Wilson Staff FG Tour V2 Review Thread

[War Eagle]

The 8 iron got up in the air quickly for me and I was carrying it consistently about 10 yards short of where I would have carried the Redline 8 iron as I expected. Ball flight was actually pretty similar and I liked it alot. I would characterize it as high, but not too high if that makes sense. I think I'll ask for some feedback from people I play with as to what their opinions are on the height of my shots.

What I have noticed is that the 8,9 and PW are by far the easiest to get up into the air, and are the clubs that I am most comfortable with...so far. The distance drop off I am seeing of the short irons is nowhere near the distance drop off I am seeing from, say the 5 and 6 irons. The short irons have been an easy transition from my set of 2.0s, and with these, I am seeing distinctly similar ball flight to what I am used to.

 

[War Eagle]

Testing Date: 9/21/2011
Location: Driving range and short game practice area
Conditions: Sunny - 70° - 15mph winds with higher gusts
Focus: Ball Flight, Feel, Forgiveness, Turf Interaction

Continued...

Feel:

Yesterday was the perfect day to observe and report on feel since I wasn't hitting the ball that well. We all know what a well struck ball feels and sounds like for the most part and there are some good videos showing how the V2's sound when hit well (awesome).

I noted before that I hadn't really noticed any misses other than fats or thins, so I couldn't report on how a toe or heel shot felt. Well, after yesterday I can do that. In a perfect world I'd continue to be ignorant of this, but we all know that's not going to happen.

You know that full, pleasing feeling in your hands and ears when you hit a great shot? Well, a toe shot with the V2's is pretty much the exact opposite. It wasn't harsh at all, but it wasn't enjoyable. I already knew the strike wasn't good when looking at the ball flight, but the sound made sure to remind me that I didn't put a good swing on the ball. Instead of full, it was weak sounding and sort of felt like a thin shot. You could almost feel the club face twisting open in disgust.

Heel shots were a bit more resonating and pleasing in terms of sound, but a little harsher on the hands than a well struck shot. I could get a sense for these shots, but it wasn't quite as apparent as hitting the ball out on the toe. I didn't have this miss quite as much as I did out on the toe, so I'll have to share more feedback on it over time.

I still would say that the worst 'feeling' shot is hitting the ball thin with the V2's. Doing this produces the most harsh feeling on my hands as well as a higher pitched, sharp sound. Fat shots feel like they look. Weak. Hitting the ground first completely deadens the great sound and feel of a good shot. It's like hitting the ball with a sponge glued to the front of the club.

Moral of the story here is that well struck shots with the V2's feel and sound incredible. Poorly stuck shots range from not bad to downright awful, which is exactly what I think most would hope for with an iron of this type. The only true harshness I've experienced was from almost-bladed thin shots.

More to come...

Great points Hawk. I have noticed with mis-hits off the toe, a very loud, distinct "crack" sound. It sounds terrible, so when you hit it wrong you know it. Also, on my thinned shots, I get instant feedback through the club into my hands, almost a stinging vibration feel. On the other hand, a pure shot sounds and feels amazing.

 

[Jman]

Hawk, great stuff man. I love the feel and feedback info. Reminds me of the Nickent ARC's I gamed for a while, you'd definitely be able to tell a mis0hit but boy did a pure one feel oh so good.

 

[Hawk]

I've even found the 7 iron to be pretty easy to get up there so far. Again, I wonder if my version of high really is high though. I think a trip to the launch monitor is in order.

What I have noticed is that the 8,9 and PW are by far the easiest to get up into the air, and are the clubs that I am most comfortable with...so far. The distance drop off I am seeing of the short irons is nowhere near the distance drop off I am seeing from, say the 5 and 6 irons. The short irons have been an easy transition from my set of 2.0s, and with these, I am seeing distinctly similar ball flight to what I am used to.

