Nike Golf, with the help of the world's best including Rory McIlroy, have launched the premium Nike Method Origin putter with performance-boosting innovations, including integrated RZN.
Nike Golf, with the help of the world's best including Rory McIlroy, have launched the premium Nike Method Origin putter with performance-boosting innovations, including integrated RZN.
As David Franklin, Nike Golf Master Modelmaker explains,
“When we design a putter, our entire goal is to make the putter an extension of the athlete. We want them to step onto the green without even considering the putter in their hands, but rather just be thinking about getting the ball in the hole.”
The premium Nike Method Origin putter that has already recorded four global wins in the hands of McIlroy and Charl Schwartzel, who is currently averaging 1.3 fewer putts per round this season (28.9) compared to 2015 (30.2) on the European Tour. The compliant RZN layer is activated on off-centre hits, returning energy to the golf ball within the contact time.
“The response is incremental across the face. A hit on the centre of the face elicits a dampening effect,” Franklin says.
“The more off-centre the hit, the more the RZN compresses and the more energy is returned to the ball. The response is similar to our Compression Channel and improves consistency across the face.”
Insights from Woods and McIlroy, who put the putter into play at the 2015 Tour Championship, then pushed Franklin and team to make the putter roll more efficiently. So they completely reengineered the polymetal groove technology to offer full-length grooves that are linear from heel to toe. This orientation is designed to provide a more consistent, efficient and faster forward roll.
The newly designed face features twice the number of polymetal grooves of previous Method putters. More grooves means increased coefficient of friction and traction on the golf ball, creating earlier forward roll and a smoother, softer feel at impact.
“I love the new grooves,” McIlroy said. “The roll was perfect and I felt like the contact was so much softer than my previous putter; it got the ball rolling so much quicker.”
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