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Wilson Staff D200 Driver Review Thread

SuperStroke
I didn't pull the 3 wood all weekend, after my range session Friday morning I found that the trajectory was incredibly high. And the ball ballooned rather fast. Seems like I have a shaft issue that I'll be looking into going forward. At address this club looks solid, a natural progression from its bigger brother the driver. Initially I thought the club face was a bit closed. But I produce shots down my target line. Sound it very similar to the driver which I find very pleasing to the ear. Yesterday we went out and I decided to give it a go on a couple holes. Matching it up with 2U, as expected the distance comparison is very similar. Averaging 255yds off the tee with each, for me I thoroughly enjoy hiring the utility iron and have no plans on pulling it from the bag. So I either find a shaft to lower the spin in the 3 wood or find another club to bridge the gap from driver to 2u.
 
Holy. Crap.

I hit this last night along with the Z 545 and Fly-Z, stock shafts in all. I was all over the place with the Srixon and Cobra, the first two clubs I hit, and was wondering if my swing was just really having an off day. Then I picked up the D200. Almost every ball was right down the middle with a beautiful mid-launch trajectory. Wasn't on a launch monitor so I didn't get the numbers, but the eye test definitely suggested that this would be a fantastic club for me. I'll also say that as somebody that grew up as a real hacker playing whatever cheap clubs I could get my hands on, after finding this forum I couldn't really grasp what people were talking about when comparing shafts in such great detail. I think I always just sort of figured all shafts (at least in the same flex) were pretty much the same. After hitting the UST Elements Chrome, I now see the error of my ways. That thing felt amazing - responsive to my swing, light and buttery smooth on impact.

My only issue now is whether I can hold off until there's hopefully a little bit of a price drop toward the end of the year...tough to get that poor young hacker out of my system, I guess :D
 
NoLine said:
I'm curious to hear your additional thoughts. My lone experience with the club was a series of ballooning fades. The thread and Chicago experience had peaked my interest so I gave it an unsuccessful initial try.
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I apologize for not seeing this earlier.

The balloon fades were a combo of a few things for me. The Tour Blue shaft I got was weaker thru the mid section & tip than my normal gamer Speeder vc6.2. I was not strong enough to over power the vc6.2, so I could swing as hard as I could. Not so with the Tour Blue. I can only imagine the rainbows I would have hit with the stock shaft with my normal setup & grip.

Now on to the grip change. I've always preferred a weak grip, especially with my left hand. Think thumb sitting at 12:00 on top of the grip & crease between the thumb & index finger pointing at my left shoulder. I know this is not the ideal grip, but I went to it when I was snapping everything left & have just stayed with it.
First I tried to strengthen the grip in both hands. It worked once, but then snap hook city showed up. Next I tried moving my left back to its normal position & just using a stronger grip position in the right hand. Talk about a disaster. I didn't know where the ball was going.
Finally I strengthened my left hand (thumb at 10:00), but kept my right hand where it normally is. This lowered the flight considerably & straightened it out to.

The last piece of the puzzle was dropping my right foot back a tad (learned this from watching Rambler BTW). This really gave me the piercing draw that I was looking for as long as I didn't really over swing.
 
Put the D200 to the non-Legacy test this past weekend with another group of THPers. Overall, the success continued - a lot of fairways hit, and a couple were pretty long. But, a couple of swings were pretty bad, and, save for my first lost ball off of this driver, I basically got away with murder. The D200 is very, very forgiving for my misses. With this head/shaft combination, a smooth tempo swing seems to be what is needed - I tried to go after one, and the results weren't very good. Looking forward to some more swings this coming weekend in Georgia. See if I can make some D200 converts there. :alien:
 
Played well today with the D200 even with a slow and sloppy start.
It's a fairway finder above all else and even when struggling with the swing the ball just tracks on line. Once I settled in I started to hit some high fades that just carries forever - not a flight I'm used to but I love it.
 
Wilson Staff D200 Driver Review Thread

After tonight range session, which included some crappy balls. Knuckle balls and balls dancing around trough the air. I decided to just throw in some impact tape to get a visual of how consistent I was around the middle of the face. It wasn't perfect but it certainly was very good. At the end of my time with the driver I grabbed a couple junk balls from my bag to get a truer sense of ball flight. It's crazy how long this driver is for me. I would of never thought it would be so solid.
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You hit this so well when I saw you use it T2GRN
 
JB said:
You hit this so well when I saw you use it T2GRN
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I can see me going back to a more aggressive tee game. Using some distance to my advantage.
 
T2GRN18 said:
I can see me going back to a more aggressive tee game. Using some distance to my advantage.
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You have a tight ball pattern when relaxed and a near perfect ball flight and peak height with this one.
 
