Official Pro Staff 97 S Club

[maxplough]

It is not necessary to do radical changes. I put old leader grip under the original one to increase grip size, so static weight is ~ 355g, 6 pt HL strung and it works fine for me. Keep in mind it is a low power pro racquet and you need to generate your own pace in the shots. If you need more power or weight just consider PS97 or PS97RF. Once I try PS97S with more than 1 oz lead in the boot cap and believe me it is not necessary to do that. I have also PS97S v1 and keep it in stock form, because it is amazing racquet too.

Yeah, each racquet has its own personality and leads you to different final specs, but I do know I prefer a very headlight balance for a given static weight. I just get a bit less lead from my wrist on fast strokes that way and reactive defensive shots are easier not to be late to, especially the OHBH. I don't presume to be adding much power either, and this would be the wrong racquet to have settled on if that was what I was after. I have the RF97A too, and it's great, but it's a different racquet entirely, and could do with being a touch more headlight for its static weight like the 6.1 95 is.

Still, I've played with the PS97S as I currently have it (339, 6.5 pts HL with stock SW) and I get along just fine with it, probably because it sits nicely on the static weight/balance regression line (or curve, as it may be). The next mod will be reversible after all, so we'll see what I get.

 

[j1mster]

It is not necessary to do radical changes. I put old leader grip under the original one to increase grip size, so static weight is ~ 355g, 6 pt HL strung and it works fine for me. Keep in mind it is a low power pro racquet and you need to generate your own pace in the shots. If you need more power or weight just consider PS97 or PS97RF. Once I try PS97S with more than 1 oz lead in the boot cap and believe me it is not necessary to do that. I have also PS97S v1 and keep it in stock form, because it is amazing racquet too.

I actually use the rf97 with bumper guard trimmed(8g) as primary for singles and this 97S for doubles. I find the 18x17 patterns gives me slightly more directional control than 16x19 without needing too much of adjustment to my technique compared to a 18x20 racket. Yes the 97S is less powerful but im ok with that.

 

[j1mster]

Nice work! Are those bolts just poked into the foam? Do they stay put that way? I suppose the Blu-Tac helps secure them. I heard someone else saying that the butt was silicone-filled as stock, but that definitely seems to be just foam in yours.

I've done a balsa wood mod to the pallet to bring mine from L2 to L4-point-something These days I buy racquets a couple of sizes down and do this mod on them all. The resulting bevels are sharper than stock, I can tweak the relative profile (squarish vs more octagonal), and I almost always appreciate the resulting more HL balance. With leather and an overgrip on top, the feel and size is just perfect. 15 grams added in total. With another 20g in the butt and 3.6g at 12 I should have something to playtest (362g, 30.1 balance at 13 pts HL, 338 SW).

How do you find yours to play versus a racquet with comparable specs?

ya my was just regular foam its dense enough the screw locks in place i put the tack for extra grams. I wish i had the skill and tools to make my own pallets from balsa wood but i dont lol. My final specs are around 343g strung with dampener and overgrip, just over 12pts HL. The balance is similar to my modified rf97(bumper guard removed, 330g unstrung, over 12pts HL) that i use for singles, but the 97S just lacks a bit of power(softer flex) which im ok with. I tend to serve and volley alot in doubles the thinner beam on 97S is super fast thru the air and maneuverable, also i tend to use this on windy days for singles because the drag on RF97 really noticable due to thicker beam. I discovered my HL preference years ago and never looked back, all of my rackets are 345g to 355g strung over 10pts HL. If it kept rf97 stock form it was 365g strung and i would fatigue after a set or 2.

 

[maxplough]

ya my was just regular foam its dense enough the screw locks in place i put the tack for extra grams. I wish i had the skill and tools to make my own pallets from balsa wood but i dont lol.

Oh, I think you'd be fine. It's not really making new pallets so much as cutting and glueing a few strips on top using a Stanley knife and superglue. While I'm at it I also build up the butt with an extra layer to have it nice and flared. I got the idea from another user here (https://tt.tennis-warehouse.com/ind...p-size-using-balsa-wood-with-pictures.482746/), although they must be using lighter/thinner wood as well as not putting an extra layer on the butt cap, because I add around 10 grams versus their 3. I didn't bother varnishing though, so that's a gram in my favour! Something to note for anything wanting to try this: I think the OP is wrong about the grip size increase. 1mm sheets gave a two-size increase for me (a bit more, because the sheets are slightly thicker than 1mm), and someone's calculation further down the thread confirms this as the expectation.

