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Nike Vapor Flex Driver - Review Thread

SuperStroke
GregDan said:
I'm glad it works. I know a lot of people were skeptical of the gravity core from Callaway and I find it really works.

But this weight is purely for spin correct? Or is it also for some forgiveness. I feel that changing it horizontally instead of up and down could actually do more for both.
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Yeah, it's all about CG. They kept the weight below the equator of the ball and in the direction they did because they found it gave them the type of spin they wanted compared to where Cally put theirs (they wanted low, not low to mid or mid to high).

We were taught about it but I saw it first hand on the Trackman, heavy side to the face is lower and more forward and makes it lower spinning, launching, and an emphasis on workability. Heavy side back increases spin a touch as well as launch and allows a little more forgiveness.

Def still not as forgiving as the Pro and Speed though (duh), but this is what Tiger wanted, workability with an ability to tweak to those final 200 or so RPM's.

Now will he play it? Who the hell knows hahaha
 
Jman said:
Yeah, it's all about CG. They kept the weight below the equator of the ball and in the direction they did because they found it gave them the type of spin they wanted compared to where Cally put theirs (they wanted low, not low to mid or mid to high).

We were taught about it but I saw it first hand on the Trackman, heavy side to the face is lower and more forward and makes it lower spinning, launching, and an emphasis on workability. Heavy side back increases spin a touch as well as launch and allows a little more forgiveness.

Def still not as forgiving as the Pro and Speed though (duh), but this is what Tiger wanted, workability with an ability to tweak to those final 200 or so RPM's.

Now will he play it? Who the hell knows hahaha
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Interesting. And who knows what tiger will do. If it were me I would say he needs the Speed and the forgiveness. Forget about the workability and just find the fairway.
 
GregDan said:
Interesting. And who knows what tiger will do. If it were me I would say he needs the Speed and the forgiveness. Forget about the workability and just find the fairway.
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We may or may not have made a joke about this there haha, but, he's adamant workability is #1 for him, he wants to be able to turn it all ways, even double cross I guess! LOL
 
Jman said:
We may or may not have made a joke about this there haha, but, he's adamant workability is #1 for him, he wants to be able to turn it all ways, even double cross I guess! LOL
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Haha! I guess so. I think Tiger needs to get involved here and see that if Internet golfers can recognize their weaknesses, he can too.
 
blugold said:
They almost have to drive hard at green grass or any facility with a flightscope or a trackman.
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Our Nike rep in MD and I think part of VA is always busy with demo days and at the range by my house they try to schedule fittings with him while the staff handles others wanting to demo. A fitting cart for their bigger accounts may be the way to similar to how Ping ant some others do. I am interested to see how the reps push fittings and Nike in general. At the all OEM demo day at Congressional last year the Nike rep was busy with fittings but couldn't get golfers to pull the trigger
 
emart2173 said:
Our Nike rep in MD and I think part of VA is always busy with demo days and at the range by my house they try to schedule fittings with him while the staff handles others wanting to demo. A fitting cart for their bigger accounts may be the way to similar to how Ping ant some others do. I am interested to see how the reps push fittings and Nike in general. At the all OEM demo day at Congressional last year the Nike rep was busy with fittings but couldn't get golfers to pull the trigger
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If you look at the total number of golf club sales and look at the total number of even basic fittings, its not real close. And this does not even count aftermarket which adds to no fitting.

Targeted marketing does not necessarily inspire fitting, it tells people "I fit here, so I am good". While the company may say fitting is crucial, doing so to a small amount of media folks, and then never mentioning it in their marketing materials at all, says something different.

I dont want to take away from the tech here, and they are not alone, but I struggle with a company preaching fitting and then never mentioning it to the masses a single time.
 
It is a shame (and maybe it is too soon to really tell) that both Nike and Srixon seem to have a very good new product and no real way to actually see it let alone get a proper fitting. Nike seems to have a real high end program here if it can get off the ground.

That is what brought me back to Callaway, having the Annika Academy close by and great people to work with who could see what you have to offer swing wise and work from there. That and the availability to hit off grass on a outdoor range.

Personally I can not hit off mats with any consistency and it just messes with my head so going to GS or some place like that to hit off a mat with a 6 or 7 iron into a net is just a turn off when you are potentially looking at spending $2,000+ for a full bag.

