First Look: Wilson Staff Triton Driver

The 20 Second Intro

Model: Wilson Staff Triton
Available Lofts: 9, 10.5, 12
Stock Shaft: Aldila Rogue Tour Silver 125 MSI 60
Retail Price: $449.00, with ten no upcharge shaft options
Availability: Now

By: John Barba

After seven weeks of Wilson’s sometimes entertaining and sometimes painful reality TV program Driver Vs Driver, we get the Wilson Staff Triton. The program itself was a bold experiment in product introduction and has created more Wilson Staff buzz than any product in recent memory. But now that the buzz is dying down, we're left with one simple question: is this thing any good?

We had the opportunity to demo the Triton over the weekend and learned few things.

First – if you like low spin, low launch, you’re going to like this driver.
Second – if you like to tinker, you’re going to love this driver.
Third – if you’re in a sanctioned competition over the next few weeks, you can’t use this driver.
Fourth – the sound may be, uhh, an acquired taste.

So, does the Triton perform? And what, if anything, will the Driver Vs Driver experiment and the Triton itself do for the Wilson Staff brand? 

The One That Made The Cut

Seven weeks ago, Wilson Golf President Tim Clarke told MyGolfSpy the goal of the Driver Vs Driver was to bring unique innovation and a world-class product to market. “That was the ultimate goal,” said Clarke. “And I will say, with confidence, that that has been accomplished.”

Well, if moveable weights and adjustability make you want to dance, this thing will have you doing the Southside Shuffle all night long with 218 possible configurations in a single head.

“It truly is a driver for every player,” says Wilson Staff Global R&D Director Michael Vrksa, “because of all the various fitting options that can be dialed in for everybody.”

Suffice it to say there’s an awful lot going on under the hood.

Fitter’s Delight?

The Triton's 460cc head features a golf-ball width alignment aid on the crown, what Wilson is calling it 1:1 Visible Swing Active Technology. It’s supposed to help the golfer hit the sweet spot more consistently, but the social media world has gone all torches and pitchforks over it ever since the Driver Vs Driver finale. The stripe, combined with Triton’s more angular head shape, may be off-putting to some, but we found the stripe itself to be virtually unnoticeable while swinging.

We’ll need more demo time to determine if it’s at all helpful. If it's not, then what's the point?

If you prefer a driver that sits open at address, you won’t like the Triton one bit. It sits dramatically closed, and you have the ability to close it even more.

The fun starts when you turn the Triton over.

There you’ll find two interchangeable sole plates: a 22-gram titanium plate to give the Triton a lower center of gravity, high launch and low spin, which Wilson says will fit the majority of players. The lighter 9-gram carbon fiber sole plate gives the club a higher CG and produces a more penetrating ball flight and even lower spin.

“The sole plate is where we’re going to see big launch and spin differences. That’s where we get truly optimized.” – Michael Vrksa

Hidden under the sole plates are three weight ports for five interchangeable weights: a pair of two-gram weights, two six-gram weights, and a 12-gram weight.

“We have 18 different possible combinations with those weights,” says Vrska. “We can fine-tune ball flight bias from severe draw to severe fade to high and low and everywhere in between.”

The Triton comes in three lofts - 9, 10.5 and 12 degrees - and each is adjustable +/-one degree with Wilson’s Fast Fit hosel. It’s the same hosel used in Wilson’s FG Tour F5 driver, but with a slight twist.

“What we call the ‘clocking,’ or the angle it goes into the head is slightly different,” says Vrska. “The F5 clocking has six different loft settings, but the Triton has three loft settings – Standard, plus one degree and minus one degree – and then we have those same three settings, but each with a draw bias.”

So what you have is a driver with two different sole plates, 18 different movable weight configurations, three different loft settings and two different face angle settings. Some quick math says that’s 218 possible configurations for the Triton.

And when you factor it 14 different no-upcharge shaft options, you’re talking over 3,000 possibilities. Even the most experienced tinkerer may want some help.

Too Complicated?

“Complex, maybe,” says Vrska. “But not complicated. You’re going to know which sole plate is for you pretty quickly, and you’re going to know pretty quickly which shaft works for you.”

Wilson provides a template showing options for the movable weights and the impact each has on ball flight. If you want, a draw bias put the heavy weight in the heel. If you want a fade put it in the toe. If you want lower ball flight put the lighter weight in the back. For higher, put the heavy weight in the back.

