Sunday, January 28, 2007

Will Wilson make it back


For the young bucks reading this, Wilson Staff blades were once "it." Look in the bag of a professional or a top amatuer, chances are - gorgeous chrome plated staffs would be the weapon of choice.

Unfortunately, the advent of CB's, metalwoods and later titanium woods shocked their world. While they continued to make great irons, companies like TM and Cally sold millions of high dollar metalwoods. BUT - Wilson woods kind of sucked (actually really sucked).

The slow decline culminated with the dreaded FATSHAFT era. Although you can find a ton of hackers who love them, they looked awful and I honestly hadn't seen a Wilson in the bag of a decent golfer in years (except for a few oldtimers with old blades - they were very good).

A few years ago, Wilson got new ownership and tried to rebuild their brand. While it hasn't been a smashing success, they seem to be getting a little "buzz" for the first time in years. Paddy is winning the order of merit. They even have a very small tour staff.


My review of their current equipment;

Fi Irons - arguably the best looking irons on earth - you better have game b/c they are all blade. I have never actually seen them outside a golf store.

Pi Irons - IMHO - oneof the most underated iron on the market. These babies caused me to buy an extra set of irons despite having new TM TP's. At address, they look like blades. They have great forgiveness and perfect balance.

Ci Irons - look perfect for a mid-handicapper. GI without going off the deep end.

Di Irons - well, they brought back the FatShaft, but had the brains not to tell anyone. If you need/want ultra-GI shovels, these babies have it all.

Drivers - still kind of blow - not bad, but always about 2 years behind. The new one is looking promising though

FW - No idea I've never actually seen one in person, which of course is a bad thing.

Putters - Kirk Currie might be a great designer, but his putters are fugly. The weird balance weights are not mainstream enough to be a big seller.


My marketing plan to finish the job:1. Tour Service - set up their own version of WRX. Staff can be hard to find in proshops. If guys can special order custom irons with frequency matched shafts, dead on SW's, custom grips, they can start getting the top amatuers at clubs to start playing them. Offering custom grinds on those gorgeous wedges would a special touch. 2. Tour Guys - instead of the Adams (senior tour) strategy, I would go with a few young guns. Someone with game and a big mouth would be nice.

4 comments:

Tom Collins said...

Hey Kiwi--

Thanks for the post. I've been considering upgrading my current (albeit generic) set of irons to something that sounds and looks a little better.

I hope you're having a relaxing winter.

Kiwi said...

Nah mate its summer down here, loving it, golfin in shorts and singlet ( you know sleeveless tee's) I'm guessin you have the winter off

Anonymous said...

Got a Wilson Deep Red II driver, and love it. Since then I've always wanted a set of irons - The new Di set is looking good for me.

Glad to see they are coming back.

Anonymous said...

I just ordered a new set of Fi5 forged blade irons, 2i-52 degree. I am not a scratch golfer, I probobly should have gotten the Pi line of irons, but I have titleist blades that I love and the Fi5s should be even better. They are progressive weighted irons meaning the 2-3-4 are different from the 4-5-6 and the 7-pw is muscle back. Look closely at a picture.