 

[Puttin4Bird]

Absolutely outstanding write up Hawk. I can definitely relate to the lower launch of the 4 iron, especially compared to a 6. I see good players launch their long irons high and far and I just sort of cry a bit! I really liked the second post about the feel too, that full feel of a solidly struck shot is was keeps us coming back and it's also no surprise to me that the shots that feel the worst to you are the thinned ones. Those will definitely kill you with a players iron, wait til it gets cold out and do that....OUCH!

Keep up the great work, you are blowing the doors off it with these write ups!

 

[Hawk]

I appreciate that, Jake

 

[War Eagle]

Absolutely outstanding write up Hawk. I can definitely relate to the lower launch of the 4 iron, especially compared to a 6. I see good players launch their long irons high and far and I just sort of cry a bit! I really liked the second post about the feel too, that full feel of a solidly struck shot is was keeps us coming back and it's also no surprise to me that the shots that feel the worst to you are the thinned ones. Those will definitely kill you with a players iron, wait til it gets cold out and do that....OUCH!

Keep up the great work, you are blowing the doors off it with these write ups!

I can only imagine how terrible that would feel on your hands in cold weather. Glad I wont have that problem in Florida.

 

[Hawk]

I'm not joking at all when I say that I had a finger go numb after a really thin shot when I was playing the cold rain on Sunday. Jrod was laughing at me.

 

[Puttin4Bird]

I'm not joking at all when I say that I had a finger go numb after a really thin shot when I was playing the cold rain on Sunday. Jrod was laughing at me.

Haha, consider that your "welcome to a players iron" feeling. Don't worry, you won't have to deal with that for long. You're ball striking will improve and soon all you'll feel is that great addicting feeling of a solidly struck shot. Guys like Jrod get that on every shot....lucky bastards.

 

[TC]

Hawk, it sounds like you're starting to come into your own with these. I like the dedication from all of you guys. No iron feels pleasant when hitting a ball out on the toe, at least in my experiences.

Any thought to perhaps having your lofts bent buddy? Maybe pick up a little more distance out of them.

 

[Tmex]

Hawk, it sounds like you're starting to come into your own with these. I like the dedication from all of you guys. No iron feels pleasant when hitting a ball out on the toe, at least in my experiences.

Any thought to perhaps having your lofts bent buddy? Maybe pick up a little more distance out of them.

Curious as well Hawk!

Great writeup dude and I really love all the information coming from this thread. The ups and downs are part of golf and thank you all so much for sharing everything with us.

 

[TC]

Curious as well Hawk!

Great writeup dude and I really love all the information coming from this thread. The ups and downs are part of golf and thank you all so much for sharing everything with us.

Ups and downs is definitely a part of golf. I would assume an iron set this demanding will create some as well. I would have a difficult time giving up the distance though. I like my jacked up lofts despite what many people may say about that.

 

[Hawk]

Hawk, it sounds like you're starting to come into your own with these. I like the dedication from all of you guys. No iron feels pleasant when hitting a ball out on the toe, at least in my experiences.

Any thought to perhaps having your lofts bent buddy? Maybe pick up a little more distance out of them.

Curious as well Hawk!

Great writeup dude and I really love all the information coming from this thread. The ups and downs are part of golf and thank you all so much for sharing everything with us.

Ups and downs is definitely a part of golf. I would assume an iron set this demanding will create some as well. I would have a difficult time giving up the distance though. I like my jacked up lofts despite what many people may say about that.

Thanks guys.

I've thought about it and haven't really decided yet. I'd like to figure out why I don't hit all of my clubs far to be perfectly honest. I'm going to have the lies looked at and discuss bending the lofts with a local fitter in the next couple weeks. Whatever I decide, I wanted to hit them as they came before I did anything.

Like I said before, if I hit all of the irons well, I don't really have a glaring gap right now. I'm short with everything. I hit my 50° wedge 90-95 yards if I'm lucky.

