Review: Wilson Prestige Box Set -- can it go low?

[Tee2Trees]

So I picked up a fairly nice complete "box set" of department store clubs this fall as kind of an experiment.  About me: ~10 handicap with 98 mph driver swing.  The set: Wilson Prestige -- Driver, FW, 4h, 5i-Pw, putter, stand bag -- purchased off Craigslist for the princely sum of $45 with just 2 rounds of visible wear on it. 

Motivation: I convinced myself this would be useful as a backup set that always rides in my trunk and doesn't carry any sentimental attachment; as a Sunday bag that weights next to nothing; as a set of benchmarks to see how well my gamer sticks are comparatively suited to my game; as a loaner set for any friends that want to go play; and as an excuse to go hit range balls and evaluate golf clubs.

General Impressions: I couldn't find an accurate picture online.  The attached image is close, but the "Prestige" set does not include the SW, and the irons and woods have a slightly different appearance.  With the 47* PW being the highest loft in the bag, this set has an obvious hole at the short end.  I added my 80s-era Wilson 1200LT 55* and still have only 11 clubs in the mix.  The stand bag is pretty nice and has 6 dividers.  Would hold 12 or 13 clubs easily and and fortunately seems to be well-stitched together.

On to the sticks: The clubs look fairly decent with an iridescent green theme going on.  The grips seem to be a little thin or under "standard", but not quite lady-sized.  I got used to it quickly.  Otherwise they feel like real-deal clubs.

Driver -- 460 CC "Ti matrix" (aluminum) 10.5*.  Plays at 44" with a "men's flex mid-high launch low torque firm tip" shaft.  I liked the driver and found it very easy to control.  The shaft is not too flimsy, like an honest R-flex for most companies, and it did not balloon for me.  The "Ti matrix" head and face held up fine to my biggest swings, and produced distances within 15-20 yards of my gamer, a Ping G25.  Shallow, long head sits about 1-2 degrees closed, but at 44" you can play it back in your stance a little to square it up.  Dang, it is easy to point and shoot this thing and I can't imagine giving up much from the tee with increased accuracy.

Hybrid -- Offset "iron-style" 4h with a TT steel shaft.  Felt good (more aluminum) and also easy to control with the short, heavy steel shaft.  Penetrating flight gave me 180 yds which is within 5 yds of a normal 4h for me.

Irons -- Basic cavity-back GI sticks with moderate offset and not-overly large heads.  Same TT shafts as in the hybrid feel kinda firm.  The sole has a raised center like with the TM burner 2.0 or Wilson d200 irons to help glide through turf.

Putter -- I love it.  Same one as shown in the photo.  Makes an amusing "tonk" sound to let you know you hit it solid.  Easy to align with the symmetrical wings and ball outline behind the face.  For some reason my distance control was uncanny with this thing.

Fairway Wood -- I saved this crazy thing for the end.  You know how the Callaway 3deep fairway wood/thriver has a face height of 1.45"?  Well this thing has a face height of 1.68", otherwise known as the diameter of a golf ball.  This would normally mean a perfect swing could launch it off the deck, but considering the ball usually sits down more than the club in most lies it means this baby requires better than perfection to effectively use from fairway lies.  Combine this with 15 degrees of loft and a super-flimsy shaft, which for some reason doesn't include all the claims about being "low-torque" and "tip-firm" that the driver shaft does, and you have an impossible-to-hit club.  I tried about 20 balls off the deck and my best result was a low liner that barely rolled out to 200 yards.  The flipside is that the overly-deep face makes for a good mini-driver, which it seems to do adequately, but the driver in this set is already short by modern standards like a mini-driver is supposed to be.  So my conclusion is that the fairway wood is so useless as to be a waste of space in this set.  I replaced it with my Dunlop Vengeance three-wood from Play-it-again (50 cents on clearance!) and used the matching Wilson FW headcover.

Conclusion: Other than the Fairway wood and lack of a sand wedge, this set isn't really going to hold anyone back.  I can't knock the mediocre distances produced by the driver because I felt the accuracy I got was better than with most.  In fact I'm going to have to consider putting it, as well as the putter, into the rotation of clubs that compete for a spot in my gamer bag when one of the regular sticks starts to misbehave (I'm looking at you, Nike Method).

 

[pganapathy]

All these types of beginner sets are not too bad, though the most important thing is checking it suits you (head lie - shallow or steep, shaft).  Then there is the fact that as your game improves, the GI and SGI irons become less versatile and with a weighted bottom more prone to ballooning.  Otherwise, these are pretty good clubs and there are some pro's who use GI and SGI irons, so don't knock it