Equipment

The New Look of Speed: Wilson D300 drivers, woods, hybrids and irons

Published

7 years ago

Jan 9, 2017

Wilson’s new line of D300 products certainly don’t suffer from a lack of visible technology. The super game-improvement clubs use slots around the perimeter of the irons, as well as “Micro Vortex Generators” on the crowns of the metal woods to improve performance.

The D300 drivers ($349.99), fairway woods ($219.99), hybrids ($199.99) and irons ($799 steel, $899 graphite) will be in stores starting on January 23. Learn more about what they can mean for your game below.

D300 Driver

The goal for most golfers purchasing a new driver is to hit the golf ball farther, and to do that more speed needs to be created. That’s Wilson’s goal with its new D300 driver; to create more speed.

To accomplish its goal, Wilson added steps across the crown — the company calls them “Micro Vortex Generators” — to reduce the effect of drag on the club head. That means as the golf club travels through space, especially during the downswing as the club nears impact, airflow remains closer to the crown making the D300 drivers more aerodynamic. The result is more swing speed than their predecessors, Wilson’s D200 drivers, all other things being equal. Wilson says golfers can expect about 1-2 mph more club head speed from the new drivers.

The D300 also incorporates the company’s “Right Light technology,” which uses weight saving tactics to make it “one of the lightest and fastest adjustable drivers on the market,” according to Wilson. The driver also has an interchangeable sole weight to allow golfers to dial in swing weight. The drivers are built for retain with a 2-gram weight, but 10- and 12-gram weights are available through custom.

“Innovation is at the core of all we do and elevating distance is something we take seriously,” said Michael Vrska, Global innovation Director of Wilson Golf. “Micro Vortex Generators and Right Light are technologies that players can see and feel, but most importantly, the speed and distance benefits will be obvious from the first swing.”

The drivers also have Wilson’s “Fast Fit” technology, an adjustable hosel that will help golfers dial in loft and lie angle. The drivers can be adjusted between three loft settings — 1-degree strong, standard and 1-degree weak — and each setting can be paired with a neutral or draw setting lie angle setting.

Wilson’s D300 will come stock with Golf Pride Tour 25 grips, a 44-gram Matrix Speed Rulz A Type shaft (A, R and S flexes) in 9, 10.5 and 13-degree heads (10.5 only for lefties).

D300 Fairway Woods

Like the D300 driver, the fairway woods also have Micro Vortex Generators on their crowns for less drag, and use Right Light technology — making the heads lighter, and thus, faster for most players — to produce more swing speed and ultimately more ball speed.

The faces of the fairway woods are made with Carpenter Custom 455 maraging steel inserts that the company says will maximize distance due to their thin design, producing a hot face with high CT (“characteristic time,” a measurement of energy transfer).

Wilson’s D300 fairway woods come stock with Golf Pride Tour 25 grips, a 49-gram Matrix Speed Rulz A Type shaft (A, R, and S flexes), in 15-degree, 18-degree and 21-degree heads (15- and 18-degrees for lefties).

D300 Hybrid

The D300 hybrids have a “progressive” head design, which gives lower-lofted heads a larger head profile that makes them more forgiving on the longer shots that they’re designed to hit. The hybrids become smaller and more iron-like throughout their wide range of lofts (17, 19, 22, 25, 28 and 31 for righties; 19, 22 and 25 for lefties).

They also use Wilson’s Micro Vortex Generators on their crown, as well as the same Carpenter Custom 455 maraging steel face inserts used in the D300 fairway woods to boost their ball speeds on shots contacted across the face. They come stock with Golf Pride Tour 25 grips and a 54-gram Matrix Speed Rulz A Type shaft, and are available individually for $199.99 each.

D300 Irons

Last January Wilson released its C200, which debuted a radical new technology. It was called “FLX Face,” and used used multiple “power holes” that were situated around the perimeter of the iron face to increase face flexion and provide golfers more distance and forgiveness.

With the D300 irons FLX Face returns, and its power holes are now bigger. According to Wilson, the new design frees 76 percent of the face from the body, paving the way for more face flexibility and ultimately more ball speed for the golfer. The improvement will be beneficial on center strikes, but most noticeably on off-center hits, Wilson says.

