Tiger Woods endorses "Nike Tour Accuracy" golf balls in TV and magazine ads, but he really plays with custom-made balls unavailable to everyday duffers, Nike
acknowledged today after being sued in federal court.
Nike Inc. said the balls Woods uses for his monster swings that
produce 300-plus-yard drives have a slightly harder inner and outer
core than the balls sold to the public.
"Those two elements are slightly firmer than the marketed
ball,'' Mike Kelly, marketing director for Nike Golf, told The
Associated Press.
Kelly said it's common practice in the golfing world to sell the
public different products than what the pros really use.
"It's an industry practice to make minor specification changes
to golf products: irons, putters and golf balls for tour players,''
Kelly said. "Slight specification and modifications need to be
made to their equipment for their game.''
But other leading names in golf say their customers get exactly
what their pros endorse.
Joe Gomes, a spokesman for Titleist, of Fairhaven, Mass., said
its players use the same products they advertise. And if a player
uses a "tweaked'' version of a club, he said, a consumer could
special order it.
"We are very particular about our advertisements. We don't make
any claims that cannot be substantiated in both golf balls and
clubs,'' Gomes said.
Callaway Golf of Carlsbad, Calif., said that if one of its golf
pros says he uses a certain club, that identical club is available
retail. Spokesman Larry Dorman did say, however, that in February,
one of its golf balls had a different number of dimples on it than
the ones its pros used.
That occurred, he said, because Callaway was awaiting approval
of the new ball by the United States Golfing Association, so the
company's pros were briefly forbidden from using it in tournaments.
"We used a prototype with a different number of dimples,''
Dorman said. "As a result, for a very short period of time, there
was a little bit of a lapse from what was being marketed. We were
very up front about it.''
Woods's agent, Mark Steinberg, did not immediately return a call
requesting comment on the lawsuit.
In the suit filed today in U.S. District Court in San
Francisco, a nonprofit group called Public Remedies Inc. claimed
Nike, based in Beaverton, Ore., was engaging in unfair business
practices. It asks that Nike's "ill-gotten gains'' be restored to
the public.
"Tiger Woods does not play the Nike Tour Accuracy golf ball,
but instead plays one with a different composition and performance
characteristics specially made for him ... and not available to the
general public,'' the suit said.
The group did not return repeated calls for comment.
Woods officially switched to the Nike Tour Accuracy ball before
the U.S. Open, the first of his three major championships this year. The move officially ended a marketing conflict between Woods's
top two golf sponsors -- Nike and Titleist -- that began last year
when Nike entered the ball market.
Titleist argued that Nike was using Woods to promote golf balls
because of two commercials -- one that showed Woods bouncing a ball
off his wedge, and another that showed hackers on the range belting
300-yard drives as soon as Woods showed up.
Titleist contemplated a lawsuit, but instead reworked Woods's
deal so that he was paid only when he used Titleist equipment in
tournaments. Titleist also gave up its right to have its logo on
his bag and to use Woods in advertisements.
