Low Spin Launchers - Ping G430 LST v Callaway Paradym TD Driver Battle | Golf Monthly
We put head to head the Callaway Paradym Triple Diamond driver up against the Ping G430 LST driver to assess how they compare in looks, feel, sound and performance.
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00:00 Right, today I'm going to be looking at two of the titans
00:03 of the low spin driver market.
00:05 I've got the Callaway Paradigm Triple Diamond
00:07 up against the Ping G430 LST.
00:10 Going to be looking at looks, feel, sound, performance,
00:13 and coming up with an overall conclusion.
00:16 (upbeat music)
00:18 Right, so I want to talk to you a little bit
00:21 about the looks of these drivers.
00:22 We all know it's important, we want to like
00:24 what we're looking down on from an equipment point of view.
00:27 And first thing must be said,
00:29 they're both extremely premium looking drivers.
00:32 Very different in their own ways,
00:34 but both, as I said, really, really high quality
00:37 premium looking drivers.
00:38 So I'm going to start with the Paradigm
00:39 and talk a little bit about that.
00:41 Down behind the ball in particular,
00:43 it's a little bit different to some of the others
00:45 on the market.
00:46 It's a 450cc head, so a little bit more compact
00:49 than the more common 460cc heads,
00:53 which gives it kind of a more traditional flavor
00:55 in terms of shaping and size.
00:57 But that's pretty much where the traditional element
01:00 probably comes to an end.
01:01 When you look down, it's super futuristic.
01:04 You've got this deep blue carbon effects gloss
01:08 towards the back of the club head,
01:10 moving forward into a matte gray sort of banner
01:13 around the crown, which, yeah, I mean,
01:15 it does give it a super futuristic element.
01:19 From the sole, again, super premium.
01:22 The graphics look fantastic.
01:24 Carries through the deep blue theme,
01:26 and we've got a nod to the low spin
01:28 with our forward weight.
01:30 And yeah, I really love the graphics.
01:33 I love the font.
01:34 I think it is a super, super premium looking driver.
01:37 You would not be disappointed at all with this.
01:40 Moving on to the pink, the G430 LS Tech here.
01:45 Again, super futuristic.
01:48 Down at the ball, it does look noticeably bigger
01:51 than the Callaway Paradigm.
01:53 This is 460 instead of the 450cc head.
01:56 So it does look a little bit bigger,
01:58 which may inspire a bit more confidence
01:59 behind the ball for a few.
02:01 It's got the familiar pinged turbulators on the top.
02:05 So again, something they've carried through from G425.
02:10 But they've also sort of blended into the back now
02:13 with a carbon finish much like the Callaway,
02:16 much like the Paradigm triple diamond there,
02:17 towards the back with a nod to more futuristic materials.
02:21 I love the framing of the contouring here
02:23 on the back of the head,
02:25 which you can really, when in behind the ball,
02:26 gives you a really good concept
02:29 of both where to line the ball up
02:31 and where a suitable takeaway might be.
02:34 Right, in terms of looks, really difficult.
02:36 Both super premium, but for me, the G430 just takes it.
02:40 Love the accent colors.
02:41 Love the subtle topography on the back of the head.
02:44 Fantastic looking driver.
02:45 Ping takes it.
02:46 Right, so now we're going to talk about
02:52 one of the more subjective areas of the driver,
02:54 but still one of the really important areas of any driver,
02:57 the sound and the feel.
02:58 So these, from my testing already, I know,
03:01 have a very distinctly different sound,
03:04 which I hope you pick up on camera.
03:06 I'm going to start with the Paradigm driver here.
03:08 I hope you can pick that up on the audio.
03:15 It's a very sort of deep, dull, thuddy sound.
03:19 And it's very interesting.
03:21 It's one that I haven't felt for a little while.
03:24 But dull conjures up images of slow,
03:28 and it certainly isn't slow.
03:30 I'll show you the data on that,
03:31 and it certainly isn't slow,
03:32 but it is a very muted and deep sound
03:36 compared to what I'm probably going to see
03:38 with a ping in a moment,
03:39 or I know I'm going to see with a ping in a moment.
03:41 Lovely strike there.
03:48 That one felt right out the screws.
03:50 And you can really get good feedback.
03:52 Paradigm in particular I find very, very good feedback
03:55 in terms of letting you know exactly
03:57 where you've hit it on the face, which is great.
04:00 Reasonably forgiving, to be perfectly honest.
04:04 So let's try a couple with a ping.
04:06 Again, just that little bit more high-pitched
04:11 than with the Paradigm.
04:13 I mean, ping have done a great job.
04:14 The G45, its predecessor,
04:17 was a very tinny-sounding driver.
04:19 That was one of the few criticisms
04:21 of an otherwise excellent driver,
04:23 that the sound was just a little bit too high-pitched
04:26 and the audio wasn't great from it.
04:28 And ping have done a really good job muting that,
04:30 and it's comparable to pretty much everything else
04:32 on the market now.
