A year into their reimagined Dynapowr campaign, Wilson Golf has dropped a full line of metalwoods, a set of game improvement irons, and just a few weeks ago announced the new Staff Model CB and Blade irons. That’s a bunch of golf clubs, but there was still a hole in the lineup for players looking for enhanced forgiveness and distance in a smaller-sized iron. The so-called “players distance” category is incredibly popular this day and age, but last year’s Dynapower irons didn’t really check the necessary boxes to qualify. Luckily for Wilson fans, the company’s final piece of the puzzle is here – the Dynapower Forged irons.
According to the Wilson, the Dynapower Forged irons, “are designed for players who are looking for the best of both worlds – a compact head shape and sophisticated design, without wanting to sacrifice both powerful distance and pinpoint accuracy.”
These types of irons are often the proverbial “just right” clubs that Goldilocks would be looking for, which is why we’ve seen such a strong shift towards them in recent years. The Dynapower Forged are constructed of 8620 carbon steel and are just compact enough to feel like a better players iron, yet they still provide a substantial boost in both distance and forgiveness over something like the Staff Model CB’s.
Wilson Dynapower Forged Irons – Key Technologies
We had a chance to talk with Wilson ahead of this release and asked them to give us a brief overview of the Dynapower Forged irons and what technologies they felt would help golfers the most.
Harry Nodwell, Product Line Manager, Pro Equipment, told us that, “The Dynapower Forged is the most powerful players distance iron we have ever made. Using AI, we’ve optimized both the Power Hole configuration and thicknesses across the face to maximize flexion on impact and create faster ball speeds. The weight savings from our updated Power Hole configuration allows us to drop the CG lower into the head and push more weight for the toe, creating an extremely forgiving and accurate iron while maintaining distance and speed.”
AI Designed Variable Face Thickness
Like many other companies, Wilson is utilizing machine learning, more often described as AI to the masses, in their quest to create the fastest and most forgiving iron possible. At the moment, they are calling it Dynapower AI modeling. The company describes their process by saying they, “analyzed thousands of permutations to identify the perfect variable thickness option for each section of the face to make the whole face faster while maintaining high MOI for mishits.”
There’s certainly a lot of give and take here, especially with an iron in this segment, as you not only have to provide a measure of speed, but also consistency in things like trajectory and distance control. As if that isn’t hard enough, companies must deliver something that sounds and feels good too. In Wilson’s case, they do that, at least in part, with a high quality, 8620 Carbon Steel. Anyway, finding the right recipe can’t be easy, but machine learning certainly makes the process more efficient. We’ve already seen hints of “AI weariness” among our readers, even though its application is still in its infancy. However, it’s our opinion that though we may be tired of hearing the same buzzwords repeatedly, the minor annoyance is a small price to pay when you consider the potential benefits the technology offers.
New Power Hole 3.0 Configuration
Power Holes are a carryover technology that Wilson has utilized for years now. While we’ll again kindly suggest that the company finds another name for this feature (Power Channels?), it’s an effective tool in iron design for several reasons. While we’ve seen this feature in many past Wilson irons, with the application ranging from subtle to chaotic (we’re looking at you C300’s), the 3.0 version has been tweaked a bit from the D9 Forged irons. It’s relatively understated, but a close look shows that the toe side’s Power Hole is now lengthened, likely in a quest to provide better performance on that portion of the face.
That of course begs the question: What performance benefits do Power Holes provide? There are a couple things they do, but probably most notable is that they allow the face to flex easier, resulting in higher ball speeds. You’ll see in the graphic above that Wilson has designed them to provide faster speeds in areas most commonly impacted by amateurs. Additionally, by removing heavy carbon steel from the iron and replacing it with a lightweight TPU material, club designers have discretionary weight that they can position elsewhere in the head, optimizing things like center of gravity and MOI.
Low Center of Gravity and High MOI
As we just alluded to, the new Power Hole 3.0 configuration gave designers the ability to manipulate the center-of-gravity and MOI properties of the Dynapower Forged irons. As you might expect, a low CG is in play here, as these stronger lofted irons are intended to launch the ball high and fast. However, a substantial amount of weight has also been pushed out towards the toe. In reality, this often makes the sweet spot closer to the true center of the face, but it also enhances club face stability on toe impacts, by far the most common misses a typical amateur will experience.