That's a really nice combo you have for singles and doubles, and the RF97 bumper mod has piqued my curiosity. Got any pics of it? I need to play with the RF97 a bit more first, but that might be the perfect way to match the 6.1 95 specs, which I think is a reasonable thing to try to do given the similarities in playability. Either that or just weight the butt to get my preferred balance (to hell with the static weight) and see how that goes. After all, I just weighed my n90, and it's up at 377, but it feels easier to swing than my K90 at 369. Same swing weight, just more headlight.

I love my tour 90s, but the PS97S, 6.1 95 and RF97 are absolute gems too, and honestly, I just shank the ball a hell of a lot less with them. Hopefully one day the gap will be bridged, but if Fed was still a shanker with the 90s, I doubt I'll fare any better.

 

[j1mster]

Oh, I think you'd be fine. It's not really making new pallets so much as cutting and glueing a few strips on top using a Stanley knife and superglue. While I'm at it I also build up the butt with an extra layer to have it nice and flared. I got the idea from another user here (https://tt.tennis-warehouse.com/ind...p-size-using-balsa-wood-with-pictures.482746/), although they must be using lighter/thinner wood as well as not putting an extra layer on the butt cap, because I add around 10 grams versus their 3. I didn't bother varnishing though, so that's a gram in my favour! Something to note for anything wanting to try this: I think the OP is wrong about the grip size increase. 1mm sheets gave a two-size increase for me (a bit more, because the sheets are slightly thicker than 1mm), and someone's calculation further down the thread confirms this as the expectation.

That's a really nice combo you have for singles and doubles, and the RF97 bumper mod has piqued my curiosity. Got any pics of it? I need to play with the RF97 a bit more first, but that might be the perfect way to match the 6.1 95 specs, which I think is a reasonable thing to try to do given the similarities in playability. Either that or just weight the butt to get my preferred balance (to hell with the static weight) and see how that goes. After all, I just weighed my n90, and it's up at 377, but it feels easier to swing than my K90 at 369. Same swing weight, just more headlight.

I love my tour 90s, but the PS97S, 6.1 95 and RF97 are absolute gems too, and honestly, I just shank the ball a hell of a lot less with them. Hopefully one day the gap will be bridged, but if Fed was still a shanker with the 90s, I doubt I'll fare any better.

I actually used prostaff 90s prior to RF and 97S but here is pic of one of my rf97 with bumper trimmed(no other mods aside from that). I stopped playing with 90s after realizing that im getting old and harder to beat my students when ever they challenge me in a match lol i still have the 2014 prostaff 90 and kfactor 90. i sold off all my other ncodes and etc. even tho the balance of my mod 97S and mod RF97 are similar they play differently, launch angle slightly different but not a huge difference. My slices and serves were always felt better with thinner beams, it took some time to adjust to the RF97 thick beams. With the 97S my shots are not as powerful and my friends often notice the difference when i switch up the rackets mid match. The RF gives me alot more power and less control than 97S.

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[Joepink]

Hey guys- I have 97s gen 2 for sale in good condition - grip size 1/4 if anyone is interested.

 

[maxplough]

I'm still thrilled with this racquet and love to hit with it when I fancy a change from my 6.1s.

I have the second gen. version modified up to 373g and 360ish SW (8g lead between 10 and 2, 18g at top of handle, and the rest in the butt). It's at 8 pts HL. Since I've put a fair bit on the hoop, and IME, racquets that are natively heavy there feel better than leaded-up racquets, I've considered trying the 1st gen. version and weighting up the handle to get similar specs as the above but without the need for lead. I've just noticed the beam profile changed from the first to the second, and that the first is more like the PS97 and RF97 (albeit thinner). I like the RF97 but hated the PS97, so I haven't a strong prior about what to expect from that beam, and I suppose my differing opinions of the two racquets proves that the beam isn't the major determinant.

