A $500 driver is a hard sell for any company when the nation finds itself in the midst of such a nasty recession-but for a value company-well. They had bet a lot of the farm on this concept-and when they didn't pay there tour staff-the PGA said-Your van is no longer welcome on any of our premises. At $500 for a Nickent driver, tools and shaft it wasn't exactly a gyp-but during a recession the demand for such a luxury just wasn't there.
(Sort of on The Tour Edge Line of Logic) Unfortunately, though The Evolver was absolutely revolutionary in the sense that one could switch out shafts on theor own based on course and weatehr conditions (Sort of like a DIY Tour Van) it came at a hefty price. One need only remember that Nickent built their foundation as a value company. The 4 DX Driver which eventually became "The Evolver" was not only one of the most revolutionary clubs to hit the market, but it was also what sounded the death knell for Nickent. The Arc Wedges, though never a real commercial hit are still in my bag, and lots of people are scarfing up the 4DX Tour Clubs. They showed themselves to be a superior club to the competition in every way, and it wasn't until the aforementioned TaylorMade Designers hooked up with Adams that there was any real serious competition in the hybrid market. Most people never really became aware of Nickent till 2005 when their 3DX line of hybrids took the Nationwide Tour by storm, and became the number 3 Hybrid on the PGA Tour. It hit further, straighter and better than either of the other two-and at 1/2 the price.) The success of the Super Concorde line financed the Hyper Forged line, which took over from the exceptionally well built-though somewhat funky looking Musketeer line of irons and Great Hawk Woods. (It looked like a Trimetal Clone mixed with a dash of Adams Tight Lies. Remember the Super Concorde brand of fairway woods? They were the most popular fairway wood in golf history. Most people were already playing Nickent Clubs and didn't even know it. No one could believe the quality of those products-and Callaway was so impressed they hired Nickent to due their castings for them. I used to shoot a set of Hyper Forged Irons and had the matching Hyper Forged Woods. I remember them when Michael Lee was CEO and Hoeflich was still hacking it out at TaylorMade before the big defection from that company sent him to Nickent and some of their better club designers to Adams. I realize I tend to be more of a Nickent freak than most. They looked like they had made it, but recessions do cruel things to sporting goods companies. Lots of us had an old TriMetal or two, or three in the bag. I had one of those, and I did have a set of Orlimar Irons in the bag. What a great club, which, until very recently, could hold its own with anything coming of the newer assembly lines. That 420 driver he designed was part and parcel of the cult of golf underground. Oh sure I felt bad for Orlimar, but Jesse Ortiz did seem to land on his feet. More recently, however, a name that's been very near and dear to my heart for years, with several clubs in and out of my bag over the past several seasons struck deeper than most. Hell even Greg Norman couldn't save them. What a great idea-lets bring them back from the brink. But when one forms emotional ties with their golf equipment, and eventually the companies that make it (in some sort of weird gnostic hope of figuring out each and every club's deep dark secrets) the deaths of the companies still cause some sort of deeper sense of loss for me than most people. One would think that after all the years I've spent around financial types, and all the recessions I've seen in my 50+ years that I'd get used to it.
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