 

[Hawk]

Testing Date: 9/21/2011
Location: Driving range and short game practice area
Conditions: Sunny - 70° - 15mph winds with higher gusts
Focus: Ball Flight, Feel, Forgiveness, Turf Interaction

Continued...


Forgiveness:

I got eaten up yesterday by bad ball striking. I'm glad I was at the range because it would have been a tough day on a golf course. My major misses (in order) were fat, thin, and the toe. Fat shots were by far the most prevailing, which is not uncommon when I'm worn out. I have to really complete my backswing and get my weight shifted to avoid the fat shot and when I'm tired I struggle with that.

Make no mistake about it. Poor ball striking will not be tolerated with the V2's. There is peremiter weighting, so don't think that there is no forgiveness at all, but even slightly fat shots and strikes out towards the toes will not go where you want them to. Simple as that.

I said before that I feel forgiveness in irons is overstated at times and I'll echo that again. I've never hit an iron that goes exactly where I want it when I don't hit the ball cleanly. However, the misses are variable between an iron like the V2 and an iron like the Redlines. On fat shots with the V2's yesterday I was around 5-15 yards short of my target (depending on the fatness).

I spent time at the short game practice area with the PW and the 9 iron. This short game area is basically an unused fairway that maxes out at 150 yards and has a green with a couple flags. The turf here is exceptionally soft and I can take ridiculous divots here. I hit some great balls with both clubs, but missing just a little bit behind the ball had some pretty major consequences. I was ranging from hitting the front of the green (which is small) to being about 5 yards short of it when I missed fat. This, of course, is a combination of the turf slowing down the club and missing higher on the face.

Shots out towards the toe were also considerably shorter than pure stikes, though I just can't quantify with a number right now. I'd rather leave it up in the air than give you a stock "5-10" yards answer. There was distance loss with this miss as well.

Thin shots were sometimes longer and sometimes shorter than my normal distance. I bombed a couple wedges off of the leading edge to the 130 marker These do not seem quite as penalizing in terms of distance with thin shots, but ball flight does suffer quite a bit .

 

[War Eagle]

Hawk, it sounds like you're starting to come into your own with these. I like the dedication from all of you guys. No iron feels pleasant when hitting a ball out on the toe, at least in my experiences.

Any thought to perhaps having your lofts bent buddy? Maybe pick up a little more distance out of them.

Ups and downs is definitely a part of golf. I would assume an iron set this demanding will create some as well. I would have a difficult time giving up the distance though. I like my jacked up lofts despite what many people may say about that.

This is something I may have to get done. The distance loss is kind of grinding away at me, and even thought I tell myself not too, I am trying to swing harder and faster to make up for lost distance, when I know that is not going to result in a well hit shot. I have to keep telling myself to take an extra club, slow it down and make solid contact.

 

[War Eagle]

Great info Hawk, you are absolutely killing it with some great posts today!

 

[Tmex]

Ups and downs is definitely a part of golf. I would assume an iron set this demanding will create some as well. I would have a difficult time giving up the distance though. I like my jacked up lofts despite what many people may say about that.

After talking to your about this.. any players iron I get down the road will match my current sets loft as close as possible.

Testing Date: 9/21/2011
Location: Driving range and short game practice area
Conditions: Sunny - 70° - 15mph winds with higher gusts
Focus: Ball Flight, Feel, Forgiveness, Turf Interaction

Continued...


Forgiveness:

I got eaten up yesterday by bad ball striking. I'm glad I was at the range because it would have been a tough day on a golf course. My major misses (in order) were fat, thin, and the toe. Fat shots were by far the most prevailing, which is not uncommon when I'm worn out. I have to really complete my backswing and get my weight shifted to avoid the fat shot and when I'm tired I struggle with that.

Make no mistake about it. Poor ball striking will not be tolerated with the V2's. There is peremiter weighting, so don't think that there is no forgiveness at all, but even slightly fat shots and strikes out towards the toes will not go where you want them to. Simple as that.