Has anyone compared the two versions directly and can comment on feel and power differences between the two?

 

[ey039524]

I just bought 2 gen 2s. I can't wait. I will probably start by adding weight to the handle to make them more HL.

 

[carlosrothstein]

I still have my PS 97S still for sale if anyone is looking for it just drop a line.

 

[maxplough]

As a postscript to my post above, I did the right thing and read back through some of the thread, and sure enough, a few pointers were there to be found comparing the two versions, summarised as follows:

* V2 is somewhat stiffer and crisper feeling than V1

* The string spacing varies less across the bed in V1 with respect to V2, such that the string bed is more open in the centre in V1 (EDIT: Hmm, this helpful picture from moon shot shows the two racquets almost side by side. To my eye, it looks like V1 has a narrower cross spacing towards the top of the hoop and a wider one towards the bottom. I'm not sure there's much of a difference in the centre tbh, but the mains do look to be more evenly spaced in the V1 and more graduated in the V2: http://tt.tennis-warehouse.com/index.php?threads/official-pro-staff-97-s-club.548568/post-10633653)

* In keeping with the above, a few comments suggest that the spin is greater from V1

If anyone knows how the power differs between the two when controlling for swing weight, if at all, I'd be interested to hear it.

 

[ey039524]

Just got one of my v2 yesterday, strung it up w nat gut x ZX (crosses) @ 40 lbs, and had a hit w it in a dubs live ball clinic this a.m.:

My initial thought is that it is very thin and low powered compared to my v13 100 and my RF v11, which is what I'm after. Even w the soft strings and low tension, I still can't hit my ohbh w/o feeling a slight pain in my elbow, so I'm stuck w a 2hbh (sigh).

Strung w a dampener, it weighs 337 g. It's 2 points HL. Would like it more HL w/o adding too much more weight. Next step will be to add a few more g to the butt cap and see how it feels.

Shocked to see how little difference in area there is between my 100 and the 97. The only difference is in the bottom "corners" of the hoop by less than the width of the frame.

Edit: I just bought 3 more v2s this a.m. for $100/each. I'm fully invested now, haha. Also have some tungsten putty on order to weight these up properly. My previous PS 100s were approximately 348 g.

 

[Joepink]

Think any chance Wilson will roll out a 97s with next gen of pro staffs (later this year)? Or is their poster boy for the racket (Dimitrov) just too washed out for this to be a possibility?

 

[Automatix]

Think any chance Wilson will roll out a 97s with next gen of pro staffs (later this year)? Or is their poster boy for the racket (Dimitrov) just too washed out for this to be a possibility?

They won't since the sales weren't good. Additionally Wilson mostly dropped the "S" patterns - they're not present in the Clash, Pro Staff and Blade lineups IIRC.
From my perspective the poor sales were due to the "H22 syndrome" as in high swingweight and close to neutral balance when strung.
Check out the boards in most cases (97S, H22, Blade Pro) people add weight to the handle because these frames are too cluby.

 

[j1mster]

Think any chance Wilson will roll out a 97s with next gen of pro staffs (later this year)? Or is their poster boy for the racket (Dimitrov) just too washed out for this to be a possibility?

Definitely NOT... Dimitrov have switched rackets so many times since 2015, 93,95,97,93, 95... according to some stringers hes now using RF97 mold but 18x17 and customized with his own weight. Unless he wins a grand slam, I doubt wilson will release his signature frame again.

 

[Joepink]

They won't since the sales weren't good. Additionally Wilson mostly dropped the "S" patterns - they're not present in the Clash, Pro Staff and Blade lineups IIRC.
From my perspective the poor sales were due to the "H22 syndrome" as in high swingweight and close to neutral balance when strung.
Check out the boards in most cases (97S, H22, Blade Pro) people add weight to the handle because these frames are too cluby.

I get that - i very much doubt anyone played with it the racket without some extra weight in the handle - its just a shame that the when adding a few grams a weight to make more HL the combination of the string pattern, beam width (felt more flexy than the RA would suggest) made it an awesome racket to use

 

[ey039524]

I don't get how 18x17 is labeled as spin. It actually has more intersections than a 16x19.

