We've launched the new forums! Read more here

Wilson Staff Cortex Driver

SuperStroke
I liked the way the show ended. after the winner was announced you could see how devastated the kid was. They have been going at this for about a year and, after all the hard work, I can understand how he felt. So, paying for college and offering him a chance at a job is a great prize for him. Now, I thought the cortex would win. It has been consistently a favorite among pros and amatures alike. I think Wilson does have a world class driver that will compete with the products that Taylormade, Ping, Callaway and Cobra have to offer. I am in the market for a new driver and it is on my list. I am also going to include the new Tour Edge driver as well. The feel and performance will guide me to my final decision. The thought of using the Cortex would be really cool to me but it will be the performance and feel that matters. If, my current driver ends up performing as well as the others then, well, I won't make a change.
 
I think we have not seen the last of the Z track. Vortex winning wasn’t a huge surprise, it was the favorite over and over again, the Rozwell was cool, but it seemed, just not quite as good as the cortex. I think offering that kid a job was exactly what he needed, so I’m glad to see that and I’m sure he’ll do great things for W/S
 
It is highly likely that I add one of these to my driver collection but I will wait until next summer when I can buy one for under $200 on ebay or CPO. Wilson drivers depreciate quicker and more than the big name driver brands and the quality is the same, IMO. I like buying drivers and putters but determined long ago that I’m not going to see any significant real world performance improvement. Certainly not enough to make me score better.
 
emart2173 said:
I don’t recall seeing what the f9 will cost but I’m willing to bet cobra comes in at the $399 mark which with good tech, tour presence and winners, plus real deal shafts is the right price point. TM will be same price as is titleist.
Click to expand...

This is not accurate.
Cobra F9 went up in price. Details on the home page.
TaylorMade will not be the same price, they went up in price. So will Ping in January.

emart2173 said:
My bad having an opinion that doesn’t fit the narrative of the site means “coming in with a post like that”, I’ll keep the nonsense response out of it to prevent the unnecessary ban hammer.
Click to expand...

But this I will comment on. This is not necessary. There is no site narrative, other than golf equipment. And if you ask our writers @Jman @Ddec @Molten and @Canadan along with the thousands that have received equipment from this place for review, the ONLY narrative ever is 100% honesty. We don't ban people for having an opinion. We prefer to talk about things and discuss.
 
fwiw the Cortex has a Canadian MSRP of $600 at GolfTown (lower than TS2/3, G400/Max w/ Tour Shaft, Rogue, z785, M3)

which exchanges out right now to $453 USD, so win for Canada?
 
don’t we always say that wilson’s uphill battle is in consumer perception of the brand? many see them as cheap. the way to fight that is to price yourselves close to where the leaders are. but you better damn well be selling a driver that performs.

one company has been pricing themselves close to the top yet producing an inferior product with little innovation. and consumers are starting to respond by taking their dollars elsewhere.

i think the price is a gamble for sure. but i like that wilson is telling us what they feel about the quality and performance by pricing it where it is.

i absolutely want to hit it.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
JB said:
But this I will comment on. This is not necessary. There is no site narrative, other than golf equipment. And if you ask our writers @Jman @Ddec @Molten and @Canadan along with the thousands that have received equipment from this place for review, the ONLY narrative ever is 100% honesty. We don't ban people for having an opinion. We prefer to talk about things and discuss.
Click to expand...

Its great that anyone can speak their mind here as long as its done without drama or being derogatory. It also gives us something to talk about at 5am.
 
aklawitter said:
fwiw the Cortex has a Canadian MSRP of $600 at GolfTown (lower than TS2/3, G400/Max w/ Tour Shaft, Rogue, z785, M3)

which exchanges out right now to $453 USD, so win for Canada?
Click to expand...

You taking orders? Over $400 is free shipping right?
 
I played the Cortex on Sunday and loved it. First, some background-on Saturday we had more than an hour to practice and dial in our drivers for the day. I probably took 30-40 swings with the Roswell, adjusted loft, And moved the weights around a few times trying to optimize ball flight.

On Sunday, I took about 4-5 swings before we headed to the course. We just didn’t have the same time to dial the club in.

