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

[Homerun2Birdie]

Got a chance to hit all the new big dogs on the LM today. The headweight comments for ping are no joke. Felt like I had an anvil at the end of the shaft haha. That said, performance was fine. Not better,  not worse than my 410 LST. I noticed nothing better or worse on miss hits. My miss is low, spin still shot up, short and in play. Max wasn’t even close to playable for me. Center hits were outrageous spin for me. SIM2 was the surprising winner of the battle royale, so much so I actually think it’s going to unseat the 410LST. 

[jeffrey r]

I was able to give some of the G425 drivers a run this morning at PGASS.  Ton of snow on the ground, and more on the way, so can't go out on the course and nothing better to do.

 

It was an interesting demo session.  Started out with what I thought would be a good combo to start with, the G425 Max with Tensei Orange 65 S.  I suggested 9* head, store guy wanted to start with 10.5* so whatever, went with him.  It was crazy, as I was spinning so ridiculously high (like 5-6,000), and hitting under 200 yds total distance, that I thought the monitor was broken or something.  It was like the opposite of what you expect from a store monitor.  This was demoralizing, lol.

 

Anyway, I won't bore you with all of the details, but we ended up eventually getting the spin down and distance up closer to where it should be.  Before finally going to the 9* Max head which was the correct loft for me, he threw in the G425 LS, which was a typical low spin driver for me--great when I pured it, and too punitive when I did not. 

 

We did not circle back with enough shafts for me to actually make a purchase, but we did settle on a nice combo when the employee/fitter threw in the Alta CB 55 X-stiff (unusual for me), with the 9* head.  That got spin down into the low-mid 2000's and got my distance up around 240 (which I considered good for this monitor).  Anyway, I would not buy anything until I can try the 9* Max head with more shafts, including stiff.

 

Interestingly, I did not find the Max sound as offensive as I was expecting coming from the early reports, but I would surely do hot melt if I were to end up doing a custom order.  It can use some sound dampening.  I suspect that if I had brought my 9* G400 Max with Evenflow Black stiff, I would not have seen much in the way of gains with the G425, but I'll try to do that comparison (plus my Callaway drivers) when I do more demoing.  YMMV.

Edited February 6, 2021 by jeffrey r

[Homerun2Birdie]

14 hours ago, Homerun2Birdie said:

Got a chance to hit all the new big dogs on the LM today. The headweight comments for ping are no joke. Felt like I had an anvil at the end of the shaft haha. That said, performance was fine. Not better,  not worse than my 410 LST. I noticed nothing better or worse on miss hits. My miss is low, spin still shot up, short and in play. Max wasn’t even close to playable for me. Center hits were outrageous spin for me. SIM2 was the surprising winner of the battle royale, so much so I actually think it’s going to unseat the 410LST. 

Here are some numbers of my 410 LST Gamer. You can see I just need something more manageable spin wise, as even middle/middle strikes like this are just too high spin for my taste. The 425 provided negligible changes in launch/spin for me. The only head that brought spin to a manageable level was the SIM2. That said, 425LST, TSi3, and SIM2 are without a shadow of a doubt the winners of 2021. Callaway whiffed super hard. Mizuno hype train wasn’t met. Srixon was fine, not worth the price. 

[Radeon962]

Hit the 425 Max 14.5 Tensei Orange vs the Tsi2 15 Tenseit Raw White and did not care for either.

 

Max was very loud and somewhat harsh feeling at impact.  Seemed to want to go left in the stock setting.  Very high launch so easy off the deck.

 

TSi2 felt and looked much better.  Much better sound and feel but something about it did not fit my swing.  Seemed to have more spin than I’m used to.

 

Currently going between a Mavrik SZ 15 Aldila Rogue White and PXG 0314X Gen 2 Diamana S 70 Limited.

 

Prefer the look and feel of both of these.  Feel and sound is more like the TSi2 but with less spin.

 

Hitting range balls so that plays into sound and feel but don’t see any reason for me to look at switching to the Ping or Titleist.

[Kid B]

@Homerun2Birdie

 

Would you say that your 425LST numbers were similar enough that you couldn't justify making the switch?  For whatever reason, I didn't get the same performance out of the 410 as you do if that's the case.  Not tremendously worse, but just enough that I wouldn't have purchased a 410 over the SIM I had in my bag.