Looks, Feel, and Performance
In the players distance category, looks and feel can’t come as an afterthought. While distance and forgiveness are both important, a large subset of consumers demand an iron that at least shares some resemblance to something we see Tour players using. Smaller heads, less offset, thinner top lines, and cleaner cavities are all in high demand, if performance doesn’t suffer.
The Dynapower Forged irons are quintessential Wilson. Even with the new name, it would be almost impossible to mistake them for something else. Stalwart design choices like an abundance of chrome, soft lines, a high toe, and rounded edges are all present and familiar. The entire package made for an exciting unboxing. The chrome finish, which we admit does come across to some consumers as old-fashioned, is striking at first glance. The mirror finish absolutely gleams in the light, though fortunately the grooved portion of the face is softened with a satin finish to reduce glare.
Without perspective, it’s difficult to grasp size, so at some level you’re going to have to take our word for this until you see them yourself, but the Dynapower Forged definitely qualify as “compact” irons, at least generally speaking. If you’re more familiar with game improvement irons they’ll seem quite small (the address picture below should illustrate that) without being overly intimidating. If you’re used to players cavity back irons, they’ll seem a bit larger without approaching “oversized” territory. Again, we’ll refer back to Goldilocks and her love of the middle ground.
A moderately thin topline and pleasingly low amount of offset are the first things we noticed when addressing the ball with the Dynapower Forged irons. In fact, a quick survey of Wilson’s competitor’s shows these irons have either the same or less offset than anything in their class. While the topline is on the thin side, a gentle softening of the edges could do wonders for its appearance. In all, it’s our belief that anybody looking for irons of this type would find plenty to love about the Dynapower Forged at address.
The shaping of the Dynapower Forged cavity will look very familiar to anybody that saw the D9 Forged irons in hand, albeit with some subtle modifications in shaping. Though certainly not cavernous, the cavity makes us feel like there will be a reasonable amount of help with off center shots. We still can’t love the shortened DYNAPWR logo, especially on an iron of this type. It’s not so distracting that it detracts from the overall look of the iron, but it really does nothing to contribute to it. Also, we can’t help but wish the blank Wilson Staff shield seen on the 2024 Staff Model irons found its way to the Dynapower Forged. Of course, anybody can find nits to pick if they stare at something long enough, and we found ourselves staring at these irons quite a bit. That should tell you how impressed we were with the overall package.
Unfortunately, due to shipping schedules and a quickly approaching embargo date, we couldn’t spend more than a brief amount of time working with the Dynapower Forged irons before publication, so we encourage you to follow along on our forums for more performance feedback. Early indications showed they should perform exactly as advertised, with the speed and launch angles we’d expect to see from an iron of this type. The thing that stood out most was the outstanding feel at impact. It was a breath of fresh air in many ways. Without resorting to clichés, the 8620 forged face, smaller cavity, and weight placement came together to create a solid and responsive sound at impact that didn’t bleed into the realm of being artificially soft. Sound and feel are subjective, but we have a hunch anybody trying these irons out will have a lot of good things to say about them.
Fit AI Technology
Wilson’s Fit AI process is just hitting fitting centers now. While we haven’t had a chance to try it out, there is some potential in its use. Golfers will take shots using a special club that has an integrated sensor capable of measuring 12,000 data points per swing. Afterwards, the Wilson Black Box Algorithm will use a set of metrics including shaft plane, shaft load, wrist hinge, club face closure, and swing tempo to make a club and shaft recommendation.
The company notes that, “The Wilson Fit AI technology accurately gathers your individual swing characteristics and runs them through our proprietary machine learning algorithm. What makes this system so unique is the algorithm continues to optimize and learn in real time as golfers from around the globe input their swings. From there, Wilson Fit AI makes a custom iron build recommendation, and the app will provide a head, shaft, grip, length, and lie recommendation that maximizes both your performance and playability.”
According to Wilson, “Dynapower Forged is just one of five Wilson iron offerings that can be recommended by Wilson Fit AI. We anticipate many amateur golfers being fit into Dynapower Forged irons, as it gives them a great blend of playability, distance and forgiveness.”
Specifications and Details
- Pricing: Steel $999.99 USD ($1,299.99 CAD) / Graphite $1,099.99 USD ($1,399.99 CAD)
- Presale begins February 13, 2024.
