Nike Golf celebrates 2011 Masters with limited edition balls, golf shoes

Nike golfers have been using the company’s new 20XI golf balls for a while on tour, but starting tomorrow, you too will be able to get your hands on a few of the coveted pearls – if you’re lucky.

Nike Golf will be giving away a limited number of 20XI-X limited edition green Swoosh sleeves Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday of Masters week on the Nike Golf Facebook page. This is the first opportunity for fans/consumers to try out the 20XI.

The green Swoosh version is being released for a limited time in very limited numbers in honor of the 2011 Masters, and to be honest, I haven’t had a chance to tee up my pre-release samples (thanks, spring for making me wait). So I can’t yet comment on whether the “revolutionary” resin core is as amazing as it has been billed.

However, the Nike Golf staff pros who play them (Stephen Ames, Stewart Cink, Richard Finch, Lucas Glover, Matt Haines, Anthony Kim, Kevin Kisner, Justin Leonard, Jamie Lovemark, Pablo Martin, Francesco Molinari, James Morrison, and Carl Pettersson), however, give their impressions of the new balls on YouTube (look it up).

Along with the commemorative 20XI balls, Nike is also selling a limited number of Lunar Control shoes with a green outsole.

According to Nike spokeperson Gretchen Wilhelm, “The special green color of the Nike Lunar Control footwear will be worn by our athletes who wear the Lunar Control shoe at next week’s Masters (Casey, Cink, Vegas, Molinari, Pettersson). The athletes have both a white and black version to coordinate with their outfits but the ones we will be selling on nikestore.com is the green version. There will be a limited number of shoes that are available on nikestore.com, and when they are gone, they’re gone!”

(NOTE: to clarify, the version that will be available from Nike is the white version, as described in the picture caption below, with a deeper green sole and outer sole and white upper.)

The Lunar Control shoe line ($155) brings the stability and light weight of Nike’s running shoes to golfers. The lateral stresses placed on golfers’ feet during the swing are promoted by something called Flywire technology. The foot is supported by super-light, high-tensile fibers in the sides of the shoes.

Now I know the Shell Houston Open is just wrapping up today, and I don’t want to steal its thunder. But let’s get real: for many golfers and golf fans, the season doesn’t really begin until we see the azaleas blooming at Augusta National. Bring on the Masters!

Nike Lunar Control shoes (the limited edition Masters shoes will have a Masters-green outer sole and a matte gray saddle with black Swoosh.