 

Also what's your swing speed and attack angle here?  If you remember

[Homerun2Birdie]

10 minutes ago, Kid B said:

@Homerun2Birdie

 

Would you say that your 425LST numbers were similar enough that you couldn't justify making the switch?  For whatever reason, I didn't get the same performance out of the 410 as you do if that's the case.  Not tremendously worse, but just enough that I wouldn't have purchased a 410 over the SIM I had in my bag.

 

Also what's your swing speed and attack angle here?  If you remember

425 numbers were essentially the same. If I was a tour player and could hit 10 balls with each exactly the same I might find some variances, but being a mere mortal if I didn’t look at the bottom of the club before hitting I wouldn’t know which was which and the numbers wouldn’t allude one way or the other. I don’t know on this particular swing, but SS is usually around 123 and AoA is usually around 6.5-7.

[Unteachable]

i played my first round with the 425 max 3 wood and 425 3 hybrid today and really enjoyed them.  The hybrid is hot off the face and i hit it very straight.  3 wood is a bomber as well.  Much better than my previous g400

[bobbyclampett!!]

Welp, got two hours in today at Club Champion. I think the main thing I learned (re-learned, for the thousandth time) is that I don't like hitting balls indoors into a screen over a short and limited time frame. Especially when, anyone had this experience, the Trackman and your ball are set up well right of the center line on the screen? So you actually need to aim like two feet right of the white line down the middle you see on screen? And if you hit it straight  two feet right of center I guess it shows on the screen as going straight down the white line in the middle?  Not sure if that makes sense. I think subconsciously my mind/body was trying to pull or hook it over to the white line. I pretty much smother hooked every ball with every club I hit, including my own clubs, which I don't usually do. Anyway, the whole thing was pretty much a fail. I also don't care for all that club connex hardware down by the hosel and the small grips (I use midsize) and swingweights all over the place...

 

G425 Max looked like it sat superclosed at address, could never get used to it, especially given the problems noted above. Had a few good hits with the LST, which looked better at address. I also hit TSi, Epic, Cobra, Sim2. None gave me any good results. Certainly nothing beat my G400 Max with AD GP 7X. I guess the good news is that I got on the Trackman with my G400 Max and confirmed that it wasn't spinning or climbing too much. 2,500 average, which was good for me. Same story for my i200 irons. Although I must say the ZX7, Apex Pro, and P7MC are all gorgeous irons. ZX7 was the hottest and most forgiving, while looking sleek and sexy at address and feeling buttery soft. I was very impressed with that iron.

 

Anyway, I am not buying anything this year, or maybe for a lot of years, until I can no longer make my current equipment perform because of health or physical issues from age. I don't see how I will get massive gains from new clubs, especially as my current ones seem to be well-fit for me now. I think I will get way better results just continuing to get used the equipment I have now. Although I think I'll keep asking my buddy to hit his G410 Plus with TourX 65 shaft. That was kind of love at first sight. Although that could be because I hit that one outdoors, not indoors. Would be fun to pick one of those up for cheaper following all the G425 hype. Sorry Ping. I still love you.

 

 

[Jut]

17 minutes ago, Unteachable said:

i played my first round with the 425 max 3 wood and 425 3 hybrid today and really enjoyed them.  The hybrid is hot off the face and i hit it very straight.  3 wood is a bomber as well.  Much better than my previous g400

Which shaft did you end up with in the hybrid?  

[Unteachable]

19 minutes ago, Jut said:

Which shaft did you end up with in the hybrid?  

Ping Tour 85

[Brooks_Cupcake]

55 minutes ago, Jut said:

Which shaft did you end up with in the hybrid?  

Rogue Black 95 TX for myself

[Kid B]

@bobbyclampett!!

 

With the trackman indoors I usually try to have it lined up so that I can set my feet parallel to the edge of the mat. Or just tape an alignment stick to the floor and set up on that. I do this at CC when I’m there. That way you can line up the same way every time, and even if you’re not in line with what the trackman thinks is centered you can just hit your shots at the same spot every time. Forget about what the monitor says is dead center, your dispersion chart will be accurate because your target line is consistent. 
 

