Nike improves its golf game with new STR8-FIT driver

Look, regardless of what kind of golf clubs you think Nike makes, just having Tiger Woods endorse your products guarantees a large number of sales. But Nike has done wonders with its new SQ Dymo2 STR8-FIT driver as it tries to grab more market share. Namely, they’ve manufactured a club face that blows away the old Sasquatch/Sumo models.

The ball fires and climbs off the face, and the distance/carry you get now competes with Nike’s rivals on the driver side of the biz. (I walked it off … I got about 15 more yards than the original Sasquatch I had been playing the last couple years.)

The STR8-FIT comes with the adjustable shaft tip which can change the club head into eight lie/loft/open/closed positions (Face Angle Technology, Nike calls it). The quality UST Pro Force shaft is slightly longer than most other drivers. And Nike has a nifty little wrench pocket sewn in the head cover.

I sampled the square-headed version just to see if I’d like that look and shape. I can see why people swear by it, but that’s a personal preference, and of course Nike makes one that’s round, too. The square head has a shallow club face, which means you might have to tee it a little lower than other jumbo-sized driver heads.

At $399, the STR8-FIT is priced the same as TaylorMade’s R9 driver and most other offerings this year, which already has seen many impressive products released so far. You’ve also got the re-launch of the Cleveland Launcher; the Callaway FT-9; a new line of Titleist drivers; and strong club designs from nearly everybody else.

Agree or disagree … Overall this ranks as perhaps the best generation of drivers ever released (along with the variety of shaft technologies to go with them). Go hit ‘em and get back to me.