OH and great review JMan and Cookie, you have me now pondering yet another option in new clubs.
 
For whatever its worth, on the fitting discussion that has been going on, I know its talk to media members or whatever but they flat out said they dropped the ball 4-5 years ago when they moved away from fitting. They have two different fitting carts coming for places, one they believe will compete with any other cart out there (their words, not mine) and another more standard option. Also, they are building fitting studios across the globe (a la some of the TM/Cally centers), we got to see the video of the construction of it and such.

Again, I'm not making excuses for them, but this is what we were told and what they showed us and talked about.
 
Well they certainly have the money to do it right, with the correct approach they may get some of the Market away from the big three.
I will certainly try to find them before the next club change, which would have already happened if I could have found the Srixons in the last week or so.

But now the craving has passed and I am back to pondering and have another lesson with Callaway coming up so who knows...those APEX MB's sure are sexy and I like a challenge. #internetgolferatheart
 
Jman said:
For whatever its worth, on the fitting discussion that has been going on, I know its talk to media members or whatever but they flat out said they dropped the ball 4-5 years ago when they moved away from fitting. They have two different fitting carts coming for places, one they believe will compete with any other cart out there (their words, not mine) and another more standard option. Also, they are building fitting studios across the globe (a la some of the TM/Cally centers), we got to see the video of the construction of it and such.

Again, I'm not making excuses for them, but this is what we were told and what they showed us and talked about.
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No reason to be apologetic about it. We will see what happens. I just always hate to hear a company proclaim that fitting is a necessity and then NEVER say a word about it in any single piece of marketing material, advertisement, or anything else outside of a small junket trip for media members.

And as I mentioned, its not on them exclusively, just so happens they are the latest brand to proclaim its importance and even in the marketing material that has been put out, not have a mention of it anywhere. I believe that there is a disconnect between R&D and marketing in this case.
 
JB said:
No reason to be apologetic about it. We will see what happens. I just always hate to hear a company proclaim that fitting is a necessity and then NEVER say a word about it in any single piece of marketing material, advertisement, or anything else outside of a small junket trip for media members.

And as I mentioned, its not on them exclusively, just so happens they are the latest brand to proclaim its importance and even in the marketing material that has been put out, not have a mention of it anywhere. I believe that there is a disconnect between R&D and marketing in this case.
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Agree completely there, as we know, saying something here and there is one thing, walking the walk is another.
 
Jman or hashtag Cookie....does this driver perform similar to the SLDR 430 or original Covert Tour? You know low launch, low spin and not too forgiving?
 
TMAG-FIREMEDIC said:
Jman or hashtag Cookie....does this driver perform similar to the SLDR 430 or original Covert Tour? You know low launch, low spin and not too forgiving?
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More forgiveness than both of those and I have ZERO issues throwing that out there right now. Yes, low spin, but the core works and can definitely offer a little bump/drop depending on how you have it set. By nature it is a lower spinning and launching head, heck, its 420-430cc, but I got away with more hitting it than those two.

Still, it will clearly be (and is) the most demanding of the three Nike drivers.
 
JB said:
If you look at the total number of golf club sales and look at the total number of even basic fittings, its not real close. And this does not even count aftermarket which adds to no fitting.

Targeted marketing does not necessarily inspire fitting, it tells people "I fit here, so I am good". While the company may say fitting is crucial, doing so to a small amount of media folks, and then never mentioning it in their marketing materials at all, says something different.

I dont want to take away from the tech here, and they are not alone, but I struggle with a company preaching fitting and then never mentioning it to the masses a single time.
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I agree...I really hope Nike pushes the fitting, but like you mentioned in another comment a few OEMs have figured that out and push it
 
How does this sound? Is it muted like the covert?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
JRod said:
How does this sound? Is it muted like the covert?

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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It sounds different, still solid, little more composite type sound because of all the RZN on the sole, but no hollowness or metallic nature to it. Its a good sounding driver, legitimately.
 
Jman said:
For whatever its worth, on the fitting discussion that has been going on, I know its talk to media members or whatever but they flat out said they dropped the ball 4-5 years ago when they moved away from fitting. They have two different fitting carts coming for places, one they believe will compete with any other cart out there (their words, not mine) and another more standard option. Also, they are building fitting studios across the globe (a la some of the TM/Cally centers), we got to see the video of the construction of it and such.

