Driver & Shaft thoughts - G25 vs 913 D2

[MC72]

I am considering a new driver, as suggested in the title pane above I'm looking at Ping G25 and Titleist 913 D2. I play a stiff shaft at the moment and would be grateful of some feedback on the comparisons on these drivers and the various shaft options.

Would appreciate the thoughts of those on the forum.

 

[Alex1975]

Hi,

I use a 913 D2 and it took me most of the early part of the year to get used to it after the 909 I was using. I now love the thing. Loads of shaft options, even loads of stock (no upcharge options) that are all really good quality.

I have never hit the G25 and they mostly have the stock Ping shaft in but its my understanding that its pretty much the industry standard for forgiveness across the face. Its a true everymans driver from tour pro to hacker.

 

[Lump]

Don't worry about the shaft. It's a choice of heads in reality.
Forgiveness Vs Playability, for me forgiveness wins out when it comes to the driver.
I suggest you give them both a go.

 

[the_coach]

I am considering a new driver, as suggested in the title pane above I'm looking at Ping G25 and Titleist 913 D2. I play a stiff shaft at the moment and would be grateful of some feedback on the comparisons on these drivers and the various shaft options.

Would appreciate the thoughts of those on the forum.

Would be wondering how you narrowed it down to these 2, & what your index was & what your normal average SS was.

The 2 drivers are polar opposites in a ways, the g25 built with CG placement for optimum MOI & ease of use with a large volume head. While the D3 built mainly to reduce spin with a smaller 430 cc head, less forgiving across the smaller face area.

Takes a much higher skill level to constantly be either able to strike a completely centered hit or just very marginally off center strike to make the D3 give optimum flight, accuracy & distance.

The G25 a good ways friendlier to off centered strikes across the face, so if the technique not completely there to guarantee a consistency of centered strike at impact it would be a better choice, just out of these 2 options.

As for the shaft, that would be down to the SS, how the swing motion stresses the shaft & where in the swing arc it does, whether there's an earlier or later 'release' coming into impact. To be sure of getting the right shaft for the swing would require looking at the 'numbers' the swing motion produces on a launch monitor with a PGA pro who is used to fitting & teaching with one.

 

[Alex1975]

Would be wondering how you narrowed it down to these 2, & what your index was & what your normal average SS was.

The 2 drivers are polar opposites in a ways, the g25 built with CG placement for optimum MOI & ease of use with a large volume head. While the D3 built mainly to reduce spin with a smaller 430 cc head, less forgiving across the smaller face area.

Takes a much higher skill level to constantly be either able to strike a completely centered hit or just very marginally off center strike to make the D3 give optimum flight, accuracy & distance.

The G25 a good ways friendlier to off centered strikes across the face, so if the technique not completely there to guarantee a consistency of centered strike at impact it would be a better choice, just out of these 2 options.

As for the shaft, that would be down to the SS, how the swing motion stresses the shaft & where in the swing arc it does, whether there's an earlier or later 'release' coming into impact. To be sure of getting the right shaft for the swing would require looking at the 'numbers' the swing motion produces on a launch monitor with a PGA pro who is used to fitting & teaching with one.

He said D2.... the D2 is pretty forgiving and a 460...

 

[the_coach]

He said D2.... the D2 is pretty forgiving and a 460...

Hey, what you know so he did Rewind .... but G25 still has a little ways higher MOI number than the D2, so it still depends on the ability to find that consistent centered strike through technique, if you can then it's just a matter of what suits your eye, if you're not testing them on a LM. But if the technique doesn't quite deliver center more often than not, then probably the G25 would be a better way to go.

With the G30 pretty close to being on the shelves, the G25 prices will be coming down even more in the coming months, if you can wait a while. the 915's a little further off sometime around end of the fall, November-ish so the 913's D2's ​(Ha!) will hold the price a bit for a while still,

 

[MC72]

Hey, what you know so he did Rewind .... but G25 still has a little ways higher MOI number than the D2, so it still depends on the ability to find that consistent centered strike through technique, if you can then it's just a matter of what suits your eye, if you're not testing them on a LM. But if the technique doesn't quite deliver center more often than not, then probably the G25 would be a better way to go.

With the G30 pretty close to being on the shelves, the G25 prices will be coming down even more in the coming months, if you can wait a while. the 915's a little further off sometime around end of the fall, November-ish so the 913's D2's​(Ha!) will hold the price a bit for a while still,

Coach/Alex,

Thanks for your replies. Lately I've managed to hit out of the centre of the club on most occasions. However I think I might not have quite the right shaft. I've now tried a 913 D2 with a Diamana 62 Blue shaft Stiff Flex and this particular shaft along with the D2 head gave some good results but more than that it felt really good when swinging. This may suggest that it's purely a shaft decision but I don't think it's quite as straightforward as that. As Alex has said the D2 is 460 and is more forgiving than the D3, so I suppose I was looking for some feedback from those who have a 913 and also those who have tried/compared the G25.

 

[the_coach]

Coach/Alex,

Thanks for your replies. Lately I've managed to hit out of the centre of the club on most occasions. However I think I might not have quite the right shaft. I've now tried a 913 D2 with a Diamana 62 Blue shaft Stiff Flex and this particular shaft along with the D2 head gave some good results but more than that it felt really good when swinging. This may suggest that it's purely a shaft decision but I don't think it's quite as straightforward as that. As Alex has said the D2 is 460 and is more forgiving than the D3, so I suppose I was looking for some feedback from those who have a 913 and also those who have tried/compared the G25.

As my sig, I use a 913 D3, have hit the D2, have hit the G25 & i25.

Would still answer the same though really, although the volume of the D2 & G25 are identical the MOI's aren't.
So it's got to come down really to the personal testing & whether being more forgiving is important, also whether it fits the eye at address or not to some degree.
But if you can hit both the D2 & the G25, then the only way to really know performance wise is testing on a launch monitor and having the 'numbers' to show what is actually happening, against the feel to real of just hitting balls & thinking it can be judged by feel & sight alone.

Now I know through experience feel & watching the balls fly, don't give you the completely true objective answer.

Having tried that with my own D3, a SLDR & an i25 as a subjective feel & sight test only, then carried out the same like for like on Trackman.
Feel & sight test alone I couldn't really split them, excepting that, to my norm of the D3, the SLDR appeared to fly a good ways higher so gave the feeling/impression of not traveling as far, the i25 seemed to have a more piercing flight & travel further than the D3.

Doing the same on Trackman proved none of that was the case.
The peak height of my D3 & the SLDR were pretty much identical (6 strikes with each 3 drivers) The average showed a difference to PH of 1&1/2 yards, however the SLDR launched a ways higher so reached that PH sooner but then carried further by an average 10 yards with a slightly longer roll out giving greater overall distance. The i25 again showed very little difference in either PH hardly any difference in LA to the D3 but overall the i25 was a deal further than the D3. They had similar but not exactly the same stiff shaft's in them, there was very little difference in the shaft profiles.

So without Trackman with real balls on the practice ground I would have said my D3 was at least a ways equal to the other 2 looking at flight & feeling strike off the faces. But not so.
Had I not just recently bought the 913 D3, plus just purchased the Apex Pro irons right before trying the drivers I probably would have changed the D3.

So really doesn't really matter what others think about the 2 drivers, you have to test them. (but the G25 is however definitely more forgiving of the 2 your looking at if that's a consideration re swing technique) The only ways to be sure is on a launch monitor. On a LM is the only ways to be sure your putting the best shaft in for your swing motion.