Edit: here's Dimitrov's v13 racquet
https://www.prostocktennis.com/coll...trov-personal-wilson-pro-staff-97-v13-paint-5

 

[kabob]

I don't get how 18x17 is labeled as spin. It actually has more intersections than a 16x19.

Edit: here's Dimitrov's v13 racquet
https://www.prostocktennis.com/coll...trov-personal-wilson-pro-staff-97-v13-paint-5

The crosses are so widely spaced at the lower 1/3 of the stringbed that the mains deflect and pocket the ball for massive spin. I bought a pair of the 97S years ago and left them in a closet. Recently restrung them, added tungsten paste in the buttcap and am starting to play with them to save my elbow. They’re taking some getting used to in order to flatten out the ball but so much more plush than the RF97.

 

[ekucheraw]

Just ordered my first 97s (V11) and am excited to give it a shot. Got the itch for a thin beam experience the other day but the 6.1 90 just wasn’t scratching that feeling. Any general customization recommendations people have?

 

[Dae18]

Just ordered my first 97s (V11) and am excited to give it a shot. Got the itch for a thin beam experience the other day but the 6.1 90 just wasn’t scratching that feeling. Any general customization recommendations people have?

Never tried/used the PS97s Gen2 but I have own/used the Gen1 (V10) which I liked a lot. The mold of those two gens are different cause Gen2 is more traditional boxed beam where Gen1 is more modern. As for everything else is similar except for the SW. Gen1 was generous with a good SW around 330-335ish. I believe Gen2 cut it off by like 10-15pts. Customizing, I would recommend some lead at 3-9 for stability given the thinner beam and perhaps a lil more lead if needed at 12

 

[ey039524]

The crosses are so widely spaced at the lower 1/3 of the stringbed that the mains deflect and pocket the ball for massive spin. I bought a pair of the 97S years ago and left them in a closet. Recently restrung them, added tungsten paste in the buttcap and am starting to okay with them to save my elbow. They’re taking some getting used to in order to flatten out the ball but so much more plush than the RF97.

My son actually used them. He had 4, but we had a hard time getting them to match b/c of Wilson QC. He moved on to the VCP 97, and I'm using the Phantoms now, after a stint w/ the PS 7.5 95 (I had TE in the past). I need to sell his remaining 97s (2 of them cracked).

 

[SpinToWin]

Grave digging in broad daylight!!!

 

[SpinToWin]

Kidding aside it’s a lovely frame, wonder how I’d get along with it if I still had it. A bit launchy though, would prefer it with Dimi’s current 18x18 I think

 

[maxplough]

I'm a Gravity Pro man these days, but the 97S is still a top-3 all-time feel frame for me. I won't be getting rid of my V2, which I was sent instead of a 97 I thought I was buying (which I ended up hating when I eventually tried it).

I might actually string it up with my current gut/poly setup. I think it'd feel amazing.

 

[kabob]

Grave digging in broad daylight!!!

Digging them out of my closet after 8 yrs was the same experience! Truthfully I was just reading through the comments to see what previous posts had to say about adding weight since stock the 97S V10/gen 1 has insufficient plowthrough and even balance felt wonky.

 

[ey039524]

Digging them out of my closet after 8 yrs was the same experience! Truthfully I was just reading through the comments to see what previous posts had to say about adding weight since stock the 97S V10/gen 1 has insufficient plowthrough and even balance felt wonky.

The balance was all over the place w/ my son's 4 that he had, which is why he switched to the VCP 97. It was impossible to get the balance to match w/o 10 g differences in static weight. No idea how varied the swing weights must've been.

 

[Automatix]

That boxier mold was dope.
Sadly the swingweight in combination with an almost even balance made it a H22/Blade Pro wannabe in terms of heft.
With a more "2000s" unstrung spec combo e.g. 300g and 320mm there would be more room to match specs not to mention get it to your desired ones.

 

[kabob]

The balance was all over the place w/ my son's 4 that he had, which is why he switched to the VCP 97. It was impossible to get the balance to match w/o 10 g differences in static weight. No idea how varied the swing weights must've been.

I admit the balance is off with my two 97S although they at least weigh exactly the same. The more head light one has a little more tungsten in the handle to somewhat match the feel of the other that’s closer to even-balance.