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Pros:

Thanks to their radical cavity back design (a.k.a. the large chunk missing from the rear portion of the sole), the Nike Covert and Covert Tour drivers less spin and are more forgiving than previous models. Surprisingly, they also have a very pleasing sound. Their adjustable hosel system, Flex Loft, is also one of the widest ranging and most intuitive in the industry.

Cons:

Not everyone will love the shiny red paint and the white Nike Swoosh on their crown. Flex Loft is easy to use, but it’s not as fine-tuned as other systems, allowing only 1.5-degree changes in face angle (from neutral) and 1-degree adjustments through its 5-degree loft range. The drivers also lack a non-invasive way to adjust swing weight, which would have been nice to have.

The Takeaway:

The Covert and Covert Tour drivers will be hard to beat for golfers who are looking to reduce spin without parting ways with forgiveness. That’s why for the first time, Nike will have non-Nike Golf fans interested in its driver. It’s cool, it’s adjustable and it’s long and straight. 

Overview

Before Covert, we never had a reason to play a Nike driver.

Sure, Tiger and the rest of the Nike Golf staff played one. But at GolfWRX, we tend to measure the success of equipment by the usage habits of golfers who are not getting paid to play certain equipment. For Nike drivers, that number was low.

We didn’t know what to say when we first saw the Nike VR_S Covert driver. Unlike the company’s position in some other sports, Nike is the new kid on the block in golf. And here they were in 2013 attempting to sell consumers a driver with one-third of its sole missing. And it was red. And it had a Swoosh on the crown. Were they crazy? Tiger was never going to hit that. But as the technology behind the Covert drivers began to leak out, we suddenly became very interested.

Performance

For years, industry leader TaylorMade has been touting its movement of the center of gravity lower and more forward in the head, which helps create the high-launch, low-spin conditions golfers need to optimize their launch angles. But there’s a problem with moving the weight really far forward in a driver head – it decreases MOI, or in layman’s terms, it makes a driver less forgiving.

 The cavity back design removes the back-middle section of the sole, allowing NIKE to bring perimeter weighting to the tee box

That’s why the cavity-back design of the Covert drivers makes perfect sense. The removal of mass from the rear portion of the driver sole gave Nike engineers more discretionary weight to put in other places – not just forward, but in the rear corners as well, which boosts forgiveness.

 The eye popping red crown and white Nike Swoosh will be the first thing golfers see, but the cavity on the bottom of the head is even more significant

So even though the standard Covert driver measures 460 cubic centimeters and the Tour model measures 430, Nike’s slick engineering makes them play larger and faster than that.

Flex Loft

Nike’s adjustable hosel, called Flex Loft, allows golfers to adjust the loft from 8.5 degrees to 12.5 degrees, a five-degree range that’s as wide as any of the big boys. According Ray Sander, the Nike Golf engineer who was behind the Flex Loft system, it also has another huge benefit. Because Flex Loft is a dual-axis system, not a single-axis or quadrant system, it allows golfers to adjust their loft and face angles independently.

 FlexLoft allows golfers to independently adjust the loft and face angle

Single-axis adjustable hosels, the ones used by all of Nike’s competitors, have an innate problem — when golfers add or subtract loft on those drivers, they also change the face angle. But different companies have found different ways around that problem.

 Covert drivers to have a right, left or neutral face angle at address, but also to set the loft between 8.5° and 12.5°

TaylorMade’s R1 driver has an adjustable dial on its sole that allows golfers to negate face angle effects by changing the orientation of the dial. Cobra created a specially designed section of the sole of its new AMP Cell drivers that allows the club to sit relatively square in all loft settings. But not all golfers sole their driver before they hit their tee shots, which can make TaylorMade’s adjustable dial a non-factor. And golfers who want a specific opened or closed setting with an AMP Cell driver can’t get it. According to Sander, however, it doesn’t matter if the club is soled or not because the Flex Loft system’s two sleeves work independently to keep face angle consistent during loft adjustments.

During face angle adjustments, the loft sleeve (the one closer to the club head) doesn’t move. But the upper sleeve and the shaft do, rotating the head 1.5 degrees to the right or 1.5 degrees to the left (from the neutral setting). During loft changes, the loft sleeve is the only one that moves, tilting the head forward (for less loft) and back (for more loft) without changing the face angle.

So does it work? Based on our FlightScope findings, it was hard to disprove. Our tester set the standard model of the Covert at 12.5 degrees in the right setting and watched his launch and spin numbers climb as high as 11.3 degrees with 3087 rpm of spin. At 8.5 degrees in the right setting, his launch was as low as 8.7 degrees with 2347 rpm of spin with a similar dispersion pattern.

Covert or Covert Tour?

The reason our tester hit the standard Covert (Nike calls it the “Performance” model) in the “right” setting is because Nike intended for it to have a a “square” face angle at address, not the opened look that many golfers with fast club head speeds prefer.

