If you want proof that Wilson is getting serious about drivers, you’ll need to count to three.
For the first time in recent memory, Wilson is launching a full, three-member family of drivers today under the DYNAPWR banner. Each driver is distinct, with each designed for a specific player type. If you’re Callaway, Titleist or TaylorMade, that previous sentence would yield a big yawn or maybe even a, “What, only three?”
However, a three-member driver family qualifies as a big deal for Wilson.
“Everything here is about making our products better and making them more suitable for a broader range of players,” Wilson Golf Club Innovation Manager Jon Pergande tells MyGolfSpy,
Please understand Wilson isn’t breaking any new ground with its new drivers. Virtually every major OEM lineup has a standard, MAX and LS model. For much of its recent past, however, Wilson has been a one-trick pony with drivers, save for the special-edition Driver vs Driver models. With two drivers in 2023 and now with three this year, Wilson might finally be ready for center stage.
Wilson DYNAPWR drivers
Before we get too far into this article, I want to clarify something. Golf is becoming vowel-phobic and as someone who uses a keyboard for a living, typing DYNAPWR leads to typos and strained metacarpals and phalanges. Since we’re grownups here, DYNAPWR will be known as Dynapower, at least in the written word.
My fingers, hands and wrist bones and tendons thank you. (Editor’s Note: So does your editor.)
Back in 2023, Wilson launched two Dynapower drivers: the Carbon and the Titanium. As you can glean from the context, the Carbon featured a carbon fiber crown while the Titanium didn’t. It was all titanium construction. The Carbon was more ball speed/fade-focused while the Titanium was more forgiving and draw-focused.
The new 2025 family is somewhat similar while different enough to matter.
The new Dynapower Carbon is an updated and more forgiving version of the 2023 model which was a solid performer in MyGolfSpy testing. The Max is the higher-MOI descendant of the 2023 Titanium which was a so-so performer in MyGolfSpy testing.
The Dynapower LS is the newbie of the group.
“We made this driver so the better player won’t miss it left,” says Harry Nodwell, Wilson’s Pro Performance Equipment Manager. “It’s slightly fade-biased so that a golfer can whale on it without fear of going too far left.”
Why three drivers?
There’s a two-part answer to that question. First, it’s the way the market is going. Every major OEM has, at a bare minimum, a “standard” model, a forgiving “Max” model and a low-spinning “LS” model. Consider that the driver equivalent of jacks-or-better to open.
What makes three drivers even possible, however, is our good friend artificial intelligence.
Mocking AI as a gimmick is fun but short-sighted. AI not only makes three models possible, it makes three distinctly different models possible.
“AI is driven by our R&D guys,” says Nodwell. “It helps us fine-tune ball speeds and sound and it helps us make sure our drivers are in tune with the golfers who are going to be hitting them.”
The thing that makes AI work is its ability to go through tens of thousands of iterations quickly. The trick, however, is to make sure good old-fashioned human intelligence is in charge.
“There’s some art to what we’re doing, how we interpret that data and how to use the machines,” says Pergande. “It’s not that we press a button and AI magically spits out a golf club. Once we pinpoint the performance metrics we want we let the machine give us first crack at a final product.
“We don’t have enough hours in a day to go through 20 or 30 prototypes. AI can get all that done ahead of time so we just have to deal with choices over a small, select number of specific designs that are performing at the highest level.”
Like other OEMs, Wilson then adds human testers to the equation to provide real golfer data. That info goes back into the AI machine to arrive at the final iterations.
Wilson Dynapower drivers: Carbon and Max
One of the things AI has done is eliminate the game-improvement driver category. You could say “Max” or high-MOI drivers can be considered game-improvement but you’d be selling them short.
“It’s amazing the number of skilled players and even Tour players who play high MOI, high-spinning drivers,” says Pergande. “Good players can control flight and if they want extra forgiveness, it gives them the freedom to go after it and swing as hard as they want.”
In that respect, both the Dynapower Carbon and Dynapower Max fit the bill. The new Carbon is more forgiving than the old Carbon and the new Max is more forgiving than the old Dynapower Titanium.
The new Dynapower Carbon features a lower crown and flatter sole than its predecessor and players will find it more forgiving as well. It’s a 460cc head with swappable front and back weights. The stock setup is a three-gram weight in front and a nine-gram weight in the back for higher launch and spin and added MOI. Swapping the weights will lower launch, spin and MOI but will enhance potential ball speed. As the name suggests, the crown is carbon as well as a portion of the sole to create discretionary weight.
The Dynapower Max is the descendant of the 2023 Titanium model. As the name suggests, the Dynapower Max is the most forgiving of the new Wilson trio. It’s also 460 cc and is longer front-to-back and wider heel-to-toe compared to the 2023 Titanium and has only a single 19-gram weight in the back end. That weight is flippable to fine-tune left-to-right shot shaping.
Dynapower LS: Wilson beast mode
The Wilson Dynapower LS screams “better player.” At 445 cc, it’s slightly smaller than most of the other LS models released this year. It’s more streamlined than its stablemates with a raised skirt and a slightly more curved crown for better aerodynamics. While it is designed for better ball strikers, Wilson says it matches the 2023 Carbon in terms of forgiveness.
