2020 Official Member Review: Wilson D7 Forged Irons

[HardcoreLooper]

6 hours ago, bens197 said:

On first glance they look like they’d fit a mid-handicapper quite well based on how the D line has positioned themselves in the past.  I honestly wouldn’t be surprised to hear the better players say these are spot on as their choice for a lower single digit player. 

I wish I were a lower single digit, but they definitely work for a mid-single digit.  The only thing I'd caution someone on is that the toe is somewhat dead.  So if you hit the ball off the toe frequently and you have holes with significant trouble short on your usual course, these clubs may not be for you.  I had another toe-ball that came up 30 yards short of where it should have been, but it was off the tee, so it just left me a longer shot to the green.

 

4 hours ago, greggarner said:

I know I raved about dispersion earlier this week, but today was certainly not a good example of that. (But I suppose that's why these tests are not just hitting some shots in a bay and instead take place over a few weeks.)

@greggarner - was it as wet down in RDU as it was here in RVA?  Because I had some interesting results today that I'll detail below.  And I feel like the sloppy wet mess played a part in it.

 

4 hours ago, greggarner said:

I have noticed more and more than while I can work these irons, they certainly prefer to go straight or bending just a couple yards one way or the other. I know I'm jinxing myself here, but I have not hit a single ball that is aggressively offline due to spin whereas my i210s have a tendency to snap some if I'm not careful.

From 7 on down, these clubs want to go straight.  And honestly, the 6, 5 and 4 go straight when I am in the general vicinity of the sweetspot.  I hit hooks off the toe, but that's to be expected.

 

So this was interesting:

I take some exception to the approach shot handicap.  I missed a ton of greens, but I missed nearly all of them in places that were just perfect for getting up and down.  And as you can see from the short game handicap, I got up and down a ton.  7 one putts in 14 holes, and the longest putt I made was 6 feet.  I would say that I've gotten the hang of chipping with these things, but the greens here were recently punched, and they haven't been able to mow in a day or so because of all the rain.  So the greens are sloooooooow right now.  But only one of these up and downs were all that difficult (and I've actually had the shot several times, so I know it pretty well)

It was really wet today, and the ball was constantly picking up water.  And that led to a couple really nice fliers:

Both of those were good swings, solid shots, and just nuclear fliers.  Interestingly, the 8i came out a bit low (I knew it was going to be long immediately), but the 9i was pretty high and looked good for a little while until it just wouldn't come down.  I'm pretty sure both just squirted due to the ball being so wet.  I doubt my F8s would have handled the shots differently.  

 

This I really like.  This is everything I've played with the D7 Forged.  They are working for me.

[revkev]

Too early to say you’ll game them?

Way too early. :)

I know it seems like this test has been going on for a long time but we are just coming up on 3 weeks with these irons in our possession. Since I got them on the Monday night of a busy work week I didn’t get them to the range until Friday so that means I’ve had them all of 2 weeks and only hit them 4 times, thrice on the range and once on the course.

Throw in that it was so windy the day that I played and for one of the range sessions and we are still very much in the afternoon coffee meet for Sunday brunch portion of our relationship, yet.


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[bens197]

3 hours ago, revkev said:

 

 

Way too early.

I know it seems like this test has been going on for a long time but we are just coming up on 3 weeks with these irons in our possession. Since I got them on the Monday night of a busy work week I didn’t get them to the range until Friday so that means I’ve had them all of 2 weeks and only hit them 4 times, thrice on the range and once on the course.

Throw in that it was so windy the day that I played and for one of the range sessions and we are still very much in the afternoon coffee meet for Sunday brunch portion of our relationship, yet.


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All in good fun...keep doing your thing, It's been a fun read thus far.

[GregGarner]

15 hours ago, HardcoreLooper said:

The only thing I'd caution someone on is that the toe is somewhat dead.  So if you hit the ball off the toe frequently and you have holes with significant trouble short on your usual course, these clubs may not be for you.

