Nike Prototype – The “Knight Ryder Cup” Putter

UPDATE: If you are coming to see what putter Lucas Glover was putting with in the U.S. Open…you have come to the right place. This picture you see below is the same putter he was using.

Here’s The New Nike Prototype Putter! (What Do You Think?)

Seems as though both Nike and Paul Casey are keeping the newest Nike Prototype Putter project on the hush-hush. But…it is confirmed that Paul Casey is testing out the new Nike Prototype at the Ryder Cup.

Although…during interviews Casey has been less then open about any details regarding the technology behind the putter or the name of the new stick. He has however remarked that he has been putting well with it. Casey previously bagged an almost identical model…the Nike Unitized Leo…minus what MYGOLFSPY is calling the “Knight Ryder Cup” grooves. (One word…WOW!)

What is the Purpose of the Grooves?

If you talked to 20 different putter manufacturers almost all of them would have differing opinions about the face of a putter. Some will say it needs to have 3.5º which allows you to get the ball out of the slight depression it sits in while resting on the green…some might say closer to 1-2º…and some will argue that there should be negative loft to get the ball on a forward roll faster.

Hey…everybody has to have a marketing pitch…you know what I mean. Otherwise you would still be carrying that Ping Zing you bought 18 years ago in your bag. So in order to achieve one of these varying types of faces many have also turned to grooving the face of their putters. Yes Golf uses what they call C-Grooves where Guerin Rife incorporates their RollGroove Technology™.

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Will It Catch On?

Well if looks have any say in the matter then the answer is NO! But thankfully for Nike, the success of a golf club design is based on more then just looks it is typically based on these (4) simple things:

1. Money – Marketing $$$ Dollars
2. Effectiveness – Does the club work?
3. Looks – Is it appealing to golfers…if not spend more money marketing!
4. Endorsements – Can they convince their touring pro’s to play the “Knight Ryder Cup

Like the saying goes “There is more then one way to skin a cat”, so maybe this new way will be more effective then its predecessors. But unless this putter also includes a string that attaches to the cup we doubt it will benefit you anymore then any other grooved face putter that came before it.