In case you don’t already know, let me be the first to tell you something.
Wilson golf balls are sneaky good.
Very good, in fact.
In case you did already know, well, let me be the first to remind you that Wilson golf balls are sneaky good.
Very good, in fact.
The Wilson Triad may very well be the best sub-$40 golf ball not named Maxfli or Vice. But we’re not here to talk Triad (that was last year, man). We’re here to talk about the 2026 update to Wilson’s Tour-level, four-piece urethane golf balls: the Wilson Staff Model and the Wilson Staff Model X.
The former is Wilson’s slightly softer, not quite as spinny, golf ball. The latter is firmer and more spinny. What’s more, it’s being touted by its maker as, ta-da, the world’s fastest urethane golf ball.
That’s a bold claim and you know how we here at MyGolfSpy feel about bold claims. Let’s look behind the curtain, shall we?
Wilson Staff Model golf balls: Are they really fast?
“Everybody in golf claims to have the longest ball but that’s always test-dependent,” Wilson Global Golf Ball Innovation Director Frank Simonutti tells MyGolfSpy. “If you set the test up the right way, almost everybody can claim to be the longest ball.”
While distance can be manipulated, velocity (i.e., speed measured at impact), really can’t be.
“Velocity is pretty much a fixed thing,” Simonutti explains. “No matter what your test setup is, if you’re faster, you’re faster.
“It’s always nice to be able to claim to be the fastest at something.”
The 2024 editions of the Wilson Staff Model and Staff Model X were standout performers in MyGolfSpy’s ball test last year. The firmer Staff Model X tied for third in ball speed in the 115-mph swing test, just 2/10th of an mph behind the leader (Maxfli Tour X) and just ahead of the Titleist Pro V1x Left Dash. The softer Staff Model finished eighth overall, 9/10th of an mph behind the Maxfli.
In the mid swing speed test, Staff Model X finished a close second in ball speed, only 1/10th of an mph behind the co-leading Maxfli Tour X and Callaway Chrome Tour Triple Diamond.
So, how does one make an already fast golf ball faster? The usual recipe is to make the ball just a bit firmer because, as every good MyGolfSpy reader knows, firm equals fast.
Wilson, however, went in the other direction.
Softer equals faster???
Yep, in an effort to gain more speed, Wilson made the 2026 Staff Model balls softer.
What madness is this?
“We wanted the old Staff Model X to be the fastest ball but the side effect was it was harder,” explains Simonutti. “Some of our advisory staff felt it was a little too clicky on iron shots. We were also on the high end of driver spin.”
The solution to both issues was to make the ball just a wee bit softer. Wilson listed the old Staff Model X at 106 compression. The new version is 100.
To accomplish that, Wilson developed what it calls Advanced V-Cor Performance technology. The short version is that Wilson mixes a velocity-boosting additive into its synthetic rubber cores. That additive allows Wilson to create a lower-compression core that is more flexible, offsetting any potential ball speed losses.
The long version involves you looking up Zinc Pentachlorothiophenal. Have at it.
Either way, that new, softer core unlocked some possibilities for Wilson. Both Staff Model balls combine that softer (“less firm” is more accurate) with a softer inner mantle layer. That combination brings driver spin rate down by about four percent while keeping velocity up.
To keep spin up on approach shots, Wilson switched from a standard ionomer outer mantle layer to a firmer, high-acid ionomer mantle. The dynamic between that hard layer pinching against the soft cast urethane cover keeps iron spin rate up.
“That won’t have any kind of a significant impact on driver spin,” explains Simonutti. “That’s dictated by the inner portions of the ball.”
2026 Wilson Staff Model golf balls: Facts and figures
Golf ball manufacturing has its constraints so it is undeniable that if you do anything to drop driver spin, iron spin will also drop. The goal for any OEM, then, is to maximize the tilt between the two. That means doing whatever you can to keep iron spin up while making driver spin low.
For its part, while Wilson says it dropped driving spin by about four percent, iron spin did drop but only by about two percent.
“Iron spin did drop a little,” says Simonutti, “but we’re still at the very high end.”
As mentioned, the 2026 Staff Model X compression is down by around six points to an even 100. The lower compression, while lowering driver spin slightly, was aimed at solving that “clicking noise” Wilson advisory staff members objected to.
The standard Staff Model ball is listed at 90 compression, 10 points lower than Staff Model X and 10 points higher than Triad. The core still includes Wilson’s velocity-boosting additive but it still softer than that of the Staff Model X. The inner mantle is also softer than that of the Staff Model X. Overall, it spins roughly four percent less than its firmer counterpart.
As far as being the “fastest urethane golf ball” on the market, well, that’s what Wilson is claiming based on its own testing last spring. The company isn’t releasing any specifics other than the claims come from testing at Wilson’s Humboldt, Tenn., test facility and is based on a 105-mph driver swing speed. We can presume that test was against 2024-2025 models. To see how the Staff Model and Staff Model X stack up against 2026 updates, we’ll have to wait for MyGolfSpy’s annual ball test this summer.
Wilson Staff Model and Staff Model X golf balls: Price and availability
As our last two ball tests have shown, Wilson makes really good and vastly underappreciated golf balls. Given the company’s track record, there’s no reason to think Wilson will have taken a step backward with the new Staff Models.
With that, it is interesting to note that Wilson is taking a step backward in pricing. The company caught some flak over the price of its 2024 balls. They launched at $54.99 per dozen, the same price as the Titleist Pro V1 and other top-of-the-market golf balls. With new models approaching the $60 barrier, Wilson is launching the new Staff Model balls at the relative bargain price of $49.99 per dozen.
Yep, you read that correctly: the fastest ball in golf, or at least the ball that’s in the top three, for under $50. Whether that price drop is due to market perceptions, encroaching direct-to-consumer competition or the Maxfli effect, just be happy. It might just be the best mainstream OEM golf ball deal going.
The new Wilson Staff Model golf balls are available in white and yellow in new, eye-catching premium packaging. Wilson is also offering both balls with its unique TRK 360 visual alignment lines. The lines are a muted black with a gray accent that goes all the way around the ball (hence the 360). If you’re a cynic, you’ll say they look like a range ball but if it helps, it helps.
The Wilson Staff Model and Staff Model X golf balls are available starting today at retail and online.
For more information, visit www.wilson.com.
The post Are These Golf Balls Really The Fastest Balls In The World? appeared first on MyGolfSpy.