From 7 on down, these clubs want to go straight.  And honestly, the 6, 5 and 4 go straight when I am in the general vicinity of the sweetspot.  I hit hooks off the toe, but that's to be expected.

It was really wet today, and the ball was constantly picking up water.

Yeah, it's super wet here this weekend. Honestly, the course probably shouldn't have been open yesterday. But I think what was odd was not the suddenly-long shots, but the number of very short ones that preceded them. The 160 yard 8i was closer to the yardage I had experienced in previous rounds but a full-swing 9i going 120? My i210 PW is good for 125... Anyways. That's why I wonder if it's not something I was doing and the solid feel was just covering up any swing flaws.

Totally concur that 7i and down are straight as arrows. 6i wants to just gently fall to the right. 3, 4, and 5 I've struggled with and feel like I don't have good enough data to really provide a reasonable report.

And yeah, absolutely no help on toe strikes. My i210 4i is ~200 off a tee.

[revkev]

Okay as promised spent a good deal of time on the range today. These were 9 iron, 5 iron, 9 wood carry distances respectively. I also hit 8,7,6 but deleted those so you could see these.

BTW I averaged 130, 144, 154 carry respectively on the monitor, having written that I was aiming at a pin that I shot at 134 with a tree at 188 behind it - all the 8 irons that i hit carried past that pin and so did my last 9 iron (not recorded in the picture).

Yes my carry distance with 6 iron is the same as 5 iron. This squares with where I was at when I went for the long game gapping fitting last Spring. I was pleased with the 9 wood dispersion pattern. All of the shots with that club drew a bit and flew very high.

As for the Wilsons I felt very comfortable with them. Nice and consistent. Love how they sound. Just very tight shot pattern.


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[fixyurdivot]

3 hours ago, greggarner said:

And yeah, absolutely no help on toe strikes. My i210 4i is ~200 off a tee.

Love that you guys are getting this level of detail out on these .  Subtle characteristics that can be very important in deciding whether a particular club is worth a look.

[revkev]

Love that you guys are getting this level of detail out on these .  Subtle characteristics that can be very important in deciding whether a particular club is worth a look.

 

 

This is fascinating for me as well. I’ve always preferred my graphite shafts 1/2 to 1 inch longer than standard. The regular D7’s are standard length and I get some toe hits. I have the D7 forged at 1/2 longer than standard.

 

I hit 100 or so balls on the range today (it’s unlimited for me so I don’t know) and only had one off the toe.

 

I can only recall that one because it’s been mentioned frequently here. I also need had no chunks. A few thins but I hit a lot of good shots today. Unless it’s really thin I find that I’m getting away with it - generally a little left of target, lower ball flight and a bit short but long enough to catch a green or a fringe.

 

Tuesday I will be comparing PW and 9 iron on a par 3 course. I can play 7 of the 9 holes from the appropriate distance for that comparison.

 

 

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[fixyurdivot]

4 minutes ago, revkev said:

 

 

This is fascinating for me as well. I’ve always preferred my graphite shafts 1/2 to 1 inch longer than standard. The regular D7’s are standard length and I get some toe hits. I have the D7 forged at 1/2 longer than standard.

 

I hit 100 or so balls on the range today (it’s unlimited for me so I don’t know) and only had one off the toe.

 

I can only recall that one because it’s been mentioned frequently here. I also need had no chunks. A few thins but I hit a lot of good shots today. Unless it’s really thin I find that I’m getting away with it - generally a little left of target, lower ball flight and a bit short but long enough to catch a green or a fringe.

 

Tuesday I will be comparing PW and 9 iron on a par 3 course. I can play 7 of the 9 holes from the appropriate distance for that comparison.

 

 

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Lot's of discussion out there about club shafts simply being too long and are negatively impacting the ability to make consistent, sweet spot contact.  My fitting with a 7i ended up with my shafts +1".  I'm think that is hurting my 4i and 5i consistency.  I wish iron fittings included the long irons .