I agree with you though, indoor fittings aren’t ideal and require a workaround to be useful. If you can adjust to the wonkiness it’s pretty good

[flubberlange]

Quick question - do I need Arccos sensors on all my clubs to use the Arccos sensor that comes with the Ping drivers? I only have that one sensor. I can pair the sensor with the app/my iPhone but nothing happens. It doesn’t detect drives automatically and I can’t find any options to start/stop yardage counting. I seem to remember a few years ago Arccos advertising driver only sensors???

 

If I need sensors on all clubs, I’ll just delete the app.

[rjp217]

Finally got to see one of these firsthand at Golf Galaxy and I am pretty surprised how closed the Max’s face is. The shaft was in a neutral setting as well. Is this normal for the Max and in years past? It’s either that or my eye is predisposed to the open setting of my M3, haha. Anyway, not sure I could get used to that if that’s the case.

[RIDEamountain]

1 minute ago, rjp217 said:

Finally got to see one of these firsthand at Golf Galaxy and I am pretty surprised how closed the Max’s face is. The shaft was in a neutral setting as well. Is this normal for the Max and in years past? It’s either that or my eye is predisposed to the open setting of my M3, haha. Anyway, not sure I could get used to that if that’s the case.

I handled one as well but did not have the same experience...and I'm coming from an Epic Sub Zero Triple Diamond. Seemed fairly square to my eye. 

 

RIDE 

[rjp217]

1 minute ago, RIDEamountain said:

I handled one as well but did not have the same experience...and I'm coming from an Epic Sub Zero Triple Diamond. Seemed fairly square to my eye. 

 

RIDE 

Ok, bizarre. I compared it to the TSIs as well and those seemed pretty neutral.

[peteypro]

I think it sits neutral too.

[pgatw]

Sits neutral to my eye.

[Elee913]

closed to my eye too.  but that said, i don't notice a draw bias on the club, so i am probably wrong.  

[Socrates]

2 hours ago, rjp217 said:

Finally got to see one of these firsthand at Golf Galaxy and I am pretty surprised how closed the Max’s face is. The shaft was in a neutral setting as well. Is this normal for the Max and in years past? It’s either that or my eye is predisposed to the open setting of my M3, haha. Anyway, not sure I could get used to that if that’s the case.

Yeah, not sure what you see, but the 425 Max is very square. 

[rjp217]

35 minutes ago, Socrates said:

Yeah, not sure what you see, but the 425 Max is very square. 

I’ll try to get back in there in the next day or so and snap a pic

[Brooks_Cupcake]

10 minutes ago, rjp217 said:

I’ll try to get back in there in the next day or so and snap a pic

Wont make a difference to what people see.

Its all how you hold a club, what your dominant eye is, and “your” perception of offset vs no-offset/open-closed.

 

Personally, I can’t stand when I’m asked to provide pics at address because how I hold a camera and the club at the same time could completely skew the receiver’s perspective of the picture

 

[rjp217]

2 minutes ago, Brooks Cupcake said:

Wont make a difference to what people see.

Its all how you hold a club, what your dominant eye is, and “your” perception of offset vs no-offset/open-closed.

 

Personally, I can’t stand when I’m asked to provide pics at address because how I hold a camera and the club at the same time could completely skew the receiver’s perspective of the picture

 

I guess so. Just seemed like the toe was clearly more closed than the next closest driver (TSI2/3) I grabbed to compare. 

[awtryau89]

Got to hit the 3 woods outside this weekend with my pro watching for a quasi-fitting session. I played the G410 LST early on and then went to the standard. The 410 LST was not easy to hit for me. The standard was a very good club on the forgiveness scale but I had to turn it down to the big minus to control spin. The new 425s for me launched much higher. The Max is crazy easy to hit. I literally think it may be the easiest fairway I have ever hit. Just so easy to launch but peak window was probably a bit too high. Very easy to turn over as well. I turned it down into the flat -1* setting and it was very good. I wasn't even going to try the LST due to my experience with the 410 LST but glad I did. With the 425 LST I couldn't miss the center of the face. Still launched high but not as much as the Max. The spin is so controlled. You could see the ball downrange just stay in the air much longer than the Max. Sound on the LST is also worlds better to my ears. Move the LST to the flat -1* and continued to hit it in the screws. I was using my Ventus Blue from my 410 for reference. Fairway woods are fickle. I would tell anyone to put these Pings on their demo list. They have definitely improved them more-so than the drivers IMO.

