Wilson Golf Product Testing and Fitting Experience @ Pinehurst | Following Along Here

[Shanks2424]

I cant wait to see more of this trip.

[Steve o]

6 hours ago, radiman said:

Maybe I am in the "older guys" camp haha.  But, as time goes on, I appreciate the subtlety of clean and classy over loud, colorful, and buzzword heavy.  I am much more drawn to an OEM telling me that their irons were designed around looks, feel, and precision vs some technological breakthrough that is supposed to wow me.  Maybe I have been around long enough to see that AI, cup faces, etc haven't really made any difference in my game.  And, I am specifically speaking of the players cb/mb category.  I have a set of 2013 X Forged without AI, cup face, etc and loft for loft, I hit them just as well as anything modern.  And they feel better than most current offerings that are boasting tech.  

 

I think Wilson is marketing the Staff irons beautifully.  They are players irons that are going to sell well to people who care about those type of intangibles.  I also think that Wilson is starting to gain a little bit of status with the younger crowd who want to be different than everyone else.  Other than my Cobra irons, I think I have seen more Wilson sets in play over the past few seasons than Cobra.  

That’s really interesting. I never see Wilson on the course or the range. I agree with the majority of your thoughts. Wilson’s playing in the technology. They have AI capabilities and used it in the DP Driver for sure. It’s a tool and like any useful tools it should be used. It’s a strange take but I think Wilson’s excellent entry into apparel along with upgrades in ALL their sport categories will take the brand younger. 

[radiman]

2 minutes ago, Steve o said:

That’s really interesting. I never see Wilson on the course or the range. I agree with the majority of your thoughts. Wilson’s playing in the technology. They have AI capabilities and used it in the DP Driver for sure. It’s a tool and like any useful tools it should be used. It’s a strange take but I think Wilson’s excellent entry into apparel along with upgrades in ALL their sport categories will take the brand younger. 

I never see Cobra irons haha. Outside of my own bag anyways lol.  Seeing a few sets of last gen Staff CB was interesting.  Don't get me wrong, it's not all that common.  But, going from never seeing them to at least once in a while is a big difference.  

[Orchardist]

With you on that Radiman, seeing anything Wilson besides a cheap ball being played is extremely rare.  Look forward to that changing because the product is properly good.  It doesn't need memories of weepy eyed nostalgia, it stands on its own.

 

I practice and play at a home course for one the colleges.  Around the practice areas I talk with many of the players when they're just kicking it.  There is not one Wilson club to be found in any bag of those players.  The 2 high school teams?, I've seen one oldish Wilson putter.  I keep hoping to see a Wilson van in the parking lot and the range getting worked.  These kids dress and act deadly serious.   Hope to see some of these players gaming Wilson at some point.   

 

[wam78]

I’m currently bagging previous gen staff cb/d9f combo and I always get looks at my irons.  Mostly complimenting how good they look.

 

This new movement of getting more products in more hands should hopefully help move the needle.  Hopefully they can get more tour presence as well.  Seeing a Wilson staff bag competing on Sunday’s is never a bad thing.

[grochol17]

17 hours ago, radiman said:

I never see Cobra irons haha. Outside of my own bag anyways lol.  Seeing a few sets of last gen Staff CB was interesting.  Don't get me wrong, it's not all that common.  But, going from never seeing them to at least once in a while is a big difference.  

 

I recently got paired up with a guy that had Cobra King OS irons from the mid 90s.

[Shilgy]

Obviously early yet but Willie Mack is looking good representing !@Wilson_Golf @lasater

[Shilgy]

32 minutes ago, Shilgy said:

Obviously early yet but Willie Mack is looking good representing !@Wilson_Golf @lasater

I’ll shut up now…soon as I post he makes a bogey.🤯

[grochol17]

34 minutes ago, Shilgy said:

I’ll shut up now…soon as I post he makes a bogey.🤯

 

You've got the announcer's curse!

[TM golf guy]

Here's a couple quick snaps of the 4 utility I got sent. Full disclosure, I don't expect this loft to fit the gaps in my bag. The 5 iron is 24.5° in the Dynapower, and I have a 20° 7 wood I'm currently using. I assume this will be too close to the 5 and too far from the 7, but we will see. It's a touch shorter than my Srixon (probably just the butt cap of the grip), and the Srixon has a little more of the trailing edge visible at address. Good looking club, but I think the 3 bent a degree weak is probably what I need. 

 

Edited June 13 by TM golf guy

[Orchardist]

TM Now Wilson Golf Guy,

 

Just checked, ..I do have room in my bag to carry that for you.😀

 

Looking forward to demoing one of those next week in a whatever they have loft just to check it out.  Lot of desk time lately, thanks for making it more tolerable.

