Cink who just recently won the British Open was sporting a new Nike Prototype Putter, We have been seeing glimpses of these hot new putters from Nike golf all over the golf forums but this image here is of the actual one used by Cink to win the Open at Turnberry this week.
The putter features your traditional Anser style with heel-toe weighting. It’s got some high tech looking red grooves as a milling design which is of course to reduce skipping and the skids. Another noticeable difference is that his has some aesthetic enhancements like the carbon style insert on the bumpers. We are not sure if it’s actually carbon but it has that effect, if thats there as style or function we havent heard yet.
Golf.com’s David Dusek reported:
There is a waffle pattern on the heel and toe, similar to the pattern on the back of the Nike Victory Red Half-Cavity irons. There is a sight line on the back flange of Cink’s putter, and where Casey’s putter has red paint-fill, Cink’s is trimmed in black. Finally, on the bottom of Cink’s putter there is a reference to The Oven, Nike’s club building and testing facility in Ft. Worth, Texas.
I’ve seen five different versions of Nike’s prototype putter with similar cosmetics to Cink’s. Although nothing has been officially announced by Nike Golf, with this much detailing—and now two major wins by Cink and Lucas Glover—it would be surprising not to see these putters made available fairly soon.
Above is the best image taken so far of the face milling design. We are awaiting confirmation if the red lines are petruding the face or actual deep grooves filled with red paint. Another questinon that comes to mind is do off center struck putts have reduced pull or push spin due to the face grooves angleing downward? Only time will answer these questions and lets hope Nike knocks it out of the ball park with some more enticing engravings on the sole and in the cavity.
I will go out on a limb and say Tiger will be replacing his Scotty Cameron by mid 2010… what say you?
[poll id=”5″]
( Thanks to our friend David Dusek over at Golf.com for the scoop )
Interesting putter, even more interesting poll results. 50/50 right now.
I don’t think Nike can pay him enough to give up the Scotty…we’ll see.