Search the Community

Had a chance to go to Golf Galaxy over the weekend and they had the Wilson Cortex on display. Tried out the 9* head w/ the Fujikura Atmos Blue which on paper is the shaft that should suit me the best. I tend to do well with shafts that have a stiffer butt and tip but a softer middle. From a looks perspective, the Cortex is very attractive and on a retail rack it commands the appeal of a premium club. The face is nice and deep and at address the size and shape is just perfect to my eye. It is very compact looking and I love the black carbon fiber look. Some of the quality fades away as you get into the adjustment of the weights but I'll come back to that in a moment. I was very excited to hit this club after standing over it at address and seeing the shape of the head and Wilson nailed the look behind the ball. As I started to hit the club the feel and sound was pretty good. Based on the initial reviews I had read online I somewhat expected the sound to be a little deeper or less metallic but it still have remnants of that weird sound that Wilson drivers have had in the past. I've had the F5 and the Triton and have also hit the C300 and all of them have a very strange metallic noise that I can only associate with the brand. Not sure what they are doing when they manufacture heads but the Cortex still had a little of that sound. The sound is very good though, especially compared to their older drivers and of course the Triton. I was also hitting indoors so the sound may change out on the course. Still was pleased with the sound and feel. The Atmos Blue feels very smooth and maybe just a tad loose in stiff flex. I was swinging between 101-105 on this particular day according to the monitor and felt the Atmos Blue could be tipped about 1" and would feel perfect. The shots coming off the face didn't look like they were rocketing off but ballspeed was average. I'd say it was producing numbers that were in the lower end of most of the drivers I've hit. Again, nothing bad but nothing really great either. The biggest problem I had with the driver was trying to get the spin down. I could not get spin to stay consistently below the 2800 and 3200 RPM range. I hit a few low on the face and the spin shot way up to 3500+. I was hitting a little bit of a fade so I swapped the 8 gram toe weight into the heel and put the 2 gram weight into the toe. This didn't really seem to make any noticeable difference in my shot shape or any with my spin numbers. I then moved the sliding weight all the way forward to try and see if I could drop the spin any and like the heel/toe weights, nothing really changed. The feel of the club changed for the worse and my spin numbers seemed to actually go up. The head definitely feels better with the weight towards the middle and back of the head. Since the slider didn't do anything for my spin numbers, I moved it back towards the rear as the shots felt so much better. There was a Wilson C300 9* driver on the used rack and I was able to hit it side by side with the Cortex. It had the stock Fuji 58 Pro stiff shaft in it which wasn't exactly the same but I immediately dropped my spin by over 1000 RPM's. I could barely get the C300 above the 2000 RPM mark and the highest spin I got was 2400 on a shot that over-faded to the right. I immediately picked up 7-12 yards of carry due to the lower spin. Ballspeed numbers between the Cortex and C300 were identical. I did hit the C300 lower and found it harder to launch as high which also gave me a lot more roll after landing. I launched the C300 around 9-11 degrees and the Cortex around 12-13 degrees. I didn't have a chance to try the Atmos Black but historically speaking the black's bend profile doesn't work for me. Since no store will ever have any other shafts to try I doubt I'll have the chance to find another combination that might bring the spin down. My theory is that the center of gravity of this head is not as low as it could be. Even though the crown is carbon fiber to remove weight, most of the sole is also which removes that weight from the heavier bottom of the club. You have weight freed up for the heel/toe weights and the slider but nothing low and back to pull that COG back down. The carbon fiber inserts in the sole are also raised up into the head which means that the structure that holds them is also up higher in the head. I can't wait to see where this club sits on the MyGolfSpy Center of Gravity chart! I mentioned earlier that there was some quality issues as I adjusted the weights. First off, the screw heads for all the weights are very shallow, shallower than any other weight screws I've adjusted, and the wrench slipped out of them very easily as I was trying to tighten them. I PROMISE these screws will get stripped very quickly and easily if you adjust the weights a few times and Wilson's wrenches feel like they have a lot of torque to get them to click. I also noticed that the heel and toe weights don't sit flush with the sole of the driver so it looks like you don't have them tightened all the way down. Not really a huge deal but worth mentioning. Also the heel/toe weight screws are very skinny and kind of hard to get started in the hole. I dropped the damn 2 gram weight (which is just plastic) 3-4 times trying to line it up and get the screw started with the wrench. It took forever and was slightly frustrating. The shaft adapter also looks like the same adapter Wilson has been using which means that the hosel is plastic. This means it will be impossible to reshaft because it will melt and the ferrules are not available without buying the entire tip. Taylormade used to do this but at least you could get replacement plastic ferrules that had the loft measurements once you destroyed the original. This means that even trying to find another shaft on my own would be impossible! All in all I enjoyed hitting the club even though I could never get it to work for me. The spin was too high and the options to try and get a better fit just don't exist. Really too bad because the head is absolutely beautiful and perfect looking at address.

For sale Paypal only. Item is located in the Kansas city area and will ship within one business day USPS priority. No trades at the moment. Rogue Fairway wood 15 degree loft Head only *comes with headcover of course Perfect Condition and headcover was never used ! 215.00 shipped 2 day priority -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Edel E3 Torque balanced putter like New condition show no signs of use 35" Round edelputter grip Black finish with a single line up line on the flange 330 retail price *pics tocome tonight...for some reason they aren't uplaoding on the computer Asking 270 shipped ------------------------------------------------------------------- Fujikura Atmos Blue Tour spec Fairway shaft Std trimming 3 wood fairway shaft PXG fairway adapter measures 43 inches but of grip to tip of adapter* if tip is removed it will be about 42.7" MCC Align grip Mint conditoin built by Will Peoples 150 shipped ------------------------------------------------------------------------ For sale Callaway 2108 X forged utility 18 degree loft 1 degree flat Std length Project x 5.5 shaft Multi compound grip New condition - hit on good matts one session...hit the crap out of it with this thing but jit doesnt fill the gap i need Asking 180 shipped