New Wilson driver coming soon?

[TheMoneyShot]

GW has a lot of new Wilson toys. It must be good if it knocked his Ping out of the bag.

[MCoz]

The technology for drivers and fairways is much more complex and can be extremely costly compared to irons generally. There is a reason no one just stumbles into the driver market out of the blue on their own. Millions of dollars, very exacting knowledge and experience and one has to keep it up every couple of years. Wilson's history in Irons helps. But as they gain expertise in the improving iron tech this will help in the future with woods if they are will to spend big $$ or try to steal and tweak someone else. Hell the big guys even do that to each other plus steal people (design engineers). Again very, very expensive!!

[braincramp52]

But Wilson has been making drivers for longer than any of the other big boys.

[TheMoneyShot]

Im really interested in this new fwy metal.

[ShakeyT]

I bet these woods have been in development since Woodland signed. He appears to be getting what he needs out of them.

It also seems that he has changed his approach to the game over the past couple of years. He lays up off the tee on a lot of holes that he has the ability to overpower. Almost like he decided to show everyone he could be a shot maker instead of just a bomber.

[TheMoneyShot]

He has gotten himself in a lot better shape too!

[getair23]

I thought 7* and 3* open was a little aggressive by today's standards. Until I saw Bryson's Cobra SZ at 5.5 and he is looking to add a 10* 3 wood. If that is even a 3 wood.

[James the Hogan Fan]

I've bagged Wilson Fybrids, Fg tour M3 and F5 fairways, and I have to say they have all been very solid performers. I would be extremely interested in a new fairway from them, tour presence notwithstanding, but it can't hurt.

Woodland must be happy as Wilson's number 1 gun, he gets clubs designed for him from them, instead of some other OEM's table scraps. Plus I imagine his contact kicks him a bonus for having woods in play. Even back then, Wilson was churning out laminated maple strata-bloc woods, which were seen as kind of inferior to persimmons

[braincramp52]

I don't know, worked pretty well for Sam Snead and others.

[James the Hogan Fan]

Sam used a George Izett for the vast majority of his career: https://www.patheos.com/blogs/kermitzarleyblog/2019/08/what-was-sam-sneads-famous-driver/

But your point is made, Wilson woods were just as good. (And maybe Sam Snead started the tradition of Wilson staffers not using Wilson woods)

[the bishop]

I'm not 100% certain but I think Padraig might have had that gawd awful W/S Spine driver in his bag for the first of his two Open Championship wins. The Spine was released during the high MOI square driver era. And it sucked.

[braincramp52]

I must have gotten bad info. I thought he used a wilson for something like 17 years.

[03trdblack]

I think it was actually the Wilson Smooth, not the Spine.

[Quebec Club Ho]

I think Paddy played the Pd5 driver to win his first open. He won with the pd6?? the following year. I had the Pd5 - good performance but not very forgiving.

[the bishop]

@03trdblack Quebec Club Ho might be correct if it wasn't the Spine. Both Pd5 and Pd6 were introduced in 2005. The Smooth was a very good club however and I gamed one for a couple of seasons. It went against the emerging trend of the time of deep faced drivers as it was rather shallow faced. However it wasn't introduced until Jan 2009, which is after both of his Open wins.@Quebec Club Ho I owned a PD5 and can attest to its unforgiving nature. I didn't care for it at all. I had a Dd 6 that I liked a lot better.

[James the Hogan Fan]

From a golf monthly wtib from october of 2008:

"Golf Monthly caught up with Wilson Staff player Padraig Harrington earlier this and asked: ‘what’s in the bag?’ Below are the details of the clubs the Irishman carries each week on Tour.DRIVER

I’m using the driver I had at Carnoustie, the Wilson Staff Dd6+. But testing the new Wilson one, I liked it with the new Aldila Voodoo shaft, so I had that shaft put into the Dd6+. I like to hit the ball on a straight flight, without too much spin."

 

So it was Dd6+ at the 2008 open. Interestingly from the same article he had a fybrid 5w and hybrid but used a TM Burner Tp 3w.

[03trdblack]

Great info!

[eaglestan66]

Curious to know if this new driver and fairway woods will be available to the public this season.

Gotta love this company for making an effort to rebuild!

I play some of their stuff and each time I do, I'm very impressed.

Wilson Staff - keep the good coming!

[grm24]

FWIW Troy Merritt won the 2018 Barbasol Championship with a Wilson Staff D300 driver.

[MCoz]

Yes they have but in the 90's and early 2000s, technology and dollars have expanded beyond what "smaller" companies and independents can compete with. It isn't impossible for someone to come up with something ingenious but it will have to be from someone who is exceptional and maybe a little lucky. One of the best, Jesse Ortiz (the genius behind Orlimar and later the Bobby Jones woods and hybrids has retired. He was fantastic at shaping aerodynamics and the use of special metals (pioneered Maraging steel among that).

Thus big money will likely lead the way because once a concept is envisioned it then has to go thru countless analysis, prototying (very expensive) and testing. Trips to China, more tour protos for patents, the serious player testing and USGA/R&A approvals all before production and marketing can begin. This also can take up to two years+ from idea to completion for sale. That alone has tremendous costs.

The world was a lot simpler in the wood heads with inserts, sole plates and steel shafts where craftsmen did all of the designs without the help of Cad designs computers.

[eaglestan66]

The matte finish crown on the new proto driver looks amazing

[James the Hogan Fan]

For you guys who are more well versed in new club releases, what is the typical timeframe from prototype appears on tour to prototype based production model hits retail?

And or how often does a club like this never see the general public?

I've never been excited over this kind of thing before and I'm wondering what usually happens

[TheMoneyShot]

This driver looks to have a deep face, super intriguing.

[Myherobobhope]

Barring anything really weird, some version of this is going to come out to the public... I don't think they'd make a one off driver and then NOT release it... they are also trying to build the Wilson Labs brand as part of their golf line, so they clearly want something in this space... In terms of timeline, I don't know... This specific driver won't be released publicly. A 7.5 3 degree open driver has a very limited appeal (I'm on board with it, but that's a different story). So we will probably see another driver on the conforming list soon.

My guess is they want to get the tweaks on it right on the production side, and want to build some hype by having it something you want but can't have on the retail side... I'm sure some marketing exec somewhere has the "perfect" time to release the club planned, but I don't know when that is... Them getting certified by the USGA is step one in a release, though... (or really in getting used for PGA play). I'd expect the next club of theirs to hit the USGA conforming list will be released fairly quickly afterwards, but I think the timing is unknown right now.

If you want one sooner, I recommend rooting for Woodland this week, as if he wins, it will definitely shift their timetable massively forward.

[braincramp52]

I love deep face drivers!

[TheMoneyShot]

You and I both?

[braincramp52]

I should have never sold my Cleveland classic 290.

[TheMoneyShot]

The 290 was a great stick! The more images I see of this Wilson driver, the more I like it!

[braincramp52]

I know. The first picture I saw didn't do much for me but when I saw pics of Woodland hitting it I changed my mind.

[TheMoneyShot]