The Truth Behind the Fall of Nike Golf

Nike Golf once made some very interesting golf clubs but then ceased all manufacturing without any notice, surprising even their own professional players. So what happened, how did this come about, and why are these clubs still so interesting to so many people today?

[tomstites]

I don't know who your "inside engineer" source was but if he is real I was his boss. It troubles me he wants to hide. I take issue with some of the reasons you have used in the video for the failure of Nike Golf. My name is Tom Stites. I was the director of R/D product creation for 14 years at Nike Golf. I saw myself on one of your clips in this video. To say we didn't invest heavily or enough in R/D is simply wrong. We had the best engineering testing and prototype equipment possible. We hired a number of super designers, engineers and CAD specialists from Titleist, Callaway and TM. We had the best people. Our Nike clubs were used to win dozens and dozens of PGA tournaments including every major multiple times. Bad clubs are not used to win PGA tour events especially the majors. It was not all just Tiger either. Several Nike Golf consumer clubs won the Golf Digest Club Test several times. A number of us at Nike started our golf careers working for the man Mr. Ben Hogan. We knew what good clubs were. Your piece got something right however. Margins for clubs are very different than soft goods. Investing in soft goods yields more profit than clubs. A new group of top big Nike executives (cooperate types from Nike Europe) were promoted in the later years of our golf club business into the chain of command. These soccer types looked down on us from the corporate mountain. Real golf sport visionaries like Phil K. Bob W. and Cindy were pushed out or stepping back/gone. The new top Portland folks wanted to take a easier margin route than clubs. This same group of executives (who decided to exit clubs) also took big Nike in other directions that now we know since has been less than beneficial to the Nike stock price. My retirement account has suffered greatly since they took over. I hope it soon turns around. I hear they are bringing back some real deal former employee visionaries. I hope it works. For golf clubs at that time Phil Knight stepped back and away and let these folks step in and pushed to make decisions like "kill golf clubs". I don't blame him for stepping back to enjoy life but for clubs I really miss a visionary leader like Phil. He knew that clubs made Nike a complete golf company and he knew the value of winning major championships with Nike clubs. WE DID IT! He said to always do the right things and the money will follow. Some those put in later management forgot that and surrendered to margins and didn't stay the course to excellence. Think about it- CPR, Slingshots, Pro Combo and SQ products (and others) made golf easer for many folks. I will forever be proud of what our team did at Nike Golf. I am gut shot sick 2 years after my retirement it was shut down.

[boganpainter]

I was a Nike staff professional. The look of the clubs was always what made the clubs difficult to sell to older golfers. I would say in general Nike clubs were more forgiving than they looked, but they never quite got the distance of competitors especially Taylor Made. Good players are willing to give up some distance for feel, consistency, and either forgiveness or workability. The average player only cares about distance. A huge setback was Tiger Woods’ sex scandal which happened just before the launch of Victory Red. Nike had to cancel a huge marketing campaign they had with Tiger and as a result didn’t market that equipment as thoroughly as planned. Then by the time Vapor came out, I feel like they had already decided they were giving up.

[Nogobo]

I left a similar comment a few months ago on one of your earlier videos, dude please keep making these and no matter what you’re gonna end up eventually getting the exposure that you deserve. There aren’t many golf YouTube channels that really dive into these kind of things like you’re doing, and I guarantee you if you stick with this, you’re gonna be one of the main state challenge channels for a long time.

[cdogensis]

Caddied a few months back for an ex-Nike golf executive. He said that Nike tried to be too innovative while also dealing with a very different market place. Most Nike goods are sold through chain stores/ online, etc. Golf, especially back then, was very individual outlet driven, (Pro shops attached to clubs), and Nike weren't prepared to develop these one-to-one relationships, with the specialised fitting and customisation that goes with it. Essentially the golf equipment business was at odds with their other goods business model. He said he totally understood the final decision to pull out, but was frustrated as he felt the product was actually excellent by the end.

