The Largest Footprint in Golf is how Nike is touting their newest driver, the 460 cc SasQuatch driver. This is the latest golf club offering in Nike’s quest to take over the world, and its not very often a driver can come along and cause a firestorm like this one has.
The SQ, as it is commonly referred too, already has a PGA Tour win and has been seen in the hands of many Nike staffers including Tiger Woods and Michelle Wie. But not everyone is loving this driver and comments have varied widely amongst golfers.
The SasQuatch Geometry as they call it basically means that this driver looks weird. Nike has completely gone away from the traditional, pear shape of the Ignite drivers. Contrary to most new drivers on the market, the SQ has a very shallow face. It also has a very wide breadth, meaning it is very long from the face to the back of the driver. The SQ is 460 cc’s but at address it looks like it could easily be over 500. This thing is huge! You will also notice a wide gray band around the back of the driver; Nike calls this the PowerBow but really it is just there to make the head look smaller. It is obvious that Nike is aiming this driver at the recreational player. The unique shape creates a large sweetspot and an extremely deep center of gravity for higher launch angles with lower spin rates.
Nike is also making a Tour model that will be available shortly. The SQ Tour has a deeper face and more of a traditional shape. It is designed to produce a lower ball flight with improved workability for the better player. Both heads use Nike’s patented NexTi technology in the face. This is a compression process that Nike has developed and it allows them to make the face very strong and thin for more distance. The SQ comes stock with a Mitsubishi Rayon shaft, the Diamana for SasQuatch. This is a pretty standard stock shaft and is good for the average player. It is easy to hit and produces a high ball flight. The SQ Tour comes stock with the Diamana 83 shaft by Mitsubishi Rayon. This was one of the hottest shafts in 2005 and is an excellent choice for stronger players.
The Nike SQ or SQ Max as some have called it definitely delivers in the forgiveness department. This is one of the easiest drivers you will ever hit no matter what your level of play. The deep center of gravity produces a nice high ball flight that is very straight. In fact, its tough to move the ball at all, even when trying to. Some players commented that this driver is longer than others on the market but I think this is largely due to the straighter ball flight. The comments we heard most often had to do with the appearance of the SQ, this driver is ugly! The Tour head looks a bit better than the regular version but the gray PowerBow along with the cheap looking alignment aid and unique shape were not well liked on either. Some also commented that the bright yellow markings on the bottom look plastic and cheap. When it comes to customer service Nike is still way behind companies like Callaway, Ping, and Taylor Made and their lack of custom options is brutal. We did get some very positive reviews from players but we also got some very negative ones making it tough to review but this club definitely isn’t going to push Nike into the upper echelon of the golf industry.
Overall Rating – 70%
Target Handicap – 10 and above, 12 and below for the SQ Tour
Ball Flight – High
Offset – None
Stock Shaft – Diamana for SasQuatch by Mitsubishi Rayon and Diamana 83 by Mitsubishi Rayon in the Tour