Tour Ping G430 LST and Max drivers, G430 Max fairway wood & G430 hybrid – 2022 Shriners Children's Open

[eric61]

I recently put a Fujikura Speeder NX Blue 70X in my G430 Max 3W and I’m absolutely loving that combo so far.

 

I play it in the flat-minus setting. To me, it sets up perfectly square and flat there, and just glides along the ground. 
 

I know there are longer 3Ws out there but it’s so easy to hit, and so accurate. The flat-minus setting helps me start the ball a bit to the left (I’m a lefty), and the Speeder NX Blue does the rest of the work for me, bringing it back right to the target. I’m getting great height but it isn’t spinning up on me, either.

[jeffrey r]

14 hours ago, mosesgolf said:

I've tried the G430 LST in 9* and 10.5*.  On solid strikes I got about the same distance.  On mishits you will notice and miss the MAX.

 

That has in fact been my experience with every low spin driver I have tried. Hit it well, it goes. Don't hit it well (which happens more than I would like I suppose), just too punitive. I suspect I would stick with the Max regardless.

[Nixhex524]

Started out with the LST at 9* with the Tour chrome 65x…. It was really good out of the gate and I barely have the Max a chance based on spin numbers and the carbon crown.  FF to a couple weeks ago and I decide to put a MAX in play.  9* also, and I am wowed by this thing.  The ball just wants to go straight and I think I am hitting this thing further than the LST.  Sound is much improved over the 425 and it just flat out performs.  Getting to hit my second shot from the fairway is something I will have to get used to again.  

[Sp33der]

Anyone know if there are any real differences between playing the LST 10,5* in big minus setting VS 9,0* in STD setting?

Tried a friends LST 10,5* set to big minus with the 2.0 Black 65X shaft and loved everything about it except that the ball flight was a tad high.
Only tried it on course so have no LM data.

Would a 9.0* std play the same way but have the option to turn it down a notch if needed, or are there anything else that would set them apart?
I have no chance of trying the LST 9.0* and have a hard time deciding with loft to go for.

 

[FletchJoy]

38 minutes ago, Sp33der said:

Anyone know if there are any real differences between playing the LST 10,5* in big minus setting VS 9,0* in STD setting?

Tried a friends LST 10,5* set to big minus with the 2.0 Black 65X shaft and loved everything about it except that the ball flight was a tad high.
Only tried it on course so have no LM data.

Would a 9.0* std play the same way but have the option to turn it down a notch if needed, or are there anything else that would set them apart?
I have no chance of trying the LST 9.0* and have a hard time deciding with loft to go for.

 

face angle, would be the biggest thing. -1 degree loft = 1 degree open face angle from standard. Vice versa for adding loft (closing face).

[vonbonds]

Cross posting this as i wrote it on THP as well a few minutes ago.

 

Holy cow, my fairway fitting went super well. I’m going to get both the G430 3W & 5W Max versions with stock Tour 2.0 75g stiff shafts. I don’t have Trackman numbers as it was so hot out the iPad and then the Trackman started to overheat lol. We did it at my home courses range so we know where balls go with whatever clubs we’re hitting. I can’t believe how easy they are to hit, it was insane the height I was getting. He didn’t have a heavy enough 4H shafts for me to try so I didn’t bother going down that path although I hit the 80 whatever gram Tour 2.0 regular shaft really well but I was afraid to get a regular shaft without trying out a stiff to compare. Once I get that club squared away I’ll be shamefully done club whoring I guess and just play what I have. Super excited to pair the Ping G430 line of fairways and hybrids with my Titleist TSR2 driver..I feel like I have the perfect combo for me!

[COmedic]

On 8/17/2023 at 5:42 AM, Sp33der said:

Anyone know if there are any real differences between playing the LST 10,5* in big minus setting VS 9,0* in STD setting?

Tried a friends LST 10,5* set to big minus with the 2.0 Black 65X shaft and loved everything about it except that the ball flight was a tad high.
Only tried it on course so have no LM data.

Would a 9.0* std play the same way but have the option to turn it down a notch if needed, or are there anything else that would set them apart?
I have no chance of trying the LST 9.0* and have a hard time deciding with loft to go for.

 

My issue with turning down my 10.5° was the open face and more frequent high fade/ block. 9° LST set flat with Chrome 2.0 65x is my sweet spot. The 9° max is also very good, but my high toe miss was punished severely with the Max vs the LST.

