If you’ve been scouring the golf underground of late, the fact that Nike unveiled their ‘groundbreaking’ new putter idea and are about to flog it in golf shops around the world will be old news. Which must be making the guys at YES! Putter company smile because they did it first and, as we all know, imitation is the most sincere form of flattery…

Nike is punting its new Method putter on the back of Stewart Cink’s heartbreaking victory at the Open (the Mole still cries at the thought of Tom Watson staring down that 8-footer) and Lucas Glover’s out-of-nowhere win at the US Open – both of which were won with prototypes.

And good for them that they finally made a flatstick that hits it straight. But here’s the thing: the ‘scientific method’ behind the construction of the club is nothing more than a redesign of the original C-Groove putter concept that Retief used to good effect for years.

Using words like revolutionary and visibly distinctive, the Nike scientists finally figured out that there’s obviously something to the C-Groove theory and, well, cut grooves on the face of the putter.

In their own words: “While most traditional steel faced putters start the ball with backspin causing the ball to initially bounce a little higher, the Nike polymetal groove technology starts the ball with more forward spin to minimise bounce and keep the putts on line.”

Er, yeah, guys, we’ve heard that before… back in 1995 in fact when YES! First launched the C-Groove.

Not sure when they’ll arrive in SA, but judging by the last hyped putter from Swoosh, the unified design, you might need to sell your car if you want to put some Method in your bag – it’s listed price is over 200 Euros.