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.
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.