 

[TM golf guy]

I am going to try to go to the range tonight to get some time in with the new sticks vs the old ones to see what can get in the bag vs not. My hamstring has been resting since I got back, so I think I’ll be able to swing again. I’ll post some thoughts if I get out there. 

[TM golf guy]

 

Going to sneak out to go hit some balls under the lights and compare a few clubs. I’m not going to hit the utility before talking to Wilson to go over some specs to make sure the 4 is the right one for me. I’ll send a mini write up later tonight on how the irons compare as this will be the first time I’ve really hit them side by side. 

[Shilgy]

2 minutes ago, TM golf guy said:

 

Going to sneak out to go hit some balls under the lights and compare a few clubs. I’m not going to hit the utility before talking to Wilson to go over some specs to make sure the 4 is the right one for me. I’ll send a mini write up later tonight on how the irons compare as this will be the first time I’ve really hit them side by side. 

I think you’re going to like them. My split set even with the wrong shafts -and split in the wrong place- are at least the equal of my T150’s. Can’t wait to get the right ones…hopefully next week.

[grochol17]

18 minutes ago, Shilgy said:

I think you’re going to like them. My split set even with the wrong shafts -and split in the wrong place- are at least the equal of my T150’s. Can’t wait to get the right ones…hopefully next week.

 

I'm definitely interested to know how your CB & Dynapower Forged combo works out as I'm considering doing something similar. 

[BraxtonFullerton]

51 minutes ago, grochol17 said:

 

I'm definitely interested to know how your CB & Dynapower Forged combo works out as I'm considering doing something similar. 

 

I just did a split set as well. 5 & 6 are DPF bent 1.5 weak and then 7-PW are CBs bent 1 strong. I only got to play a scramble earlier in the week, so I don't have any range time or real-world results to give an honest opinion of doing a split set like this... yet.

[Orchardist]

Dammit Braxton I can’t follow that new math😂

[Shilgy]

3 hours ago, TM golf guy said:

 

Going to sneak out to go hit some balls under the lights and compare a few clubs. I’m not going to hit the utility before talking to Wilson to go over some specs to make sure the 4 is the right one for me. I’ll send a mini write up later tonight on how the irons compare as this will be the first time I’ve really hit them side by side. 

Agreed…. I received this today…..totally unexpected from my fitting. Don’t even have the plastic off yet. PX HZRDUS Black 90g 6.0

[Orchardist]

33 minutes ago, Shilgy said:

Agreed…. I received this today…..totally unexpected from my fitting. Don’t even have the plastic off yet. PX HZRDUS Black 90g 6.0

 

That is really just fantastic showing up unexpectedly!  They can do red paint fill with the shield on mine so it’s not confused with the ballers in this thread.

 

Great job with all this Wilson!

[BraxtonFullerton]

10 hours ago, Orchardist said:

Dammit Braxton I can’t follow that new math😂

 

I partially lied, the 5i is only + .5!! So here's what set makeup looks like:

 

DPF 5i - 24.5 + .5 = 25
DPF 6i - 27.5 + 1.5 = 29

CB 7i - 34 - 1 = 33

CB 8i - 38 - 1 = 37

CB 9i - 42 - 1 = 41

CB PW - 46 - 1 = 45

Edited June 14 by BraxtonFullerton

[TM golf guy]

Well I went to the range last night and here are some brief notes. I really like the feel of Dynapower Forged irons. I think I realized that I was worn out going in to the trip, probably from hitting too many balls leading up to it while not being in "golf shape".  My swing speed certainly felt up from the trip last night, and I think the results were also indicative of that. I'll break down some things below, but my goal is to go get on a monitor for a bit today to compare 7 irons to get data to back up what I was seeing.

 

The first thing I noticed about the Wilsons compared to my Pings is that I hit them higher, and in the case of the short irons it seemed to be a lot higher. When I got fit, the Wilson AI categorized me as a high ball hitter, and I'm a tiny bit concerned that maybe the Dart 105 launches too high for me. Shots weren't ballooning, but I was also downwind. It looked like balls were landing in similar spots as my Pings, but the lights at the range I was at are just sort of meh in regards to how far you can really see. Forgiveness seems on par with the i230s, maybe a bit better, but I honestly was smashing my irons so I didn't really get a good feel for it there.

 

The other thing I noticed is that the weight between the two sets feels different. The Wilsons feel a bit lighter, so switching between the two took a few swings to get the feel down. I'm going to check the swing weight out on them, but both have 105 gram shafts and similarly weighted grips, so they should be pretty close. It wasn't a big issue, but there were times where I noticed the weight difference (particularly in trying to hit some 3/4 shots and trying to flight the ball down).

