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Nickent Wants to Repeat Success
December 4, 2008 - John Hoeflich, one of the best known club designers,
joined Nickent Golf a few years ago and has recently taken on the additional
responsibility of chief operating officer. Among the first new club designs to
hit the market after the changes is a hybrid, the 5DX.
Nickent has gained a reputation of making quality hybrids and some
deserved recognition for use by players on the Nationwide and other tours.
With the 5DX, the fifth hybrid design in the past six years, Nickent seeks to
optimize center of gravity placement in the stainless steel head while
increasing moment of inertia (MOI) for help in the case of an off center hit.
Hoeflich did this by growing “wings” to the rear of the club head. He said,
"Our first four different ironwood designs all followed the same basic
classic profile. We knew we had an opportunity to increase the MOI by
adding wings to the back of the clubhead. But one of my main principles in
club design is that the club must look good to the player's eye in the
address position. So while the wings add significantly to the playability and
performance of the hybrid, we made sure that it would be accepted by the
top players in the world from an appearance standpoint."
In addition Nickent says the 5DX delivers more distance than comparable
clubs but be aware, more distance was achieved by decreasing the lofts.
There are nine different lofts in 1.5 degree increments form 14 degrees to
26 degrees. So when replacing a long iron or even another hybrid with one
of the 5DXs match the loft of the replaced club rather than the number. For
example if you are one of the few still carrying a 3-iron and it has the
standard 21 degrees loft that’s equivalent to a 4 or 4+ 5DX hybrid. The
number 3-5DX has 18.5 degrees. If you switched a 3-iron for a # 3-5DX you
would be in effect strengthening the loft by 2.5 degrees or more than one
half club in distance. Perhaps not all that critical but something to be it
could mean you would be hitting your new 3 the same distance as your five
wood.
The standard shaft is the Level5 graphite shaft designed by Fujikura and
suggested retail is $199 although it can be found for a few dollars less.
December 4, 2008 - John Hoeflich, one of the best known club designers,
joined Nickent Golf a few years ago and has recently taken on the additional
responsibility of chief operating officer. Among the first new club designs to
hit the market after the changes is a hybrid, the 5DX.
Nickent has gained a reputation of making quality hybrids and some
deserved recognition for use by players on the Nationwide and other tours.
With the 5DX, the fifth hybrid design in the past six years, Nickent seeks to
optimize center of gravity placement in the stainless steel head while
increasing moment of inertia (MOI) for help in the case of an off center hit.
Hoeflich did this by growing “wings” to the rear of the club head. He said,
"Our first four different ironwood designs all followed the same basic
classic profile. We knew we had an opportunity to increase the MOI by
adding wings to the back of the clubhead. But one of my main principles in
club design is that the club must look good to the player's eye in the
address position. So while the wings add significantly to the playability and
performance of the hybrid, we made sure that it would be accepted by the
top players in the world from an appearance standpoint."
In addition Nickent says the 5DX delivers more distance than comparable
clubs but be aware, more distance was achieved by decreasing the lofts.
There are nine different lofts in 1.5 degree increments form 14 degrees to
26 degrees. So when replacing a long iron or even another hybrid with one
of the 5DXs match the loft of the replaced club rather than the number. For
example if you are one of the few still carrying a 3-iron and it has the
standard 21 degrees loft that’s equivalent to a 4 or 4+ 5DX hybrid. The
number 3-5DX has 18.5 degrees. If you switched a 3-iron for a # 3-5DX you
would be in effect strengthening the loft by 2.5 degrees or more than one
half club in distance. Perhaps not all that critical but something to be it
could mean you would be hitting your new 3 the same distance as your five
wood.
The standard shaft is the Level5 graphite shaft designed by Fujikura and
suggested retail is $199 although it can be found for a few dollars less.