Again, I'm not making excuses for them, but this is what we were told and what they showed us and talked about.
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Did they provide an ETA for the fitting carts?
 
TMAG-FIREMEDIC said:
Jman..... any chance of a face view of the vs the Pro?
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Do not have one of those, as soon as I get one (if I can) I'll throw it up. Its much more shallow than the Pro though, thats why/where it loses CC's to make it in the 420-430cc range.
 
Jman said:
Do not have one of those, as soon as I get one (if I can) I'll throw it up. Its much more shallow than the Pro though, thats why/where it loses CC's to make it in the 420-430cc range.
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Kinda R7 Limited like? And thanks for ultra fast response!
 
Looking forward to trying this, thanks for the info
 
I hit all the new Nike drivers today and the Flex is my favorite. My driver miss is low on the face, not often heel or toe and as a result the shallower face of this club is awesome for me. I just picked up a SLDR demo club just last week and it won't make the cut after hitting this club. I was consistently 15+ yards longer with this one and very forgiving. The SLDR is very straight for me but the FLEX was almost as straight and consistently longer. I hit some bombs with the SLDR but this one just feels SO solid. Not tingy at at like the current 915 drivers which I REALLY wanted to love but hated. The face on this club feels softer but solid. Not sure how to describe it exactly but I like it. I will need to offload some of my spare golf stuff to pay for it but it's happening this coming week.

In comparison to the other Nike clubs I liked the Flex the best but the Pro was a very solid club as well. I could easily put it in play as well. I did notice the taller face and even thought I bombed a bunch, it was less consistent for me. The Speed was high launch and higher spin. It fell out of the air in comparison for me and was the shortest of the 3. I am very surprised that I liked the smaller head as I used 460cc heads for a good 10 years now but it just suits me. I also want to comment on the hosel adjustments. Of all the ones I've used, this one seems most intuitive. Lofts and open and closed accordingly. The Titleist and TM are easy enough to use but it's nice to not have to pull out a manual to make any adjustments and I like the fact that loft and face angle are separate.

I also compared this one to the R15, 815 Alpha and DBD. I liked the DBD as well because I spin the heck out of the ball but the Nike still fits me best. I have not paid retail for a club in a long time but this looks to be an exception for me.
 
I took this club out on demo yesterday from PGA SS. I played ok, +3 74. My irons were blah, 9/18 greens but the driver was great. I hit one quick hook, not quite a snap hook but most were very straight and 3 were really long. I wouldn't think this would be a great club for me but my miss on the clubface is low on the face and the shallower face is great. I hit a ton of soft draws with a mid trajectory. I started the loft at 9.5 and hit 3, then 3 at 10.5 and 3 at 11.5 and 3 more at 12.5 before going back to 11.5 which was a great trajectory for me.

I'm going to demo it one more time and then demo the 815 DBD before making a final decision but I REALLY liked it. I'd love to grab one and one of the flex 3 wood and be set with my long game for the year.

As funny as it sounds, I almost don't want to like this club with the smaller clubhead and the perceived lack of forgiveness but I hit it very well. If I get it, I'd love to try my AD DI and a White Tie to see if they offer even higher launch with lower spin.
 
AZRhode said:
I took this club out on demo yesterday from PGA SS. I played ok, +3 74. My irons were blah, 9/18 greens but the driver was great. I hit one quick hook, not quite a snap hook but most were very straight and 3 were really long. I wouldn't think this would be a great club for me but my miss on the clubface is low on the face and the shallower face is great. I hit a ton of soft draws with a mid trajectory. I started the loft at 9.5 and hit 3, then 3 at 10.5 and 3 at 11.5 and 3 more at 12.5 before going back to 11.5 which was a great trajectory for me.

I'm going to demo it one more time and then demo the 815 DBD before making a final decision but I REALLY liked it. I'd love to grab one and one of the flex 3 wood and be set with my long game for the year.

As funny as it sounds, I almost don't want to like this club with the smaller clubhead and the perceived lack of forgiveness but I hit it very well. If I get it, I'd love to try my AD DI and a White Tie to see if they offer even higher launch with lower spin.
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That's funny because I have a Fubuki alpha waiting to try the same thing.......higher launch with whiteboard spin....reading that that the kuro kage silver tini might provide similar results. ...
 
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