[bobbyclampett!!]

2 hours ago, Brooks Cupcake said:

Wont make a difference to what people see.

Its all how you hold a club, what your dominant eye is, and “your” perception of offset vs no-offset/open-closed.

 

Personally, I can’t stand when I’m asked to provide pics at address because how I hold a camera and the club at the same time could completely skew the receiver’s perspective of the picture

 

I agree with that. Plus, I picked one up in a PGASS yesterday to see if I saw the same thing I saw at Club Champion on Saturday. The Max I picked up at PGASS didn't look as closed as the one I saw in CC. I swear there was something with the lighting or the shadows at CC that just made the Max look super closed at address. Didn't look so bad at PGASS with better lighting, but still definitely not open. It did help quite a bit to put it in the small minus setting at CC, but of course that changes some of its launch characteristics as well.  

I've decided the only true way to test these and give them their fair shake will be outdoors at a Ping Demo Day this summer up against my G400 Max, if they are still doing those...

[Tzoid]

On 2/8/2021 at 5:03 PM, rjp217 said:

I guess so. Just seemed like the toe was clearly more closed than the next closest driver (TSI2/3) I grabbed to compare. 

Take two drivers Side By Side and one always looks "Closed" then swap positions and the other driver looks " Closed"  .  It doesn't mean they are both "Closed" It's your eyes 

screwing with you.  

[Tzoid]

Does it concern anyone else that if they get any new Ping with Arccos Smart Grip and then decide it's not for them and Re-Grip with any standard grip their club will

be 1/4" to 1/2" shorter than spec.  I called Ping to confirm and they didn't get specific but verified it would be shorter in that scenario.   I'm such a head case I had my 

custom fitter call Ping and change my order to a Tour Velvet 360.  

 

This effects every Club that is purchased with Arccos and I just never thought about it because I never used it.   I understand Cobra users has had the same discussion over the years with Cobra Connect - Arccos.  

 

  Thoughts??   

Edited February 11, 2021 by Tzoid

[pmang]

9 minutes ago, Tzoid said:

Does it concern anyone else that if they get any new Ping with Arccos Smart Grip and then decide it's not for them and Re-Grip with any standard grip their club will

be 1/4" to 1/2" shorter than spec.  I called Ping to confirm and they didn't get specific but verified it would be shorter in that scenario.   I'm such a head case I had my 

custom fitter call Ping and change my order to a Tour Velvet 360.  

 

This effects every Club that is purchased with Arccos and I just never thought about it because I never used it.   I understand Cobra users has had the same discussion over the years with Cobra Connect - Arccos.  

 

  Thoughts??   

Yes, this is a wee bit annoying. I have graphite extensions that I’ll be using when I regrip mine. And I will be regripping  this weekend. Yesterday I received my G425 Driver, 5 wood and hybrid. I have a Ventus Velocore Red stiff I’ll be trying in the driver. I’ve also ordered lighter replacement weights for the driver. I’ll be playing it at 45.25”. I might need to hot melt to get to the desirable D3 swingweight. We’ll see how it goes.

Edited February 11, 2021 by pmang
Change length

[Tzoid]

2 minutes ago, pmang said:

Yes, this is a wee bit annoying. I have graphite extensions that I’ll be using when I regrip mine. And I will be regripping  this weekend. Yesterday I received my G425 Driver, 5 wood and hybrid. I have a Ventus Velocore Red stiff I’ll be trying in the driver. I’ve also ordered lighter replacement weights for the driver. I’ll be playing it at 42.25”. I might need to hot melt to get to the desirable D3 swingweight. We’ll see how it goes.

That's 5 Wood length in your Driver.....  That's a tricky build.   Good Luck 

[pmang]

2 minutes ago, Tzoid said:

That's 5 Wood length in your Driver.....  That's a tricky build.   Good Luck 

I thought I typed 45.25”?