Devil Ball Proving Ground: Nike VR_S Covert 2.0 Tour Driver

Welcome to Devil Ball's Proving Ground, where we put the latest golf gear through its paces. Today we look at the Nike VR_S Covert 2.0 Tour driver.

Tester â€" Shane Bacon â€" Handicap: +1.2

Target Golf Audience â€" +5 - 15

Initial thoughts

There is no mistaking the Nike drivers these days. Gone are the days of the black paint, with an unmistakable red covering the tops of these new creations from Nike Golf.

My initial thought, just like with the original Covert, was that the thing is strikingly beautiful. The red crown with the subtle Swoosh is one of my favorite looks of any golf club on the market, and it makes this driver one of a kind at first glance.

A lot of club companies are producing beautiful drivers, but few, if any, can compare to the Covert family, and it's the reason that you've seen so many of the Nike athletes switch to the 2.0 in some capacity.

The Covert 2.0 still has the cavity back system, although it has been reengineered to add some distance to the second edition of this club and help keep those mishits in the fairway. While the cavity back was tough to wrap our heads around when the first of these drivers was released, you see in the 2.0 just what the impact is when you go after a golf ball.

On-Course Thoughts

The first word that came to my mind after a few swings with the Covert 2.0 Tour is "long." This thing is long. Long, long, long, long, long.

Distance seems to be everything these days and if you can pick up a driver that adds a few yards to your mishits and around 10 yards to your good ones, you have to be excited.

When I first took the Covert 2.0 to the range, I had a flimsier shaft in the club than what I would usually play with. I decided to take some softer swings with it while I was getting used to it and what I found was the club was still producing numbers that I would be happy with if it I went at the ball 100 percent.

After switching out the shaft for one I'm more familiar with it was amazing the numbers this driver was creating. The Covert 2.0 still has the FlexLoft system, so you can adjust the driver anywhere from 8.5 to 12.5 degrees, so no matter what the ball flight looks initially, you'll be able to change that in-hand, which is an addition that is almost mandatory these days on golf clubs.

The big difference between the 2.0 and the initially Covert is something they are calling "Fly-Brace technology." The idea between Fly-Brace is to simply "brace" the driver head so that you maximize the energy between the head and the ball at impact. You can't see the Fly-Brace technology because it is in the head of the club, but it is definitely one of the reasons for the added yards on drives between this club and the first version.

Final Verdict

One of the things I loved the most about the 2.0 is the ball flight I could control with it. Keeping the ball low when you need it or high when you have wind at your back is important, and having a club you feel can produce those trajectories at a consistent rate is one of the things I look for most in a new driver.

The Covert 2.0 Tour does all of that, and it's one of the reasons I was so pleased with the updated version of the driver. I now see why guys like Rory McIlroy have had so much fun with this new club, and why more and more have popped up at the driving ranges I frequent.

Basically the driver is a better version of an already solid golf club, and allows you to gain distance without taking away from the main ingredients that make the Covert family so solid.

www.nikegolf.com, $399