- Available at retail locations March 5, 2024.
- More information at www.wilson.com
If they’re anything like the D9 Forged, they’ll be a great set of irons… And go largely unnoticed by the majority of golfers.
Nice write up, Hawk.
These are pretty. great article.
How many irons do they consider a set? $$$ea
I hope people don’t under estimate the quality and play-ability of Wilson clubs.
Excellent write up Hawk. I really want to see that AI Fitting in action.
[QUOTE=”Scribble, post: 12139687, member: 64210″]
These are pretty. great article.
How many irons do they consider a set? $$$ea
I hope people don’t under estimate the quality and play-ability of Wilson clubs.
[/QUOTE]
They normally give that information, but didn’t this time. I believe they usually go with a 4-PW for the CB/Blade release, but kind of doubt they would do that with this one.
Nice writeup [USER=1193]@Hawk[/USER]
I really liked my D7 Forged I had a few years ago and imagine these are so much better.
Also interesting to see where Harry ended up.
[QUOTE=”Scribble, post: 12139687, member: 64210″]
These are pretty. great article.
How many irons do they consider a set? $$$ea
I hope people don’t under estimate the quality and play-ability of Wilson clubs.
[/QUOTE]
7 piece set.
5-PW, GW
In honor of [USER=59233]@Golfers Anonymous[/USER] I spent about 20 minutes trying to get a decent shot at address with a golf ball.
I’ve been waiting on this release. I was very impressed by the standard DYNAPWR irons, but felt like there was something that could be done to hone them in. I’m hoping the DYNAPWR Forged irons are that. They looked great when I saw them two weeks ago.
Great article, loads of information. Is there a chance that these will ship with the new shield. Blade, CB and the new wedge all have the updated shield. It makes no sense to have two different logos on newly launched products. Otherwise, I love the look of the clubs.
Thanks Hawk,
Great write up. I have a bit of a cold dead hands view of my C300 forged, but if there is a replacement on the horizon, these would be the front runner.
[QUOTE=”Thrillbilly Jim, post: 12139780, member: 50607″]
I’ve been waiting on this release. I was very impressed by the standard DYNAPWR irons, but felt like there was something that could be done to hone them in. I’m hoping the DYNAPWR Forged irons are that. They looked great when I saw them two weeks ago.
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Still pretty early (got them in 36 hours before I need to have this submitted), but early impressions are very positive.
[QUOTE=”annsguy, post: 12139783, member: 19928″]
Great article, loads of information. Is there a chance that these will ship with the new shield. Blade, CB and the new wedge all have the updated shield. It makes no sense to have two different logos on newly launched products. Otherwise, I love the look of the clubs.
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What you see is what will be shipped. I agree 100%. Not a dealbreaker obviously, but a missed opportunity in some ways.
Pretty slick, although I’m not wild about the chrome. Nice write-up [USER=1193]@Hawk[/USER], I will gladly sign the petition about the name change of Speed Holes.
[QUOTE=”ryang13, post: 12139796, member: 67512″]
Pretty slick, although I’m not wild about the chrome. Nice write-up [USER=1193]@Hawk[/USER], I will gladly sign the petition about the name change of Speed Holes.
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Yea, I know chrome can be really hit or miss with people these days. I have a long time thing going on w/ Wilson irons, so to me it just is part of the deal. At this point, would almost seem wrong to not have that look from them.
I mentioned in the CB/Blade review how the FG Tour V2’s I played for so long were all chattered up by the time I retired them. Oddly enough, I actually have some great memories of that look.
Nice Write up [USER=1193]@Hawk[/USER]
Just seem like no one does “Chrome” like Wilson does – Just so shiny. I like it.
Tough category to try to break through on unless you have a real good product.
Great write up Ryan!
These look pretty nice. Seems like they are packing tech in here with the variable face thickness, the holes in the top, etc.
All at a competitive price point
These look pretty sharp. I understand the tech but I still dont love the look in the bag of the power holes. That said, these would get a look if I was iron shopping this spring.
