Ping G425 closer than we think? (In hand Pics Pg. 16)

[Celeras]

I

44 minutes ago, GolfTurkey said:

 

I think this might have been a byproduct of Ping's strange release where it was available elsewhere but NA and Europe had to pretend G425 didn't exist. I saw the TXG guys criticizing this as bizarre on two separate occasions (and I don't sit through their Q&A videos), and they are as mild-mannered as it gets, at least on camera.

 

I'm sure that many other reviewers had similar feelings and I would imagine that even given their best intentions of being objective during a review that a generally annoyed attitude towards Ping could influence things negatively. E.g. I thought that Ian from TXG wasn't too interested in trying to optimize the G425 driver after poor initial results and that Matt had to coax him into trying varying shaft options etc.

Huh? It's not a byproduct of anything that Ping did. Ian replied to me on YouTube regarding the swing weight, and he was using a 46 inch Ventus shaft to make the swing weight that heavy. That was his call, and yeah I agree it's a bit questionable at best. I'd wait for the fits.

[Celeras]

Really interesting tidbit (shocking really) from the site that shall not be mentioned:

 

"Here where things get particularly interesting.

 

I’ve mentioned that moving weights to the draw position almost invariably means giving up some MOI. That’s not the case with the PING G425 MAX driver. Because of the shape and placement of the weight track, MOI is actually at its highest when the weight is in the draw position."

[GolfTurkey]

5 minutes ago, Celeras said:

I

Huh? It's not a byproduct of anything that Ping did. Ian replied to me on YouTube regarding the swing weight, and he was using a 46 inch Ventus shaft to make the swing weight that heavy. That was his call, and yeah I agree it's a bit questionable at best. I'd wait for the fits.

 

I was responding mainly to " They really didn't give stellar , shining reviews of the new G425 ". IMO this was a risk that Ping was running with their weird release which annoyed reviewers (I'm sure TXG were not the only ones) in advance of their reviews. Quite easy for the reviews to be biased negatively in that case, there's a lot of subjective interpreting of sound, feel, look and even numbers.

Edited January 12, 2021 by GolfTurkey

[Deuce78]

4 minutes ago, Celeras said:

I

Huh? It's not a byproduct of anything that Ping did. Ian replied to me on YouTube regarding the swing weight, and he was using a 46 inch Ventus shaft to make the swing weight that heavy. That was his call, and yeah I agree it's a bit questionable at best. I'd wait for the fits.

It was a terrible decision for a product debut...they have had the heads....they have a scale.....they have a swingweight scale.....heck they even have lead tape they could have used to make shift a lighter weight.  then he compared the sledge hammer to his gamer....never had a chance at better....poor video because poor planning and choices....

[Celeras]

1 minute ago, Deuce78 said:

It was a terrible decision for a product debut...they have had the heads....they have a scale.....they have a swingweight scale.....heck they even have lead tape they could have used to make shift a lighter weight.  then he compared the sledge hammer to his gamer....never had a chance at better....poor video because poor planning and choices....

I agree but I'm not going to kill them for it.. it was just the first look livestream. TXGs actual review will be top notch like they always are. 

[Homerun2Birdie]

TXG will do a thorough review within the next few days I’m sure. I expect we will see a lot of the same of what we are seeing elsewhere. Similar numbers to 410, raving about the Max stability, deploring the Max sound, and Max and LST spin being unnecessarily similar to one another. 

 

Ping is Ping. People want to applaud them for doing things their way, but finally their stubbornness may have caught them. That said, they’ll sell a ton of these and they’ll be at the top of the discussion for driver of the year. So in the end I’m sure they couldn’t care less. 

[Nixhex524]

Hit the 425 LST 9* with the Tour 65 stiff today.  It reminded me exactly of the 410 LST, in almost every way.  I was expecting big things from this one, but I expect to see 410s start flying off the shelves even more now, or whatever is left.  Its a nice looking club, no doubt but I dont think there was anything there to make me want to switch if I had a 410 LST.

[jadedennill]

Does anyone have a launch comparison loft for loft between the 400 Max and the 425 Max? 
They say it’ll spin less, but I’m curious about launch. I launched the 400 Max 9* perfectly but spun it slightly too much. I’m hoping the 425 Max will launch the same or even slightly higher but spin a little less. That might be asking for too much though. 

[Bunkersarebigcups]

2 hours ago, Homerun2Birdie said:

TXG will do a thorough review within the next few days I’m sure. I expect we will see a lot of the same of what we are seeing elsewhere. Similar numbers to 410, raving about the Max stability, deploring the Max sound, and Max and LST spin being unnecessarily similar to one another. 

 

Ping is Ping. People want to applaud them for doing things their way, but finally their stubbornness may have caught them. That said, they’ll sell a ton of these and they’ll be at the top of the discussion for driver of the year. So in the end I’m sure they couldn’t care less. 

