Wilson is bringing to market a forged version of its popular Dynapower iron. With the standard model up there among the best game improvement irons, I was keen to see the refinements in the forged version, which is aimed at a slightly lower handicap bracket.
From a technology perspective, Wilson has leaned heavily on A.I. technology to design an all-new face promising faster ball speeds across the clubface. Like a number of the best golf iron releases in 2024 such as the Callaway Ai Smoke iron, they incorporate variable face thickness to achieve that.
Wilson’s ‘Enhanced Power Hole’ technology is also present in the 4-7 irons to further enhance distance. Like in its Staff Model blade and Staff Model CB, Wilson has pushed more weight towards the toe of the clubs to neutralise CG and eliminate any left bias from the clubhead, along with a high MOI to maximise forgiveness.
The looks are certainly more refined than their sibling, the standard Dynapower iron, with a noticeably thinner top line and shorter heel to toe blade length in behind the ball. The sole of the forged version is also a lot slimmer.
From a shelf appeal standpoint, once again refinement is the theme. The cavity has a premium feel with a multi-material finish, but also an unfussy aesthetic, with only a tiny fleck of red on the Dynapower logo adding any color. They really do look nice sat in the bag with their high chrome finish glistening away.
The Dynapower forged irons also really deliver in terms of performance. I tested them on my SkyTrak+ launch monitor at Saunton Golf Club and was really impressed. The TaylorMade P790 is widely thought of as one of the top performers among the leading compact mid handicap irons yet from a data point of view, the Wilson iron matched it stride for stride! Almost identical numbers across the board was a really pleasant surprise given the lofts are comparable - the Wilson Dynapower 7-iron comes in at 30.5°, the same as the P790.
The good news doesn’t stop there. Although the performance was excellent, I’m not sure that was the most impressive element of these irons. The feel is truly exceptional. A beautiful combination of liveliness without feeling in any way harsh, coupled with a nicely subdued audio were the real highlights for me. Turf interaction was also very strong, with the thinner sole gliding nicely through the ground.
Whilst they were pretty quick off the face, I did feel there was enough ball/face interaction to allow me to manoeuvre the ball a little bit here and there. Certainly not to the extent of some of the best blade irons but more than enough to be satisfied with in this category of iron.
My one possible gripe during testing was that I did notice one or two outliers in terms of distance. I just had a couple of strikes that felt particularly ‘hot’ and ended up flying 8-10 yards further than I expected them to. However, I hit well over a hundred balls with the Dynapower forged, so we are talking around the 1 percent mark, which is hardly terminal.
Overall, I think the Wilson Dynapower irons are a really strong performing iron at a very competitive price point. A 4-PW set in steel will retail at £900, and the 5-PW graphite set will be priced at £834. I genuinely think this represents real value for an iron that is almost identical in performance data to others that come in up to £200 more expensive.
The stock steel option is a KBS Tour lite and the UST Recoil Dart 75 is the stock graphite offering. Both steel and graphite come fitted with a very nice feeling Lamkin Crossline 360 grip.