[PedronNiall]

21 minutes ago, TM golf guy said:

Well I went to the range last night and here are some brief notes. I really like the feel of Dynapower Forged irons. I think I realized that I was worn out going in to the trip, probably from hitting too many balls leading up to it while not being in "golf shape".  My swing speed certainly felt up from the trip last night, and I think the results were also indicative of that. I'll break down some things below, but my goal is to go get on a monitor for a bit today to compare 7 irons to get data to back up what I was seeing.

 

The first thing I noticed about the Wilsons compared to my Pings is that I hit them higher, and in the case of the short irons it seemed to be a lot higher. When I got fit, the Wilson AI categorized me as a high ball hitter, and I'm a tiny bit concerned that maybe the Dart 105 launches too high for me. Shots weren't ballooning, but I was also downwind. It looked like balls were landing in similar spots as my Pings, but the lights at the range I was at are just sort of meh in regards to how far you can really see. Forgiveness seems on par with the i230s, maybe a bit better, but I honestly was smashing my irons so I didn't really get a good feel for it there.

 

The other thing I noticed is that the weight between the two sets feels different. The Wilsons feel a bit lighter, so switching between the two took a few swings to get the feel down. I'm going to check the swing weight out on them, but both have 105 gram shafts and similarly weighted grips, so they should be pretty close. It wasn't a big issue, but there were times where I noticed the weight difference (particularly in trying to hit some 3/4 shots and trying to flight the ball down).

 

The i230 have different toe weighting options don't they? Depending on what was dropped in your set they could be a bit heavier. 

[wam78]

16 hours ago, BraxtonFullerton said:

 

I just did a split set as well. 5 & 6 are DPF bent 1.5 weak and then 7-PW are CBs bent 1 strong. I only got to play a scramble earlier in the week, so I don't have any range time or real-world results to give an honest opinion of doing a split set like this... yet.

I did the exact same thing with my set of cb/d9f.  Cb 1* strong d9f 1.5* weak.  So far it’s been outstanding.  The 6i has quickly become one of my favorite clubs in the bag.

[TLUBulldogGolf]

I had a utility show up as well, very eager to get out and try it. 3/21* with HZRDUS 4G 6.5 built a touch long. Pretty much dead on with my T200 and slightly longer heel to toe with less offset. I really like the look, I was fighting toe hits at times on the trip because I felt it was a touch short and flat, whereas the one they sent looks perfect.

 

I made it out a couple nights ago to get a session in with the wedges and MBs. I realized I don’t really like the look of my old irons next to these:

 

 

Wilson 9i on the left, MP-20 8 iron on the right. The hosel transition on the Wilson iron is so much cleaner to my eye, and they look more compact. They also seem slightly longer despite having the same lofts other than the long irons. The ball seems to come off slightly lower especially in the short irons. Maybe not quite as soft but they feel and sound great and the feedback is immediate which I love. When you nail one you know it and the ability to flight and work the ball is just what I’d hoped for.

 

The wedges are really solid as well, I feel like I can flight them with ease and they spin like crazy. I’m planning to get a range session in tomorrow to see how the utility performs in a more comfortable spec.

Edited June 15 by TLUBulldogGolf

[Orchardist]

+1 TLU!  The Staff blade is an addiction.

Incredible performance in every aspect. Can’t help myself , I get excited, I simply cannot get others to try,  let alone play them.  An outstanding set of irons.

[Olson12]

I also got a utility in the mail but unfortunately it was just a day late before my big trip to Scotland. It was a no brainer for me to keep the irons and wedges in the bag for the trip.  First round in the books and they performed very nicely.  Now…. Playing 18 holes after traveling for 15+ hours… not great lol. I’ll post some more photos from here as I go along. 
 

 

Edited June 15 by Olson12

[Olson12]

60* out of my first deep bunker 

[hammergolf]

12 hours ago, Olson12 said:

60* out of my first deep bunker 

That’s just a wee bunker… lol Wait till you see the really deep ones. Road Hole and Hell bunker have almost 8ft faces.

[TLUBulldogGolf]

The utility is the real deal, just seems to want to go straight. A little longer heel to toe than my T200, and it just feels easy. 

[TM golf guy]

It looks like the weather is going to hold up for another range session tonight. I'm going to hit the utility and see how it flies. Also looking forward to getting some more data on the irons. I'll provide another update this evening, and then will be pretty silent in here till the end of the month when I should be able to finally get them on the golf course.