Finding the perfect driver isn’t always easy. There’s a lot of choice out there, and each model offers something slightly different. To help you out a bit, we present to you the Wilson Staff Cortex Driver Review- an in-depth look at a driver that could very much be worth your attention.
Things to Consider Before Buying a Driver
In an ideal world, we’d be able to decide if a driver was right for us by giving it a good old whack and seeing how far the ball goes. Alas, there’s a bit more to it than that, and there are a number of factors we have to take into consideration when choosing our drivers.
Distance
The first and foremost indicator of a driver’s quality. We get the driver out because we want to get the ball as far down the fairway as possible. It’s the aim of the game, and hitting big shots just feels great.
Forgiveness
None of us, not even the best players in the world, hit the sweet spot everytime. Mis-hits in golf are as common as candy at Christmas, so it’s important to have a club that can still play good shots even when you don’t strike it out the center.
Loft and Launch
The best drives are the ones that climb steadily into a graceful arc, before falling and finding their place on the fairway. Having the right amount of loft contributes a great deal to your control, so it should always be taken into consideration.
Feel and Sound
As with all golf clubs, driver selection is a very personal choice. How a club feels in your hands might be different for other people, so you should trust your instincts on how good the club feels to hold and swing. Also take note of how good it sounds when it strikes the ball.
Adjustability
Rarely can a single golf club adopt a one-size-fits-all approach to design. To make up for this, many drivers come with toggles to adjust various aspects of the club, such as loft and weight distribution.
Looks
While we shouldn’t judge a driver just by the way it looks, it’s usually a pretty good place to start. Liking the way your driver looks is bound to have some impact on your performance.
Wilson Staff Cortex Driver
The Cortex driver features Wilson’s longest slide track to date, offering users a vast range of spin options. In addition, there are two weights at the heel and the toe which can be swapped to obtain either a neutral setting or a draw setting. Plus, the hosel is decked out with six different loft options in half-degree increments. There sure is a lot of adjustability on this driver – but that’s not it’s only strength.
Roughly 44% of the driver head has been replaced with a super lightweight carbon fiber. This gives it a particular structure that has been designed for maximum forgiveness. While this driver won’t be breaking any distance records, it can certainly offer the user the means to hit consistently decent drives.
And it looks fantastic. This driver was actually designed by show contestant Evan Hoffman, who beat some stiff competition to win the second edition of the Golf channel’s ‘Driver vs Driver’. As promised, Wilson took Hoffman’s design and ran with it, manufacturing a driver that could easily give Callaway and Taylormade drivers a run for their money.
Alternatives
If you think that this might not quite be the club for you, fear not! Here are some other drivers which you could check out.
1. Tour Edge Exotics C721 9,5 degree loft Stiff graphite Shaft driver
Pros:
- Premium driver
- Maximum MOI and CG location
- Ridgeback technology bracing
- Adjustable hosel
Cons:
- Stiffe shaft not for slow swing speeds
- Price
The Tour Edge Exotics C721 is a premium driver designed with maximum MOI and CG location.
Ridgeback Technology features a spine in the Carbon Fibre Crown to act as a brace creating more power and greater flexing in the heel and toe.
Enhanced feel off the clubface at impact and the sound diffusion panels, create powerful sound on the strike.
The Carbon Wings wrap around the crown and sole, and produce a High MOI and weight-saving allowing for low-rear CG.
43 different diamond shapes of variable thickness behind the face expand the sweet spot.
A mini-trampoline effect enhances faster ball speeds and stability.
The adjustable hosel allows for personal ball flight configurations.
A Fujikura Ventus Red 4T Core 60 graphite shaft with a standard grip is a fantastic shaft for stability, accuracy, and length.Â
Various shaft options are available.
This driver is well worth trying to enhance confidence on the tee.
2. TaylorMade SIM MAX 10,5 degree Loft Regular Graphite Shaft Driver
Pros:
- Produces straight tee shots
- Low CG and High MOI for distance and stability
- Adjustable Lofts
- Long
- Great shaft
Cons:
- Head shape not for all
TaylorMade is one of the leading driver manufacturers used on the pro tour.
Consistently long and forgiving makes this a favorite club for all handicaps.
TaylorMade introduced a revolutionary new shape head with an Aerodynamic Asymmetric sole and inertia Generator.
Speed injected technology for intelligently optimized COR creates ball speed across the face at the threshold of the allowed speed limit.
The Twist Face technology with a larger face area provides straighter shots on mis-hits and instills confidence.
Multi-Material Construction with Carbon, Titanium, and Steel allows the weight to be perfectly positioned for ultra-low CG and high MOI.
A 2-degree adjustable loft sleeve allows for personalized trajectory settings.
Forgiveness and ball speed create distance off the tee and a leading requirement for all golfers.
Fitted with a tried and tested TaylorMade Fujikura Ventus Blue 6 Graphite Shaft and a standard grip, this driver packs a punch.
If the new head shape can be tolerated at address, then the TaylorMade SIM MAX driver is worth testing.
3. Callaway Big Bertha Alpha
For greater adjustability, look no further than the Callaway Big Bertha Alpha. This was the first driver to incorporate an adjustable center of gravity – the ‘Gravity Core’ can be manipulated to achieve your perfect loft settings.
Beyond that, it’s a real powerhouse of a driver. Ball impact is satisfying, and it flies quickly off the face. The tall face offers a decent amount of forgiveness left to right, but even more so bottom to top, meaning you can worry less about how high you are teeing up.
Final Thoughts
This is a well-built, good looking driver that has all the necessary trappings for big, satisfying hits. It feels great to hold, and if you can handle the longer length of the shaft, you should be able to pull off some impressive swings.
Game-improvers will appreciate the forgiveness of the large face, as well as the ease with which this driver can get a decent loft. It might not be the best choice for beginners, but using this driver to develop your swing could prove to be very fruitful.
If your game is advancing, and you’re keen to achieve some extra yardage out of your drives, then the Wilson Staff Cortex Driver could be the very thing you’ve been searching for – check it out here.
Related Articles
- 6 of The Best Golf Drivers
- Callaway Big Bertha Driver Review
- The 5 Best Golf Drivers For Mid Handicappers
Nick Lomas is the founder of GolfSpan, an avid golfer, not quite a pro but has over 15-years of experience playing and coaching golfers from all over the world. His mission is to bring the golfing community a better experience then it comes to choosing the right golf gear, and finding the right set up for your game.
