In the fairway woods — which also come in standard, low-spinning and draw-biased versions — those crown turbulators have been replaced by three alignment aid dots. The role of mph accelerator is now being played by a combination of Facewrap technology and Spinsistency. The former is a maraging steel face that extends to the crown and sole to increase flexing at impact and, with it, yardage. The latter is a more complexly curved clubface with a modified roll profile versus the prior G410 model. Less loft low on the clubface produces more distance on shots struck there, thanks to normalized spin and increased ball speed. Yet forgiveness remains at least as good as ever, thanks in large measure to the high-density tungsten back weight that increases stability and tightens dispersion. All of which is to say, you can have your steak and the sizzle too.
Says Wood of Ping woods: “Trying to fit a bunch of different golfers is a lot easier when you think about it from the start, knowing that that’s the goal. We have years of experience at this—we’re not building any one club; we’re building a system of club options to get everyone the best possible club for them. When you think of it like that, it becomes more of a systems engineering–type endeavor than just ‘We need lots of different clubs.’”
Seen in this light, it becomes a little less counterintuitive that, in its woods development and elsewhere, Ping’s engineers and designers emphasize human testing at least as much as robot testing, if not more. In fact, Wood notes that a lot of his department’s brainpower is put toward how to best set up human testing—how to design experiments and run statistics and parse data to understand the entire population and its constituent parts, not just a single golfer or old dependable Iron Byron.
“If we just need to make the robot perform better, that’s easy,” he says. “In human testing, each person is almost a different experiment.”
Each person chasing maximum distance without wanting to sacrifice accuracy should experiment with the G425s, pronto. — Evan Rothman
PING DRIVER REVIEWS
Ping G425
We Tested: G425 Max: 9°, 10.5°, 12°; G425 SFT: 10.5°; G425 LST: 9°, 10.5°
Our take: Most of golf’s big dogs come in either of two breeds: sturdy, stable and dependable, like a St. Bernard, or flashy, dashing, off-to-the-races distance, like a greyhound. But Ping’s G425 was like the ideal mutt, combining the best of both breeds. Hitting the Max version of the Turbulator-crowned driver, one tester gushed, “This is the club I’d be walking home with. It goes so far—the ball flight seems like a rocket, like it has a gear the others don’t.” The G425’s bark was just as popular, as players complimented its deep, booming note at impact.
Ping G425 Max driver
Robot’s take: G425 Max: The Max proved to be the most forgiving G425 driver across more points on the face. Off-center hits had minimal loss of distance, making it the ideal choice for golfers who want an all-around performer; G425 LST: The low-spinning choice in the G425 line, the LST had minimal distance drop-off on toe hits — a region where better players often miss. Trajectories were penetrating and consistent; G425 SFT: The draw bias worked well in our tests, especially on hits on the heel and high center. Its slice-correcting performance will be welcomed by players who need it.
The details: Our breeding metaphor isn’t just whimsical—it’s appropriate, too. Ping underscores that the G425 series combines technology from prior models to produce varying emphases. Thanks to a 26-gram adjustable tungsten weight in the back of the head, the G425 Max is the company’s most-forgiving and highest-launching driver ever, per Ping. Slicers among us should gravitate toward the G425 SFT due to its draw bias, while fast swingers should first check out the G425 LST due to its spin-reducing design.
Ping G425 SFT driver