[RH82]

On 8/15/2023 at 10:56 AM, Nixhex524 said:

Started out with the LST at 9* with the Tour chrome 65x…. It was really good out of the gate and I barely have the Max a chance based on spin numbers and the carbon crown.  FF to a couple weeks ago and I decide to put a MAX in play.  9* also, and I am wowed by this thing.  The ball just wants to go straight and I think I am hitting this thing further than the LST.  Sound is much improved over the 425 and it just flat out performs.  Getting to hit my second shot from the fairway is something I will have to get used to again.  

Does the Max sit square for you? No draw bias? Thanks.

[Nixhex524]

5 hours ago, RH82 said:

Does the Max sit square for you? No draw bias? Thanks.

Id say slighty draw biased but nothing that feels too hooky.  Thing is, I can't argue with the results.  Ball flights are, for the most part, straight.  I may even try lofting down to 8* and see how it does, but at 9* its been a game changer.  I mostly love that Ping has finally made a forgiving driver that sounds and feels good.

[StillCantPutt]

For all the hype before its release, I haven’t heard a peep about the LST 3 wood. Is it any good? Is it that much better than the Max?

[COmedic]

15 minutes ago, StillCantPutt said:

For all the hype before its release, I haven’t heard a peep about the LST 3 wood. Is it any good? Is it that much better than the Max?

I’ll tell you in a few days when mine comes in. YouTube reviews were glowing, but I don’t think there are many out in the wild due to the price point.

[StillCantPutt]

9 hours ago, COmedic said:

I’ll tell you in a few days when mine comes in. YouTube reviews were glowing, but I don’t think there are many out in the wild due to the price point.

I ordered one too but won’t be here for a week or so. Curious as to what you like/dislike though. Keep me posted. 

[Wooderson]

19 hours ago, StillCantPutt said:

For all the hype before its release, I haven’t heard a peep about the LST 3 wood. Is it any good? Is it that much better than the Max?

 

Check out the recent fairway rankings from MGS. It did really well. 

[jeffrey r]

Well folks--after playing my G430 Max with the same shaft in the same settings for the entire season, I have made a dramatic switch. I lowered the loft from the small plus to standard loft. /s  I know, big stuff.

 

Seriously though, I wanted to give the G430 Max more of a run at standard loft. Playing a lower spinning shaft, I erred on the side of more forgiveness by lofting up a bit. Totally enjoyed the results, but I did feel like I was leaving a bit of distance on the table. Being I play a 10.5* head, there is still plenty of loft without lofting up, and I am seeing better distance without giving up too much on the forgiveness front. Thinking I will stick with this change.

[WarEagleGolf]

On 8/24/2023 at 9:42 PM, StillCantPutt said:

For all the hype before its release, I haven’t heard a peep about the LST 3 wood. Is it any good? Is it that much better than the Max?

Rocket launcher.  Solved my issue with over spinning and ballooning woods. 

 

'Almost' too long but turned it down to 16* and it's great.  To me, very easy to hit, launches high can draw or fade - mostly draw as that's my normal flight.   So far (6rounds) best 3wd I've had in years. 

 

Feels great, sound is powerful (not loud), almost like a muted driver.  

Edited August 28, 2023 by WarEagleGolf

[SwooshLT]

I'm the old ,slow guy but enjoying my G430 LST  10.5.....just like smaller footprint and sound of stretch of the MAX head .... now I added a softer tip , higher launching shaft; MATRIX white tie but the LAGP version..... actually tempted to go down to small minus!!! 😅  

Extremely stable head and deadly accurate....the fade bias has been neutralized to extent with this shaft and it seems like a great formula I've stumbled on with low spin heads/ high spin shafts .

[eric61]

I’ve been testing the G430 LST vs. the TSR3 a little lately. After getting some really impressive launch monitor numbers with the TSR3, I grabbed a used TSR3 head and took them both out the other day. 
 

The G430 LST was the winner after a round and a range session. The TSR3 has another gear (largely because of the shaft I’m testing in it, Speeder NX Blue 50X, being almost a half-inch longer and lighter than my Ventus TR Blue 6X). I hit a few balls out of the back of the driving range with it, which I’d never done before. 
 

However, the G430 LST is SO much more stable on high toe misses. They just don’t gear back nearly as much as the TSR3 does. I also believe the weight in the toe makes more of a difference with the G430 LST than it does with the TSR3 — maybe just because it’s a heavier weight. 
 

I’ve found longer set-ups than the G430 LST for me this year on launch monitors, but the G430 LST continues to be a “golf course” driver. It gets me most of my max possible distance and keeps me out of trouble so much better than anything else I’ve tried (including, weirdly enough, the G430 Max).

