Nike says the 20XI (pronounced: ‘twenty-X-I’) balls are the result of over four years of collaborative research between Nike Golf’s ball engineers and a team of material experts at DuPont. The proprietary technology sees the traditional rubber core of balls being replaced by a new resin – a material that has never been used in golf balls before. The resin is described as a “highly neutralised polymer” that is faster and lighter than rubber, and promises to help golfers find longer distance, straighter ball flight and even improved control around the greens. 20XI clearly has a lot to live up to.
“I have never been more excited about a new golf ball innovation than I am now,” says Rock Ishii, Nike Golf’s product development director for golf balls. “For many years, golf ball development has primarily been focused on the number of layers with a solid rubber core. We believe there wasn’t really anywhere else to go as far as technology advancement in these areas, and felt that the next window of opportunity was in the exploration of various materials for the core.”
Tour endorsement
Nike says testing with its resin-core 20XI balls among its stable of Tour golfers has shown an average increase in ball speed of 2-3 mph, and that every 1 mph increase in speed results in 2-3 yards of extra carry. Nike has confirmed to SGB Golf that Tiger Woods has been among the Tour golfers trialing the 20XI ball, although he is yet to take it into competition. Nike golfers who have played the ball on Tour include Stewart Cink, Lucas Glover, Anthony Kim, Justin Leonard, Pablo Martin, Francesco Molinari and Carl Pettersson.
“Rock and his team have nailed this,” says 2009 Open champion Cink. “They’ve been able to increase the gap between driver spin and wedge/iron spin. With this ball, I have
2 mph more speed off of the driver and I’m hitting it 10 yards farther. Nike has developed a ball that goes faster and has found materials that spin more with the wedges and less with the driver. So it’s longest off the tee and spins most around the greens. What’s not to like?”
