The passion of the golf enthusiast is well documented. Their desire to improve their game and lower the score on the card knows no bounds. As such, golfers are recognized as one of the most loyal consumer groups in sports, and while more than a few have come calling with promise of salvation, few have served as the catalyst for revolution.
OnCore hopes to break that chain, and they have over 100 Kickstarter backers who believe them.
Rewind to early 2011. Bret Blakely and Steve Coulton had known each other for a couple of years, studying marketing and the local links while finding the proper course for their entrepreneurial spirit. They connected with Doug DeFaux, a fellow golfer with a desire to evolve via a new golf ball he had created, utilizing a hollow metal core. Blakely and Coulton immediately recognizing improved control using DeFaux’s creation, and (with some financial support from Roberto Clemente Jr. – yes, the son of the baseball great) OnCore Golf took form and The Omen – the world’s first hollow metal core golf ball – was born.
The science behind The Omen is rather simple. The hollow metal core transfers the weight of the typical golf ball from the ball’s inner core (where traditional solid cores typically reside and serve as the center of mass) to the outside shell. This shift provides dramatic reduction of side spin, the primary cause of hook or slice in the flight of a golf ball after impact. In layman’s terms, The Omen flies straight… and there isn’t a golfer alive who doesn’t appreciate straight.
OnCore used the initial investment from Clemente Jr. to hit the local market. Targeting the amateur golfer looking to get out of the woods and on the fairway, OnCore connected with a few golfing celebrities, drummed up a bit of press, and in late October of 2011 launched a Kickstarter campaign to raise funds for national promotion. In one month, OnCore raised over $20k from 117 backers. Their story was picked up and shared by NBC, leading to additional investments from the VC community. One year later, OnCore launched on a national level, secured international distribution, and started earning the attention of the professionals from the PGA.
Over recent weeks since that surge, OnCore has renamed the ball – the Evo – and their technology is under review by the USGA with hopes of earning a spot on the official Conforming Golf Balls list, and hopes are high. The original DeFaux ball – known as the NDMX from NanoDynamics – was reviewed in 2006 and earned inclusion on the USGA list. However, the OnCore offering differs from those original specifications (and this list is all about specifications), thus they await their USGA fate in 2013.
Fortunately, the weekend duffer has no need for the USGA list… and with the Evo sitting in wait on the shelf (one dozen Evo balls retail at $40, about the same as a dozen Titleist Pro V1 balls… the Pro V1 being the most common ball in use on the PGA TOUR), we’re wondering if we shouldn’t hit ‘em up.
Locating hard statistics behind the Evo is difficult (to be expected considering OnCore touts the technology’s ability to enhance control, noting minimal improvement in distance), and at such a young age, the Evo hasn’t spent nearly enough time in competitive play to produce analytical comparison against “established” balls of choice. Still, the golf world is on notice.
The Hacker’s Paradise, a popular golf blog, recently reviewed the Evo by performance with every type of club (woods, irons/wedges, putter) in the bag, and offered the following: “Even when I tried to move one hard left or right, the degree of movement was significantly less than others I tried the same shot with. Now, that isn’t to say you can’t still slice one hard – it just doesn’t end up moving as much as may be used to. With decreased sidespin I was actually seeing a slight increase in carry and a definite jump in rollout on the course… While using the ball it also quickly became evident that it reduces all spin, which can produce some issues off the irons and wedges… the rollout (with irons/wedges) was much increased. I had to conscientiously change my shots into the greens in order to account for that rollout.”
However, it appears the Evo – designed to provide accuracy in the air – may reach optimal benefit on the green.
“Roll after roll, the Evo immediately took a nice forward roll without skidding and seemed to track the chosen line extremely well. The consistency of the Evo here, even on the longest putts, was very good, as time and again it possessed a tighter grouping to the hole.”
Last month, co-founder Bret Blakely sat down with Gary D’Amato of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel to discuss the Evo, and offered the following.
“Honestly, having the hollow core in the ball makes it a hybrid between what you typically see in a Titleist NXT and a Pro V1. It feels like an NXT but the performance and spin characteristics are closer to a Pro V1. You can’t compare it to traditional rubber-core metrics.”
Put simply, the Evo experience is as unique as the experience OnCore has endured to get it here. We look forward to getting one on the tee, and we’ll keep an eye on OnCore as they work to evolve golf ball tech and get PGA pros doing the same.