Wilson Staff has been helping golfers improve for more than 100 years, and they are going to be helping more golfers in 2020 with the introduction of the Launch Pad Family of woods and irons, along with a reimagining of an old favorite from the Wilson brand—the FY Club.

3, 2, 1 liftoff!

As much as we love watching professional golfers mash drivers and stop long irons like wedges, more than 80 percent of golfers in “the real world” will never break 100, but if you are in that category, Wilson Staff is here to help with the Launch Pad family. If the name gives anything away about the new Launch Pad series from Wilson Staff, it’s that they are meant to get up, and quickly! The entire line from the driver to the irons are targeted at the majority of regular golfers (10-plus handicaps) that struggle with creating height and gaining extra distance.

The idea behind helping golfers gain speed, height, and distance isn’t new, in fact it’s what most equipment companies are trying to achieve with each and every release—the reason being that most golfers still need help. If you don’t think that’s true because of the people you generally play golf with, go to a public driving range on a nice sunny day in July, and you’ll soon see that most golfers should probably try a set of clubs like this.

Here’s where Wilson gets is right when many don’t. New technology isn’t useful if A) it’s not affordable to the target market B) it’s not appealing to the eye. The Launch Pad series was designed from the top down to inspire confidence for higher handicap golfers by incorporating technologies that both work and are visually subtle. All of  these features together deliver the best possible shot-helping performance for the super game-improvement player.

2020 Wilson Launch Pad Driver and Fairway Woods

Say what you want about your own game, but most golfers really do struggle with trying to fix a slice.
The new Launch Pad Driver takes a modern approach to helping golfers by offering a discrete amount of offset hidden in the hosel of the club, 13 grams of mass positioned closer to the hosel near the heel to help with rate of rotation (closing the clubface), and, finally, a more upright lie angle. The lie angle is one of the biggest helpers since, just like with an iron, lie angle is one of the biggest contributors to initial launch direction (a launch monitor parameter): the more left you you start the ball, the less likely that ball can go right.

Another thing to note about the Wilson Launch Pad Driver is that at only 272 grams, it’s one of the lightest drivers on the market, regardless of price point. Lighter total weight translates into the opportunity for golfers to increase clubhead speed. Here’s the funny thing about clubhead speed: the more you have, the further the ball goes—physics!

The last piece of the Launch Pad driver puzzle is the new Variable Face Technology, which helps keep ball speeds higher on mishits. Just like with hitting a slice, every once in a while, you just might miss the sweet spot too.

The Launch Pad fairway woods, like the driver, are designed with a small amount of hosel offset and heel weighting to help golfers gain control and hit higher, straighter shots more often. The face of the Launch Pad fairway woods is built with a 455 carpenter stainless steel insert to make it thinner while retaining strength. This thinner hot face, increases feel and distance for the fairway woods, all while keeping a similar shape profile that carries from the driver.

Wilson Launch Pad Irons

Billy Joel said it best with the song “All about Sole”…or maybe it was soul? I’m not quite sure, but either way.  The most impactful design element of the new Launch Pad irons from Wilson is the Launch Pad Sole that runs throughout the entire set.

This sole is designed to hopefully eliminate “chunked” from the golfer’s vocabulary, while also helping improve launch at the same time. The short irons of the set feature traditional game-improvement-style widths that smoothly transition into wider, more forgiving soles as you go up in the set towards the longer irons. This wider deeper sole pushes mass lower in the head and further away from the face. This pushing of mass lower makes the ball go higher—physics, again!

There is one more thing about this sole that is it vital to its performance: increased bounce and camber. The Launch Pad irons have more bounce and a smooth camber from the leading to the trailing edge to help keep the leading edge above the dirt longer and help prevent the club from digging. The effectiveness of the bounce can be seen in the address position in how it keeps the leading edge up and helps “float” the face.

Like the Launch Pad woods, the irons are lightweight, which makes it easier to generate faster clubhead speed leading to longer higher flying shots. The irons also come stock with midsize grips to provide comfort and enhanced feel for greater confidence with every swing.

The FY Club

If the Wilson Staff FY Club sounds familiar, it should. Wilson introduced the original FY(brid) in the 2007/08 during the i7 era (Pi7, Ci7, Di7) as a middle club between a fairway wood and a hybrid. Technology has come along way since 2007, but just like with the classic Wilson R90 wedge, the Launch Pad FY Club proves that a good idea has staying power.

Wilson Labs testing showed a club with a 41” shaft matched with 19.5° of loft was the easiest-to-hit combination of loft and length for golfers that hold a handicap over 10, when looking at average swing speeds in the category, a single FY Club replaced the need for 3-irons, 3-hybrids and 7-woods all at the same time.

The FY club fits into a BIG problem spot for most golfers between the shortest fairway wood and the longest iron and helps reduce shot dispersion. Just like the fairway woods, the FY Club technology is face focused with the Carpenter Custom 455 Stainless Steel face insert to create ball speed.

“The process of creating the Launch Pad Driver, Fairway Woods and FY Club started with researching the swings of self-described slicers,” said Jon Pergande, Global Innovation Manager at Wilson Golf.

“Our goal is to help players stay in play more often than not and the visually subtle technologies in our Launch Pad Driver and Woods like the offset hosel and weight in the heel have done just that.”

Wilson Launch Pad Family: Specs and Availability

DRIVER

The Launch Pad Driver is available in both men’s and women’s options for only $299.99. It comes stock with the new UST-Mamiya Helium Series, and the Wilson Staff MicroLite Lamkin grip, which maintains the traditional feel in a super lightweight construction.

FAIRWAY WOODS

The Launch Pad Fairway Woods will be sold for $199.99 and are available in two loft options in both right and left-handed (15 and 18 degrees) with the same UST-Mamiya Helium Series shaft and Wilson Staff MicroLite Lamkin grip used on the driver.

The fairway woods will also be available as women’s clubs at a price of $199.99. The Launch Pad Fairway Woods for women will be available in two loft options (16 and 19 degrees) with the UST-Mamiya Helium Series shaft and Wilson Staff MicroLite Lamkin grip used on the Launch Pad Driver.

IRONS

The Launch Pad Irons will be offered with a lightweight KBS Tour 80 steel shaft or UST-Mamiya Recoil 460 graphite shaft, with both options featuring the traditional Wilson Staff 2 Crossline Midsized grip. The steel set is $699.99 while the graphite set starts at $799.99.

FY Club

The Launch Pad FY Club is available for $179.99 in right and left-hand options at 19.5-degree loft with the UST-Mamiya shaft and Wilson Staff Microlite grip. The FY Club will also be available for women in a RH option with 20.5-degree loft.

The entire Launch Pad family will be available for pre-order on Wilson.com starting December 17th and will be available at retail on Monday, January 13th.