Ping Drivers

[Parmo]

Morning All,
I have heard rumours that Ping drives come off the face at lower degrees to other makes of driver. I say this because I bought a G10 10.5 R and played a round with it and it defiantly felt like either a 8.5 or 9 degree and so was less consistent than normal drivers, so if buying one go for a 12 if your normal weapon of grass destruction is 10.5.

There is a You Tube review (not the GM one) which also states they seem to come off the face on the low side rather than the average degree. Has anyone else found this to be the case?

ps the G10 is going back today and the Yonex is taking over wacking duties as HID would say.

 

[Cernunnos]

Yonnex woods play at a reasonable height. But you would have the opposite problem if you tried a Taylormade driver, they fly way too high, buy the lowest you can

I really rate Yonnex drivers, as I've had them in the past & even though I'm currently using a WilsonStaff Dd6+, the yonnex is going to stay as my spare.

Not tried Ping drivers, but may do so now.

 

[Parmo]

I have gone for the 12 geree Yonex as I feel more relaxed with this degree since I am prone to slice with a driver and my home course is a short track so no need for massive distance.

 

[mrobbie]

I think it depends on the combination of shaft and your swing - I tried a G10 in 9.5 with the TFC129 stiff shaft and it flew almost identical height to my old Titleist 905R in 9.5 (YS6 stiff)

The Taylormade Superquad in 9.5 with the RE*AX stiff flighs higher than both and gives me an immense carry.

There are 3 shafts offered by Ping - Prolaunch red is low trajectory, TFC129 for mid, and Proforce V2 HL for high trajectory.

I am sure I saw a review of the Ping G10 on youtube where the guy hits a 9.5 degree driver and comments it flew more like a 10.5, so he thought it went higher than the loft suggests it would?

 

[Parmo]

No it was vice versa, he hit a 10.5reg and said it felt like a 8.5reg, I would post the link but have no access to YT at work.

 

[OldWindy]

My G10 10.5* will hit fairly high - I think this is because the sweet spot is slightly higher on this club. Another fella at the club says the same. I guess it's a lot to do with who's at the other end of the stick.

 

[mrobbie]

No it was vice versa, he hit a 10.5reg and said it felt like a 8.5reg, I would post the link but have no access to YT at work.

Ahhh, got ya. My bad.

 

[Cernunnos]

I have gone for the 12 geree Yonex as I feel more relaxed with this degree since I am prone to slice with a driver and my home course is a short track so no need for massive distance.

Yeah, that's the one I was using last season & was great, didn't fly too high at the time, but when I started to strike the ball cleaner & higher as the season progessed I knew it was time for a change.

Thought the TaylorMade r7Quad would be the answer. How could I be further from the truth. The club was vile & would hit it higher than my 12 degree Yonex ever did. (Personally I think Graphite shafts get softer with age/heat/cold-combination). The Taylor made was far shorter & even in the low settings would do strange things, infact go higher than the higher settings.

Yonnex is a great club & it may find its way back into by bag witha stiff V2 shaft..

btw, until my height & swing speed got too much for the regular shaft I was hitting it a massive distance & twice got it to fly over a 303yard green when the atmosperics were perfect...

Haven't got anywhere near that this year yet for some reason with my Dd6+, except for a few months ago at a works society comp when I out drove our resident 6 handicaper, by a good ten yards. Wish my scores were as good as his.

 

[HomerJSimpson]

Desperate times call for desperate measures and I put my Callaway 460 Big Bertha (11 degree) in the bag yesterday. No real difference between that and my Cleveland Hi Bore (10.5 degree draw) except that there wasn't quite the forgiveness of the draw model.

I read somewhere that most mid to high handicappers shouldn't play with anything under 11 degrees due to the side spin generated. Not sure whether that is still the case with balls producing less spin, draw bias etc. The only real difference I found yesterday was that when I did hit a good one (not often) the Callaway was higher flying and went a tad further

 

[Toad]

I have the G10 9 deg with the Prolaunch red shaft and it flies just as high as my previous TM540 10.5 deg and is about 20 yards longer and also a lot straighter than my old driver.

 

[Cernunnos]

The problem with getting high launch drivers is that they increase the back spin, to the the point where when the ball not only checks up, but will bounce back as I've had, as my swing speed increased.

What is printed on the club, is not the actual launch angle & that will be different for every player, depending on all sorts of factors

There is an optimum angle a player needs to look for, a letterbox of a few degrees difference, too little & it drops short, & if you are lucky like my mate he gets loads of roll. Just enough & it should be launching with just enough but not too much spin & go on for ages with just enough roll. Too high a lunch angle & the backspin will actually drag the ball rather than help & the ball will fall out of the sky, or even appear to start to come back (probably an optical allusion), land & bounce or spin back.

Thing is even high handicap players like myself are capable of swing speeds of 95mph like myself. I generally a clocked average of 92-94 mph with driver, rarely less than less than 85-89 in the off season.

Setup also has a lot to do with how high on angle of launch will be.

Do get fitted for a driver, but don't let the salesperson sell you something you are hitting off the face with above the opimum launch angle... Look for about 14 or 15 degrees if there is a launch monitor available, if you hit more than 17 degrees on any of the shots or the backspin is up in the high 4,000's

Getting sidespin down is one thing, but if you are going to slice or hook, you will slice or hook no matter what.

Discovered all this at a free fitting last year at a free fitting at the Belfry during the British Masters, somewhere I now have enough faith in to go & get fitted next time I need to chose a driver.

 

[The23rdman]

What's actually happening with the Ping is it's correctly lofted. That is, you get 10.5 when it says 10.5. With most manufacturers the tolerance is pants so your 10.5* driver probably has nearer 12-14* where you consistently hit it.

 

[thecraw]

I have a 12 degree Ping Rapture and I love it. I dont balloon the ball with this club and I'm delighted with it. Thanks to the Ping guys at St Andrews who custom fitted me to perfection. Loving the club 100%!