Nike Sumo S900 Driver

Having used Titleist golf drivers for most of my playing career, I was a bit skeptical about trying out a driver from Nike.  Dick’s Sporting Goods had a tremendous sale on them so I thought I’d give one a try anyways.  For this article I am going to review the Nike Sumo S900 Driver, 9.5 degrees of loft with an S-65 Diamana Shaft.

Positive

The first thing that struck me when buying this club was the shape of the clubhead; it has sort of a square look to it.  Not only that, but the clubhead itself is huge, a full 460cc.  Having the club at address makes you think that it would be nearly impossible to mishit it.  The alignment on the club is great as well; it is very inauspicious while aiding you at the same time.

Another great feature about the Nike Sumo S900 Driver is that it is great for both low and high shot when needed.  Have you ever had one of those days where it is very windy and you need to keep the ball low to get any distance?  This club would be great to use if the wind were both helping and hurting you.  When I teed the ball low and hit a few shots with the Nike Sumo S900 Driver, it has a nice, penetrating ball flight.  When I needed to cut the corner of a dogleg, I simply teed the ball up higher, gave it a rip, and it carries the tees with ease.  The Nike Sumo S900 Driver is a club that can be used in practically any situation.

Lastly, I tested out the club to see how it handles mishits out on the golf course.  I hit some shots off of the toe and others off of the heel, making sure to intentionally miss the sweet spot of the club.  What I found was that while I wasn’t getting great distance (as expected), it was still going out there the same distance as any other driver would when mishit.  This can be especially helpful to golfers whose weak point is their driver or those who are not very experienced.  You can still mishit balls with the Nike Sumo S900 Driver and get fairly good distance out of it.

Negative

There was one major flaw that I found with the Nike Sumo S900 Driver and some other nitpicky things as well.  The major flaw that I found when hitting the club is that it is very difficult to shape shots with.  Every shot seems to want to go straight, and that may not be a bad thing depending on your handicap.  However, being a three handicap golfer, there are a lot of times each round where I want to be able to shape the ball in such a way that it gives me a better chance at making birdie.  Unless I over-exaggerate my swing it is very difficult to get it to hook or slice.  I did find that I can fade the ball with some effort, but not really any other type of shot.  This can be a big negative to an experienced golfer, but as I said before it may not be such a bad thing to an inexperienced golfer.

A couple of other nitpicky things I found about the club include the grip not being very durable and the sound when hitting the golf club.  After a few rounds the grip started to wear down fairly considerably, such that I may have to get another golf grip for it soon.  It may just be me getting a bad grip with the club, so I wouldn’t expect that every other grip is much the same way.  The sound of the golf club may take a little while to get used to as well.  It is hard to say what it really sounds like; I would say it is very similar to hitting a driver off of a sidewalk.  It has a very unorthodox sound to it, and some may like it while others may not.  Also, because of the sound it is hard to tell whether you hit the ball solid or not.

Conclusion

The Nike Sumo S900 Driver is a very good golf club for inexperienced golfers or those with high handicaps.  It has an extremely large clubhead, which may give added confidence when teeing it up on the golf course.  The ball flight is great, and the club gives good distance even when mishit.  With that said however, I wouldn’t recommend it for low handicap golfers, as it is very difficult to shape the ball with.

Take a look at some deals on new and used Nike Sumo Drivers.