They kind of are a little bit like Mizuno with irons and Titleist with their whole range. You know what youre gonna get and there are never any bad surprises. I like that about those manufacturers.

[Holy Moses]

10 hours ago, thigos said:

Excited to try this one.  The sound concerns are overblown imo.  Put yarn in the head until it's muted to your taste.  Makes a huge difference, is removable, and doesn't effect weight like hotmelt.

That weightless yarn you have 😀

[Holy Moses]

6 hours ago, Tzoid said:

Does anyone else that watched the mainstream YouTube Influencers take away what I did?  They really didn't give stellar , shining reviews of the new G425 although

they didn't come out and say it fell short.  They did all pretty much say the sound was "Not good".   I imagine Ping isn't feeling great but they did get a win yesterday at 

the Sentry Tournament of Champions.  

 

I was ready to order a G425 Max but I may wait now 

Harris English is playing a four year old G400

[nickosbad]

TBH all of the mainstream review sites always say the same now anyway...they are too general and are always too careful to say what is the 'best'.

 

At the end of the day...apart from optimising spin and launch...every driver from the past 5/6 years will be within 5 yards of each other when hit out of the middle...that is why you see better/tour players still hitting older clubs.

 

I think that RS almost nailed the point in his review when he said that forgiveness with the Ping Max was unreal....THIS is where the gains are nowadays but I don't know if there's a way for these reviewers to truly demonstrate this unless they start using 'average golfers' and measuring dispersion instead of headline distance and carry.

 

Effectively the gains of the past few years have been about increasing the size of the effective sweet spot and increasing the parts of the face where drop off is reduced meaning to the average golfer more distance and more accuracy because even though they hit it out of the toe/heel they lost less distance and spin.

 

If reviewers can somehow nail this part of the review then we will really start to see the 'Truth'

 

 

Edited January 12, 2021 by nickosbad

[Shakespeare]

10 hours ago, TheGolfingRealtor said:

That’s impressive. They told me at least 4 weeks. 

Already?....wow...maybe because i just ordered stock fairways...but they will be here today according to fed ex tracking.  2 days to get to build..then a shipping label 2 days later...so i guess 5 days to get here.

[TomBomb51]

Not huge on the sound, based on the few YouTube reviews I've watched. I realize its over the internet with a headset on, but the sound reminds be of an old school Sumo, just hollow sounding. I was hoping that Ping went the other direction and took a page out of Taylormade's book with the more dull-thud. My G410 is safe for now.

 

EDIT - Even more disappointing is that the LST sounds more, muted? More like the 410. I am a "mid speed" player around 108MPH whos miss is a knuckler. I got fitted by Ian at TXG about a year and a half ago and he wanted to keep my spin up more which is why I am in a 410 Plus. 425 Max would be my natural fit but definitely wont be moving to it with that sound.

Edited January 12, 2021 by TomBomb51

[kmay__]

Kinda liking the fact that there isn't a drastic difference in performance between the LST and MAX, maybe some forgiveness to the MAX. So its almost like you can just pick the look of head and sound you prefer, the slightly smaller profile more muted sound, or the larger footprint, more explosive sounding model. 

[Wooderson]

I'm sorry some of y'all's takes are interesting to say the least.  The youtube reviews that I trust the most were extremely positive. From my perspective, the best golf I ever played was with a g400 max. Extremely accurate and consistent distance.  Unfortunately I fell into the sound and feel trap and went on a stupidly expensive journey that was detrimental to my game. 

 

Currently play g410 LST and TSi2. See approximately 2800-3k rpm with LST and 2200-2600 with TSi2.  TSi2 checks every box for me except I get a little squirrelly with it. If I can get back to Ping Max stability and consistency and spin in the 2200-2600 range I will not think about sound and feel again.  YMMV

[mjmurphy]

Has anyone seen the difference in MOI between the Max and LST? I have the feeling that both these heads properly fit will be really good. I am thinking max with forward melt and a lighter back weight could be the ticket. 

[PingPoncho]

As long as the G425 is accurate, solid, forgiving and provides good distance who cares that it does not meet your sound specs. You are outside hitting with all kinds of sounds around you. I have never heard so much whining about how much a driver hurts your sensitive ears. Get over it!

 

 

 

[GolfChannel]

Skipping to the end of the thread, but I know that my PGASS got their full demos of woods & crossovers yesterday.

[scott_Donald]

8 hours ago, Nixhex524 said:

Hit the 425 LST 9* with the Tour 65 stiff today.  It reminded me exactly of the 410 LST, in almost every way.  I was expecting big things from this one, but I expect to see 410s start flying off the shelves even more now, or whatever is left.  Its a nice looking club, no doubt but I dont think there was anything there to make me want to switch if I had a 410 LST.

