An hour with the SQ

My club was able to get me a demo Nike SQ driver to play with. I will be taking it on the course tomorrow but today was just 1 hour at the range.

Current Driver
- Nike Ignite 410
- 10.5*
- Nike stock fujikura S flex

SQ Club Specs
- Nike SQ 10.5*
- Stock Nike Diamana S flex

Looks
When you take the headcover off you will seriously be scared...ITS HUGE! That said, at address the size is hidden very well. The silver bar in the back does an awesome job of hiding the size. I was totally comfortable with the look at address.

Sound
Louder than the Ignite for sure. Much more of a TING to it but a very good sound. No issues here.

Feel
Very surprised on this. I was able to feel exactly where on the face i was hitting the ball. I could tell when I hit the toe vs. the center, etc. I was super surprised that 95% of my shots were in the dead center of the club face. I was hitting it a bit low on the face and I could tell that as well. I really expected a dead feel but was very surprised at how much feedback it gave.

Flight/Forgiveness/Trajectory
I am a 4 handicap and fight a slice. My game is based around a cut off the tee. The SQ took around 8 yards off my cut at least, maybe more. The club is INCREDIBLY straight. I usually aim up the left side of most fairways and cut it back in. On the range I aimed at my favorite left tree and most of the shots stayed on that line with a very small cut. One could even argue it was a straight flight. Very happy about this. Trajectory was lower than I expected. I don't use tall tees but may start with this club. Even when hitting it low on the face the flight was beautiful - penetrating as all hell and just ripped through the air. When caught correctly on the high part of the face it produced soaring high shots which stayed in the air forever. I tend to hit what i call "spinners" sometimes as a miss which usually costs me a lot of distance. I could feel when I did that with the SQ but ended up with a much longer shot. Distance on mis-hits is freakin incredible. The entire face feels like a sweet-spot.

Distance
Longer than the Ignite by probably 5 yards or so. Its hard to tell with range balls. I'll know more on this tomorrow when I get it on the course with a real golf ball. My impression is that its definitely longer but probably due to the reduced cut for me.

Overall
Tomorrow I take it on the course and if it plays like it did on the range then I will be ordering this set up right away. Definitely an improvement over the Ignite. The size is not an issue for me and the benefits are clear, less side spin, longer, much more control...i'm all over it!

Will post an update tomorrow after I play with it on the course. Nike has an absolute winner.

My club was able to get me a demo Nike SQ driver to play with.  I will be taking it on the course tomorrow but today was just 1 hour at the range.

 

Current Driver

- Nike Ignite 410

- 10.5*

- Nike stock fujikura S flex

 

SQ Club Specs

- Nike SQ 10.5*

- Stock Nike Diamana S flex

 

Looks

When you take the headcover off you will seriously be scared...ITS HUGE!  That said, at address the size is hidden very well.  The silver bar in the back does an awesome job of hiding the size.  I was totally comfortable with the look at address.

 

Sound

Louder than the Ignite for sure.  Much more of a TING to it but a very good sound.  No issues here.

 

Feel

Very surprised on this.  I was able to feel exactly where on the face i was hitting the ball. I could tell when I hit the toe vs. the center, etc.  I was super surprised that 95% of my shots were in the dead center of the club face.  I was hitting it a bit low on the face and I could tell that as well.  I really expected a dead feel but was very surprised at how much feedback it gave.

 

Flight/Forgiveness/Trajectory

I am a 4 handicap and fight a slice.  My game is based around a cut off the tee.  The SQ took around 8 yards off my cut at least, maybe more.  The club is INCREDIBLY straight.  I usually aim up the left side of most fairways and cut it back in.  On the range I aimed at my favorite left tree and most of the shots stayed on that line with a very small cut.  One could even argue it was a straight flight.  Very happy about this.  Trajectory was lower than I expected.  I don't use tall tees but may start with this club.  Even when hitting it low on the face the flight was beautiful - penetrating as all hell and just ripped through the air.  When caught correctly on the high part of the face it produced soaring high shots which stayed in the air forever.  I tend to hit what i call "spinners" sometimes as a miss which usually costs me a lot of distance.  I could feel when I did that with the SQ but ended up with a much longer shot.  Distance on mis-hits is freakin incredible.  The entire face feels like a sweet-spot.

 

Distance

Longer than the Ignite by probably 5 yards or so.  Its hard to tell with range balls.  I'll know more on this tomorrow when I get it on the course with a real golf ball.  My impression is that its definitely longer but probably due to the reduced cut for me.

 

Overall

Tomorrow I take it on the course and if it plays like it did on the range then I will be ordering this set up right away.  Definitely an improvement over the Ignite.  The size is not an issue for me and the benefits are clear, less side spin, longer, much more control...i'm all over it!

 

Will post an update tomorrow after I play with it on the course.  Nike has an absolute winner.

47508[/snapback]

 

 

 

...thanks for that, Looking forward to reading your review post round!

 

Seems as if the negative first impressions are being turned around, I know I'm interested in the tour version :cheesy:

Nice review, thanks for sharing.

 

Good luck with it on the course tomorrow, and looking forward to hearing what you think about it.

 

Are you interested in the Tour model at all, or are you just going to stick with the Max version you're trying now?

I'll probably stick with the MAX for a few reasons.

 

1. I don't like deep face clubs and the Tour is supposed to be a deeper face.

 

2. I need a closed face...the Tour will have an open to neutral face.

Thanks for the review. As for the max vs the tour. Seems that the "Max" might suit many players better. Not knowing anything about the head, I did see in last weeks PGA pics that someone on tour had the max in play. Different strokes for different folks.

 

Like the R7 and the 510 deep face. I was always told by JC that you have to have the game and swing charactoristics to tap into the potential of those heads. Higher swing speeds is one. I'm not Tiger thats for sure. At times that I like to think the tour version is best for me, I bet the launch monitor might have something to say about the "Max" version. If I would eat some humility I should see the numbers before buying. JMHGO

Thanks for the review. As for the max vs the tour. Seems that the "Max" might suit many players better. Not knowing anything about the head, I did see in last weeks PGA pics that someone on tour had the max in play. Different strokes for different folks.

 

Like the R7 and the 510 deep face. I was always told by JC that you have to have the game and swing charactoristics to tap into the potential of those heads. Higher swing speeds is one. I'm not Tiger thats for sure. At times that I like to think the tour version is best for me, I bet the launch monitor might have something to say about the "Max" version. If I would eat some humility I should see the numbers before buying. JMHGO

47532[/snapback]

 

Couldn't agree more, the MAX is just so damn easy to hit, but I still think I might go Tour just to have the square face, and if it doesn't work, I always have my Ignite which is a touch closed.

 

By the way, where is the tour picture of someone with the Max, I missed it, and now I'm curious to see it.