Swoosh. Thud.

Filed in archive Golf Equipment on March 17, 2007

I don't think I have ever heard of a golf club being recalled.

But it happened on Friday.

Nike, according to reports, is ordering all retailers to pull its brand new Sumo2 off the shelves.

The Sumo2 represents the "new wave" of drivers with square heads and what Nike and Callaway (the only other club maker with a square head driver) claim is improved playability and distance.

But that improved distance seems to have violated the USGA and R&A's limits for COR or Coefficient of Restitution. Basically, the COR measures how quickly a golf ball explodes off the clubface.

And, apparently, the ball is exploding too well of the face of the new Sumo2.

Nike calls it an issue with the "spring-like effect" of their new driver.

So, a total recall has gone out. Chrysler, Ford and GM are all chuckling as Nike joins them in the Club of Corporate Mistake Makers.

Nike says it will allow customers with existing Sumo2s to exchange them, free of charge, via a website the company is setting up.

They ought to throw in at least a sleeve of their best golf balls, too. For the inconvenience.

Heck, make it a dozen. After all, you may have been competing in winter tournaments with an illegal driver!

In the meantime, Nike has rushed a new version of its Sumo2 to the USGA for a fast weekend assessment. Nike anticipates having its "legal" version on the conformity list by Monday.

There has been a lot of blather in the golf media about the square head driver. Some of the pros don't like it because they end up hitting the ball too straight (if you need added evidence that the pros play a game we have no knowledge of, look no further).

Some of the manufacturers have pooh-poohed the square heads, claiming the design is a gimmick. Like the former Big Three, they, too, are chuckling.

Nike is quick to point out that none of its staff tour players (read Tiger Woods) play any club that doesn't conform.

And are they heaving a sigh of relief.

Imagine the embarrassment Nike would have suffered if it surfaced that Tiger had been competing (and probably winning) with an illegal club.

This is an enormous manufacturing gaff from an otherwise irreproachable corporation.

To their credit, Nike have followed the correct public relations script by acting quickly and decisively to make things right.

Go to their website and a video statement from the company president, Bob Wood, begins to play immediately.

Wood makes the announcement that the Sumo2s don't conform. It's quite a mea culpa.

But they didn't really have a choice. The COR, at whose altar all the club makers worship, doesn't lie.

And how valuable is the good name of a company? Frankly, it's priceless.