As with their predecessors, the power holes are filled with TE031 Urethane to help the face recover faster at impact, creating more speed, better sound and better durability. The heads themselves are cast from 17-4 stainless steel.

The irons also have increased heel-toe weighting seen with weight pods on both sides of their soles to increase MOI (moment of inertia), a measure of forgiveness.

Wilson’s D300 irons (4-PW and GW) will come stock with the company’s Tour Traction grips and the following two shafts options:

Steel ($799): KBS Tour 80 steel (R and S flexes)
Graphite ($899): Matrix Speed Rulz A Type (A, R, S flexes)

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Related Topics:drivers fairways hybrids irons Wilson

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Andrew Tursky

He played on the Hawaii Pacific University Men's Golf team and earned a Masters degree in Communications. He also played college golf at Rutgers University, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism.

10 Comments

Don

Sep 4, 2017 at 11:43 pm

I clicked accidentally, didn’t mean to report comment! Sorry!

Reply Report comment
Andrew S

Jan 9, 2017 at 5:46 pm

I love my Wilson D100 Driver, these are likely good. But, $349 for a Wilson driver, seriously (lol)?

Reply Report comment
Mike Honcho

Jan 9, 2017 at 3:57 pm

How has Wilson survived? Like Nike, I’ve never played a single round golf where someone in my group had even one Wilson club in the bag.

Reply Report comment
- tlmck1234
  
  Jan 10, 2017 at 7:14 am
  
  Wilson’s heyday was in the 80’s and 90’s when they were in just about everybody’s bag, including tour pros. Their 80’s Staff blades were some of the best ever made, and even their department store full sets were a cut above the rest. I learned with cheap Blue Ridge blades and laminated maple woods, went briefly to WS2000(similar to original Ping Eye), and then to Staff blades. In the mid nineties or so, I started building my own mostly.
  
  Reply Report comment
  - Dave R
    
    Feb 4, 2017 at 11:56 am
    
    t; I am late-60s age and a 9-HCP on links layout. I played WS Ci7 irons until last week. Wilson Staff clubs and especially their irons are invariably excellent and built to very high standards. My second last full shot with my Ci7 irons produced a hole-in-one but I have decided to replace them with…. the new Wilson Staff Tour FG V6 irons.
    
    From long experience with Callaway, Taylormade and other manufacturers of fine products IMO Wilson Staff products ( especially irons ) are well worth a try for any serious golfer. No affiliation of any sort to any company of course.
    
    Reply Report comment
  - Tommy
    
    Oct 4, 2018 at 10:38 am
    
    I also learned with a half set of Wilson Blue Ridges. Wow, did those things suck. I would love to hold one in my hands today just to remember how and why they were so hard to hit well. This was around 1966.
    
    Reply Report comment
robin

Jan 9, 2017 at 12:59 pm

Steve you are so right about it’s a right handed world.
I’m am left and right player. I hit right handed and puts left.
I wish I hit left handed because the prices on eBay are great for left handed players…

Reply Report comment
S Hitty

Jan 9, 2017 at 12:14 pm

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bk170vq2Fws

Reply Report comment
SV

Jan 9, 2017 at 8:37 am

Based on the shafts and the description “making the heads lighter”, I wonder about the feel. Is it like swinging a shaft without a head? Also, as a lefty I really appreciate the lack of choice Wilson has given me (a lot of other manufacturers are the same).

Reply Report comment
- Steve S
  
  Jan 9, 2017 at 12:24 pm
  
  As a lefty you should know that small guys(yes Wilson is a small guy in golf) can’t afford to tool for LH players since they are such a small part of the golfing community. My son is a left handed hitter in baseball but learned to play golf right handed because of the lack of club options. Unfortunately for all left handers it is a right handed world and you have to live in it….
  
  On the plus side if you go on ebay and look for left handed clubs they tend to be 20-50% cheaper than right handed versions.
  
  Reply Report comment

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Whats in the Bag

Kevin Tway WITB 2024 (May)

Published

6 hours ago

May 10, 2024

GolfWRX Staff

Kevin Tway what’s in the bag accurate as of the Wells Fargo Championship. More photos from the event here.

