In 2016, Rory McIlroy took a call that even surprised him. Nike Golf had decided to end its club- and ball-building business after launching its first golf balls in 2000, before clubs made it to retail the following year.
Nearly 10 years on from the decision, McIlroy spoke ahead of the 2026 Genesis Scottish Open about the decision.
“Yeah, it was definitely – as you said – it took all of us by surprise,” McIlroy said. “I remember getting the call, whenever that was, and I felt like it was very funny timing. Because I felt like the equipment was like getting really, really good.”
McIlroy had even tested the next cycle of product that was supposed to launch at the start of 2017.
“I thought the golf ball was getting better,” McIlroy added. “The equipment was getting better.”
Nike’s decision came with Nike Golf finishing the 2016 fiscal year with $706 million in revenue, its worst since 2011, when the golf section of the company generated $623 million.
“But like with all these massive companies, when you have a change of leadership, it changes the direction of the company,” McIlroy said on Wednesday. “You know, someone comes in, looks at how much R&D is costing, Nike Golf in comparison to the revenue that they are making, and they are like, yeah, we probably need to cut that.
“But if a CEO comes in, and in four years’ time and says no, we actually want to start doing that again, they could start doing it again. All these massive companies, they are influenced so much by what happens at the top.”
With Nike Golf out of the picture, McIlroy had the license to experiment with his setup. At the South African Open in 2017 his was spotted using Callaway Epic woods, Callaway Apex MB irons, Titleist Vokey wedges, an Odyssey putter and Pro V1x ball.
“But it gave me an opportunity to, I guess, go to market and try different stuff and sort of see where I came out,” McIlroy added. “Landed with TaylorMade, and it’s been a pretty good run with them since.”
Source: golfwrx.com