From the drawing board to the tee-box, the Cortex driver represents the evolution of an idea, that the pinnacle of performance can be achieved when a brilliant design is coupled with the resources of the world’s largest sporting goods manufacturer.

The inital Cortex concept was to minimize the structural internal element of the driver head down to the core in order to move the mass weight properties toward the sole, heel and toe, giving it extreme Moment of Inertia for maximum stress-free forgiveness.

After slight headsize reduction from the initial design, rapid prototypes were developed to show the driver head in it’s full shape, giving an idea of what the driver would look like with the titanium panels and movable weights in place.

Episode 3 brought some industry-changing development to the table for Wilson by utilizing an additive printing process whereby actual titanium heads were 3D printed from CAD files. This process, along with carbon fiber panels that Wilson engineers produced, allowed Tour players to hit samples days after designs were created.

After some internal and external weight modifications were made from the first hittable prototypes, production caste titanium heads were created and the manufacturing process with overseas factories began. Movable weights were put into the design and robot fiight testing could begin to see how much weight could be moved to create fiight adjustments.

In order to start testing shelf appeal, paint, decal and finish considerations were applied and the first cosmetic samples were tested at the PGA Merchandise Show in Orlando, Florida.

With a driver target head weight of approximately 310g, the original Cortex design had some fat to trim. The deep sole cavitites and weight sliders that provided structure to the head created inherent weight problems as well. Evan and the Wilson designers took a hard look at retaining adjustability while reducing overall head weight. By taking out the rear adjustable slider and creating two weight pockets, Evan and the Wilson team were able to extend the center weight track which positively tested to get more spin and launch adjustability than even expected.

Episode 6 testing at Lake Tahoe with celebrities and athletes was a success for Evan and Cortex driver. By replacing the rear slider with perimeter weights, even more carbon was able to be added to increase the movable weight mass and allow for greater player adjustability.

The last tooling window for Evan and Wilson Labs was all about final tweaks to optimize overall performance. The last change was to optimize the shape of the weight pockets to reduce the head weight even more.

The final phase of the Cortex design was to look at every metal finish, every paint element and decal to make sure the driver is production ready.