 

The reason our tester hit the standard Covert (Nike calls it the “Performance” model) in the “right” setting is because Nike intended for it to have a a “square” face angle at address, not the opened look that many golfers with fast club head speeds prefer. With Nike’s Covert Tour driver, he didn’t have to adjust it to the right setting — the Tour has a face angle around 1.5-degrees open in the neutral setting, which gives golfers the ability to have the club face square or as much as 3-degrees opened if they wish.

 

According to Nike, the Covert Tour is about 0.75-degrees lower launching and spins about 300 rpm less than the standard model. Every player is going to get slightly different results from the different models, but Nike’s range is pretty close to what we saw on FlightScope.

The biggest factor for golfers who are choosing between the Covert and Covert Tour will be the size difference of the two heads. The Covert is 460 cubic centimeters, while the Covert Tour is 430. Thirty cubic centimeters doesn’t sound like a lot, but the Tour’s deeper, or taller face makes it look even smaller than what it measures — at first glance, it would be easy to mistake the Covert Tour for a large 3 wood. That difference in size and construction makes the tour model more workable, but far less forgiving than the non-Tour model.

 

Some golfers may gravitate toward the Tour model because of it’s black face and sole, which is much cleaner looking than the standard model, and also because it’s the one Rory McIlroy is playing. But unless they need the extremely low launch and low spin of the Covert Tour, most will be better off with the standard model.

Sound and feel

Both the Covert and Covert Tour drivers sound exactly the opposite of what we expected — traditional.

 

According to Tony Dabbs, a product line manager for Nike Golf, the drivers can look like they do and still sound normal because of a support structure at the edge of the cavity that looks like an I-beam and runs from the crown to the sole and helps quiet the sound.

“Think of a cowbell,” Dabbs said. “It’s hollow and makes a loud sound. But if you put a bolt through it, it ties things together and quiets things.”

Because of their different designs, the Covert Tour has a harsher-feeling, higher-pitched sound than the standard Covert, which feels softer and sounds quieter.

 

Final Thoughts

Golf’s ruling bodies have made it extremely difficult for equipment manufacturers to continue add yards to a golfer’s drives, which is why manufacturers are doing everything in their power to make their drivers as adjustable as possible.

 

Engineers aren’t finding as many yards in the lab as they used to, but there are plenty of yards left for the average golfer to find through proper fitting.

With Covert, Nike has given golfers all the adjustability they could want and something new as well — a driver that can be low spinning and forgiving.

The Covert comes with “real deal” stock shaft options, Mitsubishi Rayon’s Kurokage Black 50 in the standard model and a Kurokage Silver 60 in the Tour, making the VR_S Covert ($299) and the VR_S Covert Tour ($399) a lot of driver for the money.

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27 Comments

1. 

   GEORGE STEEN

   March 14, 2013 at 9:27 pm

   nice looking deepfaced driver beat that hideous new r-1

   Reply
2. 

   Mark H

   March 15, 2013 at 9:51 am

   FYI, the Kurokage Silver 60 shaft has no up-charge in the Covert Performance model. I’ve got this setup at 11.5 degrees neutral cut down to 44.5″ and it just bombs!

   Reply
3. 

   Chris Voshall

   March 15, 2013 at 12:05 pm

   Actually moving weight back in the head of a driver increases MOI and forgiveness…big time. Just sayin’

   Reply
   • 

     Ian

     March 15, 2013 at 1:26 pm

     That’s what he’s saying.

     Reply
   • 

     Jacob

     March 15, 2013 at 1:38 pm

     I think that’s what was being said about forward weight decreasing MOI than back weight for MOI. Are you the Mizuno Chris Voshall by the way???

     Reply

4. Pingback: VR_S Covert Review from Golfwrx.com | NG NATION — Nike Golf Fan Blog

5. 

   G

   March 16, 2013 at 4:21 am

   It’s really very poorly manufactured. They used some cheap epoxy, and the badging inside the cavity will fly out after a little bit of use. Be warned.

   Reply
6. 

   Kris

   March 17, 2013 at 3:46 pm

   I’ve got the Performance with the Tour KK Silver 60g X shaft. Set at 11.5° and open for now. Hit on the range a few times, and while it’s not easy to draw or fade on demand, it can be done. Normally though, it just goes dead straight for me. Beats my old power draw!

   Reply
7. 

   Cory Collins

   March 17, 2013 at 4:45 pm

   Article says Nike has the only dual axis system. Isn’t the titleist fitting system dual axis?

   Reply
   • 

     michael

     March 18, 2013 at 12:39 am

     yes however it’s worthless in my opinion because when you change the loft +1.5 for example, you change the face angle to closed

     Reply
8. 

   Internet Marketing Miami

   March 17, 2013 at 11:31 pm

   Just got this golf club for my birthday. Can’t wait to take out clients on the course and show it off!

   Reply
9. 

   Ken

   March 20, 2013 at 8:16 am

   Is this cavity as radical as Nike would have us believe? In a driver maybe! Sonartec had cavities in their hybrids and fairway woods over a decade ago………………….