Complex? Absolutely. The Triton may be the most adjustable driver in the game, and while the Adjustable Weight template is pretty self-explanatory, many golfers may want some help finding the right setup. Wilson has launched an aggressive training program for fitters and retailers, offering a series of web-based training videos on proper fitting techniques.

Wilson is going real-deal with an aggressive no-upcharge premium shaft offering. The Aldila Rogue Tour Silver 125 MSI 60 is stock in S and X flex, and the Rogue Black 95 MSI 60 is stock in Senior and Regular flex (it’s also available as an option in S and X flexes).

Vrska tells MyGolfSpy there are no plans for companion fairway metal woods or hybrids at this time. “That doesn’t mean there couldn’t be in the future, but some of the adjustability would difficult to scale size-wise and cost-wise for fairways and hybrids.”

Our Demo

So with all the hype, does the Triton perform? We demoed a 9-degree Triton in its stock configuration: the 9-gram carbon fiber sole plate with the 12-gram weight in the rear and 6-gram weights on the wings, and the stock Aldila Rogue shaft in stiff. Wilson’s fitting chart says this is a neutral bias, higher launch setup. I compared it to my current gamer, the Nike Vapor Flex 440 with a Fujikura Pro Tour Spec 73 shaft, also set to 9 degrees with the flight pod set to low flight. Swing speeds with both clubs averaged just under 100 MPH.

We can say with all certainly, the Triton is very much low launch and low spin, is plenty long and with its closed face creates an almost automatic draw.

With the Nike, we averaged a 13.5-degree launch angle, 2,325 RPM spin, 240 yards carry distance and 261 yards total distance.

With the off the rack, non-optimized Triton, we averaged a 14.3-degree launch angle, 1,980 RPM spin, 247 yards carry distance and 270 yards total distance.

Performance-wise, it’s fair to say the Triton is legit, and we’re curious to see what a full-fledged fitting would bring to the table.

Much has been made of the Triton’s sound at impact, but in reality, the sound is very similar to Wilson’s FG Tour F5 driver. It is, however, very different from virtually every other driver out there. It’s an almost hollow-block type of sound; not loud in reality, but it is so different that it may appear loud to some.

One last item we learned over the weekend: the Triton has not yet received USGA approval. Wilson’s local rep told us that the company didn’t send samples to the USGA until just before the finale aired last week, preferring to keep the winning design secret for as long as possible. Wilson is confident the USGA will give its blessings to the Triton, with full approval expected within the next couple of weeks.

What’s In It For Wilson?

Make no mistake, while Driver Vs Driver produced an actual crowd-sourced driver that you can buy (and Wilson has committed the Triton to MyGolfSpy’s 2017 Most Wanted Driver Testing), the program was first and foremost a branding exercise. For the first time in a long time, Wilson is elbowing its way onto the main stage.

“It doesn’t have to be the number one selling driver in the marketplace for us to be successful. If it happens, that’s wonderful. The goal is to build the brand, sell some drivers and let people know and understand what Wilson Staff and Wilson Golf is all about.” – Michael Vrska

Wilson’s irons lineup can compete toe-to-toe with anyone’s. Its driver lineup has been solid but, to be blunt, unspectacular.

For better or for worse, drivers drive market share. It’s a halo product. When your driver sells, fairway metal woods, hybrids, irons and wedges follow. A challenger brand, such as Wilson, can grow incrementally without an attention-getting driver, but there’s only so far you can go with that big of a hole in your lineup.

If Triton can fill that hole and perform as Wilson hopes it will, the slow, steady growth Wilson has experienced over the past several years might just get a boost. If it doesn’t, Wilson will at least benefit from seven weeks of fairly high profile brand building on the Golf Channel.

Will the entire effort be successful? It depends on how you define success. If the only way you define success is the Triton outselling TaylorMade and Callaway, then you don’t have to wait for an answer – it more than likely won’t. But brand building doesn’t always have an immediate impact on overall sales or market share. Its impact is usually felt over time.

Sure, there are short-term measurables: how many Tritons did Wilson sell? Did 4^th Quarter sales get a bump? The longer view – and challenger brands by definition don’t live quarter to quarter – is more wide-ranging and overall success can’t be judged for at least 12 to 24 months. The questions are different: is overall market share increasing? Are full-line sales growing at the same rate as before the show, or is there a meaningful spike in sales growth? Is that spike sustainable?

These are the questions that matter, and the answers will determine whether Driver Vs Driver did, in fact, break new ground in product introduction and company branding, or if it was merely a fun seven-week miniseries.