I hit mine today with my instructor, as my drive was awful during my round yesterday.
I hit about 15 drives.
One lasered to 315. 5 were over 280 yds. All were over 250. My swing speed is 102 or so. No warm up at all.
Yes, my friend, this is a long, long club for us mortals. I am sure you absolutely kill it, and that looks like pretty solid contact on the club face, IMHO!!
 
JB said:
You have a tight ball pattern when relaxed and a near perfect ball flight and peak height with this one.
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Thanks JB....relaxed is key :)
 
T2GRN18 said:
I can see me going back to a more aggressive tee game. Using some distance to my advantage.
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If you are hitting this anywhere near the dispersion you had with the callaway on the last range session together it will be a huge weapon and advantage
 
Now that I’ve had some time with my new Legacy clubs from Wilson, I thought I’d do a small review of each of them.

The D200 driver was something I was excited about with the shaft options, and a little scared of at the same time based on prior use of it. I chose the Aldila Tour Blue shaft for mine. The driver itself is a somewhat elongated head shape, but certainly in line with the look of most modern drivers. The matte black finish is sweet on top, and the design of the bottom of the club head is not too busy, but has a touch of flash.

As for performance, well, it always helps when Duffy from Wilson Staff is there to help you dial it in. After a few swings, he set it to 11.5 loft and draw setting. That pretty well set me up for a weekend of solid performance at the Legacy, and some solid hits post-legacy.

Tempo appears to be key with this driver (or perhaps it’s the driver/shaft combination). If I try to get after it, nothing good comes of it. Usually a one of those quick dropping duck hooks. But with the right tempo, this driver can fly. It still launches a touch lower for me than my previous driver (callaway big bertha), but it had the same distance, and perhaps even a touch more. I struggle to draw this driver, but there’s nothing wrong with straight, or even a slight fade (5 yards or less).

The driver feels light to me. Perhaps that is where tempo becomes key, because there are times I just can’t feel what the club head is doing. That said, when I keep my tempo smooth and steady, it’s seems much easier to get great distance. It just seems like it isn’t much work to swing it, and that’s a good thing.

And here is perhaps the best part of the D200 driver. The face is extremely forgiving, at least in terms of distance loss. As I adjusted to the new driver, I had some low heels and some high toes. Yes, there was distance loss, but its minimal compared to other drivers I’ve hit. I don’t know how many times I would miss the center, look at the club face, and just comment to anyone who was listening how forgiving the driver was. If you are the kind of guy who doesn’t hit the center of the driver every swing, I strongly encourage you to give this driver a swing.

~Rock
 
EDIT: Apparently I double posted.

~Rock
 
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McRock said:
Now that I’ve had some time with my new Legacy clubs from Wilson, I thought I’d do a small review of each of them.

The D200 driver was something I was excited about with the shaft options, and a little scared of at the same time based on prior use of it. I chose the Aldila Tour Blue shaft for mine. The driver itself is a somewhat elongated head shape, but certainly in line with the look of most modern drivers. The matte black finish is sweet on top, and the design of the bottom of the club head is not too busy, but has a touch of flash.

As for performance, well, it always helps when Duffy from Wilson Staff is there to help you dial it in. After a few swings, he set it to 11.5 loft and draw setting. That pretty well set me up for a weekend of solid performance at the Legacy, and some solid hits post-legacy.

Tempo appears to be key with this driver (or perhaps it’s the driver/shaft combination). If I try to get after it, nothing good comes of it. Usually a one of those quick dropping duck hooks. But with the right tempo, this driver can fly. It still launches a touch lower for me than my previous driver (callaway big bertha), but it had the same distance, and perhaps even a touch more. I struggle to draw this driver, but there’s nothing wrong with straight, or even a slight fade (5 yards or less).

The driver feels light to me. Perhaps that is where tempo becomes key, because there are times I just can’t feel what the club head is doing. That said, when I keep my tempo smooth and steady, it’s seems much easier to get great distance. It just seems like it isn’t much work to swing it, and that’s a good thing.

And here is perhaps the best part of the D200 driver. The face is extremely forgiving, at least in terms of distance loss. As I adjusted to the new driver, I had some low heels and some high toes. Yes, there was distance loss, but its minimal compared to other drivers I’ve hit. I don’t know how many times I would miss the center, look at the club face, and just comment to anyone who was listening how forgiving the driver was. If you are the kind of guy who doesn’t hit the center of the driver every swing, I strongly encourage you to give this driver a swing.

~Rock
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Interesting thing about the fitting - I launch this driver much lower than any of my prior drivers. Distance is fantastic. I may just be used to higher launch, but WS dialed me in and lowered my launch back in October - clearly they know something I do not.
 
