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Ricky Barnes + Wilson Prototype Iron = Wilson Comeback?
Posted June 21, 2009 by mygolfspy
Wilson FG Forged Prototype Irons Re-Surface!
Do you remember back in March when we gave you guys a sneak-peek at some prototype Wilson irons Padraig Harrington was playing?
Well they have resurfaced this week at the US Open in the co-leaders bag (Ricky Barnes). Barnes is sporting the same irons Paddy played back in March…the Wilson FG Forged Prototypes.
Tell Wilson Your Opinion?
So we want to know…if Barnes wins this week do you think that Wilson will begin to show a resurgence on Tour and in stores similar to the dominance they showed back in the 70’s and 80’s? Leave us your comment…and tell us what you think.
Wilson FG Forged Prototype Irons (Ricky Barnes WITB)
{TELL US YOUR OPINION…LEAVE A COMMENT}
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(52) Comments
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June 22nd, 2009 at 5:38 am
I don’t think one win will bring them back to the fore front, but I do say it will help. What they need is for a couple more of these sets of irons creeping into other players bags and a few wisn with them. If those two things happen then I could see a change for Wilson.
June 22nd, 2009 at 6:12 am
They are on the rise though compared to a few years ago. Do I think they need to do more…absolutely. But good to see their name being talked about again.
June 22nd, 2009 at 9:52 am
I agree. I am glad to see them having a stronger presence on tour. They wont be able to rise overnight, but I think they are on the right track to making a comeback. They just need a little more time.
June 22nd, 2009 at 5:51 am
Love the way these look. I think I would actually consider playing them.
June 22nd, 2009 at 6:15 am
Thanks Ryan for your first comment on MyGolfSpy…we hope to see you back soon.
June 22nd, 2009 at 7:12 am
They’re quite an unusual design especially the the lump on the toe, I wonder if players will insert differnt weights behind the W/S badge whick looks like a sticker. The forged cavities from the early mid 90’s were classier looking IMHO.
June 22nd, 2009 at 7:42 am
They got a lot of good pub with their last round of irons, making golf digest’s hotlist.
Harrington winning with Wilson legitimized the publicity a lot. I think you have to take them seriously at that point.
If Ricky wins this morning, maybe a signature shot with a long iron, it could mean a lot for them. But I think just having be a factor has people looking. Really attractive club, and I would be sure to swing it if I were looking. Love the bit if extra weight on the toe and slight forgiveness in a players club.
That tiny bit of weight is only just going to help you turn the ball over a touch and addresses the weight/stiffness the hosel adds the the heel side of the club.
Nice square look too.
June 22nd, 2009 at 7:52 am
I like these irons they remind me of titleists AP line, and I think a win this week along with padraigs success will give Wilson a huge boost
June 22nd, 2009 at 1:33 pm
If they make a few other models that come out nice…then maybe they will. These irons have gotten good press but I still think in person they could use a little work.
June 22nd, 2009 at 8:46 am
They’ve won 3 out of the last 6 or 7 majors already! Nobody is going to compete with the big 5 or 6 and their marketing budgets but it is great to see Wilson Staff back with some great products – even if Padraig and Ricky just use the Wilson Smooth headcover (over their FT-9’s), lol!
June 22nd, 2009 at 1:35 pm
That is pretty crazy stat Jake! And by the way thanks for making your first comment on MyGolfSpy…keep on coming back
June 22nd, 2009 at 2:36 pm
I just got back from the US Open, I saw these irons on the 2nd tee as Rickey Barnes waited to hit his tee shot. These irons looked pretty sweet. I would definitely consider a set of these babies.
June 23rd, 2009 at 7:00 am
Dave…US Open and no pictures for us…lol.
March 7th, 2010 at 1:37 pm
Try getting a camera on the course. Obviously you’ve never been to a US Open! You’ll be thrown out immediately.
June 22nd, 2009 at 9:20 pm
I don’t really like them much. It’s unfortunate that Wilson Golf has fallen by the wayside. Years ago when you either played Wilson and Macgregor… those days are behind us. I really loved the look of those Fg59 irons… but I never saw the ACTUAL clubs anywhere… only pictures.
WIlson still makes some great, high-quality stuff… but nobody seems to know about it!