   Reply
   • 

     willM

     March 20, 2013 at 11:53 am

     Which is why I still use my sonartec 3-wood to this day. No wood to date has matched it for forgiveness, flight characteristics, and workability. Mitsubishi shaft a little stiff, but it flies!

     Reply
     • 

       Jack

       April 5, 2013 at 1:37 am

       Yup still love my royal collection (japanese version same technology) 3 and 5 woods. I think they are more than 10 yrs old now! Have some fujikura i think 757s in there. Best ROI on any club that I’ve owned!

       Reply
   • 

     willyboy

     March 20, 2013 at 3:31 pm

     Whats a Sonartec? Under water radar system?

     Reply
10. 

    Ed L

    March 20, 2013 at 2:30 pm

    I’m not a fan of this trend for OEMs to use the crown of the clubhead for their branding. It’s distracting and makes the clubs look cheap. Offering different colors is one thing, adding distrtacting graphics is another. If OEM’s are trying to sell customization, give me the option to buy the latest technology that has a clubhead not designed for NASCAR. I’m sure golf shops doing club refinishing will see record revenues this year.

    Reply
    • 

      michael

      March 20, 2013 at 10:28 pm

      then don’t buy the club. I hate the Taylormade R1 and all that other crap they put out so I decided to stick w/ my Titleist 905R. However, when the Covert came out I had to have one. That thing is beautiful and more people would agree than not.

      Reply
    • 

      Jack

      April 5, 2013 at 1:40 am

      News flash: people like it. They are buying it. You are in the minority so I would doubt that the club refinishing would get any more than normal.

      Reply
11. 

    Bill Henwood

    March 20, 2013 at 7:55 pm

    This design was first developed for the Toney Penna Innovator and then again for for the Nicklaus N-1 driver in 1992. I knew it worked then and it works now.

    Reply
12. 

    Andy B

    March 24, 2013 at 6:23 pm

    Nike had a rep at the range in Glasgow today doing a distance challenge. I ended up trading in my Razr Fit 9.5 for the Nike 460 set to neutral and to me, a surprising 11.5. Distance with my new Nike is more consistently long, although my best shots were similar with both, but what sold me was the tight dispersion and how straight it was on off centre hits. I play off 8 at a super tight Scottish links course, but at 6’4″ my naturally steep swing path can result in the odd, very destructive wild one. I can’t wait to hit more fairways in my next round!!

    Reply
13. 

    kirk

    April 7, 2013 at 8:04 am

    went to nike golf covert challenge, best I counldnt get under 3000spin,
    8.5,xstiff kuro kage. my numbers were 115 club head, 160 ball speed, 295 distance, 3100-3000 was lowest spin

    Reply
    • 

      Stocksie

      May 19, 2013 at 1:42 am

      Got the same numbers with the same loft, but my spin was even higher with the TM drivers. Maybe it was you steep swing?

      Reply
14. 

    Jtmcgk

    April 7, 2013 at 10:58 pm

    I was playing the Cobra ZL Encore when my so got me interested in this club. I’m only 42 but due to a bad snowboarding accident that required eleven total surgeries Four on the knees (I tore both ACL’s) and seven shoulder surgeries all on the left shoulder that culminated in having it replaced twice (I’m right handed). Before the crash I played to a two, thirteen years after the crash I’m back down to a seven. My issue is distance off the tee. I’m a 235-260 guy and it killls me. I’ve found that my average drive distance has increased by about twelve yards. Realistically I was avg. 245 of the tee now I’m close to 260. Its huge. The club is fantastic. I’ve got the performance and to be able to adjust loft and face angle is great. I’m very impressed. I replaced the stock shaft with an Adila PROTO vs. love it. Bravo Nike

    Reply
15. 

    Aaron Morris

    April 10, 2013 at 9:40 am

    This driver is very very surpising. It was every bit as long as my 9016d. Spin numbers were more consistent, dispersion and launch angle were tighter. Plush feel and sound and gave a few extra yards more then the Cally X-Hot. Most accurate for was the R1, Distance goes to Cally and Nike, all around game benefit goes to Nike.
    Any gripes about paint schemes is a failure to realize that “confidence” comes from knowing what to do with the body to move that club in your hands.

    Reply
16. 

    dakota jones

    May 3, 2013 at 4:48 pm

    Finally hit it at a demo day 150 ball speed, 258 carry, 1800 rpm, low side spin it a freaking keeper and I hate Nike golf Clubs

    Reply
17. 

    Tom Klintworth

    May 5, 2013 at 8:45 am

    Performance is great! problem is i have cracked two heads in 4 weeks

    Reply
18. 

    Mark L

    May 22, 2013 at 1:53 pm

    This new driver is the best Nike has ever made, I have all Nike equipment and I used to have the VR driver tiger uses. This driver is 15 yards longer with a better feel and the 3 wood is the best on the market, gained 20 yards switching to the 3 woods

    Reply