Nike Golf announced early in March that "the first retail allocations have already been maxed out and sell-through is expected to take less than two weeks in most regions of the country once available to the general public."
What has Ignited the Ignite's early buzz? That's not too difficult to figure out.
"To begin with, Tiger Woods' adoption of and immediate success with the Ignite at the WGC AMEX event last fall accelerated the awareness for the new driver," said Mike Kelly, Nike Golf's Club Category Business Director. "We weren't planning to introduce the Ignite to the industry for another three months, but we weren't about to tell Tiger he couldn't have it."
Trevor Immelman, Rory Sabbatini and, most recently, Grace Park at the 2004 LPGA Kraft Nabisco Championship have each won with the Ignite, too.
It appears Nike has a winner in its hands. The Ignite should bring many new recreational players to Nike Golf, players who were underwhelmed by the Nike Forged drivers that the Ignite is replacing.
After all, the Ignite brought Tiger Woods back to a Nike driver. Recall that Woods abandoned his Nike Forged in 2003 to go back to an old Titleist driver. But Woods' comments about the Ignite have been nothing but positive since he put it into play.
The Ignite driver combines two new features for Nike Golf - the material Nike calls NexTi, an Around the Crown design.
NexTi is so-called because Nike says it is the "next generation in the evolution of titanium."
NexTi is ued in the Ignite clubface. It's a layered but tightly compressed metal that is thinner, lighter and stronger than Beta-Titanium. NexTi was developed exclusively for Nike Golf; it has never before been used in the construction of the face of a driver clubhead in the U.S.
Nike says that NexTi microfibers can be bent, shaped and formed unlike previous forms of titanium. And with this new material to work with, Nike Golf's engineers were able to expand the effective hitting area or "sweet spot" of the clubface.
The Around the Crown construction means that the clubface wraps over the topline of the club head. According to Nike, prior to the introduction of NexTi, Around the Crown construction was effectively unattainable in more-forgiving larger-headed drivers without the risk of the face collapsing.
The combination of NexTi and Around the Crown, Nike said, allowed them to start with prototypes that greatly exceeded the USGA limits on COR, then dial it back to legal limits.
The use of NexTi means that the club will be produced in staggered allocations.
"This is a highly specialized piece of equipment with a very limited production capacity," said Kelly. "True innovation takes time to develop and produce. Golfers who miss the first wave of Ignites that deliver will be rewarded for their patience. In short - it's worth the wait."
The Ignite comes in two sizes, 410cc and 460cc. Lofts range from 8.5 degrees to 13 degrees; two left-handed versions are also available. MSRP is $469.
