Nike ONE Tour

How about a golf ball review folks?

I recently played the Nike ONE Tour golf ball. Traditionally, Nike golf balls have not been a big seller. When Tiger first signed with Nike, their balls flew off the shelves. But, lets face it, it is hard to overthrow a dominant brand like Titleist.

Nike continues in the ONE tradition by making the new Tour, Tour D and Vapor solid core, multilayer, urethane covered golf balls. The previous versions of the One did not live up to the expectations of this golfer. For instance, the Platinum spun too much and did not give me the distance off the tee that other golf balls did. The Black was a better all around ball but the cover did not hold up to well against full wedge shots.

The new ONE Tour is a vast improvement over previous versions. For instance:

• The Tour is a longer golf ball off the tee than the Platinum. The Platinum had the dreaded "Wounded Duck Syndrome" where the ball would fall out of the air as if it was just shot down. The Tour did NOT do that and I was pleased that it was as long as some other golf ball brands on the market.
• The Tour was not buttery soft like the Platinum. Rather, it felt more like the Black with a nice click off of the putter face.
• The Tour still spins WAY TOO MUCH! The Tour and the Platinum spin way too much around the greens. The Dunes at Maui Lani has some of the firmest greens on the island here and the Tour was backing up like it had just been sucker punched. This type of spin for me is a big no no as I like to control my yardage and not have to worry about zippin' the ball back off of the green. I spun a Tour so far back off of the green yesterday that it rolled into the middle of a 30 yd long green side bunker. Completely undesirable for me. But, it may suit lower spin golfers perfectly.
• The Tour has a cover that is somewhat durable. Every golf ball will scuff when it is hit properly with a wedge and the Tour is no exception. Although, it did hold up better than the Platinum in that regard.

All in all Nike has produced a ball that is better than its predecessors. My major complaint with the Tour was its spin factor. I believe Nike needs to tone it down a notch. But, with the new USGA groove rule coming into effect next year, maybe Nike doesn't need to do anything to it and it will perform beautifully when hit with restricted grooves.

At this time I know what some of you are saying "Well try the Tour D!" Oh believe me, I will. And, believe it or not, I am looking forward to putting the Tour D into play.

Stay tuned folks! The golf ball market is going to get crazy in the next few months and yours truly will be trying out and reviewing lots of the craziness!

Aloha