Well written. Good work
Nice writeup across the board, [USER=1193]@Hawk[/USER]. I still think I prefer the looks of the D7/D9 forged but that’s a minor nitpick. I’m sure the performance is there with this release. W/S irons have always just worked for me off the shelf, which I’ve always appreciated. I personally didn’t find the Power Holes in the C300s to be any worse than the C200s, but that’s me.
[QUOTE=”Hawk, post: 12139750, member: 1193″]
In honor of [USER=59233]@Golfers Anonymous[/USER] I spent about 20 minutes trying to get a decent shot at address with a golf ball.
[/QUOTE]
[IMG alt=”Sarcastic Tonight Show GIF by The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon”]https://media0.giphy.com/media/2zjJSouryysunN13HP/200.gif[/IMG]
Chrome is always a tough sell to me. They look good from a design it’s the glare in the sun and such that always pushes me away for finishes.
Nice looking irons. Fit AI is interesting i wonder how accurate that can be. Nice review [USER=1193]@Hawk[/USER] as always!
I LOVE the chrome ?
Nice write up [USER=1193]@Hawk[/USER].
These look pretty good from an aesthetics standpoint, it will be interesting to see how accepted they will be with the general public.
Just read elsewhere that these are $100 less than D9 Forged were when they were introduced. Plus, they are always offering 10% off on the Wilson website.That’s a nice change.
Nice write up. It looks like a good set with some great technology.
Good stuff Hawk, super well done. While I’m not a polished chrome fan, these look a lot better than I expected.
Soooo much chrome. Other than that I will say the iron looks good shape and size wise, in fact I expected them to be bigger. I think the power holes is not a great name or look on the sole personally. I get the tech and some people like to see it but the iron would look better if we didn’t in my opinion
@Hawk – good writeup. I tested these Wilson Forged with the Power Holes. It was surprisingly a nice set of irons. I was expecting Wilson to be more of a Costco/Dick’s kind of line, but pleasantly surprised they held their own compared to my Callaways.
Too bad you did not get to try their Fit AI Technology. It was as you said. The amount of data that spewed out of my swings using their AI shaft blew my mind. And probably would impress you too.
[QUOTE=”GolferDad66, post: 12140065, member: 54162″]
@Hawk – good writeup. I tested these Wilson Forged with the Power Holes. It was surprisingly a nice set of irons. I was expecting Wilson to be more of a Costco/Dick’s kind of line, but pleasantly surprised they held their own compared to my Callaways.
Too bad you did not get to try their Fit AI Technology. It was as you said. The amount of data that spewed out of my swings using their AI shaft blew my mind. And probably would impress you too.
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I think we have a thread on FIT AI. Would love to hear a breakdown of how it went for you!
[QUOTE=”jdtox, post: 12140046, member: 5944″]
Soooo much chrome. Other than that I will say the iron looks good shape and size wise, in fact I expected them to be bigger. I think the power holes is not a great name or look on the sole personally. I get the tech and some people like to see it but the iron would look better if we didn’t in my opinion
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They were definitely more compact than expected for me and the offset is really low compared to others. Really nice shape behind the ball for sure.
I love that their doing ‘Dynapower’ but these new ones just aren’t as sexy as what once was.
As much as I like chrome Wilson might be wise to hear what people are saying and use less or none on an iron in the future. For now, this is who they are but seems like they are paying attention. Looking forward to the Staff Wedge review, hopefully soon.
[QUOTE=”Hawk, post: 12140075, member: 1193″]
They were definitely more compact than expected for me and the offset is really low compared to others. Really nice shape behind the ball for sure.
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This is big time for them imo, hits a spot I know I didn’t expect them to cover.
Great write up! I actually like this shield more than the newer one, feels nostalgic.
I like your point about the edges needing to be softened. Agree 100%
[QUOTE=”Hawk, post: 12140068, member: 1193″]
I think we have a thread on FIT AI. Would love to hear a breakdown of how it went for you!
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I only wish I took a photo of the stats. I was floored with the amount of data that I forgot. It measured the standard data you would expect – swing path, spin rates, where ball hits the club face etc. But then had novel data such as percentage of wrist hinge, release points, speed of back swing and down swing. Kicking myself for not taking a photo.
Im such a big fan of chrome, and wish more would use it vs matte finished these days. W/S did a fantastic job with the aesthetics here.
More quality products from Wilson Staff, no surprise here. They’ve been making top of the line, quality golf equipment for more than 100 years; its a shame they don’t garner the same level of respect as their competitors.
