On Saturday, Feb 2, the Nike Golf's new SQ SUMO 5000 and SQ SUMO(2) 5900 drivers will be made available in stores across the United States. According to the company website, "The SQ SUMO 5000 features a traditional rounded club head design providing golfers with added distance while allowing them to shape their shots more. The SQ SUMO(2) 5900 is the next generation of square head drivers that result in longer, straighter shots."
Just like last year, the unveiling of the clubs will be known as SUMO SATURDAY. The clubs are named Sumo for Super Movement.
Retailers hosting special SUMO Saturday events on Feb. 2 include all Dick's Sporting Goods, Golf Galaxy and Golfsmith stores. To find a full list of SUMO Saturday retailers as well as additional information about SUMO golf equipment, consumers can log onto
Nike.com, click on SUMO Saturday and enter a city and zip code.
The US Golf Association has approved a new Nike driver to replace some Sumo Squared Drivers that did not meet the regulations of the organization.
Nike described the problem as excessive "characteristic times." In layman's terms, the club stayed in contact with the ball for too long. THe distance benefit of the non-conforming drivers appears to be only about 1 - 2 yards. According to Bob Wood, president of Nike, a competitor told the USGA about the issue.
If you purchased one of the clubs, free replacements will be available from March 26 thru April 30.
Three competitors in today's Nissan Open were using the FT-5 Driver .. and Callaway has to be happy. Phil Mickelson, who is currently leading at the Nissan Open, Charles Howell III -- who is tied for fourth place and three strokes behind the leader -- and Rocco Mediate, currently tied for 19th place and eight strokes back are swinging the driver well.
The folks at Callaway Golf have got to be proud. Phil Mickelson used the new FT-5 Driver at Sunday's final round at Pebble Beach. He hit every fairway but one and drove the ball 285 yards off of the tee.
The driver was named Editor's Choice on the 2007 Golf Digest Hot List. You should be able to buy the club on Thursday, February 15.
Sumo Saturday, the release of Nike's new line of square drivers, came and went on this Saturday. A day that will live in infamy...I think not. The opinions about the new driver range from extremely good to extremely bad.
Check out the current discussion going on over at
GolfWrx.com. Many agree that the Sumo^2 is the straightest driver they have ever hit.
Unfortunately, the Sumo is not for the faint of heart. The sound that radiates from the Sumo's bulbous head is a noise to be heard for at least a mile away. Or so it seems. Many agree that the noise the driver emits along with its giant, bright yellow, square head is distracting or at least an attention-getter.
I recommend heading down to your nearest golf store and hitting a couple shots with it. ZealousGolfer.com will be headed to the range to smack some with the Sumo tomorrow. Look for pics and a review on the way.
Day Three is finished and, amazingly, Brandt Snedeker is still at the top of the leaderboard at the Buick Invitational. But the competition has gotten tougher. He is now tied for the lead with Andrew Buckle.
Kevn Sutherland is hot on their heels. And, the hottest golfer today, may be Tiger Woods who now is only two strokes off the lead and tied with three other men.
Woods feels ready to win and said he is getting stronger with every round.
In other Buick Invitational news, Phil Mickelson used Callaway's new square faced driver. He didn't have a great showing .... he hit only five fairways and finished one over par.
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By this time next Saturday, lots of golfers will have paid $399 for the Nike SQ Sumo 2.
Unbelievably, at some locations, golf salespeople will be dressed in sumo shorts -- hopefully with something underneath!
The Callaway FT-i model will launch on February 15 at a price $100 over the Nike club.
Tiger Woods has, of course, tried the Nike SQ Sumo2. The ball went high, long and straight .. although one questions whether it's the golfer or the driver. He has made the decision to stick to the Nike SasQuatch.
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SUMO SATURDAY will be Saturday, February 3.
On February 3rd, you will be able demo and purchase the long awaited Nike SUMO (SUper MOment of Inertia) club.
Nike is deeming the day SUMO SATURDAY.
The photo is direct from the NIKE SUMO Saturday Email.
While the Nike's Sumo has been a news maker for several weeks now, the Callaway square driver has been fairly under the radar. With Callaway publishing little information on the new square head (...and refusing to send info to Golf Heaven) the public has little information. Callaway Golf is preparing to launch a full area on the site for the new club,but in the meantime has a flash pop-up in preparation.
The FT-i will incorporate similar MOI enhancing technology to the Nike's new, square Sumo driver. Both are geometrically square and look to increase forgiveness for all golfers. As I excited as I was about this release, experts see the new square drivers increasing the Moment of Inertia only slightly. The average golfer will not start popping it 350 yards, but the radical designs will draw in customers by standing out on the shelves.
With Callaway and Nike preparing to introduce a new generation of clubs, what will the other companies do? Titleist is preparing to release the 907 D1 and D2 drivers which will be triangular in shape opposed to square. Cleveland will continue with their "scoop-back" style Hibore driver, but this time with a much wider body.
