Nike made for McIlroy

Rory McIlroy is as adaptable with golf clubs as Floyd Mayweather is with boxing gloves. Both have the greatest technique in the world, the equipment just facilitates it.

The big manufacturers love to have their player using their latest driver, because it boosts consumer confidence, and thus sales, but there are high profile players who stick rigidly to older models because they know they work just as well.

G-Mac stuck with his trusty FT-3 driver in the 2010 US Open even when Callaway had several more current models available. And trust me, on any Tour range when you look under the headcovers branded with the latest models, you’ll find plenty of old Big Bertha and V Steel fairways.

You only need to look at his driver to see McIlroy at his adaptable best. Get your white coat and clipboard, this is the ‘sciencey’ bit.

McIlroy turned pro in 2007 using the 907 D2 which, even with 7.5 degrees of loft, he couldn’t keep inside the Earth’s atmosphere. A change to 8.5 degree 907 D4 with a Fujikura Rombax TM36 stiff shaft yielded an immediate 11-yard gain, bringing his European Tour average drive to 296.2 yards, 18th on the stats.

Since then McIlroy has changed immediately with every iteration of the Titleist driver, winning in each of the past three years.

So will McIlroy struggle with Nike equipment? Quite simply, no. The VR Tour driver and Pro Limited Edition fairway woods will not be an issue given the adaptability we’ve already discussed. McIlroy will jump into a set of Nike VR pro blades effortlessly. Those will be project X’d, D2 weighted and Multi-Compound black and yellow-gripped to be as close a clone of his current 712 Muscle Backs as possible.

Where McIlroy will feel the changes most will be in his wedges, putter and ball. He’s a huge fan of Bob Vokey and Scotty Cameron. I’m confident Nike will be able to custom grind a set of carbon copy VR pro wedges with the same bounce angle, sole width, camber and leading edge shape as his Vokey’s because with a skilled clubmaker and a belt sander, patents are not an issue.

However, moving from Scotty’s Studio Select Newport GSS, hewn from a single block of German stainless steel, to a Nike Method putter with an insert may take some getting used to. This is the area of the game McIlroy has worked on most and with his Dave Stockton stroke the toe flow of his Scotty Newport works better than his old Fastback.

Stockton himself has said on the record that when he’s not putting well McIlroy’s problems are more “mental than physical.” Having to gain confidence in a new type of putter, assuming he changes, could be McIlroy’s biggest challenge.

That just leaves the balls, the Pro V1x and the Nike Tour D. There’s simply no telling whether in McIlroy’s hands the Nike ball will spin more or less, carry more or less, move more or less or be better or worse than his current Pro-V1x. But having been inside the ball plant, I can say this; the Nike ball may not be exactly the same as the Titleist due to patents, but it will be mighty close.

Will any of these changes or their cumulative effect bring McIlroy’s rivals any closer than eight shots when he is leading Majors in 2013? That remains to be seen but personally, I think not!