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Wilson Staff Launch Pad driver

Internal weighting, offset and an upright lie angle designed into the Staff Launch Pad driver should help golfers hit straighter drives.

Gear: Wilson Staff Launch Pad driver
Price: $299.99 with UST Mamiya Helium shaft and Lamkin MicroLite grip
Specs: 460-cubic-centimeter titanium head. 10.5 or 13 degrees of loft
Available: Jan. 13, 2020

Thanks to a win at the U.S. Open by Gary Woodland, Wilson’s better-player equipment got plenty of attention in 2019, but with the release of the Staff Launch Pad family, the company is showing it still knows how to make gear for slower-swinging, high-handicap players.

The Staff Launch Pad driver was designed to help cure one of the most common problems for golfers who shoot in the 90s and 100s: a slice. Inside the 460-cubic-centimeter head, designers added a 13-gram weight to the heel area. That should encourage the face to close more efficiently on the downswing and produce less sidespin.

Offset and an internal weight help to close the Wilson Staff Launch Pad driver’s face to reduce sidespin and fight a slice. (Wilson)

The driver also was designed with a 60-degree lie angle, making it more upright than the typical driver, which has a lie angle of 58 degrees. That 2-degree difference may not sound like much, but clubs that are too flat tend to encourage a fade (or a slice) while more upright clubs typically encourage a right-to-left ball flight.

The Staff Launch Pad driver also was given offset, which should help close the face and reduce slice-creating sidespin.

To help higher-handicap players create more distance, Wilson designed the Staff Launch Pad driver to be as light as possible. For that reason, it was not made with either moveable weights or an adjustable hosel because those elements would increase overall weight, and many players in this category are not looking for those technologies. As a result, the Staff Launch Pad weighs just 272 grams, which is about 30 grams less than many drivers. So with the same amount of effort, golfers should be able to swing it faster and create more ball speed.

Designers also gave the club a variable thickness face that protects ball speed on mis-hits.

Wilson Staff Launch Pad irons

Combining hollow heads and progressive sole widths, Wilson’s newest max game-improvement irons target mid- and high-handicap golfers.

Gear: Wilson Staff Launch Pad irons
Price: $699.99 (4-PW) with KBS Tour 80 steel shafts and Wilson Staff 2 Crossline Mid grips; $799.99 with UST Mamiya Recoil 460 graphite shafts
Specs: Hollow-bodied irons with variable sole width
Available: Jan. 17, 2020

For high-handicap golfers, the most common problem when hitting tee shots with a driver is a slice. With irons, it’s hitting shots fat and making contact with the ground behind the ball before impact. It robs them of distance and consistency.

Wilson’s newest maximum game-improvement irons, the Staff Launch Pad irons, were designed to help golfers who shoot in the 90s and 100s get more distance and avoid hitting fat shots.

The soles of the Wilson Staff Launch Pad irons become progressively thinner from the long irons to the short irons. (Wilson)

The key to helping these players make consistently better contact is the combination of a progressive sole design and an increased bounce angle. The Staff Launch Pad’s long irons have an extremely wide sole, much like a hybrid club, that skims over the turf. The sole width becones progressively more narrow through the mid-irons and eventually reaches a traditional game-improvement width in the short irons.

Wilson’s engineers also lifted the height of the leading edge by increasing the bounce angle, so the Staff Launch Pad irons are less likely to dig into the ground at impact.

To help golfers generate more ball speed, Wilson made the Staff Launch Pad irons hollow so the thin stainless steel faces can flex more efficiently at impact. The hollow design also helps place more weight low and back, away from the hitting area, to encourage a higher launch angle and a steeper angle of descent to help shots stop faster on the greens.

While the Wilson Staff Launch Pad irons are large, in the address position a players’ eyes naturally focus on the chrome topline, and surprisingly the large back section fades and does not become a visual distraction. In other words, at address the big club looks reassuring but not huge.

Presidents Cup: Golf equipment that will be used by the American team

See all the gear that the American stars like Tiger Woods, Justin Thomas, Brooks Koepka and Dustin Johnson are expected to play in December.

With Tiger Woods having announced his captain’s picks (including himself), we now know the 12 members of the U.S. Presidents Cup team that will face the International squad Dec. 12-15 at Royal Melbourne Golf Club in Australia. Below is a list of the U.S. players and the equipment they are expected to use.

Patrick Cantlay

DRIVER: Titleist TS3 (10.5 degrees), with Mitsubishi Diamana BF 60X shaft

FAIRWAY WOOD: Titleist 915F (15 degrees), with Mitsubishi Diamana BF 70TX shaft

HYBRID: Titleist 816 H2 (21 degrees), with Mitsubishi CK Pro Blue 90 X shaft

IRONS: Titleist T100 (4-PW), with True Temper Dynamic Gold 120 shafts

WEDGES: Titleist Vokey Design SM7 (54 degrees bent to 53, 56 degrees bent to 57, 60 degrees bent to 61), with True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S300 shafts

PUTTER: Scotty Cameron Newport GSS prototype

BALL: Titleist Pro V1x

GRIPS: Golf Pride Tour Velvet

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