Spivey said:
Interesting thing about the fitting - I launch this driver much lower than any of my prior drivers. Distance is fantastic. I may just be used to higher launch, but WS dialed me in and lowered my launch back in October - clearly they know something I do not.
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I probably never would have considered purchasing this driver on my own. Now I own two of them. I have hit everything else on the market (or I had, up until quite recently). It's just a top shelf driver at a great price. Maybe they could add more buzz by jacking the price up $150 and offering "free" shaft upgrades. The stock shaft is certainly not ideal for me. However, this driver is a winner.
 
The main thing for me that this driver provides is a flight that I absolutely love and additional swing speed which just flat out equals more distance.
The help on misses is certainly welcome but it's hard for me to compare properly to some of the other some great drivers on the market.
 
carry vs rollout

carry vs rollout

Intrigued by this one but a bit concerned about rollout.
I am slow swing-speed guy - (mid 80's?) and really need some rollout to get any distance. ArmyGolf posted some simulator numbers on this and looked like only about 9 yards roll after 250ish carry.
Oddly enough, despite slow swing speed, I have done ok with clubs that technically I should not even bother to hit, e.g Exotics beta: not in air long but rolled forever :) So, i've bought into the low spin benefits, obviously as long as I can get some more mid-launch performance as well (when I get the AoA right, lol).

Curious what others are seeing on rollout.
thanks guys.
 
hopnstop said:
Intrigued by this one but a bit concerned about rollout.
I am slow swing-speed guy - (mid 80's?) and really need some rollout to get any distance. ArmyGolf posted some simulator numbers on this and looked like only about 9 yards roll after 250ish carry.
Oddly enough, despite slow swing speed, I have done ok with clubs that technically I should not even bother to hit, e.g Exotics beta: not in air long but rolled forever :) So, i've bought into the low spin benefits, obviously as long as I can get some more mid-launch performance as well (when I get the AoA right, lol).

Curious what others are seeing on rollout.
thanks guys.
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I could be wrong but I think I create some pretty unique launch conditions, the sims at PGA SS are hardly dependable, and everyone's swing is going to create vastly different numbers.
I wouldn't let my numbers dissuade you.

At the end of the day your swing will produce a certain ball speed and you should be able to dial your setup up or down to create the carry/rollout numbers that you prefer to see - with a fitting.
 
hopnstop said:
Intrigued by this one but a bit concerned about rollout.
I am slow swing-speed guy - (mid 80's?) and really need some rollout to get any distance. ArmyGolf posted some simulator numbers on this and looked like only about 9 yards roll after 250ish carry.
Oddly enough, despite slow swing speed, I have done ok with clubs that technically I should not even bother to hit, e.g Exotics beta: not in air long but rolled forever :) So, i've bought into the low spin benefits, obviously as long as I can get some more mid-launch performance as well (when I get the AoA right, lol).

Curious what others are seeing on rollout.
thanks guys.
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I see ok rollout. Nothing crazy long, nothing crazy short. I find course conditions and turf (for instance, bent grass versus zoyzia) is the biggest contributor in the rollout I receive. Others may be able to provide more definite findings, but I would call the D200 'average' in terms of roll out based on what I've hit in the past.

~Rock
 
Got in 16 holes last night with my D200 before the thunderstorm shut me down. As others have said, tempo is a big must with this driver when paired with the Tour Blue.

As long as I can keep the swing smooth & try to swing 80%, I get very nice results. If I try to give it a little extra juice, I get the dreaded overcooked draw that puts me OB or in the hazard. I'd love to see the results with the D200 paired with the Tour Green.
 
hopnstop said:
Intrigued by this one but a bit concerned about rollout.
I am slow swing-speed guy - (mid 80's?) and really need some rollout to get any distance. ArmyGolf posted some simulator numbers on this and looked like only about 9 yards roll after 250ish carry.
Oddly enough, despite slow swing speed, I have done ok with clubs that technically I should not even bother to hit, e.g Exotics beta: not in air long but rolled forever :) So, i've bought into the low spin benefits, obviously as long as I can get some more mid-launch performance as well (when I get the AoA right, lol).

Curious what others are seeing on rollout.
thanks guys.
Click to expand...
Course conditions determine my rollout primarily. Having said that, I usually see a big bounce or two from the teebox and at the range with this club (although the course I play primarily is usually in pretty good shape, the fairways are not overly wet).
 
Looking for total yards including rollout is a double edge sword. Total carry distance is a better gauge of how long a driver is. It's a measurable and more constant number. Roll is so dependent on course conditions.

I get very little roll out of any driver. And this is no different. But I find that this has a penetrating flight that is as long as my precious gamer.
 
Some good observations. Thanks guys.
and I agree - if I can get right launch and additional "air" yards, less roll becomes less important.
 
Quick question for those that recommend hitting at 80% capacity. If i go all out, i usually swing at 98mph. Are you saying swing at 80mph?


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