50 Words or Less
The Wilson Staff D200 driver adds adjustability to one of the lightest drivers in golf. Plenty of forgiveness and surprisingly low spin.
Introduction
While there was never a doubt about their prowess in designing irons, it was Wilson Staff’s D100 line that put them back on the map in terms of woods. With low club weights and hot, forgiving faces, those clubs helped golfers everywhere to gain distance. For 2015, Wilson Staff seeks to take another step forward with D200. The flagship product, the D200 driver, improves upon its predecessor by adding adjustability.
Looks
At address, the D200 driver looks fairly average for a modern driver. It has a matte black crown, small alignment aid, and “Right Light” branding near the heel. The footprint is fairly large and rounded, which should boost the confidence of higher handicap players.
Sound & Feel
At impact, the D200 produces a very hot sound and feel. The sound of impact is fairly loud, but the tone is moderate in pitch – nothing shrill or metallic. You can definitely feel the forgiveness because there is very little twisting of the head, even on significant mishits. The trade off is that the feedback is lessened. It’s easy to notice a mishit by sound – pure shots sound great, mishits are duller – but it’s difficult to precisely locate the miss.
As someone who typically plays very heavy clubs, I always have some concern about testing light weight clubs. One thing that helped to quiet those concerns is the fact that the Wilson Staff D200 driver maintains a respectable D2 swing weight despite the very light overall weight. For those that aren’t club builders, that means that you can still feel the head during the swing thanks to a light shaft and grip.
Performance
The first thing I noticed about the Wilson Staff D200 driver when I put it on the launch monitor was how consistent the ball speeds were. I was hitting the ball everywhere from the heel to the toe, but the ball speed stayed within 5 MPH of my best strikes.
The other thing that really jumped off the screen was how low spin the D200 is. I still have the expectation that forgiving drivers are going to be high spin, but I registered numerous shots with the D200 that were below 2000 RPMs. The low spin that this club produces could be as valuable to many golfers as the light weight.
This is the first D-Series driver from Wilson Staff to offer adjustability, and it’s done simply and well. The driver can be adjusted up or down 1° from the stated loft, and there’s also a draw setting for each loft.
Overall, I think this is a excellent driver, particularly for players who want that lighter weight to try to boost their club head speed.
Conclusion
If you’re searching for more distance off the tee, the Wilson Staff D200 driver is worth a few swings. Not only is it incredibly light to boost club speed, but the face is very forgiving and the spin is low. Add in the ability to adjust for loft and face angle, and you have a driver that should be showing up on a lot of tee boxes this season.
Watch the Video
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D200 Driver LM Data
Matt lives in the northwest suburbs of Chicago with his wife and two daughters.
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is the chrome shaft a real deal shaft or made for thanks matt
David,
I believe it is made for. I don’t think there are any “real deal” stock shafts out at the moment.
-Matt
I hit the demo 9* loft D200 a few times and was amazed at how well the shaft performed. Again as with the D200 irons the dispersion pattern was tight. I used the driver yesterday for the first time in competition and missed only three fairways, all slightly left. The increase in distance was astonishing, finding myself thirty yards further down the fairway on most drives.
i am 60 yrs old 5 handicap and am frustrated that swingspeed is now 90 to 92. have hit em all man and im losing distance and yet scared to go to lighter driver. if i do this is the one, i like the d2, ive had the big bertha, opti force, cleveland custom 588, xhot2 and still frustrated. reccomendations or advice i love wilsons irons debating this club
Tom,
My recommendation won’t be surprising: get a fitting. Work with someone highly qualified like Club Champion, figure out the best driver for you, and get back to playing golf.
Best,
Matt
I’m 72 years old and in good health and fairly flexible with my swings.
My driver swing speed more often than not, is 88 mph. Currently using a Mizuno 10.5 with regular shaft so I compare everything to this club. I tried a Senior flex but it was all over the place.
I don’t really trust the stats on the golf store machines but I use them as a comparison, i.e. if it’s off it’s off for any driver I try.
I am currently debating between the CG Custom Black 10.5 and the Cleveland D200 10.5 adjustable. I’ve found the CG Black non-adjustable to try but have not found the Cleveland. According to the test machine the CG Black had good stats and flew further than my Mizuno.
Any thoughts based on the foregoing info about which to lean towards?
Thanks in advance.
George,
I assume you mean the Wilson D200, not the Cleveland D200, right? Assuming that’s correct, I would go ahead and buy the driver that you can actually test and that you know goes farther than your current driver. I think the D200 is a good club, but I wouldn’t buy any club I couldn’t try and be fit for in advance.
Best,
Matt
My only question is.. Would Wilson Golf be interested in a Driver weighting system that could move the weight to virtually any part of the base with a single screw adjustment.. if so, call 360-903-5417. I am to old to get into the next phase , but I would like to see it done. (90 on Jan 12)
Chas,
Hopefully you entered Wilson’s driver design contest!
Best,
Matt