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Fall in Love With The Nike SasQuatch 460 Driver Review

The Nike SasQuatch 460 Driver is one of the most stable, forgiving drivers on the market today. Once I adjusted to the PowerBow (and, admittedly, it was easier on the 460 Driver version with the smaller PowerBow), my confidence grew and this driver is now the one you'll find in my bag when my driving needs a little self-esteem boost. Despite its forgiving nature on mis-hits, the SQ 460 Driver should satisfy the shotmaking needs of better players, and the SQ version will likely help the mid-handicapper looking for a lot of forgiveness.

Design and Technology

Building upon the rather successful Nike Ignite, the SasQuatch has a lot in common with Tiger's previous driver. That starts with the face: like the Ignite, the SQ is built with what Nike calls "NexTi" titanium. NexTi is a "layered yet tightly compressed titanium that is thinner, lighter, and stronger than the current standard of Beta-Titanium." Gone is the "pull-face" technology touted in the Ignite - we hardly knew ye!

 The finish on the bottom of the SasQuatch makes a perfect mirror so that the girly men you're playing with can check their makeup and hair when you blow a drive past them.

The SQ - like the Slingshot OSS irons and the Slingshot hybrid - pushes the weight back in a swooping grey piece of metal. On the irons and the hybrid, that piece of metal is called the "Slingback." On the SQ, it's called the "PowerBow." The "PowerBow" - the appearance of which I'll discuss later - does several things.

First, it creates what Nike calls "Max Dimension." According to Nike, the "trailing volume of mass apply more power and control to the ball without overstepping the 460cc limit." In addition to the 460cc limit, the rules of golf state that a clubhead can't be any longer (front to back) than it is wide. The SasQuatch's "PowerBow" and "Max Dimension" come close: the SQ is 4.7116 inches wide and a whopping 4.664 inches deep. The 460 Driver version is a bit shorter front to back.

Finally, the PowerBow creates what Nike has called "Max Back CG." This - as is popular these days - moves the center of gravity (CG) down and back in the clubhead to increase leverage, expand the sweet spot, and resist twisting. Nearly every driver  employs methods to lower and deepen the center of gravity, and the SQ is no different.

Appearance

The SasQuatch is one of many 460cc drivers, but it may be one of the most unique when it comes to looks. At address, the large grey "PowerBow" band - which is much smaller on the "460 Driver" model - adds a visual distraction that requires an adjustment period. After adjusting, many will tell you they don't even notice the PowerBow and that the metallic black portions of the driver's crown are all they see, but I always noticed the PowerBow, and I have the 460 Driver version with the smaller PowerBow.

One final difference between the 460 Driver and the non-460 Driver models: the non-460 Driver model features a pair of arrows on the top of the crown to indicate the center of the clubface. The 460 Driver version is free of this alignment aid. The center of each clubface is void of grooves, with white punch dots around the area and black grooves on the heel and toe.

The satin grey PowerBow finish wraps around to the toe and just under the club, but the sole of the SasQuatch is bright and shiny: a bright yellow paint towards the back of the club provides the recognition factor companies seek, and the shiny polished titanium serves as a temporary mirror.

The sole configuration between the 460 Driver and non-460 Driver versions vary slightly, with the non-460 Driver version clearly pushing a little more weight towards the heel than the 460 Driver version, but that change is most obvious from above - the PowerBow bulges in the non-460 Driver version on the heel side of center.

Performance

The SasQuatch, I've heard, has one of the highest moment of inertia (MOI) ratings in the game. MOI can be thought of as "resistance to twisting" on off-center impact. The benefit of a high MOI is a "forgiving" club.

 The 460 Driver version features a deeper face with a shallower depth that allows for increased workability.

MOI is one of the recent buzzwords, and with the "Slingback" design in the Slingshot OSS irons and the Slingshot hybrid and the PowerBow in the SasQuatch, Nike club designer Tom Stites has seemingly attempted to maximize the benefits of MOI. "Screw tradititon, let's put a big grey blob on the back of the driver if it makes it more forgiving" he seems to have said.

And so Nike did, and it's tough to question Tom's passion for MOI after hitting the driver a few times: it's awfully forgiving. In one round, I hit a ball on the heel that I would have expected to start well left of the fairway and "heel cut" back into play. Instead, it started just left of center and cut slightly just into the right rough. It was almost as if the club was too forgiving. High, low, toe- or heel-ward, the SasQuatch does what it can to keep the ball in the fairway.

Though nobody plans to hit the ball off-center, it's nice to believe that missing the sweet spot by a half inch won't result in a missed fairway and a long approach shot. But for those who do find the sweet spot, they'll find a long driver that produces a solid low, boring trajectory. The discount golf equipment and the center of the clubface is rather hot, and even the easiest swings that find the sweet spot shoot the ball with incredible speed. Launch monitor testing confirms that the SasQuatch produces a fairly low amount of spin (the non-460 Driver model, with a lower, deeper CG may produce more but was not test).

It's that ease of shot shaping and one other factor that has made the SQ 460 Driver my "confidence driver." The large clubhead has the odd effect of making the shaft seem shorter than it really is, inspiring confidence that allows me to pull driver and hit shots full of confidence.

Nike would like you to believe that the Diamana 83 that comes standard on the Nike SasQuatch 460 Driver was the shaft Tiger played for awhile, but we know better. It is more a personal preference than one based in fact, and it's this: I prefer a deeper face than even the SQ 460 Driver offers - more like those on the Titleist 905S, ping G10 even the Callaway FT-3 460 Driver. Several times I hit the ball excessively high on the SQ's relatively shallow face, losing 50+ yards in pop-up fashion. Teeing the ball down lower than normal helped, but I find that teeing the ball down makes it tougher for me to hit a high draw some of the tees at my home course demand.

Overall I'm completely satisfied with this product. I use to fear pulling my driver out on any hole...now I can't wait. When you're trying some new drivers give this one a whirl. I almost didn't hit this one, and that would have been a huge mistake.

 

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Finally, the PowerBow creates what Nike has called "Max Back CG." This - as is popular these days - moves the center of gravity (CG) down and back in the clubhead to increase leverage, expand the sweet spot, and resist twisting. Nearly every driver  employs methods to lower and deepen the center of gravity, and the SQ is no different.

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