[Redbird]

Picked up a LST 3wd from a member here and took it the range this morning. I thought the Stealth Plus 2 was good, this thing is bananas. 😳

 

 

[SwooshLT]

5 hours ago, Redbird said:

Picked up a LST 3wd from a member here and took it the range this morning. I thought the Stealth Plus 2 was good, this thing is bananas. 😳

 

 

 

Agreed wholeheartedly......I'm not long or high launch yet this 3ti has been a joy !!! Deck or tee , the 3ti gives me another weapon.....

[COmedic]

First range session with the LST 3-wood was excellent. I had the Chrome 2.0 75 stiff with it. Ordered a TR blue 7S to try with it since I love that shaft in my way driver.

[agood3putt]

Got a G430 max 5W on order. Hoping to help my woes. Cranking it to 16.5 as I had previous success with the G425 in the same configuration. Anyone see benefits to the G430 to the G425 in the non LS fairways? 

[iNeedMoreGolf]

Someone help. Got a lst 430. First round i was hitting what i consider bombs for myself lol... 240 250 260 and even a 280 in there. Great normal flight i want to see. All of a sudden... the past few rounds the flight starts out what looks to be a bomb and then either comes down relatively quickly from a normal looking flight... or just rides out to be a normal flight but the end resul is much shorter then what im use to. Like 220 230. Im ok with 230 and most shots are very accurate which i like but anything below 230 is a no go to me. 230 and higher is perfectly ok to me but i have another driver that goes consistently 240+ and i see much long drives with that one more often. Why is this happening? Too low spin? Flight like i said looks perfect and it looks like a tottal bomb. When i get to it its 220 230? I know a bomb for myself because ive hit 270 280 290 before... so what could be the cause? Shaft is ping tour chrome 65 stiff.

[craz-e]

1 hour ago, iNeedMoreGolf said:

Someone help. Got a lst 430. First round i was hitting what i consider bombs for myself lol... 240 250 260 and even a 280 in there. Great normal flight i want to see. All of a sudden... the past few rounds the flight starts out what looks to be a bomb and then either comes down relatively quickly from a normal looking flight... or just rides out to be a normal flight but the end resul is much shorter then what im use to. Like 220 230. Im ok with 230 and most shots are very accurate which i like but anything below 230 is a no go to me. 230 and higher is perfectly ok to me but i have another driver that goes consistently 240+ and i see much long drives with that one more often. Why is this happening? Too low spin? Flight like i said looks perfect and it looks like a tottal bomb. When i get to it its 220 230? I know a bomb for myself because ive hit 270 280 290 before... so what could be the cause? Shaft is ping tour chrome 65 stiff.

 

Does sound like a lack of spin issue but only an educated guess.

Maybe try a higher spinning ball to see if you notice any difference on the course 

[vonbonds]

I want to give the Ping G430 Fairway and hybrid lineup a huge shout out. A few weeks ago I switched from my TSi3 16.5 to the G430 3 and 5 Max woods and added a 4 hybrid to the 5 hybrid I already have. All but the 5 hybrid have the Ping Tour 2.0 stiff shafts in them while the 5 hybrid has a Hzrdus red stiff. I have officially been hitting fairways off of the deck for a whole entire week lol. I have been a bit spotty with them as I put a huge dummy mark on my 3 wood on what was probably the third or fourth swing and I have a normal dummy mark on my 5 wood after a few more swings than that as the shallower face has me trying to figure out the tee height I want to use.

 

Why the shout out? I helped win our club’s member-member tournament this past weekend. I actually retired my 5 hybrid for my Srixon ZX5 iron as I was hitting my irons really well. My Titleist TSR2 driver was working really well for me too, I’ve developed a pretty decent baby fade that I am trusting and hitting more fairways thus longer drivers with the better roll out. What really did it for me though were the Ping G430 clubs. I hit several par 5s in two this weekend which isn’t normal for me even though I’m a decently long hitter, I just rarely connect on two really good swings in a row (oh yeah I played as a 12.3 and dropped to an 11.0 after entering the scores in, I guess that’s how you win these things). I was hitting bombs with my 3W off of the 7th tee which is a pretty decent dogleg left with a huge elevation change right in the middle of the fairway with a huge tree on the left that blocks you out. I hit several 3 woods over 240 there which was awesome as a driver will go OB through the fairway for me. You need to hit it far enough but not too far to have an approach to the green..it’s a b!tch of a hole for me usually lol. The 5w was handy on two tricky par 4s on the back where you need decent distance but not too far with trouble everywhere so it needs to be straight. 

