Add another color to the Nike Golf rainbow of golf balls: The Nike One Platinum joins the Nike One Black and Nike One Gold in mid-May.
The Platinum is designed to offer a higher trajectory and lower spin rate off today's maxi-drivers.
Tiger Woods has been playing a Nike One Platinum prototype on the PGA Tour since this year's Mercedes Championship. In fact, it was Tiger Woods who inspired Nike Golf's director of product development to set to work on a new, higher-trajectory version of the Nike One.
Quoting from Nike Golf's news release about the Nike One Platinum:
"Director of Product Development, Rock Ishii, watched Woods hit balls with his latest long-range weapon through November 2004. Woods' ball had the optimum spin-rate with the 460cc Nike Ignite, but in the engineer's professional opinion, (Woods) could be more efficient and longer with a higher trajectory ball. Even though he was hitting the ball further and controlling it better with the new 460cc Nike Ignite, he still was not reaching his potential. The challenge for Nike Golf's golf ball team, suddenly, was to develop a ball that was longer and controlling with larger headed drivers without losing the spin performance around the green."
Tiger Woods' yardage with the driver (based on projections calculated from spin rate, launch angle, ball speed and swing speed) has steadily gone up over the last few years, as charted by Nike Golf:
• 1999: Competitor's wound ball - 281.1 yards
• 2000: Nike Tour Accuracy TW - 296.6 yards
• 2003: Nike One with 340cc Nike driver - 301.3 yards
• 2004: Nike One Gold with 410cc Nike Ignite driver - 305.4 yards
• 2005: Nike One Platinum with 460cc Nike Ignite driver - 312.6 yards
From the Nike Golf news release:
"For Woods though, the One Platinum's responsiveness around the green is just as critical. A couple of the other reasons he green-lighted the One Platinum project to go to production are his 74.1 percent average in Greens in Regulation, which ranks 3rd, and his 69.16 scoring, ranked 2nd this year. "
The Nike One Platinum features a "Progressive Density Core" - it has a soft center with an outer shell that gets harder as it moves away from the center. The core helps lower spin off the tee, Nike says, even with the ball's softer cover (a quality it share with the Nike One Black).
The Nike One Platinum incorporates three layers around the core (similar to the Nike One Gold): "The Inner Cover, closest to the core, is designed to reduce spin off the driver; the Middle Cover provides superior mid-iron control; and the Outer Cover, softer than the Nike One Gold, promotes ... feel around the green."
The dimple pattern on the Nike One Platinum is the same 408-dimple one used on the Black; it's a pattern that promotes a higher trajectory and more penetrating flight, and the ball descends at a less steep angle.
While Nike Golf says that golfers using larger drivers will get the most out of the Nike One Platinum, the company says golfers who still use drivers under 400cc in size won't be left out: "(The Nike One Platinum's) distance off the tee, wind-boring control from the fairway, and responsiveness around the green will match any combination of clubs."
The Nike One Platinum will carry a suggested retail price of $54 per dozen.
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