[Thin2win]

42 minutes ago, fixyurdivot said:

Lot's of discussion out there about club shafts simply being too long and are negatively impacting the ability to make consistent, sweet spot contact.  My fitting with a 7i ended up with my shafts +1".  I'm think that is hurting my 4i and 5i consistency.  I wish iron fittings included the long irons .

Truth. With how much different manufactures are promoting mixed sets, it's odd that you still have a really hard time finding a fitting that can let you find a mixed set. 

[fixyurdivot]

36 minutes ago, Thin2win said:

Truth. With how much different manufactures are promoting mixed sets, it's odd that you still have a really hard time finding a fitting that can let you find a mixed set. 

I'm armed with way more knowledge since

Spoiler

The discussion will be much different this time.

[revkev]

Truth. With how much different manufactures are promoting mixed sets, it's odd that you still have a really hard time finding a fitting that can let you find a mixed set. 

Lots of fitters do gapping tests now though - I think you could pivot to that - maybe?

That Ping long game fitting last year was an eye opener for me. I knew I was done around 5 iron years ago so was gaming 5 hybrid, 4 hybrid, 3 wood. Carry distance on all three was almost identical - by the time I left I had a set where my stock shots all gapped perfectly and all reached a 90 foot apex. I replaced those 3 with 9,7,5 woods.

I’d say I’m still right around that point in regards to apex. But need to get to track man to tell for sure. Regardless I need a bit longer shaft on iron, have for years. This test is proving it again.

I hit the D7 4,5 iron okay but there’s no way I hit them as well as 5 and 7 wood.


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[HardcoreLooper]

9 hours ago, greggarner said:

But I think what was odd was not the suddenly-long shots, but the number of very short ones that preceded them. The 160 yard 8i was closer to the yardage I had experienced in previous rounds but a full-swing 9i going 120? My i210 PW is good for 125... Anyways. That's why I wonder if it's not something I was doing and the solid feel was just covering up any swing flaws.

Interesting.  I'm reaching back in my memory, and I don't think I've made a good swing, had a good yardage, and came up short.  I do feel like they are biased toward providing good results on low-face strikes to the detriment of high-face strikes, and that's why I've stopped teeing the ball up on par 3s.  I wonder... if you play a course where the fairways can get a bit long, can you catch the ball a bit high on the face and lose significant distance.  Hmm...

 

5 hours ago, revkev said:

I can only recall that one because it’s been mentioned frequently here. I also need had no chunks. A few thins but I hit a lot of good shots today. Unless it’s really thin I find that I’m getting away with it - generally a little left of target, lower ball flight and a bit short but long enough to catch a green or a fringe.

That's what I'm finding as well - the power holes are doing their job and keeping the low part of the face lively.  

 

4 hours ago, Thin2win said:

Truth. With how much different manufactures are promoting mixed sets, it's odd that you still have a really hard time finding a fitting that can let you find a mixed set. 

I could see some potential for a D7 / D7F combo set.  Or a D7F / V6 combo (I mean, do I need power holes in a PW?).  Hell, what about a D7 4i bent 2* strong, D7F 4i - 8i, V6 9i - PW?  But then fitters need fitting heads and shafts for all of this.  And someone has to pay for all that stuff.

So now the wheels are turning... a D7 4i with a Recoil 460 is $98 from Wilson and then a few bucks to a club repair guy to bend it a bit strong if needed.  The Staff Utility iron starts at $230 and can't be ordered with a Recoil.  

  

[Thin2win]

1 hour ago, HardcoreLooper said:

I could see some potential for a D7 / D7F combo set.  Or a D7F / V6 combo (I mean, do I need power holes in a PW?).  

Apparently you don't need holes in a GW, so idk.

That said, if I was thinking about a split set with these, I'd definitely want these in the short - mid irons. Very impressed with their accuracy in those clubs. 