[QUOTE=”*Range Rat, post: 12140143, member: 50399″]
More quality products from Wilson Staff, no surprise here. They’ve been making top of the line, quality golf equipment for more than 100 years; its a shame they don’t garner the same level of respect as their competitors.
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While that may be true they don’t advertise or market it as well as others and they have fallen behind a bit. Not to mention the stigma they have attached to them as well.
Marketing has been poor but, of late they did a nice job with two social media influencers (100,000 followers each)who can play and reach a younger market that has been non existent to them previously. A I Fit can be a tech tool as well as a marketing tool. They do a good job on Instagram. It’s better.
An interesting note which I wasn’t going to bring up, but Hawk mentioned it in the review and others have decided to bring in the usual marketing complaints (I didn’t want to be *that guy*) is the badging being DYNAPWR but the actual name is Dynapower. Some consistency would have been nice. Not sure all that much real estate in the badging was saved by going that route. Minor quibble which obv doesn’t impact the performance at all.
[QUOTE=”annsguy, post: 12140240, member: 19928″]
Marketing has been poor but, of late they did a nice job with two social media influencers (100,000 followers each)who can play and reach a younger market that has been non existent to them previously. A I Fit can be a tech tool as well as a marketing tool. They do a good job on Instagram. It’s better.
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We’ve seen a change recently that has us very hopeful for them.
[QUOTE=”russtopher, post: 12140241, member: 14253″]
An interesting note which I wasn’t going to bring up, but Hawk mentioned it in the review and others have decided to bring in the usual marketing complaints (I didn’t want to be *that guy*) is the badging being DYNAPWR but the actual name is Dynapower. Some consistency would have been nice. Not sure all that much real estate in the badging was saved by going that route. Minor quibble which obv doesn’t impact the performance at all.
[/QUOTE]
Yea, they did that with the metalwoods too. It makes a little more sense there to me, as they are trying to look modern I guess. Still, it does more to hurt the look than anything on the irons imo.
Nice job [USER=1193]@Hawk[/USER]. Had a set of Wilson Staff’s way back in the day and am curious how these perform, spin wise etc.
[QUOTE=”smgoldstein, post: 12140253, member: 4509″]
Nice job [USER=1193]@Hawk[/USER]. Had a set of Wilson Staff’s way back in the day and am curious how these perform, spin wise etc.
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I’ll keep this updated as time goes on for sure. Early indications are they aren’t ultra-low spinners. More middle of the road, which is a good match for me.
Wilson is not on my radar, but maybe that should change. I just spec’d a set on carlsgolfland and even with upcharge steelfiber shafts, the price is comparatively very nice. Hmm.
[QUOTE=”Hawk, post: 12140259, member: 1193″]
I’ll keep this updated as time goes on for sure. Early indications are they aren’t ultra-low spinners. More middle of the road, which is a good match for me.
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Look forward to the updates. Might be a fit for me as well-I’m a low spin iron guy.
It’s funny how the Wilson Power Holes always come up but you never see many comments on the TM power slot whatchamacallit. [B]Love[/B] the chrome on these too. In 30+ years of golf in the Texas sunshine I’ve never once been blinded by my shiny chrome clubs but maybe I’m just lucky. Can’t wait to hit these.
Pleasantly surprised to the point I kind want to try them for a few swings. The chrome isn’t my favorite, I know I sound like a broken record. Very rounded, but the overall profile is really like a sweet spot for me currently.
[QUOTE=”GoldenBuff, post: 12140269, member: 25892″]
Wilson is not on my radar, but maybe that should change. I just spec’d a set on carlsgolfland and even with upcharge steelfiber shafts, the price is comparatively very nice. Hmm.
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I think you’d be pleasantly surprised.
[QUOTE=”PuffChippy, post: 12140274, member: 39110″]
It’s funny how the Wilson Power Holes always come up but you never see many comments on the TM power slot whatchamacallit. [B]Love[/B] the chrome on these too. In 30+ years of golf in the Texas sunshine I’ve never once been blinded by my shiny chrome clubs but maybe I’m just lucky. Can’t wait to hit these.
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I actually think the TM slot is worse, but I’m mostly ambivalent on the look. Either way, the name has to go.