Driver: Ping G430 LST (10.5 degrees)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Black 6 X

3-wood: TaylorMade Stealth 2 (15 degrees)
Shaft: Mitsubishi Diamana D+ 80 TX

Check out more in-hand photos of Kevin Tway’s clubs here.

5-wood: TaylorMade Stealth 2 (18 degrees)
Shaft: Mitsubishi Diamana D+ 90 TX

Irons: Wilson Staff Utility (2), Titleist T100 (4-9)
Shafts: Mitsubishi MMT 100 TX (2), True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X100 (4-9)

Check out more in-hand photos of Kevin Tway’s clubs here.

Wedges: Titleist Vokey Design SM10 (48-10F @47, 52-12F @51, 56-14F), SM7 (60-10S)
Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X100 (48-56), True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S400 (60)

Putter: Scotty Cameron T-5 Proto
Grip: Scotty Cameron Black Baby T

Grips: Golf Pride Tour Velvet Plus4

More photos of Kevin Tway’s WITB in the forums.

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Equipment

Did Rory McIlroy inspire Shane Lowry’s putter switch?

Published

6 hours ago

May 10, 2024

GolfWRX Staff

Editor’s note: This is an excerpt from a piece our Andrew Tursky originally wrote for PGATour.com’s Equipment Report. Head over there for the full article.

The timing of Lowry’s putter changeup was curious: Was he just using a Spider putter because he was paired with McIlroy, who’s been using a Spider Tour X head throughout 2024? Was Lowry just being festive because it’s the Zurich Classic, and he wanted to match his teammate? Did McIlroy let Lowry try his putter, and he liked it so much he actually switched into it?

Well, as it turns out, McIlroy’s only influence was inspiring Lowry to make more putts.

When asked if McIlroy had an influence on the putter switch, Lowry had this to say: “No, it’s actually a different putter than what he uses. Maybe there was more pressure there because I needed to hole some more putts if we wanted to win,” he said with a laugh.

To Lowry’s point, McIlroy plays the Tour X model, whereas Lowry switched into the Tour Z model, which has a sleeker shape in comparison, and the two sole weights of the club are more towards the face.

Lowry’s Spider Tour Z has a white True Path Alignment channel on the crown of his putter, which is reminiscent of Lowry’s former 2-ball designs, thus helping to provide a comfort factor despite the departure from his norm. Instead of a double-bend hosel, which Lowry used in his 2-ball putters, his new Spider Tour Z is designed with a short slant neck.

“I’ve been struggling on the greens, and I just needed something with a fresh look,” Lowry told GolfWRX.com on Wednesday at the 2024 Wells Fargo Championship. “It has a different neck on it, as well, so it moves a bit differently, but it’s similar. It has a white line on the back of it [like my 2-ball], and it’s a mallet style. So it’s not too drastic of a change.

“I just picked it up on the putting green and I liked the look of it, so I was like, ‘Let’s give it a go.’”

Read the rest of the piece over at PGATour.com.

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Equipment

Webb Simpson equipment Q&A: Titleist’s new 2-wood, 680 blade irons, and switching to a broomstick Jailbird

Published

9 hours ago

May 10, 2024

Andrew Tursky

With seven career wins on the PGA Tour, including a U.S. Open victory, Webb Simpson is a certified veteran on the course. But he’s also a certified veteran in the equipment world, too. He’s a gearhead who truly knows his stuff, and he’s even worked closely with Titleist on making his own custom 682.WS irons.

On Wednesday at the 2024 Wells Fargo Championship, I caught up with Simpson to hear about his experience with Titleist’s new prototype 2-wood, how Titleist’s 680 Forged irons from 2003 ended up back in his bag, and why he’s switching into an Odyssey Ai-One Jailbird Cruiser broomstick putter this week for the first time.

Click here to read our full story about Simpson’s putter switch on PGATOUR.com’s Equipment Report, or continue reading below for my full Q&A with Simpson at Quail Hollow Club on Wednesday.

See Webb Simpson’s full WITB from the 2024 Wells Fargo Championship here

GolfWRX: It seems like you’ve been a little all over the place with your irons in the past six months or so, and now going back to the 680’s. Is that just a comfort thing? What’s been going on with the irons?