 

The reason we won though was my driver was going great on the second day and once we hit the 3 hole aggregate finals with 9 other teams we had to play the 18th par 5 another five times in a sudden death playoff. We almost always got on the par 5 in two or needed a little chip to get on we were so close. I was either hitting driver or 3W off of the deck (the final is a true alternate shot format where we had to alternate tee shots on subsequent holes). We told each other screw it, we weren’t going to layup ever even when we were blocked out by a tree. We both just tried to fight it down and blast under the big tree on the right. My buddy is a 3.7 so he’s good at that, I’d just close my eyes and pray which also worked lol. 

 

I almost chickened out right before leaving for the club on the first day putting my 16.5 Titleist back in the bag with my Cleveland Hy-Wood but I figured no guts/no glory. I am getting my name on the wall with all of the other previous winners since 1922 and I have two fairway woods that look like hell after being owned for a week but I’ve pretty much figured them out now so their dummy marks are now battle scars that I’ll always love when I look down on them.

 

PS. Oh yeah I also became a pretty good putter about a week ago after fiddling with the weights in my Squareback (I went from 10g to 15g weights in the 35” putter) and I went from looking like Zalatoris putting to Denny McCarthy or JT Poston haha.

Edited September 11, 2023 by vonbonds

[Albatross Dreamer]

On 9/3/2023 at 1:16 PM, Redbird said:

Picked up a LST 3wd from a member here and took it the range this morning. I thought the Stealth Plus 2 was good, this thing is bananas. 😳

 

 

Man I had juuuuuust convinced myself to wait until after the season....

[chollier986]

On 8/19/2023 at 3:43 PM, COmedic said:

My issue with turning down my 10.5° was the open face and more frequent high fade/ block. 9° LST set flat with Chrome 2.0 65x is my sweet spot. The 9° max is also very good, but my high toe miss was punished severely with the Max vs the LST.

Punished how?  Spin, ball speed, hook city?  I am trying to decide between the 2 and that is my miss as well.

[COmedic]

6 minutes ago, chollier986 said:

Punished how?  Spin, ball speed, hook city?  I am trying to decide between the 2 and that is my miss as well.

Hook for me. LST toe seems better for preventing duck hook. Max is generally more forgiving, but I’m finding better success with LST head. Also added a Ventus TR blue. Still have a max head that I’m not ready to give up on, but LST has been a winner for me.

[3_Jack_Par]

On 9/3/2023 at 2:16 PM, Redbird said:

Picked up a LST 3wd from a member here and took it the range this morning. I thought the Stealth Plus 2 was good, this thing is bananas. 😳

 

 

I bought a LST 3 wood head to try out, thinking that it probably wouldn't be different enough from my G410 LST to be worth keeping, and I was quickly proven wrong. It's probably 20 yards longer for me, both off the tee and off the ground, and it has expanded the possibilities for getting home in two on par 5s immensely. I've been thoroughly impressed, possibly even more than I have been with the driver, which has also been great.

[SwooshLT]

On 9/2/2023 at 10:01 PM, SwooshLT said:

I'm the old ,slow guy but enjoying my G430 LST  10.5.....just like smaller footprint and sound of stretch of the MAX head .... now I added a softer tip , higher launching shaft; MATRIX white tie but the LAGP version..... actually tempted to go down to small minus!!! 😅  

Extremely stable head and deadly accurate....the fade bias has been neutralized to extent with this shaft and it seems like a great formula I've stumbled on with low spin heads/ high spin shafts .

 

So 10.5 seemed short and spinny last round....brought to store to measure spin and distance....really disparaging.....put a demo 9* lst on my shaft and gained 15yds .....perplexed by gains , I weighted both heads ....

the 10.5 came in light and the 9 head was 206 !! Anyone with these types of findings ? 

[Grouchykona]

4 hours ago, SwooshLT said:

 

So 10.5 seemed short and spinny last round....brought to store to measure spin and distance....really disparaging.....put a demo 9* lst on my shaft and gained 15yds .....perplexed by gains , I weighted both heads ....

the 10.5 came in light and the 9 head was 206 !! Anyone with these types of findings ? 

My 10.5° 430 Max head weighs in at 203g with the standard 25g backweight. Did you weigh your backweight?  Was yours a Japanese release purchase?  I heard those come in lighter.