From the weekend. I had a couple duds 2. Those were the top 4
Thanks for all replies. Head and shaft agnostic fitting it is. Totally agree swing remains somewhat of a work in progress but with same swing I would pay a fair amount for an extra 10-15 yds. Dispersion / mishit forgiveness not quite so high on my list as driver a relative strength (compared to 8 ft putts FML !!)
you think, being 20 years old back then had anything to do with the distance ? 
Although, I had tried and owned a couple of newer drivers; can’t seem to kick the 2012 Adams Speedline Tech ( 8.5 degree) out of my golf bag.
Never compared them on L/M. What I did was a few rounds of drives at my favorite par-5. Each driver will enjoy a new sleeve of golf balls from a new box. There be no excuse of how I feel, nor the condition, at the time of testing.
Ping is one of the very few that works with other manufacturers shaft engineers to match heads/shafts for optimal performance. So if you can hit a Ping driver well then it might last you longer. Maybe.
You guys are so lucky these days, to have the adjustable hosel which could switch shafts in seconds.
Back in the days, we had to pull the shaft and epoxy the new one in and wait for the epoxy to cure. Quite a bit a hassle to test out another shaft.
What took us days if not weeks to find out which shaft would work for our swing, you can do it in less than an hour with launch monitor and inter-changeable shafts.
Yeah but the courses were only 5,000 yards!!
We have a few shorter golf courses here which are quite popular. Tighter fairways and smaller greens.
Still need to putt the golf ball into the cup, right? A low scoring round at any of the golf course is no easy feat.
The chase for “perfect” equipment is endless, as we all seek an easier solution as in life in general, especially with the younger generation, always looking for a “boxed” solution as the culture is that way.
Getting a new piece of equipment is much easier than hours of labor on the driving range.
Of course, but I have a few friends that love the chase of the Holy Grail, it is what they do. But in the days you are talking about, the driver manufacturer tried hard to marry the shaft to the driver (except way back in time in the crooked stick days) and today I know of only Ping that have the engineers intimately involved with the shaft development for their heads. The rest just pass along specs. Mainly because of cost. But yes it is much easier now to try and find shafts that work for the individual, and I like it that way. Not every one is the same and not every driver head is the same. Early on I player the TM Burners and not every year was ‘hot’ some were, some were not. But in all my trial and error I found that Graphite Design shafts worked very well for me.
Can’t agree with you more!
My feeling is, the chase for the Holy Grail had been heavy on the equipment side. Often golfers forgot the one holding the tools meant more than the tools.
I know those who could basically play any set of golf clubs to score close to par.
Ping had been true to the function of the golf clubs, but they seemed to make less noise in the product lines in recent years.
Yeah, and I am not sure why. Their drivers and fairways are still among the best and I have tried their irons but always thought they were ugly (i and G series). I hit the Ping driver long just couldn’t control it. Again the G series of drivers. My opinion of PING is one of a company with integrity and committed to the art form as well as engineering. Others such as TM and Calloway - not so much. I say this butI have Cobra woods, Mizuno irons and Vokey wedges but my putter is PING!!
Odd. Wouldn’t have expected that from any of the G400 on up. They may not be the longest, but by God they’ll stay mostly straight. Different people have different experiences.
Agreed that the irons are butt ugly if you’re a Mizuno/Miura/JDM-in-general kind of guy. I am…meh about mine. They work. They muffle mishits pretty well. They’ve got spin…
I dunno. Need to play them more.
I admit I didn’t play all models but my son and my best friend both play Ping G drivers and I still occasionally try them, especially if they inserted a new shaft. But in all honesty I am pretty satisfied with my Cobras.
same feedback about Ping drivers from a couple of guys I know. They are not high speed swingers, but they have issue controlling the driver. Their face light up after they test drove the Ping drivers on a demo day. One kept repeating the words of “amazing”. It sure worked for him.
I’m the guy who will play between 7/8 degree to 11/12 degree with shafts from 47"-44 1/2" from XS to regular flex. I’m okay on adapting to what’s on hands with some practice at the range.
So yes, Ping drivers supposed to go pretty straight according to the guys I known after test driving.
It really was one of those, “Holy Sh*t! This works!!’,” moments demoing a club. Just instant, "DING-CRAACK! (the sound is God-Awful), 10-14 degrees launch,150-ish ball speed 3,000-3,200 spin, and straight. Not the end-all, be-all, but a damned good 80% solution.
It just works. 240-ish carry; 260-270 roll. Not great, but it’s pretty consistent.
Really recommend anyone who is currently fighting with their driver, to give the 425 Max a try. (and reputedly, the 400 and 410 Maxes as well) The spin is too high, the smash isn’t great (though that’s likely me), and the stock shafts aren’t amazing with feel. But it’ll get you a lot of the way there.
It’s not for the Craigers or BigDadEnergy’s of the world. They know what they’re doing, and swing a bit faster than I do. For the rest of us, who can’t practice a ton, this club ain’t bad for the job.
That is a very good number for 99.9 % of the golfers on any given day. With the rest of the game clicking, it gives the possibility of being a scratch index holder.
Most of us may sustaining this number without major injury. Tour players average just over 300 yards now and look at the statistic of injury from the younger generation of Tour Golfers. Old school golfers looked at the new golf swings on the video and predicted that we’ll see more injury from the modern golf swing that explored the use of our physical ability to the maximum potential.
Well, yeah. But I also swing that club at a Trackman-measured average 106. (The 109-110 I was getting when demoing the 425, I’ve yet to rediscover. Nerves, maybe…)
I swing my 48 degree wedge at an average 88 mph. It’s the best “feeling” club in my bag. Swing that fast—and I’d like the feel of that 48 to translate to the rest of my irons–and 240 carry is kind of meh.
More consistent contact, and better contact, is key in my case to raising ball speed, maintaining or bumping launch a tad, and dumping spin. The “DIY Driver improvement” post at GolfWRX (here) is fantastic for a simple set of tests & exercises for doing just that.
Ideally, I want (with a tiny, proportional 1W swing speed increase if/when I get the feel of that club more aligned with my 48) something in the 160-165 ball speed, 12-13 launch, 24, 2500-ish spin, draw: and that should yield something in the 270-280 carry, 290-300 total. Which is about as much as I can realistically expect. And better than the current situation. But the current situation is still very usable.
KFT guys, so younger, and more where the future of this professional sport is going, are faster still. Their Tour averages 307, and my suspicion is that you really need to be in the 310+ range to make it out to the PGA Tour from that pool. Which is total distance mind, not carry, but still I expect most of those guys to be pushing 120-125 with their 1W. Maybe more. And starting to optimize distance with it like the LPGA and some male golfers like Rory do. (4-5 up, spins in the low range, 2200 for Rory, 12-13 launch; vs. hitting down with -1-2 AoA)
As to whether their bodies can take it…we’ll see. Nobody seems to be bothered by the lack of >20 year old female gymnasts, 30 year old NFL running backs, etc… It may be that a Pro golfer needs to perform at a high-enough swing speed that smaller-statured golfers just can’t keep it up (and the travel & practice grind) without ripping up their backs in their 30s. (Or younger, if you’re Will Zalatoris). So it goes.
I think Nicklaus was right; they’re going to have to do something with the ball. And they don’t want to. People marvel at the speed and sound when these guys crush it. I’ve seen it. And I can see the Tour feeling that a ball change to knock distance down, will be viewed as neutering the product.