Course Designer Attempts to Ban New Titleist Ball!

New NXT is "too long" claims Scottish golf course architect. Titleist's new NXT family of golf balls is certainly causing a stir in the world of golf.

The new ball has even prompted Scottish Course designer Ian MacCallister to launch a one man crusade to ban the NXT. He claims the new ball's distance and feel benefits are rendering golf courses obsolete and he has even formed an action group called 'Golf Designers Against Distance' to try and gain support for his campaign.

Before you get too carried away, Ian MacCallister is in fact a fictitious character, played by none other than John Cleese, in Titleist's new television commercials for the new NXT range.

"The aim of the campaign is to appeal to a broad audience of golfers with fun and entertaining adverts while driving home the message that the new NXT Tour and NXT Distance are the next generation in long and soft golf ball performance" comments John Peal, Titleist's Director of Marketing for Europe.

The ad campaign utilises the debate between technology and tradition to promote the distance benefits of the NXT balls. Mr MacCallister goes to great lengths to stop the launch of NXT.

The first advert sees him sabotage Titleist CEO Wally Uihlein's NXT press conference by hitting him full on the face with a custard pie and then protesting vehemently against the launch.

The story then takes another twist in the second advert as Cleese's character takes his protests even further by embarking on a non-stop vigil outside Titleist's head office. The new NXT is destined to take the golf market by storm as it targets a wide range of handicaps and skill levels and is ideal for players seeking long, straight distance and soft feel at a mid price point.

The NXT Tour and NXT Distance utilise large solid cores for very long distance and low compression cores for exceptionally soft feel. The RRP for both NXT balls is £6.95 per 3-ball sleeve and they are available in the shops from January.

The ads will debut during Sky's coverage of the Sony Hawaiian Open in January and will be shown throughout the season.

Look out for further developments as Ian takes his protest to new, more extreme heights!