[revkev]

I have a lot to say about combo sets. I will save that for my review. Wilson’s online customization tool is handy for this possibility but one would still need to know what he or she needed. It would be hard to get a fitter to go off script - not impossible but outside the box.

Many of the top 50 strokes gained approach shots on tour game combo sets.


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[MattWillGolf]

12 hours ago, revkev said:

 

Lots of fitters do gapping tests now though - I think you could pivot to that - maybe?

That Ping long game fitting last year was an eye opener for me. I knew I was done around 5 iron years ago so was gaming 5 hybrid, 4 hybrid, 3 wood. Carry distance on all three was almost identical - by the time I left I had a set where my stock shots all gapped perfectly and all reached a 90 foot apex. I replaced those 3 with 9,7,5 woods.

I’d say I’m still right around that point in regards to apex. But need to get to track man to tell for sure. Regardless I need a bit longer shaft on iron, have for years. This test is proving it again.

I hit the D7 4,5 iron okay but there’s no way I hit them as well as 5 and 7 wood.


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I saw an interesting video on this on YouTube. The channel is The Average Golfer. He took his dad to a Ping fitting and they found a similar result by replacing long irons with the higher numbered woods as well. The Trackman numbers bore out the results. 

[revkev]

43 minutes ago, MattWillGolf said:

I saw an interesting video on this on YouTube. The channel is The Average Golfer. He took his dad to a Ping fitting and they found a similar result by replacing long irons with the higher numbered woods as well. The Trackman numbers bore out the results. 

If you have a more moderate to slower swing speed lofted woods may be the way to go - I was a part of the Ping long game fitting test last spring - it was eye opening for certain.  I don't want to ding the D7's too much because of the 4 and 5 iron though - the peculiarities of my swing aren't Wilson's fault.  You can see how tight the 9 iron dispersion was with the D7 as well as the 7 iron from the other day and these are plenty forgiving. 

[GregGarner]

13 hours ago, HardcoreLooper said:

I wonder... if you play a course where the fairways can get a bit long, can you catch the ball a bit high on the face and lose significant distance.

You know, that's entirely possible. I will absolutely test that. I have never been one to miss high on the face, but it would certainly explain some of the issues I've had with tee shots. That then begs the question -- does a high strike feel flush? Low strikes feel low, but every shot that came up unexpectedly short felt so good.

13 hours ago, HardcoreLooper said:

I could see some potential for a D7 / D7F combo set.  Or a D7F / V6 combo (I mean, do I need power holes in a PW?).  Hell, what about a D7 4i bent 2* strong, D7F 4i - 8i, V6 9i - PW? 

11 hours ago, Thin2win said:

That said, if I was thinking about a split set with these, I'd definitely want these in the short - mid irons. Very impressed with their accuracy in those clubs. 

I could definitely see a combo set with these, though (so far) my subset of D7F would be 6i-9i. Those 4 clubs are really performing well for me overall.

1 hour ago, revkev said:

I don't want to ding the D7's too much because of the 4 and 5 iron though - the peculiarities of my swing aren't Wilson's fault.

But I also wouldn't just give them carte blanche! My i210 4-iron is my absolute favorite in the set and I am really struggling with the D7F long irons. I hit a 5i (what felt like) absolutely flush this morning to a 190 yd back pin. Landed on the front fringe and just trickled onto the front of the green, leaving me a 60 footer...

[JohnSmalls]

14 hours ago, HardcoreLooper said:

Interesting.  I'm reaching back in my memory, and I don't think I've made a good swing, had a good yardage, and came up short.  I do feel like they are biased toward providing good results on low-face strikes to the detriment of high-face strikes, and that's why I've stopped teeing the ball up on par 3s.  I wonder... if you play a course where the fairways can get a bit long, can you catch the ball a bit high on the face and lose significant distance.  Hmm...

 

That's what I'm finding as well - the power holes are doing their job and keeping the low part of the face lively.  

