Sea Island Life Magazine Fall/Winter 2014 | Page 32

The Sea Island Golf Performance Center helps
players with all aspects of their game.

play on tour. Fort Worth is an aerospace town,
and The Oven is like a small-scale aerospace
operation, according to Radcliffe. “What used
to resemble a blacksmith’s shop is now heavily
driven by computers and high-end measurement tools,” he says.
“Made for persimmon woods, the old balata
ball had a soft cover and wound rubber band
interior around a soft center. It spun a lot, and
when you hit it with a metal club, it just fell
out of the air. So the techs had to create a
ball that would stay in the air longer and still
spin around the greens,” Veal explains.
Nike has put technology to work in developing a better golf ball. The Oregon-based
company began making golf shoes in 1984
and launched its equipment line in 2002.
PGA TOUR players like Tiger Woods, Rory
McIlroy, Michelle Wie and Suzann Pettersen
are playing with Nike’s latest clubs as well as
its newest ball, the RZN series.
“The RZN family of balls uses an interlocking Speedlock core made of a proprietary
resin material that is lighter than rubber, and
loads and transfers energy differently,” says
Radcliffe. “It’s designed to reduce energy loss

at impact while maintaining low spin off the
driver and consistent spin on iron shots.”
Technology has been able to control the spin
another major tool to golf: the club.

Joining the Club
While golf balls have been rolling along, clubs
have also become state-of-the-art. “Golf clubs
have evolved into high-tech pieces of sports
equipment,” Radcliffe explains.
A major milestone in golf has been the
development of hybrid clubs, which have come
to replace long irons. “For the majority of
players, 3-, 4-, and 5-irons have been replaced
by hybrids,” Veal says. “To hit low-numbered
irons you have to generate so much speed,
whereas hybrids are easy to hit and get the
ball up in the air, and they go as far.”
Radcliffe is most excited about Nike’s
VR-S Covert 2.0 series driver. It features
High-Speed Cavity Back technology, which
redistributes the club’s weight to its perimeter and moves the center of gravity forward
while increasing stability.
“Within the Covert line there are also

two hybrids,” he explains. “Like the driver,
the Tour model utilizes FlexLoft, so you can
change the loft and the face angles. That’s
powerful technology, allowing the recreational player to get dialed in just like the
pros, who have always been able to go to a
tour van and have clubs adjusted.”
The putter’s appearance has also changed
through time and can now be tailored to each
athlete. Nike has a line of new Method Mod
putters with signature Polymetal Groove
technology. Radcliffe explains, “A groove in
the face of the putter grips the ball, lifts it
and starts it rolling quicker, which leads to
more consistency.”
“There has been a lot of change—weighting,

According to the experts, having a club that
latest technology. “Average golfers may think
but it’s actually more important for them,”
Radcliffe says.
“Fifteen years ago you seldom heard about

ON TOUR AT SEA ISLAND

From Oct. 20-26 Sea Island will host The McGladrey Classic, a PGA TOUR event hosted by Davis Love
III and the Davis Love Foundation. Now a FedExCup tournament, the McGladrey Classic will bring elite
athletes touting the latest golf equipment to the Seaside course. On Oct. 20, the tournament grounds are
open to the public, free of charge, with special activities taking place for kids in the afternoon. Grammy
winner Darius Rucker, who performed at the first concert in connection with the tournament in 2011, will
return to entertain with “Live Under the Oaks” on Oct. 22.
This is the fifth year that McGladrey, one of the nation’s leading assurance, tax and consulting firms,
has partnered with the foundation to support several charitable organizations benefiting children and
their families.

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