That said, I crushed the Cortex. I have a slower swing than many (right about 90), but has getting 230-240 total yards consistently. With my old driver, a Taylormade R15, 230 was rare and 240 had never happened. Honestly, while distance was great, I was probably more happy with ball flight. I was able to hit a nice draw, which is something I’ve been trying to do (unsuccessfully) since I started playing 3 years ago.

There is no question I’ll be playing the driver next year. And because the club comes with a $300 shaft, the $499 price is actually really reasonable.

I know (and so does Wilson) that Wilson Staff doesn’t have the reputation of Ping, Callaway, etc. But here’s the thing. I honestly don’t care about impressing people at the course with the brands I buy. I want to equipment that elevates my game and allows me to play to my highest potential. If a Fisher Price driver put my 230-240 in the middle of 14 fairways a round, I’d buy it.

I think that golfers looking to buy a driver need to get fitted for the Cortex and give it a try. Maybe it’s not for you, but I know it’s going to be a great addition to my bag.




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
There is some great feedback here. I don’t think anyone can debate that Wilson’s irons are excellent. Balls and wedges as well. So the huddle they must get over is in the driver, FW and hybrids. They’ve put a product out there, sold it in, marketed it now the consumer will tell them how they did. Price is an obstacle as is distribution. Again if folks want the product those huddles go away. Let’s see. I value people in business and as I read the thread over the weekend the character, open-ness and desire of the Wilson team stood out. This will get them at worst a little closer to where they want to be.
 
azrsx said:
this was a comment/question that came across during the event that Tim Clarke addressed. they're working towards building that presence and hopefully the Cortex can be that building block. imo it's a great start
Click to expand...

For their sake I hope they accomplish the marketing goals. I know with other releases they mentioned knowing store presence was an issue, but locally I didn’t see an uptick in displays.
 
JB said:
Darn. Worth a shot.
Click to expand...
Yeah I think I would have bought it lol saved me some money

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk
 
Interesting debate going over night and I think there is some truth in pieces of what everyone is saying. I won’t dive way into price but there is certainly something to being the same price as everything else on the market but being less visible in retail stores. Fair or not, i think a lot of the price is driven by the shaft and the entry into the CF head space. Two good moves but that likely drove the price higher.

Candidly, I’m excited to try something new and shiny but won’t impulse buy the Cortex like I have done with WS in the past. I think seeing the driver from concept to final product makes me more intrigued because it’s a peek into the process that you don’t see anywhere else but it needs to show results for me to take it home. I’m optimistic it can.

Without hitting it, I think the Cortex looks like a solid head with technology that should work admirably. I’m very excited about the shaft pairing based on the good reviews and I hope it’s a CC when I go for a fitting. WS needs a driver win so I’m hoping this is it because their irons are really good.

Anyways, that’s my ramble on the topic for this morning.
 
I'll be pulling hard for this club and this company to have success with this release. This is an awesome group of people who acknowledge the damage done to the brand by previous leadership and are taking some pretty innovative routes to break that old mindset. I love the mentality of it though. "You think were cheap and inferior? Then why dont you design the best driver you can, we will put you on national TV with guys who are internet vlog royalty and show the world why this is the best product out there." Its great stuff for the Cortex and a driver I really want to hit. Just hope the USGA stays the hell away from them now
 
c.a.eleric said:
don’t we always say that wilson’s uphill battle is in consumer perception of the brand? many see them as cheap. the way to fight that is to price yourselves close to where the leaders are. but you better damn well be selling a driver that performs.

one company has been pricing themselves close to the top yet producing an inferior product with little innovation. and consumers are starting to respond by taking their dollars elsewhere.

i think the price is a gamble for sure. but i like that wilson is telling us what they feel about the quality and performance by pricing it where it is.

i absolutely want to hit it.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

I 100% agree with your logic here and I too want to hit it. My question is though, lets say you no nothing about DvD and/or your not a THPer, your an average joe walking into the store, you see Callaway, Cobra, Titleist, etc. and W/S all priced the same....do you still want to hit it? What are the odds the Cortex is the last driver you pick up? I'm guessing pretty good.
 
jdtox said:
I 100% agree with your logic here and I too want to hit it. My question is though, lets say you no nothing about DvD and/or your not a THPer, your an average joe walking into the store, you see Callaway, Cobra, Titleist, etc. and W/S all priced the same....do you still want to hit it? What are the odds the Cortex is the last driver you pick up? I'm guessing pretty good.
Click to expand...

spot on (said better than I attempted to say in my post in the driver price thread)
 
jdtox said:
I 100% agree with your logic here and I too want to hit it. My question is though, lets say you no nothing about DvD and/or your not a THPer, your an average joe walking into the store, you see Callaway, Cobra, Titleist, etc. and W/S all priced the same....do you still want to hit it? What are the odds the Cortex is the last driver you pick up? I'm guessing pretty good.
Click to expand...