I said before that I feel forgiveness in irons is overstated at times and I'll echo that again. I've never hit an iron that goes exactly where I want it when I don't hit the ball cleanly. However, the misses are variable between an iron like the V2 and an iron like the Redlines. On fat shots with the V2's yesterday I was around 5-15 yards short of my target (depending on the fatness).

I spent time at the short game practice area with the PW and the 9 iron. This short game area is basically an unused fairway that maxes out at 150 yards and has a green with a couple flags. The turf here is exceptionally soft and I can take ridiculous divots here. I hit some great balls with both clubs, but missing just a little bit behind the ball had some pretty major consequences. I was ranging from hitting the front of the green (which is small) to being about 5 yards short of it when I missed fat. This, of course, is a combination of the turf slowing down the club and missing higher on the face.

Shots out towards the toe were also considerably shorter than pure stikes, though I just can't quantify with a number right now. I'd rather leave it up in the air than give you a stock "5-10" yards answer. There was distance loss with this miss as well.

Thin shots were sometimes longer and sometimes shorter than my normal distance. I bombed a couple wedges off of the leading edge to the 130 marker These do not seem quite as penalizing in terms of distance with thin shots, but ball flight does suffer quite a bit .

Thanks dude. I really like the detail you give. Mishits are not looking pretty.

 

[Hawk]

Hahaha. To be fair, they never do.

 

[Tmex]

Hahaha. To be fair, they never do.

No doubt dude. I just think at times I get to think about how great of a ballstriker I am, and then realize.. maybe not so much. And I go back and forth with a set like this. I want it because it looks great, performs and I just want to know I could.

 

[Hawk]

I think there area benefits to a set like this, regardless of lofts and forgiveness.

They are incredibly sleek and well balanced. Some people will absolutely love the thin sole and topline, leading edge, and lack of offset from an aesthetic and performance standpoint. Also it's going to be a club that is workable up, down, left, and right for those that want that. They come with a great stock shaft offering and look absolutely amazing.

Are they going to be for everybody? Of course not, but neither are the Redlines that I was playing. I tend to overstate my weaknesses and poor performances on the course at times, but as I said before, I can hit these irons. I'm not the target demographic for them, but I have really had fun hitting them so far and that's why I play golf. I want to score as well as I can each day and I want to have fun. I've scored the same as I normally do with them and I'm having fun doing it

 

[ddec]

I think there area benefits to a set like this, regardless of lofts and forgiveness.

They are incredibly sleek and well balanced. Some people will absolutely love the thin sole and topline, leading edge, and lack of offset from an aesthetic and performance standpoint. Also it's going to be a club that is workable up, down, left, and right for those that want that. They come with a great stock shaft offering and look absolutely amazing.

Are they going to be for everybody? Of course not, but neither are the Redlines that I was playing. I tend to overstate my weaknesses and poor performances on the course at times, but as I said before, I can hit these irons. I'm not the target demographic for them, but I have really had fun hitting them so far and that's why I play golf. I want to score as well as I can each day and I want to have fun. I've scored the same as I normally do with them and I'm having fun doing it

that entire post was well said Hawk. Though I loved the last part.

 

[Tmex]

I think there area benefits to a set like this, regardless of lofts and forgiveness.

They are incredibly sleek and well balanced. Some people will absolutely love the thin sole and topline, leading edge, and lack of offset from an aesthetic and performance standpoint. Also it's going to be a club that is workable up, down, left, and right for those that want that. They come with a great stock shaft offering and look absolutely amazing.

Are they going to be for everybody? Of course not, but neither are the Redlines that I was playing. I tend to overstate my weaknesses and poor performances on the course at times, but as I said before, I can hit these irons. I'm not the target demographic for them, but I have really had fun hitting them so far and that's why I play golf. I want to score as well as I can each day and I want to have fun. I've scored the same as I normally do with them and I'm having fun doing it

Spot on dude and why I'm leaning towards a Players iron just to have. These are really creeping up the list!

