Wilson Staff Model R Golf Balls

[JB]

Earlier this year, Wilson launched a new golf ball called Staff Model, complete with what they called a Baller Box subscription. Within just a few short days, the subscription service was scrapped, but the Staff Model golf ball remained their current premium product in line.



Today, they are launching an extension to that line with the Staff Model R. Conjuring up images of Gordon Ramsay, R stands for RAW! Yes, that’s right, Raw golf balls. You are probably asking yourself “why”, so we will get to that before getting into the nuts and bolts of the product.

“The painting process can frequently result in balls with poor, uneven...

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[mikeg_74]

$50 a dozen??!!?? this market is so tough to break into and at that price point I would have to imagine they get overlooked for more proven brands.

 

[badolds]

I have not used Wilson balls since the DUO U which was a great ball. I am curious just how bad the staining and scuffing will be during normal play. Its not a big deal to me as I will keep a ball in play with some scuffs if it has served me well during the round.

 

[dacatalyst41]

Did that say $50?! A dozen???

 

[JB]

$50 a dozen??!!?? this market is so tough to break into and at that price point I would have to imagine they get overlooked for more proven brands.

Same price as Staff Model

 

[captaincaution]

At 50 a dozen, I won't be trying them out. Interesting concept, though.

 

[Iceman!]

WOW - That is a Reach....

 

[Jman]

50 bucks AND they’ll get dirty and faded quickly. Things that make me go, wow.

 

[baylrballa]

I would love to be sitting in on some of their marketing team meetings this past year.

 

[Parrot]

Too gimmicky.

 

[aljaklaw]

 

[Golfers Anonymous]

At 50$ I’m out, the raw sounds interesting but wouldn’t stains adversely affect the ball like the paint they were saying? I’m assuming that good ball manufacturers take into account for paint when creating dimple patterns on balls.

 

[blugold]

I mean, I would play a sleeve of them if they came my way.

I'm more and more convinced that paying $40 a dozen of golf balls is not in my best interest.

 

[Dan Smith]

I’ve played it and while they say the tech is there it looks terrible after one hole. While feel certainly is opinionated it is clear that it isn’t in the realm of other tour balls such as TaylorMade TP5 and Titleist ProV1 lines which are also cast urethane. Push brands need gain interest by thinking outside the box however many will learn after testing this it’s just another marketing play by a non-golf company trying to play with the big boys.

 

[ddec]

Paint matters.

I'm just confused at why this is a thing.

 

[JB]

At 50$ I’m out, the raw sounds interesting but wouldn’t stains adversely affect the ball like the paint they were saying? I’m assuming that good ball manufacturers take into account for paint when creating dimple patterns on balls.

We talk about the staining in the article. It will definitely occur. How much it bothers you is subjective I believe.

 

[RealPretendPsychic]

 

[jdtox]

What in the....I'll admit I'm not always on top of cleaning my golf ball so a little stain wouldn't bother me IF there was a significant performance benefit, which there is not, so I'd rather have the option to not play dirty balls

 

[JohnSinVA]

So there's an obvious savings in the lack of a painting/curing process that these balls undergo, yet they're still $50/dozen? Not sure what's going on over at the shield but this ball and those D9 irons are definite head scratchers.

 

[JB]

What in the....I'll admit I'm not always on top of cleaning my golf ball so a little stain wouldn't bother me IF there was a significant performance benefit, which there is not, so I'd rather have the option to not play dirty balls

As mentioned in the article, you do have to question the messaging. The angle is rather good in terms of creating curiosity. Yet the messaging is about launching two balls available now, both called Staff Model and priced the same. One painted and one not. Yet the entire messaging is about how paint can make a ball fly offline.

Should have just called these Wilson Pro R.

 

[Parrot]

I’ve seen some crazy stuff in the golf industry but, for the life of me, this might take the cake. Who is their target buyer? Golfers who like dirty, discolored, scuffed balls?

The idea that paint adds to directional dispersion is a really strained effort to create buzz and differentiation among the highest performing of top of the market balls.

 

[BuckNasty]

As mentioned in the article, you do have to question the messaging. The angle is rather good in terms of creating curiosity. Yet the messaging is about launching two balls available now, both called Staff Model and priced the same. One painted and one not. Yet the entire messaging is about how paint can make a ball fly offline.

Should have just called these Wilson Pro R.

Awful messaging. Why would anyone buy the standard model now after they claim that in their testing the paint made the ball fly offline almost 10 yards on a 200 yard shot? Who the hell is running the joint over there at Wilson?

 

[TCB2010]

@JB can you send them my forum resume, I can clearly get a job there doing something I love and make stupid money for these shenanigans...

 

[tomcat]

Was hoping to see the "will it rust if it's raw" statement......

 

[jdtox]

As mentioned in the article, you do have to question the messaging. The angle is rather good in terms of creating curiosity. Yet the messaging is about launching two balls available now, both called Staff Model and priced the same. One painted and one not. Yet the entire messaging is about how paint can make a ball fly offline.

Should have just called these Wilson Pro R.

If they did this for their entire line of golf balls I might be more inclined to think...ok maybe there is something to this and give it a try. They are basically saying their other balls aren't as good because they have paint on them