June 23rd, 2009 at 6:59 am
It is unfortunate…because they were the leaders for years. I agree they need to work on ther marketing and PR to get the word out. We would love to help them.
June 23rd, 2009 at 1:11 am
I still aren’t overly fond of the cavity graphics but I can ignore that. As CJ said we need address and front one pics.
Any idea on what the stock shafts/grips will be?
June 23rd, 2009 at 8:33 am
I would like to see Wilson make a comeback, My first set of NEW irons was a set of Wilson Staffs and all of the chrome came off!! I would like them to make something look like a Wilson Staff and not all hokey with the plastic graphics like the way Cleveland has gone.
June 29th, 2009 at 6:13 am
I agree with you Ricky.
June 23rd, 2009 at 9:41 am
I think Wiison has done a good job hanging around in the iron and wedge market and may sneak up on the big boys. Are they due to release a new line of putters any time soon? I’d like to see Wilson’s return to producing premium forged putters, like the 8802 back in the 60’s.
June 29th, 2009 at 6:14 am
They have hung around…but if they don’t capitalize soon it might pass them by. They need to ramp up the marketing.
June 27th, 2009 at 6:10 am
Very interesting, might be worth a try. Perhaps they might be better than my set of Pro Staff FG-17’s, that I have used since 1978, and cause people to laugh because they are “Vintage”. Thay stop laughing when “I kick their ass in a round with a lower score”! When you take good care of good clubs they last forever!!
December 8th, 2009 at 4:43 pm
You ought to get a look at my Staff Goosenecks. 1991 models and they outplay and outfeel everything else I have tried in the past few years.
December 9th, 2009 at 9:05 am
Hi Glenn welcome to MGS…thanks for your comment. Are you referring to the ones with the channel in the mid cavity?
December 9th, 2009 at 11:12 am
That’s the ones. I have them in the shop right now getting re-gripped, but when I get them back I’ll send a photo along. I found these in, of all places, a goodwill store for a couple bucks a piece. The grips were all dry-rotted, but the heads are so pristine they didn’t even have bag-clack marks on them. If I had to guess, I’d say these old girls haven’t been played more than 5-6 times since they came out of the pro shop.
The only downside to the whole deal was that all I could find were the 4 thru the 9 irons. I got in touch with global and gave them the ser. #’s and that’s how I found out the model year. I looked around to see if I could find long irons and wedges to match the quality of these, but nothing came up, so now I’m thinking about having them bent 1 degree strong and finding a 4 wedge set I like to go with them, as well as a low-loft hybrid to bridge the gap between the irons and the woods. I was looking at the Wilson site and they seem to have some really nice pieces I might want to check out. Hard to believe that WS doesn’t have a big presence in golf anymore.
It’s gonna be real nice to play with some soft steel again. Even with the old rotted grips (and man, they were as nasty as any I’ve ever seen) the feel going through the ball was just incredible. I was an old MacGregor blades kind of guy, so small heads were my thing, but I kind of like the nice high toe these things carry, and since I’m getting kind of ancient now anyway, the mid-size head is a good thing too. Only real thing I’m worried about is the shafts. Who knows how many years these things sat in a damp basement, but I figure I might be checking into a graphite shaft at some point anyway, and since these things are basically brand new, I may just have the whole set re-shafted with graphs or maybe even rifles if it can be done. These irons will likely last me as long as I care to keep on playing, so I’m not too worried about wearing them out. I just need to see if they can hold up to playing 2-3 times a week.
Great site, BTW. I had heard about it, but never looked into it until the last few days. I had been looking for a good gps for my blackberry, as well as wedges and hybrids and this is where I ended up. Spent most of an afternoon reading through some of the old posts and there is some very interesting stuff going on in here.
June 27th, 2009 at 7:56 am
Wilson has simply lost the “Cool-Factor” that they NEED with younger players. If they can get that back, their quality and technology will validate the usage.
MARKETING. That’s what they need.
June 27th, 2009 at 4:35 pm
Could not have said it much better Brent. They really need to re-engage with the younger players and get a stable of great looking sticks. These aren’t bad…but they could do much better. Thanks Brent!
June 27th, 2009 at 8:34 am
When I saw Ricky Barnes playing with them at Open, I thought they were Cobra irons until I noticed he was sponsored by WIlson. Nice look to them..
