Price: £499 (3-iron to PW, steel shaft)
I've always had a sentimental attachment to Wilson clubs, since buying my first new club - a Sam Snead Blue Ridge 3-iron - back in the early 1970s. I have since progressed through the original Fat Shafts, to which I occasionally return when my game plumbs the pits of desperation.
The Wilson name - now re-branded as
Wilson Staff - acts as a kind of 'comforter' to snuggle up to on those dark days when all else in your golf game fails and you're getting close to slashing your wrists.
I'm going through such a patch at present and thought I could rely on the latest Wilson Staff Performance irons (Pi5) to lead me through a golfing wilderness - bereft of my confidence or hopes of good fortune.
As a group of voters responding to a poll in an American magazine also discovered, these are among the best-looking clubs on the market, rivalling the drop-dead gorgeous lines of Mizuno MP-32s. They're as sleek and shiny as a sports car, with a thin top line good golfers tend to drool over.
But looks aren't everything - in fact they're very little if you're game is scratchy and you're having difficulty with consistent striking. It's at times like this that you're looking for forgiveness but I'd have more chance if I slapped a custard pie in John Prescott's face.
While the Pi5s delivered an average of 5-7 yards per club more carry than TaylorMade's latest OS2s it was at the expensive of that soft feel you get from some other modern clubs with a wider sweet spot.
Wilson claims its 'low density carbon weave support and thin, high COR face provide a generous sweet spot in a conventional head size' and 'a design which moves
a precise amount of mass to the club's periphery to create maximum forgiveness from off-centre hits.'
But I didn't detect the same forgiveness when I desperately needed it.
The heads, especially from 7-iron to pitching wedge felt a little heavy for my taste, resulting in a tendency to pull approaches from 100-140 yards to the left. I tried adjusting my alignment to compensate but had difficulty controlling flight and distance.
The long and medium irons (3- to 5-iron) delivered a more consistent penetrating flight and with practice I could have warmed to them. However, despite the progressive sole, designed to make them less liable to dig into the turf, I was unable to produce the consistent flight my confidence currently demands.
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Rating: |
7.5/10 |
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Summary: | It doesn't surprise me that Padraig Harrington uses a version of these attractive Pi5 clubs - but then he rivals Vijay Singh in the time he spends on the practice fairway. However, in my opinion, they are not a club for 10-18 handicap golfer who's not prepared to spend an hour or two a week honing their game.
In Wilson's defence I intend to pass on these clubs for a second opinion, putting them in the hands of someone with a harder practice ethic than my own.
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