The jury is still out on whether or not the chase for the Holy Grail of driver shapes will yield significantly better products or just create talk. While a revolution is unlikely, the new drivers will surely continue to create talk and will find their way into bags across America.
As 2007 rolls closer, so does the launch of new state of the art golf equipment. Likely the most widely anticipated launch in '07 is the new square driver. As I have wrote about before, Callaway and Nike will launch the FT-5 (also the FTI) and the Sumo (and Sumo 2) respectively. Nike has already set the
launch date for the Sumo as February 1st, 2007. The square drivers, in addition to being a whole new geometric shape, will maximize the center of gravity and moment of inertia potential by use of the square shape as well as the 460 cc head. The Sumo has already captured its first professional win in the hands of K.J. Choi at the Chrysler during September. The Callaway drivers have been in play by many players on the Champions Tour during the closure of the seniors' season. The other equipment news that will rock the golf world is yet to surface.
Of course, we can still hope for Santa to carry the market's best equipment in this Christmas. 2006 produced a huge number of innovations that shook up the golf world. Among these releases: the Taylormade R7 425, 460, and Draw , the Ping Rapture woods and irons, Cleveland's Hibore driver, Odyssey 3 ball putter and new two ball putter with Saturn rings. My personal favorite product of the year is the Taylormade R7 425. The R7 425 features a 425 cc driver head with four movable weight ports to change the nature of the club to the player's needs. That means help eliminating the banana ball, or in my case helping to increase flight height and eliminate my hook. My tip to the average golfer for the new year, quit playing the V1 in favor of less spinning ball. The V1 maximizes a player's spin which does not provide the average player with the most distance, and worse that extra spin adds only more slice or hook. Many less expensive balls (such as the Titleist NXT or Nike Juice) will give the average golfer a longer and straighter ball flight. Of course, golf ball choice is entirely based on feel so make sure to demo a sleeve of a new ball before dumping your bag of the old orbs.
Callaway Golf, a major player in all part of the golf equipment market, will launch an online "build and buy" retail program. Adam Barr of The Golf Channel reports Callaway's decision to sell directly from their site comes with much consideration. The program will integrate its loyal retailers, who will distribute and send products sold by Callaway, thus not steeping on those who have helped to build the Callaway company.
Callaway has has the Callaway Preowned retail program in place for several years, selling Callaway and its sister companies' used products.
The company's history of producing the market's hot drivers, starting with the Big Bertha, will be continued in 2007 with the release of the square headed driver series to include the FT-I and FT5.
The new Nike Sumo series of drivers has found some success and failure on the TOUR, mostly in the hands of K.J. Choi. Choi first put the square headed driver in his bag at the FUNAI Classic at the Walt Disney World Resort where his driving was less than astounding. The following week at the Chrysler Championship, Choi found his first victory of the season and qualified to play in the TOUR Championship. In the TOUR Championship, Choi averaged only 57% for the week in driving accuracy finding himself in the middle of the pack. It is hard to base the value and performance of the square headed driver based on only Choi's use, but it appears that the new geometric shape has revolutionized the industry like that of the Taylormade's R7. Callaway's FTI square driver has found greater use on the Champions Tour in the hands of several players at the Charles Schwab Cup. The Sumo from Nike will be released on February 1st.
In an earlier article, I linked to several pictures of two new drivers from the Nike and Callaway workshops, those being the Nike Sumo/Sumo Squared and the Callaway FT5. Several major golf news sources report that the new square headed drivers from both companies could be in play as early as the made-for-tv events of this season. Though only weeks ago the rumors and pictures appeared to be photoshopped hoaxes, Nike has set a release date of February 1st, 2006 for their Nike Sumo drivers. The Nike Sumo (SUper MOment of Inertia) will boast more forgiving flight due to higher MOI. If the square headed drivers do in fact increase forgiveness and possibly lead to extra yardage, the USGA surely is in fear. An article published by the Golf World last week went over some of the ebenfits of the three most radical designs on or going onto the market, those being Cleveland's Hibore, the FT5 and Sumo. The latter of the three will hit the market at a full 460 cc of volume, that being the maximum amount on the market. The smaller Hibore by Cleveland is near 300 cc with a "scoop back design" to increase MOI. The new geometric shapes of drivers may change the look of the driver market as a whole.
Over the past couple of weeks, new pictures have surfaced of two completely new geometric designs for driver heads. The two models featured are rumored to be the Nike Sumo and Callaway FT5. The Nike Sumo features the same color scheme as Nike's current major driver on the market, the Sasquatch. The Nike Sumo surely will not win the SGA's beatuy pageant, but will perform better than the current drives according to experts. Alledgedly, the new square shape increases the MOI (Moment of Inertia) which makes a much more forgiving driver. Along with the Nike Sumo, Callaway will attempt to counter Nike's new big dawg with two square drivers of their own. Callaway will likely release both the FT-I and the FT5 square drivers. What do you think of the new square drivers, hot or not?
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