June 29th, 2009 at 6:15 am
I think the overall shape is pretty good…but I would agree with most the decal needs replacing.
June 27th, 2009 at 8:36 am
great looking club……I would buy them….at one time Wilson was the standard…I have a set of late sixties Staffs…drill thru…nice job Wilson. Jim Sims
June 27th, 2009 at 8:47 am
Nice iron….I would buy….Wilson at one time considered the standard…Hope they can and will make come back. Jim Sims
June 27th, 2009 at 8:55 am
I thought we had talked about these irons a couple months ago? I believe everyone thought the insert in the cavity did not look appealing and that it made the club look kind of cheap. Now that Barnes played them, everyone suddenly thinks they’re cool clubs. lol! In all honesty though, an iron is an iron is an iron in the world of tour clubs. Preferences only come down to looks and brand loyalty. If Wilson can better their brand image through getting wins on tour, people will slowly begin to consider their clubs.
June 29th, 2009 at 6:17 am
The overall consensus seems to be that they need some work and the company needs to do more marketing from the emails we get Parker…but 3 out of the last 6 majors make it a topic worth throwing around again.
June 27th, 2009 at 8:59 am
Wilson’s got a pretty strong lineup this year, and Ricky doing so well is just icing on the cake. I’ve really enjoyed hitting their irons (especially the Ci7) when demo’ing them. I like the track they’re on, and if they can keep it up, they’ll be a contender in the market again.
June 27th, 2009 at 3:07 pm
The cavity graphic isn’t nice IMHO-it looks cheap. The irons look OK-nothing special. I’d like to see em make a come back too. But everyone who says “yeah. I’d buy them”, well will you buy them. Probably not, that’s the problem. People are always going to prefer say Cleveland or Nike. For me Mizuno are THE iron maker, and cleveland for woods! I did have a set of Wilson Prostaff irons I bought off ebay when I was getting back into the “swing” of things. They did not let me down. Although when I bought some new Mizuno mx-23s I immediately noticed the increase in quality (Ok, I know I am comparing a cheap S.G.I set with mid range G.I set bet still!) Anyway, goodwork Golfspy-keep up the site, I love it
June 27th, 2009 at 4:33 pm
Hey Matt…welcome to MyGolfSpy and thanks for taking the time to leave your 1st comment. We hope you come back often and voice your opinion.
The MX-23’s are a step above many sets, I agree with you there.
June 29th, 2009 at 6:19 am
Don’t say always…you never know they might just make a comeback Matt. But I agree the iron is just ok and the decal cheapens its appearance quite a bit right upfront.
Thanks for the compliments Matt…really appreciate it! Keep coming back and giving us your opinion.
June 28th, 2009 at 6:49 am
Not a chance. They had a 2-time major winner last year in Padraig Harrington – yet did little or no advertising to push the product. Wilson has a minimal presence in the green grass arena. They make it very difficult for the club pro to support.
June 28th, 2009 at 8:36 pm
I would really like to see an old favorite back in competition with the big OEMs.
June 29th, 2009 at 6:20 am
It would be nice to see them stir things up. Has not been a shake up in quite sometime.
June 29th, 2009 at 2:07 am
In addition to my comment above; the design of this club is thoughtful and should be quite efficient and superior to other cavity backs. I will not have a set of Pings or their facsimiles! I am tempeted to give my set of TA 845 Silver Scot CB blades to “Junior Golf” (the best CB’s I ever used) and buy a set of these, in spite of the fact, that I play strongback tour blades the majority of the time! From my point of view, Wilson and Titlist have produced very good blades for many, many years, and I continue to keep them in my (4) playing sets of blades
June 29th, 2009 at 11:15 am
When I started playing golf about a thousand years ago Wilson was THE club to have unfortunately since then they have really lost their credibility with clubs like the Killer Whale, what where they thinking? They need to do a better job with club design and market research. They need to restore their reputation as a players club and I hope they succeed.