Webb Simpson: Titleist has been so great at working with me, and R&D, on trying to get an iron that kind of modernizes the 680. And so the 682.WS took the T100 grooves, but kinda took the look and the bulk and the build of the 680’s into one club. They’re beautiful, and awesome looking. I just never hit them that well for a consistent period of time. It was probably me, but then I went to T100’s and loved them. I loved the spin, the trajectory, the yardage, but again, I never went on good runs. Going through the ground, I couldn’t feel the club as well as with the blade. So last week, I’m like, ‘Alright. I’m gonna go back more for…comfort, and see if I can get on a nice little run of ball striking.’

So that’s why I went back.

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OK, that makes sense. I know you had done some 2-wood testing recently. Is that in the bag right now?

It’s like day-by-day. I used it at Hilton Head every day. Valero, I used it one round. And this week, me and my caddie will do the book every morning, and if it’s a day where we think we need it, we’ll just put it in and take the 3-wood out. I love it because it’s a super simple swap. Like, it doesn’t really change much.

Yeah, can you tell me about that club? I mean, we don’t really know anything about it yet. You know? I haven’t hit it or anything, obviously.

It has grooves like a 3-wood. Spin is perfect. And it’s honestly, like, everything is in the middle of a 3-wood and driver number. Trajectory, spin, carry, all of it. So, a Hilton Head golf course is almost too easy to talk about because, you know, there, so many holes are driver 3-wood.

Valero, our thinking was we had two par-5’s into the wind, and we knew that it would take two great shots to get there in two. So instead of hitting driver-driver, we just put it in. And I used it on those holes.

Hilton was a little easier because it was off-the-tee kind of questions. But Colonial will be a golf course where, you know, there’s a lot of driver or 3-woods. It’s kind of like a backup putter or driver for me now. I’ll bring it to every tournament.

So it’s, like, in your locker right now, probably?

Well, it would be. It’s in my house [because Webb lives near by Quail Hollow Club, and is a member at the course.] It’s in the garage.

Oh, yeah, that’s right. Do you know what holes you might use it out here if it goes in play?

Potentially 15, depending on the wind. Second shot on 10. Could be 14 off the tee. The chances here are pretty low (that he’ll use the 2-wood). But, like, Greensboro would be an awesome club all day. I’m trying to think of any other golf courses.

There’s plenty that it’ll be a nice weapon to have.

It’s interesting, the wave of 2-woods and mini drivers. Like, it’s just really taken off on Tour, and all the companies have seemed to embrace it.

Yeah. The thing I had to learn, it took me, like, at least a week to learn about it is you gotta tee it up lower than you think. I kept teeing it up too high. You need it low, like barely higher than a 3-wood. And that was where I got optimal spin and carry. If you tee it up too high, you just don’t get as much spin and lose distance, I don’t know if that’s just a mini driver thing.

And you obviously have a Jailbird putter this week. What spurred that on?

Inconsistent putting. I’m stubborn in a lot of ways when it comes to my equipment, but I have to be open minded – I just hadn’t putted consistently well in a while. And I’m like, ‘Man, I feel my ball-striking coming along. Like I feel better; for real, better.’

If I can just get something in my hands that I’m consistent with. Being on Tour, you see it every year, guys get on little runs. I can put together four to five tournaments where I’m all the sudden back in the majors, or in the FedExCup Playoffs. You can turn things around quick out here. I’m like, ‘Man, whatever’s going to get me there, great.’

My caddie, David Cook, caddied for Akshay at the Houston Open and he putted beautifully. Then, I watched Akshay on TV at Valero, and he putted beautifully. And, I’m like, ‘I’m just going to try it.’

I’ve never tried it for more than a putt or two, and I just ordered what Akshay uses. It was pretty awkward at first, but the more I used it, the more I’m like, ‘Man, it’s pretty easy.’ And a buddy of mine who’s a rep out here, John Tyler Griffin, he helped me with some setup stuff. And he said at Hilton Head, he wasn’t putting well, then tried it, and now he makes everything. He was very confident. So I’m like, ‘Alright, I’ll try it.’”

And you’re going with it this week?

Hundred percent.

Alright, I love it. Thank you, I always love talking gear with you. Play well this week.

Thanks, man.

See Webb Simpson’s full WITB from the 2024 Wells Fargo Championship here

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