Mike Nicolette

Michael Rexford Nicolette is an American professional golfer and inventor who played on the PGA Tour in the 1970s and 1980s.

Early life and amateur career

Nicolette was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
He attended Rollins College in Winter Park, Florida and was a member of the golf team. While a student at Rollins, he won the 1976 NCAA Division II Men's Golf Championship.

Professional career

In 1978, Nicolette turned professional. Nicolette had ten top-10 finishes in PGA Tour events during his career including a win at the 1983 Bay Hill Classic. In that tournament, he defeated Greg Norman in a playoff on the first extra hole. He was the first round co-leader at the 1988 U.S. Open but faded in the last three days. His best finish in a major championship was T-13 at the 1983 U.S. Open.
Parsons Xtreme Golf hired Nicolette, who served as senior product designer for PING prior to joining PXG. Given no time or budget constraints, Nicolette worked on designing the first iteration of what would become the PXG 0311 forged iron.
Nicolette is named as an inventor on 179 US Utility Patents as of 2022, the majority of which are assigned to PXG. He is also named on 255 US Design Patents.