Nike Golf Reveals Golf Club Launch Plans

Company Lifts Cloak on Much-Anticipated Initial Foray Into Golf Club Category

Contact Scott Walsh
760-945-0104
nikegolfpr@home.com
or Chris Mike
503-532-7281
chris.mike@nike.com

BEAVERTON, Ore. (December 3, 2001) -- For the better part of 18 months, Nike Golf has been deep in the throes of a golf club development project. That comes as a surprise to no one in the golf industry. But details surrounding the closely guarded project have been few and very far between.

Not any more.

Nike Golf, which had previously only confirmed speculation that it would, indeed, have golf club products at next month's PGA Merchandise Show in Orlando, Florida, has disclosed in detail what those products are. The company will debut Nike Forged Drivers, Irons and Wedges. Other clubs are in various stages of development and will likely be rolled out over the course of 2002.

"We've assembled a terrific team of people, including many industry veterans, led by renown club craftsman Tom Stites. We're very proud of our products and we can't wait until the PGA Show in Orlando when people can see our work for themselves," said Bob Wood, president of Nike Golf.

Nike Forged Titanium Drivers

David Duval first put a prototype Nike Forged Titanium Driver in his bag at the PGA Championship in Atlanta this year. It was no coincidence that he proceeded to lead the field in driving distance there and at the prestigious NEC Invitational and Tour Championship, and increased his average driving distance more than 23 yards, from 293.6 to 316.7 per drive in those tournaments.

Confident in its ability to perform for all golfers, Nike will introduce two Forged Titanium Drivers, a four piece, 275cc model and a three piece, 350cc model. The drivers come in lofts ranging from eight to eleven degrees. Nike Golf drivers embody sophisticated designs, exotic metallurgy and precision manufacturing processes -- without yielding on the Nike Golf commitment to passionate craftsmanship.

All Nike Golf drivers are made with a forging process, rather than casting, for exceptional feel and precision and contain technology not found in any other USGA conforming club. At the heart of this technology story is the incredibly "hot" face of the driver. Made from proprietary Beta Titanium, the face is "precision forged" to preserve the grain of the metal, making it stronger, thinner, and lighter than a cast face. Its Coefficient of Restitution (COR) conforms to USGA regulations by the smallest of margins.

An extensive series of precision machining steps go into optimizing the weight of a Nike Forged Titanium Driver. Head weights are held to a rigid two-gram tolerance, and all angles on the head have less than a .5-degree variance. Both of these represent significant improvements over the industry standards of three grams and 1.0 to 1.5 degrees, respectively. With these variances, the superiority of Nike Forged Titanium Drivers in driver-to-driver performance against competitive models is significant. Yet from driver-to-driver within the Nike Golf family, the feel and performance are amazingly similar.

The shafts on Nike Forged Titanium Drivers are both lightweight and torsionally resistant. Flex design has been perfectly matched by extensive consumer and tour testing. Thanks to superior materials, the shafts are made with a reinforced, smaller tip diameter (.335") allowing for enhanced feel and shot making. Nike Golf even spared no expense with the grips. Made from the best grip material money can buy, the Nike Forged Driver grip delivers excellent traction from minimal grip pressure.

Nike Forged Titanium Drivers will be available in February, 2002.

Nike Forged Irons

Tour staff member David Duval played virtually the entire 2001 PGA Tour campaign and went on to win his first major, the British Open, with a prototype set of Nike Forged Irons. His input and the feedback of many other players were crucial; it led to subtle refinements in the design and, ultimately, the final product.

Nike Forged Irons have been in development for some time and were designed to exceed the needs of the very best players in the game. Blade irons have been the choice of the game's most skilled players for years. Nike Forged Irons sport a classic muscleback design, a traditional shape that has been updated through better technology, better design, better materials and better craftsmanship.

For starters, the head is made of soft 1030 carbon steel for better feel. The head is then "precision forged" under extreme pressure to preserve the grain of the steel. This linear grain significantly improves feel and performance, particularly when compared with "faux-forged" or cast stainless steel heads, while eliminating soft and hot spots on the face.

The heads are then ground to a two-gram weight tolerance and the scoring lines, a unique morphing of U- and V-grooves, are precision formed into the face. The heads are then finished with a deep, durable Tri Plex nickel and chrome plating buffed to a high satin-gloss finish.

The shafts on Nike Forged Irons are perfectly weighted and flex-matched to the heads to maximize the performance potential of the forged iron design. This shaft-matching process produces exceptional consistency of feel, distance and control throughout the set. The grips are made from the same "high-traction" material found on the drivers.

Nike Forged Irons will be available this coming Spring and will come in a three-iron through pitching wedge set configuration with optional one and two irons.

Nike Forged Wedges

Nike Golf's first wedge "win" came when David Duval carried a Nike Forged 53 degree Wedge to his first win at a major -- the 2001 British Open. That's when it was clear Nike Forged Wedges could deliver superior accuracy and feel.

Nike Golf will be introducing four wedges next month: 53, 56, 58 and 60 degrees. They all sport a thin, top line and have minimal offset, playable for golfers of all skill levels. In addition, the hosel design makes a smooth visual transition down to the straight leading edge, and the toe shape frames the ball for ideal setup and alignment.

The bounce-to-loft relationship on these wedges helps make them eminently versatile and playable from any lie. The bounce-to-loft ratios are 53-/9-degrees, 56-/14-degrees, 58-/14-degrees, and 60-/9-degrees. Particular attention has also been paid to the heel grind -- it's drop-away design provides freedom to lay the face open to create an almost infinite variety of finesse shots without unwanted bounce interfering with the shot.

Like the Forged Irons, Nike Forged Wedges are precision forged of 1030 soft carbon steel, a process that eliminates soft or hot spots in the face. The Nike proprietary groove design creates optimum spin, trajectory and distance control. The finish is a coating of Tri Plex nickel and chrome plating which provides a rich, lustrous and durable finish on the heads. Nike Forged Wedges will be available this coming Spring.

Tom Stites, the artisan and architect of Nike's revolutionary new club designs, comes to Nike as one of Golf's most respected master craftsmen. Stites has made custom golf clubs for some of the best players in the world, including more than 85 tour professionals, and his creations have recorded more than 50 wins on the PGA, Senior PGA and Buy.com tours. His credits include more than 100 golf club designs.

"The design and development of these clubs has gone exceptionally well," said Stites. "We have worked so long and hard testing and fine-tuning the products -- we are anxious to get them into the hands of people who love to golf."

Additional information on the launch of Nike Golf clubs, including downloadable electronic images, may be found by visiting www.nikemedia.com; entering the site with the user name "nikegolf" and the password "19hole"; then clicking on Nike Golf in the left-hand column under the heading "Nike by Sport."

Nike Golf, located in Beaverton, Oregon, is passionately dedicated to honoring and respecting the traditions and heritage of the game, and to providing committed golfers with the absolute best equipment in the game in every product category. For more information on Nike Golf, visit its Web site at www.nikegolf.com.

keywords: Nike, David Duval, Forged Driver, Forged Irons, Forged Wedges, Bob Wood, Tom Stites