Golf Test Drive: Nike SQ DYMO STR8-FIT Beats the TaylorMade R9

When I hit a golf ball at full power, my drive distance is 230-250 yards. That’s how far I’ve hit it for years with the Callaway sitting in my golf bag, and that is the way it was the TaylorMade R9 I demoed during three trips to the range this weekend. My one gripe with these two clubs is that I have natural left to right slice, making it a crap shoot as to whether or not the ball will land on the fairway, and neither of them do much (if anything) to help me straighten out my shot. Then I tried the Nike SQ DYMO STR8-FIT…

Upon hitting the Nike SQ DYMO STR8-FIT driver for the first time, I noticed how smooth the ball comes off the club. After hitting about half the bucket of balls on day one I decided to get experimental and cut my swing power down to about 80% – and this is where hitting the new Nike club got very interesting.

Usually when I “take a little off” my swing, the ball hooks to either the right or left – or goes straight, but travels a measly 180 yards.

Taking a little off my swing with the Nike driver allowed the juiced-up, larger than life head on the club and the stiff shaft to naturally correct the flaws in my swing and made the ball travel my standard 230-250 years, but straight nearly 100-percent of the time.

A cool feature on the SQ DYMO STR8-FIT is the Shaft Adapter and Hosel System. This allows you eight possible head positions resulting in eight different shot shapes – all in a single driver. Meaning if your ball is slicing to the right you can crank the club and readjust to make a your shot straight.

I found it extremely easy to pick up the little nuances of the SQ DYMO STR8-FIT, and by the end of the third day I was cranking away with the club wrench straightening out my shot to the point where I was hitting at nearly full strength which added about 20 yards to my drive while keeping the shot straight nearly 100-percent of the time. (Now, if I could only figure out my short game.)

In contrast, by the third day I was still trying to figure out how to hit the TaylorMade R9. Don’t get me wrong it is a beautiful club that, like the Nike driver, allows you to adjuct club head settings but it doesn’t hit as clean or have the explosive off-the-club action the Nike drive has. So if you’re picking between the two, definitely go with the Nike club.

Dave says:

June 22, 2009 at 6:31 pm

Just reading your post makes it seem as though you are a high double digit handicap player so naturally the maximum 460cc clubhead size is going to benefit you more than the smaller R9. You should be hitting the R9 460 which is the equal of the Nike. Also, it’s important to realize that everyone’s swing is different and that the best way to get new clubs is to get professionally fit. This process is usually included in the cost of the club and will help your game a lot more than wacking through a bucket of balls blindly. Specifically the proper loft and shaft flex is very important in launch angle and spin rate which will directly correlate to driving distance.

Bruce says:

August 31, 2009 at 3:29 pm

Recently bought one, 59 series axiv black R flex, I hit it too high especially into the wind. Tried all the settings and really struggling to find something that works for me.