Why I Love My Wilson Dynapower Carbon 5-Wood

As you have no doubt realized, I’m MyGolfSpy’s resident contrarian. In staff meetings, I’m the walking, talking and golfing embodiment of the Beatles’ “Hello, Goodbye.”

You say yes, I say no. You say stop, and I say go, go, go….”

Oh nooo …

Hey, someone has to do it.

Anyway, my love for the Cleveland HiBore XL aside, please let me sing the praises of another golfing implement that isn’t getting the love it deserves.

The Wilson Dynapower Carbon 5-wood.

(Yes, I know it’s DYNAPWR, but I flatly refuse to go there. I stand in support of vowels.)

Oh, Dynapower, how do I love thee …

You shouldn’t sleep on the Wilson Dynapower fairway woods. The original Dynapower copped top honors in MyGolfSpy’s testing in 2023 and it was the first fairway wood I didn’t hate since my MacGregor Tourney persimmon from that distant Orwellian year of 1984.

The new Wilson Dynapower models were middle-of-the-pack performers in this year’s MyGolfSpy testing. The Dynapower Carbon finished 11^th out of 22 models tested, while its more forgiving partner, the Dynapower Max, finished 14^th. While accuracy and forgiveness scores were meh, both performed well in the distance category, with the Carbon model finishing fifth overall for length.

That said, you’re going to have to pry the Wilson Carbon 5-wood out of my cold, dead hands. If possible, I love it even more than the 2023 model that made my life a joy to live.

Revamping the long end of the bag

The long end of my bag is always a work in progress. While I still love that HiBore, I’ve rotated other drivers in for testing purposes. The biggest change was replacing the Dynapower Carbon 3-wood with the TaylorMade R7 Quad mini driver.

As the early season progressed, I noticed I was using my 3-wood almost exclusively off the tee and my 5-wood almost exclusively off the deck. After being fitted for the R7, something had to go. Losing the screw for the 3-wood’s adjustable hosel made the decision a little easier. To make the gaps work, I cranked the 18-degree 5-wood down to 16.5 degrees. That makes it a 4-wood and, so far, it’s been a beast of a weapon.

(Yes, I know Wilson offers the Dynapower Carbon in a 4-wood specifically but one must make do with what one has.)

I play most of my golf at Breakfast Hill in Greenland, N.H. It’s not long, but it does require some thinking. The first hole is a 350-yard par-4 that’s narrow and downhill. It’s a nerve-wracking tee shot, but the Dynapower is the perfect solution to get the round started in the short grass.

The par-4 eighth is just goofy: 322 yards with an uphill tee shot. Driver/mini driver aren’t practical here as there’s a reachable gully at the end of the fairway. Again, the Dynapower works. The 13^th is a short par-4 with a pond jutting into the left side of the fairway. I’ll use the Dynapower to get the ball down the right side for an easy wedge to the green.

The fact that I can hit it solidly and straightly most of the time makes it a weapon on the two reachable par-5s on the front nine as well.

Some Dyna-powerful stats

One of the reasons I love shot tracking is that it serves conflicting purposes. It simultaneously smashes any preconceived notions about how far you hit it while unveiling strengths you didn’t know you had. The stats show the duck hook off the tee is my round-killer. They also show I’m not nearly as inconsistent as I think I am. By combining the mini driver and Dynapower Carbon with my regular driver, I’m hitting 61 percent of my fairways and those awful OOB tee shots are at an all-time low.

I still hit the 5-wood turned 4-wood more off the tee than anywhere else and am averaging 231 yards on those shots. It’s shorter off the deck, averaging 213. However, I’m getting a positive result off the deck more consistently than I was with a 3-wood, which was a 50-50 club for me. Fifty percent of the time it worked every time.

The Wilson Dynapower Carbon 5-wood: Does it fit with a mini driver?

It’s fair to question the value of a mini driver. I think that, in this particular setup, bagging one makes sense. Several courses I play set up perfectly for it and on those occasions when the big dog gets squirrelly, it can be a more reliable fairway finder. I haven’t yet tried hitting the mini off the deck other than at the range but given my relative lack of success lately with 3-woods, I don’t have much hope.

The 5- turned 4-wood, even though it’s only a degree-and-a-half weaker lofted than a 3-wood, somehow works for this golfer. It would be interesting to see if any of the fairways that scored higher in our testing might work better. But why, when a club does what you need it to do, would one screw with it?

Oh, yeah, because we’re golfers. That’s why.

Therefore, the Wilson Dynapower Carbon will stay in my bag in perpetuity.

Right up until I un-perpetuitize it, that is.