“We worked with our Tour players and advisory staff to find a head shape we were comfortable with,” says Pergande. “It has a slightly taller face than the others. It’s designed for players who are very good ball strikers who want low spin.”
While conventional wisdom suggests high swing speed players benefit most from LS drivers, our testing shows more moderate swing speed players can also enter beast mode with a low-spin driver.
“Sometimes people associate a slower swing speed with someone who isn’t as skilled as a high swing speed player,” Pergande explains. “But depending on what launch conditions and spin rates tell you, even with a slower swing speed if you hit up on the ball you can hit it a long way with the LS.”
Swappable sole weights are standard in LS drivers and the Wilson Dynapower LS is no different. The stock arrangement features a 12-gram weight up front and a six-gram weight in the back for the lowest spin and maximum ball speed. When the weights are swapped, it won’t be quite as low-spinning but launch and forgiveness will go up.
Forgiveness, fitting and ball speed
When OEMs talk about “more ball speed,” they aren’t talking about center strikes. Sure, small center-strike gains are possible as OEMs get closer to CT limits, but real gains are made over the rest of the face. That’s where AI shines, as it flattens the ball speed/forgiveness tradeoff. Wilson’s AI-designed PKR (Peak Kinetic Response) Face is its take on variable-face thickness to optimize ball speed no matter where you hit it.
“We break our face down into a whole bunch of different quadrants,” says Pergande. “We then run thousands of simulations and out comes ball speed performance increases across the face, with an emphasis on the heel and toe.”
While the Max is the most forgiving of the Wilson Dynapower family, it doesn’t reach that mythical 10K MOI number. Pergande says its overall MOI is well over 9,000 but the only way to reach the 10K level would be to make the head heavier which is something Wilson doesn’t want to do.
“We’ve locked in the head weight for each driver,” says Pergande. “The LS, Carbon and Max are all the same head weight. That way the golfer can first find the head that best suits them and then dial in the shaft that works best with the specific head.”
To that end, Wilson is adding a fourth option to the Dynapower lineup: a LITE version of both the Max and the Carbon. It’s a slightly shorter version with a lighter shaft and is replacing the traditional “women’s” model.
“We don’t care about gender,” says Nodwell. “We just care about swing speed and your type of swing. We’re not putting out specific men’s or women’s product, we’re just putting the right product into golfers’ hands and then fitting it from there.”
Wilson’s place in the driver world
None of what you see here is industry-defining but it is new for Wilson. The company has had some nice drivers over the past few decades but nothing needle-moving since John Daly’s Killer Whale. The new Wilson Dynapower drivers won’t give Callaway, Titleist or TaylorMade the heebie-jeebies. They are, however, another step in the right direction.
While the 2023 Titanium was a meh performer for MyGolfSpy, the Carbon was perhaps Wilson’s best-performing driver ever in our testing. It finished third overall for accuracy, eighth for distance and was in the top half of the 37-driver field for forgiveness. Additionally, both 2023 drivers were significantly better-sounding than previous Wilson drivers. That’s been a point of emphasis for the company.
“R&D runs sound and mass property iterations for three or four weeks at a time and get thousands of designs,” says Pergande. “We can talk about numbers and MOI and other things but, at the end of the day, someone is going to pick this club up and hit it. We want the experience to be the best it can be from sound, feel and what it looks like at address.”
Wilson isn’t the first company you think of when you think of drivers. I’m not sure if it’s even the fifth company you think of. The 2023 Dynapower Carbon, however, outperformed many entries from the bigger brands in our testing (the Titanium, not so much) which leads us to believe the 2025 Carbon should be on anyone’s must-demo list. Time will tell if the Max is an improvement over the Titanium. The LS, if history with other OEMs is any indication, could be a surprise.
As always, we’ll see.
Wilson Dynapower drivers: Specs, price and availability
The Wilson Dynapower LS driver comes in three lofts: eight, nine and 10.5 degrees (only the eight-degree is available for lefties). The True Temper Denali Black 60 in S- and X-flex is stock.
The Dynapower Carbon features the Fujikura Ventus Blue TR in R- and S-flex and comes in nine- and 10.5-degree models for lefties and righties. An eight-degree model is right-handed only.
The Dynapower Max comes stock with the UST LIN-Q M40 Red shaft an A-, R- and S-flexes. The nine- and 10.5-degree models are available for lefties and righties while the 12-degree option is right-handed only.
The Carbon and Max will be available in Wilson’s new LITE configuration. The 40-gram UST Helium NCT 4 shaft is standard. All three models feature a redesigned adjustable hosel. Loft can be adjusted in half-degree increments two degrees up or one degree down.
The Lamkin Crossline 360 is the stock grip across the line.
The Dynapower LS and Carbon drivers will retail for $549.99 while the Max will sell for $499.99.
The entire line of Wilson Dynapower drivers hits stores on Feb. 12.
For more information, visit the Wilson Golf website.