 

[War Eagle]

I think there area benefits to a set like this, regardless of lofts and forgiveness.

They are incredibly sleek and well balanced. Some people will absolutely love the thin sole and topline, leading edge, and lack of offset from an aesthetic and performance standpoint. Also it's going to be a club that is workable up, down, left, and right for those that want that. They come with a great stock shaft offering and look absolutely amazing.

Are they going to be for everybody? Of course not, but neither are the Redlines that I was playing. I tend to overstate my weaknesses and poor performances on the course at times, but as I said before, I can hit these irons. I'm not the target demographic for them, but I have really had fun hitting them so far and that's why I play golf. I want to score as well as I can each day and I want to have fun. I've scored the same as I normally do with them and I'm having fun doing it

that entire post was well said Hawk. Though I loved the last part.

To me, thats the the best part about testing the product. Whether you score better or worse, if a product is or isnt cut out for you, it's just a fun time doing it.

 

[Smallville]

From what I have seen so far I think it is going to be a long knock out drag down fight between the V2's and my MP 53's. The irons are so similar and the numbers from the iron fitting seem to confirm that. It is going to be fun putting both to the test and seeing which one comes out on top.

Still to early for me to say Smallville. My current set and these are two completely different styles. So far, I have enjoyed playing the V2s, it's taken zone adjustment on my part, but it will be fun putting them through their paces to see if they can knock the 2.0s out of my bag.

At this early point, I would say that I see no reason why not. I have had good and poor results with them, much like all the previous irons I've played. If I swing well, they go where I want them to and I really like the way they look and feel in hand. Of course, it's virtually impossible to say what I'll carry in 4 months, let alone 6 or 7. That's just the nature of what I do here.

Right now, the distance issue is not that big of a deal to me. As long as I have an iron that I can consistently hit the distance I want and don't have gapping problems, I'll be fine. The 6 iron was the lowest iron I carried in the Redlines, which was my 160-ish club. Do, I want to hit the ball farther? Absolutely. I could hit one less club with different irons, but I don't think that is really the answer to my issue with distance. I just don't swing efficiently enough. I was still well short of many people I play with when I played the Redlines. It sucks, but it's really an issue with my skill level more than anything.

I think the biggest issue for me to overcome will be forgiveness. The V2's have some forgiveness, but they will punish you if you hit the ball poorly. That being said, I think we overstate exactly what forgiveness is in irons at times. If I mis-hit the Redlines, they still didn't go where I wanted them to. They just went closer to where I wanted them to than the V2's do on certain misses.

I am not so surprised to see three different responses; one might gather from the Adams thread that those are going in my bag for sure, without a doubt. But these are fit to me while the HB3's are not (yet), and until I hit those after I get that done, it will be hard to say for me. But that and TC's post leads me to my next question.

Hawk, it sounds like you're starting to come into your own with these. I like the dedication from all of you guys. No iron feels pleasant when hitting a ball out on the toe, at least in my experiences.

Any thought to perhaps having your lofts bent buddy? Maybe pick up a little more distance out of them.

Not so much bending the lofts, but otherwise taking them to a clubfitter to make sure they fit you; have you guys done this yet? (This may have already been answered and I apologize if I missed it)

 

[War Eagle]

I am not so surprised to see three different responses; one might gather from the Adams thread that those are going in my bag for sure, without a doubt. But these are fit to me while the HB3's are not (yet), and until I hit those after I get that done, it will be hard to say for me. But that and TC's post leads me to my next question.


Not so much bending the lofts, but otherwise taking them to a clubfitter to make sure they fit you; have you guys done this yet? (This may have already been answered and I apologize if I missed it)

I have not had them fit to me yet.

As far as replacing my current set? This is my first time gaming this type of set, and I will definitely have to work with them to see if they can knock my 2.0s out of the bag.