Peeking through the Oven Door : Nike Golf’s Testing Facility

There is an old adage that teams win championships.  And while on the surface golf remains very much an individual sport there is, in actuality, a vast number of factors, not the least of which are the people, that contribute in some way to the end result.  Case in point: A recent visit to Fort Worth, Texas courtesy of the folks at Nike Golf Canada – another team of individuals who, at least in my opinion, have no equal when it comes to the Canadian golf industry.

Fort Worth is home to Nike Golf’s ultra cool, research-development-testing facility playground which has recently undergone some additional expansion and renovations transforming it into what is now the largest capital expenditure in the company’s history (and that refers to all of Nike not just the golf side of things).  A pretty impressive reference stat when you think of it and one which certainly strengthens the swoosh’s commitment to the golf division and actively validates the experience, expertise, and passion of the engineers and marketing personnel who ‘cook up’ the technology and produce the prototypes in what is affectionately referred to as The Oven.

The facility now encompasses more than 3 acres of property,  56,000 square feet of structure, and on the exterior includes:

• an impressive new short game practice facility that is home to a 3 hole short course where one can replicate just about every shot imaginable inside of 100 yards (not a bad spot to test out those new wedge grooves)
• a full driving range, multiple indoor hitting bays (including a reserved space for Mr. Iron Byron), and it even appears they thought enough to make it downwind which is nice for those who have played a round in Texas – not too many details missed here
• an indoor putting / chipping green complete with a state of the art putter fitting system
• outdoor fitting equipment / launch monitors  etc.

All of this now makes The Oven the ultimate recruiting playground for PGA players right on down to the college system – an area that is garnering additional focus, as the brand begins to adapt and adopt players sooner by providing the equipment / resources to elevate their games earlier and begin taking things to another level.

And that was just the outside.

The most recent addition to the facility also consisted of an additional 26,000 square feet of interior space which includes rooms for every type of club test imaginable and incorporates the assessment / comparisons of in excess of $300,000 worth of competitive product.  This investment ensures that Nike can subject things to their own unbiased tests and establish baseline variables (Scientific Method 101) as often times the marketing claims do not match the actual results.  Devices which ensure products conform to USGA standards, algorithms which can visualize sound, pin hole cameras to see inside the head of  a driver without having to cut it open, methods to test for groove mass and characteristics, and many others  dot the floors of the many rooms including those in which the media are not permitted.  Shrouds of secrecy hide their competitive edge and these are competitive guys. Legal actions against anyone who does not comply, and this includes the hundreds of high handicap testers who are invited to demo the newest pieces of equipment, is not uncommon. Then again, this is very serious business and, when it comes to building the very best equipment possible, these are serious guys.

These, to who I am referring, were the engineers and marketing people who make up the team at The Oven — all 192 years of experience combined.  These are the guys who handle the number one player in the world, among other champion PGA staffers.  The sort of people who can drop names because names like Woods, Stewart, Kim, Choi, Leonard, Immelman, and Ames are the sorts of names that regularly drop in.  These are the cast of characters who make up The Oven family and whose product presentations were as much about humour and peer to peer friendly competition as they were about metals, compounds, formulas, and buzz words.  Work hard, play hard, laugh loud, and win – or something like that in some sort of order.  The math was a little beyond my ‘just hit it‘ comprehension at times but the passion was easy to understand.

And they are an all star team of sorts, many hand picked by Tom  Stites  himself, who make-up the relatively small and curious cast who ask, look, listen, dream, build, test and nurture the tools that help their players (customers) win.  They are a proud bunch, and so they should be, as the 2010 lineup of clubs looks to be their best ever – melding sound techno with a more classic look and undeniable results.

Probably one of the most impressive rooms in the building remains the lobby where a ‘wall of champions’ boldly time-lines the wins out on tour.  The ‘everybody-wants-this-problem’ being that they can’t keep the thing up to date.  Posters of the US Open (Glover) and the British Open (Cink) have already been taken down.  The machine is definitely in motion and not a laurel gets rested.  There is work to be done.   Because as per Nike, the team is not measured by stats, by ratios or any other number out on tour other than wins.  And to win takes a number of people – a team.  And in Forth Worth, behind the clear plastic safety glasses, media friendly power-point presentations, and golf shots talked about around the world – you’ll find a very good team.

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Cool Bits that came out of the Oven

• it is located in Forth Worth because that was the former home of Impact Technologies – which is Tom Stites’ former company that did a lot of research and design for many key club manufacturers (most notably Hogan Golf) prior working with Nike


One of the unique things about The Oven is that it is sort of in the middle of nowhere and the building itself is very unassuming, almost humble. In a world that is seemingly over occupied with vanity, The Oven, so it seems, is really only concerned with one thing - results.

• the golf ball facility, in case you were wondering, is actually located in Oregon – where they can now produce a ball from prototype to tee in just 48 hours – they also utilize an injection system to ensure the ball is seamless
• the sound that a driver makes when impacting a ball is primarily the sound made from the top of the head vibrating and can be ‘tuned’ by shifting metal within the head. As a general rule, Tour players prefer quieter while high handicappers prefer the boom
• the golf ball is actually on the face of the club for a mere 4 /1ooo^ths of a second (and believe me, much happens during that time)
• only recently made available to the public, the Nike Method putter has already accumulated 11 wins out on the Tours including two Majors – it has a polymer insert that all but eliminates ‘skid’ off of the face - translation: it gets the ball rolling immediately and tracking toward the hole by lifting it out of its indentation on the ground at the right loft angle and imparting over-spin via the grooves
• Nike staff player Paul Casey decided on joining the ‘swoosh’ team after a visit The Oven.  He also 4- putted the very first green he played with the Method putter and from there proceeded to post the very best putting stats on tour.
• Tiger has used the Method putter, is keenly aware of the math, and it will be interesting to watch if and when he decides to make the switch (that is of course if and when he decides to return to the game).

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On day two of the visit we took to the course with a golf sized loot bag chock full of Nike goodies. I think I’ll title the post NIKE and THE COWBOY CLUB. [ what's the phrase? - y'all come back now ya hear - to be continued ]

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