Biggest question out there. The one thing I would say is they had a TV show running all year as a commercial. Based on the above though, would you say its literally impossible for any company to break into the market? If we use irons as an example, why would anybody in the world by a brand like New Level? They are as much or more expensive than the big name brands. You can't try them at any store. And yet THPers had no problem ordering them without any discussion of cost, right? And some enjoyed them.

Srixon seems to run an interesting parallel here, because they are priced the same, offer premium shaft, cannot be found in big box, and very few said much about price.
 
JB said:
Biggest question out there. The one thing I would say is they had a TV show running all year as a commercial. Based on the above though, would you say its literally impossible for any company to break into the market? If we use irons as an example, why would anybody in the world by a brand like New Level? They are as much or more expensive than the big name brands. You can't try them at any store. And yet THPers had no problem ordering them without any discussion of cost, right? And some enjoyed them.

Srixon seems to run an interesting parallel here, because they are priced the same, offer premium shaft, cannot be found in big box, and very few said much about price.
Click to expand...

Maybe it’s telling tales out of school, but how did New Level do among the general public? Again those of us here on THP are significantly better informed than most golfers, even most avid golfers.

Srixon is a good comparison, but they’re well known on the euro tour and and they’ve been advertising for years, so seeing them do well with a high priced driver isn’t a huge surprise.
 
JB said:
Biggest question out there. The one thing I would say is they had a TV show running all year as a commercial. Based on the above though, would you say its literally impossible for any company to break into the market? If we use irons as an example, why would anybody in the world by a brand like New Level? They are as much or more expensive than the big name brands. You can't try them at any store. And yet THPers had no problem ordering them without any discussion of cost, right? And some enjoyed them.

Srixon seems to run an interesting parallel here, because they are priced the same, offer premium shaft, cannot be found in big box, and very few said much about price.
Click to expand...

There is no question it's difficult to break into a market dominated by the big guys. There is always a market for boutique brands but Wilson is not that. Their problem in my mind is their image and I don't know how they can break that, I have tried several Wilson products and I do think they have really good products they just need people to try them. How they do that and change their image to the regular consumer I'm not sure. Maybe the show and marketing around the Cortex this time around is enough? The Srixon is interesting as well (when I think Srixon I think balls or irons first) but again this years products look fantastic.
 
Random, very potentially incorrect thoughts here -

I thought W/S made sure to bring to market a high performance driver with DvD both times. Both are/were released with premium shafts, and want to hit that premium driver spot like the Taylormade M series, Callaway GBB, Epic and Rogue lines, etc. The goal of the show is to re-image (for most) Wilson Staff as a cutting edge, premium product, innovative brand capable of standing up to any other company in the golf space. The show is as much as advertisement for the brand as it is a way to push the driver. Of course, the end result is one driver brought to market so it stands to reason that the product will be priced in the same range as other premium drivers, and be equipped with tour level (tour spec) shaft options. That way the product is in line with the vision of the brand the show is looking to promote.

The previous iteration produced a high performing, very innovative, but ill sounding, looking and possibly feeling driver for most. This time around, based on early reviews only available here, the Cortex is again high performing, but this time is a much better looking and feeling club. However it does come across as not entirely innovating. So I think W/S can claim mostly success, but not a 100% out of the ball park hit. In the price thread someone brought up Srixon and I feel much the same way. This release cycle gives each of these companies a seat at the big boy table, but it may not innovate to the point to be a resounding success. I hope I'm wrong because I like both companies.

For me, as a consumer, I look at performance for both my best swings and misses, then sound & feel, and finally will look at potential innovation. In that respect, W/S Cortex sets up as a candidate for the bag. If I could dial it in, I'd probably bag it without a stigma of it being a W/S product. Frankly it looks as good as anything out there. The Triton looked terrible for me, and I wouldn't have been able to get past the look.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top