Latest In A Series
 Wilson's latest series of clubs from their "Wilson Staff Collection" just keep getting better all the time. I reviewed the original Fybrid Series, when they were brought out four years ago. Here we are four years later with the 3rd iteration, and they are still no less revolutionary for the wear. As a matter of fact, they are nothing short of greatness.
   Wilson has taken the mystery out of one of the biggest conundrums facing most amateurs, i.e., "Fairway Wood or Hybrid?". Four years ago they set up a line of six exceptionally well designed clubs that, thanks to their consistency, and extremely accurate yardage gapping, allow a golfer to customize the transition from Fairway Metal  all the way through to Transition Iron and eliminate the gaps that are specific to your personal swing and bag composition. Basically--this is very cool stuff, as yardage gaps are the hobgoblin of consistency in club selection for the vast majority of amateurs, and even a bevy or two of low-cappers as well.
    If you are tired of trying all the "Hot Hybrids", or "Distance Monster Fairway Metals", and still ending up with yardage gaps in your bag that your opponents could drive a truck through, then you really need to try these. I love my fairway metals, and I love my hybrids, but it took way too many different models and dollars over the past several years to find the right ones for me.
   Wilson finally figured it out, and decided that if they built both varieties of Wood and Hybrid and blended the best qualities of each club type, while utilizing the length and loft of each specific model to fit specific yardages, they might have the overarching answer. The major difference between these Wilsons and others is that they have actually taken the guess work out of the equation. The exact transition club between Woods and Hybrids is called the FY. It has 19.5 * of loft, and measures 41" in length. No other club on the market has these two optimal factors. Most 5 woods are 18*, and most 7 Woods are 21*. The hybrids that do come in at 18/19* are usually a few inches shorter than this so they don't pack the same yardage either. Basically--this truly is the perfect transition club from 5 Wood to Hybrid. This also allows the Hybrids to play as actual replacements for the clubs they are numbered as. Basically the lofts are :

3W=15*
5W=18*
FY=19.5*
3H=21*
4H=24*
5H=27*
6H=30*.

The best part is that Wilson even has a fitting place on their website specifically built to help you tailor make your choice of Fairways/Fybrids/Hybrids to fit your specific game and yardage gaps.

It All Started At The Height of The Hybrid Craze
   Now I’m not going to pretend that Wilson Staff is the only one who came up with the concept of a club and/or series of clubs that could function as Fairways/and/or Hybrids. The now defunct Nickent Golf Company had a series right after their once famous 3DX Hybrids that were lighting up the tour in which you could choose a standard hybrid head or a larger more fairway metal type head. Adams even attempted a series of clubs that functioned as both. They were basically Fairway Woods with smaller heads and red-hot faces. This was there 9032 Series from a few years back. Two years ago they developed a series of these for The Asian Tour, and those are what currently adorn my bag as it had an available 7 Wood---a club which I can’t seem to get away from. But, once they jumped onto “The Velocity Slot” concept, they went back to offering clubs that were either strictly Fairway Woods or  strictly Hybrids, and never the twain shall meet. It makes sense for them as a company since they now have a red hot line of Fairway Woods, and their Hybrids are still number one in the market place. When you have two hot concepts that aren’t broke—why try to fix them?

   Wilson, however, took the time to actually find a club that transitioned between the two, and rumor has it that it was based on Padraig Harrington’s Older Swing, which always had more of a sweep to it. For most of us amateurs, that sweeping motion is more easily copied, especially with the onset of age and arthritis. It also allowed them to offer a Strong 7 Wood without calling it a 7 Wood. Trust me—if you are middle aged and your 5 Iron just isn’t as sharp as it used to be—a good  7 Wood—by any other name—can be your very best friend. If I didn’t already have the Adams Asian Tour Prototypes that were gifted to me in my bag, it’s more than likely I would be buying these Wilson Staffs. They would be a perfect match for my Wilson Staff Ci9 Irons. Here’s why I highly recommend these clubs—even though there are two very hot makers out there with “Velocity Slot” and/or “Rocketballz” Technology.