June 29th, 2009 at 5:43 pm
MY FIRST SET OF PRO STYLE CLUBS WERE A WILSON STAFF BULLETT BACK, 69 MODEL
i PLAY TAYLOR MADE R7 NOW BUT WHEN i GET TO FULL OF MYSELF I BRING OUT A STAFF 4 IRON AND TRY AND IT IT PURE. CLUBS WERE CLUBS THEN AND IF YOU DIDN’T HAVE A SWING, WELL TO BAD
June 30th, 2009 at 7:28 am
[...] The Wilson Golf R&D center is a massive 35,000 sq ft. lab where some of the most advanced technology is used to put all their new and upcoming ideas to the test. Their secret test labs even have covert names similar to “The Oven” over at Nike…like…“The Clean Lab” and “Chips & Dust Area”. This facility is where all the new ideas are coming out of Wilson, like the new iron we showed you last week…the Wilson FG Forged. [...]
July 4th, 2009 at 3:52 am
Glad Wilson’s getting back in the cavity back forged game. The RM’s were a great club that I played for years until an airline decided to change the loft dramatically.
I have the Pi7s now and love their look, setup and feel. Great club, but a forged club still gives the best feedback and I have high hopes for the FG’s.
I agree the graphics (of the FG prototype) are a good notch below the best forged clubs out there. Forged means clean lines, minimal “stuff”. Let Callaway overdress their ugly clubs (can’t argue with the sales, I suppose), I’d rather see the colored WS logo in a classy, understated way rather than a big FG, but that’s me.
Wilson’s made some serious marketing missteps, primarily getting away from forging clubs and focusing on department store quality lines for awhile. Quality and success sells, I really hope they make it back all the way. My Pi7’s give far superior feedback than the Cleveland CG2’s they replaced. Much better looking club also.
July 4th, 2009 at 8:18 pm
They look awesome….good to see Wllson working to get back.
July 15th, 2009 at 11:53 am
I Just ordered set of FG 59 after trying them at demo days. I play with AP2 but fell love in to the feel of real forged blades of Wilson Stuff (and even more the outfit). Dynamic Gold Stiff shafts worked great and I hope, someday I can take my set with me to the course. (p.s. easy to hit on driving range…. didn’t try them on the course)
February 26th, 2010 at 5:43 am
Curious as to how your FG59s have served you. There is no better feel than a well struck blade, even if it requires a better swing.
July 15th, 2009 at 12:30 pm
Update on the FG’s…I look forward to hitting them. With Demo Days becoming a rare occurrence in my neck of the woods (Chicago NW burbs), not sure when that will happen but I will seek them out. Or is the Wilson Website no longer updated? When I input data to find locations of their demos, it doesn’t show a thing.
Anyway…I think Wilson can make a comeback, even in this economy, if they keep working on associating the Wilson Staff branch with premier products. I love my Pi-7s. If you’re looking for a cavity back with a thin top line and little to no offset, this is one great club. Always thought the rubber dampening material was more marketing hype than reality, but the feedback on the Pi-7’s are the closest thing to forged and feel soft, even on mishits. I anticipate the FG’s to be as good or better.
October 1st, 2009 at 2:53 pm
What Wilson Staff is doing is putting top-knotch clubs in the hands of golfers that can’t justify spending $1k on other brands. I would put the Ci7’s, Pi7’s and the D series up against anything the top names are putting out. They are doing it right. They are one of the best deals in golf. The quality is fantastic and the price is right. I can’t wait for the FG tours to hit the stores.
July 17th, 2010 at 7:59 am
Update on the FG Tour irons…Bought these and have played a few rounds with them. MUCH better looking in person IMO…More importantly, I love the trajectory and compact head with little offset. Long irons are surprisingly easy to hit. I’ve found from 220-230 I prefer the 3 iron to my Fybrid from the fairway. Very nice at address…finally got to some demo’s, thanks to the Wilson facebook page putting me in touch with a rep, who was extremely helpful. I ended up going to 3 different demo days, hitting the Wilson’s and Mizuno’s primarily. Both excellent clubs, both forgiving (Hit the Zuno Mp52 and 58’s). Spent a lot of time with both lines and ended up with the FG Tour. The Mizuno’s are a beautiful design, but I hit the FG Tour as well or better..and got a great price..
July 17th, 2010 at 8:26 pm
I agree they are a nice set of sticks…I need to test them more…right now they are not taking my Mizuno’s out of the bag. But we need to get them in the offices to put them through a thorough review.
Thanks for your comments Bill.