 

I have not hit my 425 and watched a lot of the early reviews now.

 

I own a 410 LST and I love it. 

 

I have the weight in the centre of mine and its stupid forgiving. I think the 425 will show to be more forgiving with the weight off centre compared to the 410. I don't have an inclination to change to it right now but see how the year goes.

[Brooks_Cupcake]

10 hours ago, Homerun2Birdie said:

Haha holy smokes, I haven’t watched the live review. I find those to be a giant waste of time usually. But I hadn’t really heard about the SW issue just the sound one that keeps popping up everywhere. How on earth did they let a head that heavy get sent to a source like TXG? That seems like a complete oversight by someone at Ping. 

It wasn’t because of the Ping head, it’s because of their component system, the didn’t bother to adjust accordingly.

[Brooks_Cupcake]

52 minutes ago, PingPoncho said:

As long as the G425 is accurate, solid, forgiving and provides good distance who cares that it does not meet your sound specs. You are outside hitting with all kinds of sounds around you. I have never heard so much whining about how much a driver hurts your sensitive ears. Get over it!

 

 

 

Wrong - SumoSq.

G425 is not good sound in the Max, and given the propensity for the aluminum bat analogy, then people won’t get over it without adding hot melt.

[DFDLT]

I will wait until Ping discounts the 425 before I consider them. 

[endy]

9 hours ago, Deuce78 said:

It was a terrible decision for a product debut...they have had the heads....they have a scale.....they have a swingweight scale.....heck they even have lead tape they could have used to make shift a lighter weight.  then he compared the sledge hammer to his gamer....never had a chance at better....poor video because poor planning and choices....

 

I agree with this. I have a theory, though. I think they are setting it up for the classic "this is why it is so important to get fit" narrative. Obviously that is true, but I think they already know what they have with a properly fitted G425, but first wanted to show the less than stellar data before they unveil the new and improved "fitted" numbers. 

[philt90]

48 minutes ago, endy said:

 

I agree with this. I have a theory, though. I think they are setting it up for the classic "this is why it is so important to get fit" narrative. Obviously that is true, but I think they already know what they have with a properly fitted G425, but first wanted to show the less than stellar data before they unveil the new and improved "fitted" numbers. 

 

How have you got your G425 with Ventus black set up. Driver length headweight and any adjustments hot melt etc.. 

 

Im just fiddling with shaft choices and set ups in my head  

[endy]

Just now, philt90 said:

 

How have you got your G425 with Ventus black set up. Driver length headweight and any adjustments hot melt etc.. 

 

Im just fiddling with shaft choices and set ups in my head  

 

I have not gotten the 425 LST head in yet, but it will be installed in ventus black 7x tipped 1" playing 44.25". I added a 6g weight to my G410 to get it to play D4 at this build, this time around I asked Ping to add 6g hotmelt so I am guessing it should play very similar D3-D4. 

[mjmurphy]

4 minutes ago, endy said:

 

I have not gotten the 425 LST head in yet, but it will be installed in ventus black 7x tipped 1" playing 44.25". I added a 6g weight to my G410 to get it to play D4 at this build, this time around I asked Ping to add 6g hotmelt so I am guessing it should play very similar D3-D4. 

What shaft and length are you ordering to get this? Basically exactly the length I play my ventus 7x in my 410. 

[endy]

Just now, mjmurphy said:

What shaft and length are you ordering to get this? Basically exactly the length I play my ventus 7x in my 410. 

 

Using the same Ventus shaft I had installed in my G410 LST 

[Konklifer]

Anyone reversing their decision to buy sight unseen off the TXG live review either never wanted it anyway, or were just waiting for a reason to knock Ping. 

 

TXG is usually solid, but that review was a waste. Why, when you have all of the resources in the world at your disposal for a proper fit, would you not utilize them? I expected better from them. Yes, I'm a Ping fan but also someone who felt the G410 drivers & fairways were not much an improvement over the G400. G410 hybrid is great, however.

 

When the real fitted review comes out, it will be worth talking about.

 

 

[Nixhex524]

2 hours ago, PingPoncho said:

As long as the G425 is accurate, solid, forgiving and provides good distance who cares that it does not meet your sound specs. You are outside hitting with all kinds of sounds around you. I have never heard so much whining about how much a driver hurts your sensitive ears. Get over it!

 

 

 

 

I get this in theory, but there are a lot things about clubs that people are put off by and can't get past.  A lot of times it's looks.... why should sound be any different?  Ping lost a lot of people with the turbulators, some prefer a clean crown and I can understand that for those who feel that way.  $500, why settle if there's something off-putting about it?  There are so many good options out there, if Ping could dial in the sound it would be to their own benefit big time.