New Nike 20XI Golf Balls

Good luck to Nike and their new 20XI Golf Balls. Everyone should know you can't use roman numerals in product names; we're just too stupid, though Nike's marketing team is probably big enough* to overcome this... and maybe educate at the same time. Brilliant!

The most unique aspect of the new 20XI (Get it? 20+XI=2011) is its core, which is made by injection-molding a new resin that Nike developed with DuPont. The material took four years to perfect, and Nike claims that the new core makes the 20XI 2-3 mph faster than the company's previous offerings with compression-molded rubber cores.

Because the core material is so light, Nike engineers were able to use heavier materials in the layers that surround the core, which should add durability and increase the ball's moment of inertia (MOI).

"You can think of it as a perimeter-weighted golf ball," Alan said.

Marketing mumble jumble rumble... And now- maybe something useful:

"It resists spinning at impact with the driver," Alan says. "But once you get the ball spinning, it stays." It also means the ball is less affected by cross winds.

Alan says the balls should leave the clubface with 100-200 rpm less spin than Nike's previous premium offerings (the ONE Tour), but will have 100-200 rpm more spin after the ball reaches the apex of its trajectory. That should mean more green-grabbing spin on approach shots.

Sounds good... I guess we'll see. Anthony Kim and Francesco Molinari are both using the new ball this week in Hawaii. They will be available to the rest of us schmucks in May for $46/dozen.

Info via Golf.com

* Total side note- but this speaks volumns to how huge Nike's logo and brand really is. Check out the new-look www.nikegolf.com. They are the first site I think I've ever seen that just ditched their header completely. I know they have side nav- but try to find me another site with ZERO header. Crazy... more so if you're a webnerd.

[ comments ]

Bryan K says:
Roman numerals rock! I love them. I use them all the time. Last night, I have this awesome gal my phone number. I told her "iiviiixviiiviiiv0i"

1/6/11

Kickntrue says:
@Bryan Kautzman- even better than roman numerals is going binary.

01100010 01101001 01101110 01100001 01110010 01111001 00100000 01110010 01110101 01101100 01100101 01110011 00100001

1/6/11

Backquak says:
nerds ^^^

1/6/11

mjaber says:
Please, everyone, don't start speaking in C++ or JAVA like I used to.

1/6/11

birdieXris says:
You know, i always thought of that as a good idea for golf balls. the key would be to create a lighter and lighter core and heavier and heavier outer layer while still keeping the core and outer layers' abilities for energy transfer. a perimeter weighted golf ball would be awesome.

1/6/11

dottomm says:
if(Nike 20Xi ==='True'){
Winner = 'dottomm'
}

1/6/11

Kurt the Knife says:
perimeter weighting ball seems to me like a flywheel. alla that perimeter mass and angular momentum n stuff like that. K = Iω2 / 2

ooo... and coriolis effect.

1/6/11