[tedjohnson]

Having covered the industry for 15 years, during which I was there at the launch of Nike Golf, and visited The Oven in Fort Worth, I can say Nike was serious about golf to a certain point. But Mark King, the former CEO of TaylorMade, said it best. Phil Knight spent $500 million on a venture he knew would fail but it didn't matter because he had the most famous athlete in the world promoting his company (Tiger Woods). It didn't hurt to have Michelle Wie, either, as she's a very good ambassador. Nike lost hundreds of millions on golf but the company grew exponentially. Golf failed as a standalone business but it was an excellent marketing move on the corporate level.

[nath-wpxp]

I still game my Nike Vapor Pro irons 4-PW. Everybody still loves them. Whenever I’m having a lesson the golf pros always love to stop and have a look at them. There’s something about Nike clubs that gets everyone giddy when they see them.

[aaroncottam]

This is easily one of the best new golf channels, loving the content so far! And your narration is really good too

[KBynum]

Hi. I used to work for Nike building custom clubs. It wasn’t at the Oven but at facility in Memphis, Tn. We would build out all the custom orders from anyone getting a Nike clubs. I worked there from 2010-12. If Tiger played sales would go up. When he wasn’t playing sales would plummet. Rory did nothing for club sales. I built clubs for Chris Paul, Kordell Stewart, and Phil Knight himself.

[IAmDBigz]

VR pro blades are still my favorite irons and I still use them. No other iron looks as good looking down on than those.

[Gibchange]

8:40 can confirm, I was a teenage golfer during the 2000s and Nike clubs always got a chuckle from the seasoned guys. Only tiger fan boys like myself had them

[kx]

I worked at Nike Golf when Nike shut it down. I really miss that job and the people at The Oven.... still play those clubs.

[JamesRobinsonGolf]

This is a great video. Love the insight!

[waywardwest]

I loved their first driver they produced. The forged 400cc driver is still one of my favorites. The Pro Combo irons were pretty good and pushed other manufacturers to start offering combo sets. Before that you had to go to a custom club builder to get a set like that.

[Ariaga_II]

When Nike came out with clubs I was playing high school golf and then went on to play in college. It was rare to play with someone that had any Nike clubs. Most everyone was playing with the same big names that still exist today: Titleist, Taylormade, Callaway, Ping, Mizuno, and Cleveland. These brands were all well established and had a solid reputation. I think most people had the belief, “if it ain’t broke why fix it” in that if their equipment worked then there was no need to change to something else. In business terms I would say that Nike entered into an oversaturated marketplace. Titleist was well established as the premium equipment manufacturer and had a great ball with the Titleist Professional which was later rebranded to the ProV1, they had a very popular driver at the time with the 975D.

Something not mentioned or I may have missed if it was. Nike made a big deal, and a commercial, about a clause in Tiger’s contract that he could used other manufacturer’s equipment. Nike promoted it as “Tiger could play with anything but plays with our clubs because they are the best”. That’s great until Tiger actually switched out his driver I believe going back to a Titleist driver after issues with his Nike driver.

[Kcasstevens]

Started playing golf in 2011. I’m a 2 handicap and I’ve played everything you can think of and nothing felt/looked as good as those Nike VR Pro Combos. I wish I still had them. Playing Taylormade P770 and Titleist T200 the last 4 years.

[LordViettner]

as an ex-soccer and basketball player, I know that flashy really works for cleats and shoes in those sports, so I really liked the flashier look of nike clubs. however, my college soccer coach used to complain about how we all wore brightly colored cleats and "back in his day if you wore anything but black, you were gonna get a few hard tackles from the other team". Golf has a huge, older audience, and they tend to hate flashy xD great video, super interesting to hear all of the reasons of why they pulled out

[thaigoon]

This was an extremely well articulated video brother, keep it up!

[Hacktendencies]

Please make one of these for Wilson Golf!!

[Selandry]

I still hit a Nike Ignite driver and love it! I tried/ Demoed all the new drivers this year and decided to stay with my decades old Nike Ignite!

[gatorone]

The first golf clubs I bought were Nike sling shot irons. I played well with them. The driver I bought was nike also, and it definitely could have been better. That was in Tigers Prime, and he got me playing golf. I don't play with nike clubs now, just the shoes. Lol