 

I could see some potential for a D7 / D7F combo set.  Or a D7F / V6 combo (I mean, do I need power holes in a PW?).  Hell, what about a D7 4i bent 2* strong, D7F 4i - 8i, V6 9i - PW?  But then fitters need fitting heads and shafts for all of this.  And someone has to pay for all that stuff.

So now the wheels are turning... a D7 4i with a Recoil 460 is $98 from Wilson and then a few bucks to a club repair guy to bend it a bit strong if needed.  The Staff Utility iron starts at $230 and can't be ordered with a Recoil.  

  

I am going to assume you won't need to bend the cast D7 4 iron strong.  It is a rocket launcher at 19*.  When I can catch it, it's in the ball park of my 3 wood.

Not sure if this has been addressed or not, but curious to see if you guys see any unexpected fliers after you get your numbers dialed in.

[Thin2win]

7 hours ago, JohnSmalls said:

Not sure if this has been addressed or not, but curious to see if you guys see any unexpected fliers after you get your numbers dialed in.

I mentioned it at some point, but I've had some serious fliers coming out of the rough. Longest Fliers I've ever had. 30-40y longer than expected kind of fliers. 

[HardcoreLooper]

7 hours ago, JohnSmalls said:

Not sure if this has been addressed or not, but curious to see if you guys see any unexpected fliers after you get your numbers dialed in.

I've gotten a few when it was wet.  I haven't really noticed any when it's been dry.

 

[Thin2win]

I was looking back at some data from my LM session last week and noticed that as the clubs got longer I stared losing them to the right :

The tiny white circle is my grouping with the GW. PW is the small pink circle, 9i small green, 8i dark blue, 7i orange, 6i yellow, 5i red. 

The larger pink, green and purple circles were my current pw, 8i and 7i.... Yikes. 

I took my 6i and 5i in to get their lie angles adjusted today, then out to the range after. I had the 6i bent half a degree upright and the 5i a full degree upright and half a degree stronger. Bending the 6i and 5i helped straighten them out in practice, now time to course test. 

I might bend the 9i a bit flatter looking back at this data, I'll see if I'm noticing it going left on the course. I have my weekly men's club game Wednesday, then a glow ball par3 with the wife Friday night and then a 2 person scramble this coming Saturday. So a busy golf week. 

 

[revkev]

My week has totally blown up on me. Went to the par 3 yesterday with no rain on the radar - it was pouring by the 5th hole. I got soaked not enough data to really tell you anything.

Round for today is cancelled because many courses are closed - too much rain the last few weeks. The range at my club may open later. If it does i will at least hit balls.

I have no other time to play an actual round of golf on this so called vacation. I will however be able to hit tons of shots on the range. There is no rain in the forecast.


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[HardcoreLooper]

My daughter had Girls Golf last night, so I was at the downtown Richmond TFT facility with a pretty nice six hole par 3 course.  Of course it rained for 30 minutes, so I only had a half hour to do anything.  So I figured I'd collect a little data.  People were trying to play the course as a course, so I had to hop around a bit between the first and third holes to hit shots without bothering other people.  I'm most interested in dispersion (left/right and short/long), so I'm not too hung up on where the flag is.

 

Hole 1:  160 yards long, slight wind blowing left to right - 8 iron
1.  20 yards right, 5 yards long
2.  1 yard right, 10 yards long
3.  13 yards right, 0 yards long
4.  0 yards right, 40 yards short (very fat)
5.  10 yards left, 2 yards long
6.  9 yards left, 6 yards long

Hole 3:  133 yards long, slight wind in the face - Pitching Wedge
1.  3 yards left, 5 yards short
2.  14 yards left, 1 yard long
3.  20 yards left, 7 yards long

I wish I could have hit more shots, but I had to make sure I was staying out of the way of people paying to play the golf course.

So what did I learn?  

• The left/right dispersion was pretty good.  30 yards with the 8 iron.  17 yards with the pitching wedge.
• If I drop the fat shot, the short/long dispersion was pretty good as well.  10 yards with the 8 iron.  12 yards with the pitching wedge.