04:33 It's just that the Paradigm is, again, like I said,
04:36 just that little bit more muted.
04:37 Both great-feeling drivers, if I'm perfectly honest.
04:43 Both very, very different,
04:44 but yeah, from a feel point of view,
04:48 you wouldn't be disappointed with either.
04:49 You might have a preference in terms of
04:51 whether you like to feel that sort of tinnier,
04:53 high-pitched explosion,
04:55 or you might, in fact, prefer that duller,
04:57 more subdued, more subtle noise and feel.
05:00 And if so, Paradigm will be the one for you.
05:03 Right, for sound and feel, for me,
05:06 Paradigm Triple Diamond just takes it.
05:08 I love the muted, subtle sound
05:10 that hides the aggressive ball speed
05:13 that this club produces.
05:14 Callaway takes it on this one.
05:16 (upbeat music)
05:18 Right, we're going to talk about performance now.
05:22 I'm on the 18th tee here
05:23 at the beautiful Northamptonshire County Golf Club,
05:25 and I'm going to hit three away with each
05:27 and just talk a little bit about the performance
05:29 and what I've found in my testing
05:31 and in terms of the data we've collated.
05:33 I'll pop the data on the screen in a little while
05:34 so you can see the data that's been collected
05:36 in the studios.
05:37 But yeah, I'm just going to hit a couple away with each now
05:40 and talk you through what I feel about both.
05:41 So I'm going to start with a ping.
05:44 (club whacks)
05:46 It's a slight heel strike,
05:50 but started a fraction left,
05:51 just cutting back nicely onto the left center
05:54 of the fairway.
05:55 Good.
05:55 Nice flight window.
05:56 (club whacks)
06:00 Within five or six yards of the first one.
06:02 Beautiful window.
06:03 Yeah, the low spin is definitely doing the job there for me,
06:07 which is great.
06:08 A very strong ball flight there.
06:10 So let's see what the Callaway's got to offer against that.
06:12 Now these are both set at the exact same loft.
06:14 They're both at nine degree.
06:16 (club whacks)
06:19 Yeah, it was absolutely middled.
06:21 So that was exactly what I was hoping for.
06:23 Probably five yards of cut.
06:25 Very, very similar in terms of window.
06:28 Let's just compare that again with a couple of other strikes.
06:31 (club whacks)
06:34 Probably five or six yards left of center of the fairway.
06:37 Cutting a little bit more than the ping this,
06:38 but coming out of a really almost identical ball flight
06:42 window, I would say.
06:43 And probably a good time to pop up the data graphics here
06:46 that I've taken previously.
06:48 And you'll see from the graphics,
06:50 they're both coming out on very, very similar launch
06:52 and spin windows.
06:54 So around the 12 degree mark of launch
06:56 and just under two and a half thousand revs of spin.
06:59 But what you do find with the Paradigm,
07:02 or what I found in testing,
07:04 there is a little bit more ball speed.
07:05 So my overall distance is a little bit greater
07:09 with the Callaway Paradigm.
07:11 (club whacks)
07:13 But it's definitely there,
07:14 and that's a really nice one to finish, eh?
07:17 Right, well I've come down to the fairway
07:18 to see where those drives have ended up.
07:20 And there is actually a little bit of a pattern
07:22 I've noticed here.
07:22 So marked up the ping balls,
07:25 the ones I hit with the G430 LST with a P.
07:28 And these are these three balls here.
07:29 We've got this one in the left semi just there.
07:32 And one in the center of the fairway,
07:33 and one more over on the right hand side.
07:35 But interestingly, all three of the Callaway Paradigm
07:39 and the Triple Diamond are just a little bit further up.
07:42 Probably only talking six or seven yards.
07:44 Similar spread in terms of the width,
07:46 in terms of the dispersion.
07:48 But the additional ball speed I noticed during data testing
07:51 is definitely coming to fruition
07:53 when we see it out in a real life course situation.
07:55 There is that five or six yards.
07:57 It's not huge, but it's not nothing.
07:59 Right, so to conclude, performance for me,
08:03 Paradigm just shades it.
08:05 Both very similar in terms of flights,
08:07 but the additional ball speed of the Paradigm
08:08 is not something I can ignore.
08:10 Paradigm wins this one.
08:12 Right, time for the verdict.
08:13 And this is a super tricky one
08:14 because I like both of these drivers.
08:16 Both super premium aesthetics and exceptional performance.
08:20 And there's not much in it performance wise.
08:21 So overall for me, it was a two one victory
08:24 for the Paradigm Triple Diamond in this particular test.
08:28 If you like the video, please comment down below.
08:30 I'd love to know which one you'd like to see.
08:32 And if you'd like to purchase either of these drivers,
08:34 have a look at the links below
08:35 for the best deals in your region.
08:37 Thanks for watching.
08:39 (upbeat music)
08:41 ♪ Rain, rain, rain ♪
08:44 [MUSIC]