The Loop

New Wilson FG Tour V6 brings multiple approaches to same players iron set

September 26, 2016
FG_TOUR_V6_7_IRON_HERO.jpg

The Wilson FG Tour V6, the latest entry in that company’s series of players irons, shows just how today’s irons built for the best players subtly employ the technologies of distance and precision.

With all the technology increasingly available in the iron category—thin faces, multiple materials, loft-specific center-of-gravity movement—designers in the sub-category of players irons have to be judicious what and how much they do to enhance performance. In the case of the Wilson FG Tour V6, what that ends up meaning is a different approach to technology through the set.

FG_TOUR_V6_4_AND_7_IRON_WEIGHT.jpg

While the FG Tour V6 is a cavity back design forged from 8620 steel throughout, the design uses multiple materials to selectively enhance performance. The long and middle irons both make use of 20 grams of tungsten, but they do it in different ways. This is a change in both the amount of tungsten used and the way it was used in the V6's predecessor, the FG Tour V4. In that iron an 18-gram tungsten insert was placed exclusively in the center of the sole on the 3-iron through 7-iron. In the FG Tour V6, however, the 3-, 4- and 5-irons fuse tungsten into both the low toe (12 grams) and low heel (8 grams) to improve the off-center hit stability of the irons that are most difficult to hit squarely. According to the company, the MOI is 50 points higher on the 4-iron with the tungsten than without. On the 6- and 7-iron, all 20 of the grams of the tungsten is centered low in the sole, helping to increase launch without increasing spin by lowering the center of gravity. The 8-iron through gap wedge do not use tungsten in the design at all.

But remember these are designed to be players irons in look, shape and feel. The key to that latter aspect is a centralized weight pad or muscle in the back cavity. The muscle is designed within the one-piece body of the iron and constitutes some 37 grams of mass directly behind the impact zone. That’s designed to improve feel and shotmaking.

“It’s not easy to incorporate real innovation and technology in a forged iron, but the FG Tour V6 Irons do just that. From the tungsten inserts, to what was done to enhance feel and feedback in the impact area, to the sole design and thinner topline, every aspect was refined for better amateurs and tour players,” says Michael Vrska, Wilson’s global director of golf innovation.

The FG Tour V6 irons will be available Jan. 9, 2017 (4-iron through gap wedge, $1,000). The stock shaft is the Dynamic Gold AMT. The Dynamic Gold AMT features ascending mass from the long irons to the short irons in three-gram increments, so the long irons shafts are slightly lighter while the shorter irons are slightly heavier. For example, that can make for a 21-gram difference in shaft weight from 3-iron to pitching wedge.