Wilson Staff Model Review

Wilson has been making golf balls for a century and the Staff Model is the company's argument that the premium ball market is overpriced. The cover is cast urethane, made by the same slow process the flagship balls use rather than the cheaper injection method, and it wraps a four piece build with a firm inner layer over a soft core.

Around the green it does what a tour ball is supposed to do: full wedges check, half wedges bite, and pitches stop on the second bounce rather than the fifth. The feel is soft without going mushy, and off the putter it is closer to the Titleist benchmark than the price would lead you to expect. Off the tee it runs a touch below average for spin through the bag, which sounds like a criticism and is not.

Low spin from the driver and the long irons keeps the flight down in wind and takes some curve off a poor strike, and the tradeoff is a few yards of carry against the very longest balls. High spin players get more out of it than anyone. The reason to buy it is arithmetic. It is a real tour ball, it is routinely available for well under the price of the flagships, and nobody on the course can tell what you are playing.