Nike Surprises Everyone With Vapor Fly Lineup

Written By: Tony Covey

Earlier this afternoon, Nike Golf semi-formally announced the totality of its upcoming Vapor Fly lineup.

The official story can be found here: http://news.nike.com/news/vapor-fly-clubs

Did you read it?

Congratulations, you now know absolutely everything I, and most everyone else in golf media, know about the new product line.

Apart from some between the lines interpretation, there’s nothing more I can add. Seriously. Nothing.

Originally there was a media event planned for this week, but it was cancelled. The replacement launch strategy can be summed up in a single word:

SURPRISE!

Swoosh…just in time for the holidays.

It Could Be Worse

I’d make a bigger stink about the lack of information, or the fact that Nike Europe was apparently able to get product out to its media while Nike USA couldn’t, but frankly, I’m going to count my blessings because as of this writing, Canadian media hasn’t even received the press release.

Who cares, eh? It’s only Canada, right?

I kid, I kid…Great people those Canadian writers.

Is This The New Nike Golf?

Frankly, even if this is a time of transition from Nike Golf, I expect more. Successful golf brands will tell you that product launches matter, but this…this isn’t what industry leaders do, this is the work of companies whose market share is listed under other.

And yeah, there’s probably an executive in an office somewhere in Carlsbad looking at the latest numbers from Golf Datatech smiling and saying, well…if you don’t count the apparel…so anyway…

I had high hopes for Nike Golf this year. It’s not that I expected world domination, or a tremendous overnight leap in market share, but I’ve told you that I believe Nike has a master plan to shake-up the industry.

This release though; it’s not disruptive, it’s just disorganized.

It’s what you do when you absolutely positively care just enough to send a press release.

Rant over.

About the Vapor Fly Lineup

As long as we’re all here, we might as well take a few minutes out of our day to look at some of the highlights of Nike’s release story.

Key Technologies

Here’s the quick rundown of the Nike technologies common to the Vapor Fly metalwoods lineup.

Flightweight Crown – While I’m sure the rest of the tech is really nice, I suspect this is the piece of the equation which will prove to be the most significant. Nike claims the new crown reduces weight by 30%. When you consider that Nike’s center of gravity placement dating back to the the original Covert and the cavity back design has been so high that it barely fit on our charts, it’s fair to say that it needs to come down.

It’s hard to talk in specifics without knowing the actual weight savings, but it will almost certainly lead to a better balance between launch and spin. The bottom line here is that increasing launch and decreasing spin (we call that improving overall efficiency) is one of Nike’s stated objectives with this line. It’s what most every other manufacturer is trying to do.

HyperFlight Face Nike’s latest revision of technology designed to boost speed on off-center hits.

Re-Designed Compression Chanel Like HyperFlight, the channel is designed to preserve ball speed on mis-hits.

FlyBeam Reinforced Covert Cavity Back – FlyBeam does a little bit of everything. It helps with sound and feel. It pushes weight to the perimeter for more stability, and Nike claims it boosts overall impact efficiency.

FlexLoft 2.0 Nike’s adjustable hosel system that offers 5 lofts and 3 face angles for a total of 15 distinct settings.

Vapor Fly Drivers

As was the case last year, Nike will offer 3 driver models.

Vapor Fly Pro

Expect this to be the model that gets the most play on tour. It’s a 460cc pear shaped model, which, if it’s anything like last year’s, should be most suitable for mid to high swing speeds, and higher spin players.

Vapor Flex 440 Driver

Nike’s adjustable CG model allows for discretionary mass to be flipped forward (penetrating ball flight) or to the back (more forgiveness). 60 percent of the club is made from Nike’s carbon fiber reinforced RZN, which if nothing else makes it unique in the market (even if that’s because nobody’s really sure what RZN is). Unlike the other drivers, the Flex does not have a Flighweight crown (chalk that up to all the extra RZN).

This year’s Flex is 440cc, up from last year’s ~425cc which should make it move viable within the larger market.

Vapor Fly Driver

The Nike offering that should be most suitable for the fattest part of the fitting bell curve.

Vapor Fly Fairway Wood

The fairway woods leverage the same technology found in the driver. This year Nike will offer 5 models, which, with the help of the FlexLoft hosel, allow for lofts from 12° to 22° with both upright and standard settings.

Vapor Fly Hybrid

All of the technology outlines above with the exception of the FlexLoft hosel. The hybrid is not adjustable.

Vapor Fly and Vapor Fly Pro Irons

Nike will introduce two new iron models this season. Like the Cobra irons we featured earlier this week, both models will feature what I suppose we can call progressive construction.

Long irons will feature hollow RZN cavity construction (4-7 standard, 2-5 Pro). Mid irons will feature RZN pocket-cavity construction (8-PW standard, 6-8 Pro), while the short irons will feature RZN cavity construction (AW and SW standard, 9-AW pro).

Both the pictures (and common sense) suggest that the standard model has a slightly larger footprint, with what appears to be a longer blade length. Both models feature Nike Modern Muscle technology (move the CG to the true center), NexCor faces, and FlyBeam reinforced chassis.

It’s a small thing, but I think golfers who pay attention to such things will appreciate the way Nike uses its technologies to tie metalwoods and irons together.

More Info To Come?

Eventually we’ll bring you more details on the new Nike Vapor Fly lineup, but we won’t tell you exactly when.

It’ll be a surprise.