A company named after one of the game's biggest legends has one thing going for it at the outset -- great name recognition. But Nicklaus Golf Equipment is a relatively small player in the golf equipment arena.
"We know we are the David of the golf equipment industry … and that's fine with us," said Bob Kelly, CEO for Nicklaus Golf Equipment.
And when the man who has made the Golden Bear's clubs on and off for nearly 25 years is a club designer, there is a bit more of an advantage.
Clay Long, who for years designed Nicklaus' equipment at MacGregor Golf Co., has created the premium products in the Nicklaus line since 2001. His newest offering, Nicklaus Golf's Dual Point Technology 460cc driver, starts with a four-piece forged titanium head in black and silver with just a touch of orange. If you care about how your club looks, this one should satisfy.
"It doesn't always come out in the final product like what you draw on paper -- that's the nature of the beast," Long said. "But I'm very pleased. This came out almost perfect."
The devil is in the details, as they say, and Long knows how important the details are from his years working with Nicklaus.
"You could never wing it with Jack and the product," he said. "A number of times I've gone to him with products and he would say something about it and I would say to myself that there's no way you can tell that. I'd find out later when I'd go back and take it apart and look at it closely and measure it, that he was exactly right."
Long's newest design moves the center of gravity to align with the optimal point on the face for maximum transfer of energy to the ball. He has accomplished this with weighting low and deep in the clubhead and a multi-layered face that is thinner on the edges of the face and slightly thicker in the center.
"If you have a driver where the center of gravity is not in the center of the most flexible point of the face, then the solid part of your driver is not the hottest part of your driver," Long said. "When you couple these two things together and have everything lined up, then you have everything working in concert. You have the center of gravity on the hottest or sweetest spot on the face so everything works together to give you most solid and the fastest ball speed you can get out of your driver when you hit it on that spot. Anything other than that is not as efficient and not as hot.
"It's no more complicated than that."
Many other club manufacturers have developed drivers that use similar technology. What Nicklaus offers is a club that puts this technology to the best possible use for a range of different abilities.
"It's not earth-shattering technology, but more a perfection of the itty bitty things that make a big difference," Long said. "We've got as hot a driver as we're going to get or be illegal."
The Dual Point Technology driver is available in right-hand lofts of 8, 9, 10.5 and 12 degrees, left-hand lofts of 9 and 10.5 degrees and offset lofts of 10.5, 12 and 15 degrees. That variation allows everyone from the professional to the casual amateur to use Dual Point Technology.
"We make different versions of it," Long said. "We design in the middle and make an iteration for the tour, then backward design (for the higher handicapper)."
The Fujikura SG Pro 3.01 shaft that comes standard in the driver was developed specifically for the club. It's available in A, R and S flexes, and the Fujikura S comes in S and X flexes. Women's clubs feature the Nicklaus SG Pro 3.01 shaft.
Dual Point Technology is also available in 3-, 5- and 7-woods and hybrids in the Nicklaus Premium Golf Equipment line.