 Easy To Hit—5 Stars
  I’m going to grant the other two makers their due as far as the slot wars go, because their clubs do achieve a goodly amount of distance. My 3 Wood is an Adam F11 Velocity Slot, and I like it better than both this year’s F12 version, and the new TaylorMade Entry. It is a very long club, and the shaft on it is one of two shafts that  optimize my swing. (currently 92-95 MPH with a 6 Iron). This version of The Wilson Staff Fybrid Series had not come to market yet, and the HS Series that preceded it, ran a close second to the Adams for a spot in my bag. The fact that the Adams matched my driver, and sported the same shaft as my driver kind of forced me to edge out the HS Series of Fybrids. I could, however, end up ruing that day for several reasons. The main one being this:” The Wilson Staff Fybrid RS Series have to be the absolute easiest to hit fairway metals to ever hit the market—bar none.”  
 They aren’t easy to hit because they have a lot of offset, and they aren’t easy to hit because they have a huge honkin’ oversized head on them either. They are easy to hit because they are so well balanced, and so well built. This iteration of Fybrids vindicates Wilson’s original theory of building a set of Fairways and Hybrids that transitions from 3 Wood all the way up to 6 Iron. I really wasn’t sure that the original series in 2008 would catch on, but I liked them. When they were upgraded in 2010 with the HS Series, I really liked them, and almost bagged them. I really love this 2012 version, as they are proving more than just a concept club—they are proving to be a real hitter’s club. I think the “RS” might actually stand for “Really Simple to Hit.”

Balance—4 ½ Stars
   I really like the feel of these clubs. It’s almost as if they were built for my swing. I can’t give them the full bore 5 Stars for balance—despite the fact that I could tell where the head was at all times, but there’s a reason why I had to nick them for ½ a star. The straight graphite shafted version feels like a 5 star balance. You can’t argue with the V2 Shaft, at least I can’t, and now they’ve upgraded it to the VTS Shaft— but more on that later.  It’s the only other shaft besides the Aldila VooDoo which optimizes my swing. The Half and Half Shaft remains a bold concept, and I believe someday it may actually become the wave of the future, but for now—it made the head feel a tad light to me at a few places in my backswing. It wasn’t bad—a full 4 stars worth of good balance, but just not quite my cup of tea.

Distance—4 Stars
  Okay, the Rocketballz, and the Adams F12 nicked this pup for a few yards. It certainly wasn’t the 17 Yards one of them likes to advertise, and single yardage gains are always of dubious benefit if one is a mid-high capper and sacrificing mega-doses of  ease of use and/or forgiveness in order to gain 7 -8 yards with a 3 wood. Still, test facts are test facts, and if you want distance at all costs, the two makers I mentioned will be glad to sell you their clubs.  Meanwhile, these proved to be just as long as the offerings from Ping, Callaway, and a tad longer than those from Cobra. They are a good solid distance performers, and unlike the first generation, distance is more than “Acceptable”---it is "Well Above Average."

Forgiveness- 5 Stars
    Yes it’s true. These clubs beat out the World Famous “Adams Clubs” for forgiveness. That is an amazing accomplishment, but again, Adams is fighting tooth and nail to become the distance monsters of all time (small wonder they are the official clubs of The Long Drivers of America), while maintaining a reputation for forgiveness. That left the door wide open for another company, such as Wilson, to take a stab at building the most forgiving club  for a change. These RS Series Fybrids are that club. I’m not going to engage in too much hyperbole, such as how they swing themselves, or any of the other long list of clichés that club reviewers toss about like so many shag balls, but I will say this---If you need help hitting a fairway wood/and/or/hybrid long and straight---you are not going to find a better model in this year’s lineup.  I even swung over the top on a few of these pups, and I had to do the old “hold off the follow through” trick in order to get the ball to take a sharp right turn in imitation of a slice. They were also very forgiving of my worst swing fault—the dreaded “Pull Hook.”

The Technology—5 Stars
   The face and the sole are a bit more rounded, allowing the club to work well from both the fairway and the rough. This “Rocker Sole” as Wilson calls it, is not new—but it has been improved over the last version. This was also a Padraig Harrington suggestion, and it works well. The venerable V2 shaft has been upgraded to the new, and I daresay—revolutionary--- VTS Shaft.
   The VTS stands for “Variable Torque Shaft”, and the concept is that whatever flex of shaft you play—you can get a shaft that has “Feel” to it rather than having to settle for a board when choosing Stiff Flex—or a buggy whip when choosing Senior or Regular Flex.  This shaft is a massive success in this department, and it is sure to become OEM equipment on other maker’s clubs soon. Basically, with each new iteration of, The Fybrid Concept, Wilson makes a club that lives up to the likes of some stiff competition in addition to pioneering a new concept that helps eliminate yardage gaps.

Overall--- 4 3/4 Stars
  This really is the easiest hitting Fairway/Hybrid Series  amongst all of this year’s offerings. It is also the most forgiving. To top it all off, it has the best shaft of all the OEM offerings. As if all that weren’t enough to make you at least want to try these clubs, they currently have a street price of $129.  When you add all that up and stack it against what the competition is peddling at $199—you have to really start asking yourself why the golf media gives these so little coverage as compared to the guys who use crumby shafts and make ridiculous distance claims. ( II think it has to do with marketing dollars, but I'm not supposed to say that LOL) These clubs really came the closest of all to getting the five star rating. I think if you try them—you might end up writing your own review, and giving them that 5 star rating.

Recommended: Yes