Yes, the sample size is too small to be very valid; if I hit more shots, I'm sure the total dispersions would go up.  But the outlier shot was caused by a bad swing.  No crazy fliers or random shorties.  So I've got that going for me, which is nice.

 

[Tarheelvolvo]

10 hours ago, HardcoreLooper said:

My daughter had Girls Golf last night, so I was at the downtown Richmond TFT facility with a pretty nice six hole par 3 course.  Of course it rained for 30 minutes, so I only had a half hour to do anything.  So I figured I'd collect a little data.  People were trying to play the course as a course, so I had to hop around a bit between the first and third holes to hit shots without bothering other people.  I'm most interested in dispersion (left/right and short/long), so I'm not too hung up on where the flag is.

 

Hole 1:  160 yards long, slight wind blowing left to right - 8 iron
1.  20 yards right, 5 yards long
2.  1 yard right, 10 yards long
3.  13 yards right, 0 yards long
4.  0 yards right, 40 yards short (very fat)
5.  10 yards left, 2 yards long
6.  9 yards left, 6 yards long

Hole 3:  133 yards long, slight wind in the face - Pitching Wedge
1.  3 yards left, 5 yards short
2.  14 yards left, 1 yard long
3.  20 yards left, 7 yards long

I wish I could have hit more shots, but I had to make sure I was staying out of the way of people paying to play the golf course.

So what did I learn?  

• The left/right dispersion was pretty good.  30 yards with the 8 iron.  17 yards with the pitching wedge.
• If I drop the fat shot, the short/long dispersion was pretty good as well.  10 yards with the 8 iron.  12 yards with the pitching wedge.

Yes, the sample size is too small to be very valid; if I hit more shots, I'm sure the total dispersions would go up.  But the outlier shot was caused by a bad swing.  No crazy fliers or random shorties.  So I've got that going for me, which is nice.

 

When do you want to meetup and compare Forged vs. Non-Forged D7s?? Need to look at distance, dispersion, feel, and how well it pairs with beers

[revkev]

When do you want to meetup and compare Forged vs. Non-Forged D7s?? Need to look at distance, dispersion, feel, and how well it pairs with beers

Oh I can answer that last question for you. :)


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[NRJyzr]

3 hours ago, Tarheelvolvo said:

When do you want to meetup and compare Forged vs. Non-Forged D7s?? Need to look at distance, dispersion, feel, and how well it pairs with beers

Feel like I should add this

 

[HardcoreLooper]

10 hours ago, Tarheelvolvo said:

When do you want to meetup and compare Forged vs. Non-Forged D7s?? Need to look at distance, dispersion, feel, and how well it pairs with beers

Need to make that happen soon.  It's almost time for the final reviews.

[HardcoreLooper]

I think they're working...

Just a sample size of one, but this gap wedge was hit well out by the toe:

What I did not do is hit this one high on the face as well.  No significant loss of distance.  Also felt and sounded pretty good.  I could tell this one near the toe because of the mark on the club.  Maybe I've toed more of them than I think.  I need to pick up a can of Dr. Scholls.

 

[Thin2win]

Today I played a round workout using driver just to play some more shots with these irons. My home course is pretty short, so I can easily go driver / wedge to most holes. Anyway. These irons... Hit more greens (14/18) today then I normally hit. Probably due to hitting most of the fairways. But was 3/3 with my 5i,and 2/2 with the 6i on approaches. My only missed green on an approach, was a well stuck shot that I needed to curve around a tree. It clipped a branch and dropped down. If it misses the branch I'm on that green too. Can't think of the last round (or even if it has ever happened) that I hit 5 greens from 170+ out. 

So that was my day. 

[GregGarner]

Woof. Well I'm glad things are going well for the other testers. I'll just leave this here and withhold other comments for now... Not sure what's going on for me.