark and normal. Glare was never an issue. But, that may have been because of time of day and never having a reflection go towards my eyes. The color looks like it would do a good job of absorbing light, IMO.
Cavity: Never considered it when I was over the ball.
Intro:
From what I can remember, the Covert has loft cabilities from 8.5-12.5, in 1/2* increments. There is also a Left, Center, Right adjustment. I think it ends up having 15 different loft/lie options. The cavity on the Performance model is about 1/2" deeper than the Tour model. The 460cc Covert looked smaller than my 460cc 910.
Devil's Advocate:
I am always skeptical of any testing. I firmly believe that once you start hitting a different club, your boddy/mind will begin to subconsciously adjust to that club.
Actual testing:
Got loosened up. Then hit 3-4 with my driver to make sure Trackman was dialed in. While I did that, Nike configured their driver to have the same setting as my D2. After testing, they let me see the numbers for both drivers.
Sound: Initially it sounded a little dead. But, on the Performance driver, I think Nike has figured out how to lessen the ping, or click noise. After a couple of hits, I no longer noticed it.
Feel: I coulde definitely "feel" the head, which seemed heavier than my D2. What I learned, after testing, was that the shaft is lighter, about 50g. My current shaft is 72g. So, while the total weight of the clubs were the same, some of that weight is now in the head to offset the lighter shaft.
Shaft: Nothing noticeable. I have never been good a feeling whether a shaft was too stiff or "whippy". Maybe that's because I've always been in a shaft that works for me. The stock shaft in this test felt good. It just took a couple swings to get used to it being lighter.
Distance: My ballspeed was 1mph better in the Covert. Good for a couple of yards. Not material. My fitter did say that he was told that the distance gains for someone already in a relatively new fitted driver may not be much. That makes sense to me.
Dispersion: Incredible. This is what will make me hit this driver again in February.
MOI: Very high. The cavity allowed Nike to move the weight of the club closer to the face and also to the toe and heel. I did not hit any shots on the toe. If I hit something slightly on the heel, the ball still rocketed off the face and felt pretty solid.
Tour Version: (I didn't test this. Just hit a few after my test was over)
Slightly smaller head and not as much MOI.
More of a clicky sound at impact.
Misses tended to go right. (The engineer has noticed this with everyone who's hit the Tour version. His comment was that your swing really needed to be dialed in to hit the Tour version.)
With all that being said, I was highly impressed with the Covert. Some of my drives with the 910 started going uncharacteristically left (straight pull). I don't know if that was because my body/mind was putting a "Covert swing" on my 910 (see my 'Devil's Advocate' message). But, we did go back and forth between clubs one multiple occasions. So, I won't entirely discount the Dispersion gains that I got from the Covert.
This is truly the first time that I have hit a driver and really had the feeling of compressing the ball. It was a wonderful feeling. While that compression did not translate into additional ballspeed, it was a nice feeling. Combine that with how tight my shot grouping was and I will definitely hit this club again.
Very cool that you got to do that static! Glad it went well for ya!
If you had the $400, would this be on your ponder list to buy?
If you had the $400, would this be on your ponder list to buy?