MoonPig
Assistant Pro
ATTENTION long post!
Cast your minds back to last month and you may remember GMs mystery day competition that was won by myself and Seve112. Finally we are allowed to reveal what the day entailed after the lifting of the press embargo.
As someone of you rightly predicted we were invited to join the GM team at Gainsborough for the UK unveiling of the PING G20 range. The day included a full tour fitting experience for the full range, an exclusive look at the iping app and a tour of the PING factory!
The day started an introduction to the GM team and the UK MD of PING together with Ben who was the European fitting manager and my fitter for the session. We were led to a private teaching area, to avoid prying eyes, to be shown the new G20 range and a quick chat the new range and slight changes and enhancements made from the G15. Mainly a slightly heavier head on the Driver and a superb insert in the back of the irons which gave an incredible amount of "feel" not generally associated with GI irons.
Next onto the fitting session and after a quick chat about my handicap, usual ball flight, my home course and a quick height measurement a was invited to hit a few to warm up. Ben explained that it wasnt just distance that he would be looking for but a particular attention to dispersion and finding the right shaft/lie combination to achieve both. After a lie check, done by hitting off a perspex sheet with some tape stuck to the sole of the iron, i was deemed to be a black dot regular lie which was pretty much what i expected. It was the shaft choice in my irons that was the real surprise. After trying every conceivable shaft option it turned out that stiff shafts came out on top in both distance and dispersion. The ball flight the G20 was producing was a lot more penetrating and produced a lovely slight draw with that "feel" i mentioned earlier. It really made my Nike slingshots feel like i was swinging a lump of wood in comparison.
Next was the hybrid session and all i can say is "wow" i have always struggled with a wicked slice with my hybris but i just couldn`t hook/slice anything with these. Everyone was out of the middle and straight, superb. Again the stiff shafted option suited my swing. After a quick fitting for the woods it was onto the driver, and again it left me with a huge grin on my face. I not a big hitter with my driver by any means but after just one swing i had added another 10-15 yds carry on my usual distance and again much straighter than usual. I was fitted for a 12' with a stiff shaft which is worlds apart from my 10.5' reg thats currently in the bag and the difference was remarkable and certainly worlds apart from what i thought suited my game.
After a spot of lunch it was a session with the putting APP followed by a tour of the PING factory. My image of the factory prior to entering was a large production line of machinery and a conveyor belt of irons and drivers passing through. What i saw was completely the opposite. Every iron passes through 21 pairs of hands during the process with even the "dot" applied by hand. The loft/lie adjustments was surprisingly done by hand using what is essentially a plastic mallet! The care and attention to detail by PING during the process was unbelievable and not a mass producing machine insight.
Overall as you can imagine a truly amazing day, a big thanks to GM, Sev 112 for being great company and PING for the experience. Just can`t wait to get my hands on my new clubs now!
Cast your minds back to last month and you may remember GMs mystery day competition that was won by myself and Seve112. Finally we are allowed to reveal what the day entailed after the lifting of the press embargo.
As someone of you rightly predicted we were invited to join the GM team at Gainsborough for the UK unveiling of the PING G20 range. The day included a full tour fitting experience for the full range, an exclusive look at the iping app and a tour of the PING factory!
The day started an introduction to the GM team and the UK MD of PING together with Ben who was the European fitting manager and my fitter for the session. We were led to a private teaching area, to avoid prying eyes, to be shown the new G20 range and a quick chat the new range and slight changes and enhancements made from the G15. Mainly a slightly heavier head on the Driver and a superb insert in the back of the irons which gave an incredible amount of "feel" not generally associated with GI irons.
Next onto the fitting session and after a quick chat about my handicap, usual ball flight, my home course and a quick height measurement a was invited to hit a few to warm up. Ben explained that it wasnt just distance that he would be looking for but a particular attention to dispersion and finding the right shaft/lie combination to achieve both. After a lie check, done by hitting off a perspex sheet with some tape stuck to the sole of the iron, i was deemed to be a black dot regular lie which was pretty much what i expected. It was the shaft choice in my irons that was the real surprise. After trying every conceivable shaft option it turned out that stiff shafts came out on top in both distance and dispersion. The ball flight the G20 was producing was a lot more penetrating and produced a lovely slight draw with that "feel" i mentioned earlier. It really made my Nike slingshots feel like i was swinging a lump of wood in comparison.
Next was the hybrid session and all i can say is "wow" i have always struggled with a wicked slice with my hybris but i just couldn`t hook/slice anything with these. Everyone was out of the middle and straight, superb. Again the stiff shafted option suited my swing. After a quick fitting for the woods it was onto the driver, and again it left me with a huge grin on my face. I not a big hitter with my driver by any means but after just one swing i had added another 10-15 yds carry on my usual distance and again much straighter than usual. I was fitted for a 12' with a stiff shaft which is worlds apart from my 10.5' reg thats currently in the bag and the difference was remarkable and certainly worlds apart from what i thought suited my game.
After a spot of lunch it was a session with the putting APP followed by a tour of the PING factory. My image of the factory prior to entering was a large production line of machinery and a conveyor belt of irons and drivers passing through. What i saw was completely the opposite. Every iron passes through 21 pairs of hands during the process with even the "dot" applied by hand. The loft/lie adjustments was surprisingly done by hand using what is essentially a plastic mallet! The care and attention to detail by PING during the process was unbelievable and not a mass producing machine insight.
Overall as you can imagine a truly amazing day, a big thanks to GM, Sev 112 for being great company and PING for the experience. Just can`t wait to get my hands on my new clubs now!
It does mean you're going to age quicker though! 
