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Jennifer Gardner is the author
While their caddies likely would not get confused, the past two major winners share remarkable similarities within their respective bags. Lucas Glover at the U.S. Open and Stewart Cink at Sunday's Open Championship, are Nike Golf staff players and carry square SQ Sumo2 drivers, Nike CCi Forged blades and Nike prototype putters.
"I'm one of the longer players, but not a bomber, not the longest," said Cink said after winning at Turnberry. "I don't hit many fairways. I just play golf. And I play it how I find it."
Cink is not a man known for tinkering with his clubs. He played a Never Compromise belly putter for nearly six years before switching to the Nike flatstick earlier this season. And the Sumo2 driver has been in his bag since the Bob Hope Classic in early 2008.
"Stewart has such a smooth and fluid swing - he's so tall and he gets so much leverage out of it - he's able to play that club and it's very consistent in terms of its ball flight for him," said Tom Stites, Nike's director of product creation. "It doesn't move much left and right as some of our standard geometries. But he's obviously adjusted to that well and made a lot of money, and now has a major championship to his credit, with that driver."
The modern square driver has been around for about three years, but hasn't been widely adopted by PGA Tour players. Besides being more difficult to work from side to side - a reason Tiger Woods has cited for not playing Nike's square driver - the club makes a particular sound at contact that is noticeably different from traditional-shaped clubs. But some pros are finding that the accuracy and consistency such drivers provide make up for not being able to work the ball.
"It's very forgiving, very high moment of inertia, very consistent crown to sole, which means trajectories come off more similar depending on whether you hit it thin or fat," Stites said. "These guys don't necessarily do that much, but they can hit it higher if they want to or lower if they want to and they don't get inconsistency because of impact location."
Accuracy and a consistent trajectory may be especially important in today's majors, as course setups are often penal for errant shots. Plus, being able to dial in a trajectory in the windy conditions at the Open may have helped Cink.
"Whatever attack angle or wherever they position the ball as they tee it off, that's the trajectory that the club will yield," Stites said. "Let's say they want to hit it higher and so they're hitting it on the upswing to reduce spin. Let's say they hit it a little bit thin, a little lower on the face. A normal golf club, it will come off lower than the desired trajectory they're trying to get. On this club, with its higher moment of inertia and more consistent ball performance, that slightly thin shot will still come off flying pretty high.
"The opposite of that is true, if they're trying to hit it low and they were coming in at a different angle and position in the swing, and they hit it a little bit fat, it won't balloon up on them."
Both Glover and Cink, Stites said, want equipment that is very consistent.
"I don't have the kind of golf game where I have to be dead-on mechanically to play well," Cink said. "I play a lot of feel-type shots, a lot of just, you know, it's kind of gut-instinct type golf I play."
Cink may not change equipment frequently, but Stites said Cink often provides valuable feedback for Nike's development team.
"He really helps us a lot from a research and development standpoint," Stites said. "He spends a lot of time hitting prototypes, he understands the technology. We have great staff guys across the board but Stewart really stands out for the information that he gives us, feedback-wise, that allows us to not only make his clubs better but other people's clubs better too."
Jennifer Gardner is the author
While their caddies likely would not get confused, the past two major winners share remarkable similarities within their respective bags. Lucas Glover at the U.S. Open and Stewart Cink at Sunday's Open Championship, are Nike Golf staff players and carry square SQ Sumo2 drivers, Nike CCi Forged blades and Nike prototype putters.
"I'm one of the longer players, but not a bomber, not the longest," said Cink said after winning at Turnberry. "I don't hit many fairways. I just play golf. And I play it how I find it."
Cink is not a man known for tinkering with his clubs. He played a Never Compromise belly putter for nearly six years before switching to the Nike flatstick earlier this season. And the Sumo2 driver has been in his bag since the Bob Hope Classic in early 2008.
"Stewart has such a smooth and fluid swing - he's so tall and he gets so much leverage out of it - he's able to play that club and it's very consistent in terms of its ball flight for him," said Tom Stites, Nike's director of product creation. "It doesn't move much left and right as some of our standard geometries. But he's obviously adjusted to that well and made a lot of money, and now has a major championship to his credit, with that driver."
The modern square driver has been around for about three years, but hasn't been widely adopted by PGA Tour players. Besides being more difficult to work from side to side - a reason Tiger Woods has cited for not playing Nike's square driver - the club makes a particular sound at contact that is noticeably different from traditional-shaped clubs. But some pros are finding that the accuracy and consistency such drivers provide make up for not being able to work the ball.
"It's very forgiving, very high moment of inertia, very consistent crown to sole, which means trajectories come off more similar depending on whether you hit it thin or fat," Stites said. "These guys don't necessarily do that much, but they can hit it higher if they want to or lower if they want to and they don't get inconsistency because of impact location."
Accuracy and a consistent trajectory may be especially important in today's majors, as course setups are often penal for errant shots. Plus, being able to dial in a trajectory in the windy conditions at the Open may have helped Cink.
"Whatever attack angle or wherever they position the ball as they tee it off, that's the trajectory that the club will yield," Stites said. "Let's say they want to hit it higher and so they're hitting it on the upswing to reduce spin. Let's say they hit it a little bit thin, a little lower on the face. A normal golf club, it will come off lower than the desired trajectory they're trying to get. On this club, with its higher moment of inertia and more consistent ball performance, that slightly thin shot will still come off flying pretty high.
"The opposite of that is true, if they're trying to hit it low and they were coming in at a different angle and position in the swing, and they hit it a little bit fat, it won't balloon up on them."
Both Glover and Cink, Stites said, want equipment that is very consistent.
"I don't have the kind of golf game where I have to be dead-on mechanically to play well," Cink said. "I play a lot of feel-type shots, a lot of just, you know, it's kind of gut-instinct type golf I play."
Cink may not change equipment frequently, but Stites said Cink often provides valuable feedback for Nike's development team.
"He really helps us a lot from a research and development standpoint," Stites said. "He spends a lot of time hitting prototypes, he understands the technology. We have great staff guys across the board but Stewart really stands out for the information that he gives us, feedback-wise, that allows us to not only make his clubs better but other people's clubs better too."
