Ping G430 Max 10K Driver Review
Joe Ferguson analyses the performance of the new Ping G430 Max 10k driver for this year against the other models in the range.
Transcript
00:00 (upbeat music)
00:02 This is the new Ping G430 Max 10K driver.
00:06 Now I'm really excited about this one,
00:08 so let's just get on with it.
00:09 (upbeat music)
00:11 So what do Ping say they've delivered here?
00:17 Well, to start with, they say it's their most stable
00:20 and forgiving driver ever.
00:22 And that's where it's gotten its name from,
00:24 the 10K part at least.
00:26 10,000 is the measurement of its moment of inertia
00:28 or stability within the club head.
00:31 And that's pretty significant
00:32 because most drivers in the modern era
00:34 have plateaued around the 8,000 MOI mark.
00:37 How has Ping achieved this 10K measurement?
00:43 Well, to start with, they've drastically changed
00:46 the profile of the head.
00:46 They've stretched the heel and toe
00:48 and the front to back measurements
00:50 as far as the rules will permit
00:52 while still staying within that 460cc overall dimension.
00:56 And I have to say, I love the look of it.
00:59 (upbeat music)
01:01 The super rounded stretched head shape
01:11 and extra real estate behind the ball
01:13 really suit my eye and inspire a lot
01:16 of confidence at address.
01:17 Now because they've stretched this head so much,
01:20 that allows them to place the internal weight
01:22 even further away from the face,
01:24 which is where the huge jump in MOI comes from.
01:26 In the max 10K, this stability takes the form
01:29 of an internal 28 gram weight,
01:31 which is positioned lower and deeper,
01:33 not only for stability, but also for spin control too.
01:37 And this is something I'm keen to explore
01:39 because in my experience, dragging weight back
01:42 and increasing MOI usually goes hand in hand
01:44 with creating more spin or excessive spin.
01:47 And for a high speed player like me,
01:49 quite frankly, that's not much use.
01:51 So I'm really keen to see how that pans out.
01:54 So before getting into the data,
01:58 I just wanted to talk about some of the unquantifiable things
02:00 that you don't get from a launch monitor,
02:02 like sound and feel.
02:04 And in terms of the sound,
02:05 I think they really nailed it here.
02:07 Other drivers within the Ping range,
02:08 historically I'm thinking specifically about the G425,
02:11 which was a brilliant driver.
02:13 But I felt it let itself down a little bit
02:15 with the acoustic and a lot of people felt
02:16 that sort of high pitched ting was a little bit annoying.
02:20 Now Ping, to their credit, addressed this in the G430 range
02:22 and the LS Tech and the other models within this family
02:25 are a lot more muted and duller.
02:27 And this is a touch livelier,
02:28 it sits somewhere between those two.
02:30 For me, it hits all the right notes.
02:32 Going hand in hand with that sound
02:39 is the feel from the Clubface.
02:41 And wow, the feel.
02:46 I can honestly say I don't think I've ever hit anything
02:49 as stable as the Max 10K.
02:51 Wherever I hit this thing on the face,
02:53 it's resistance to twisting is sensational.
02:57 It really took me by surprise, this element of it.
02:59 I mean, I've heard the marketing,
03:01 but until you see it yourself and you experience it,
03:03 you can all be a little skeptical, right?
03:05 But I have to say, in terms of stability and feel,
03:08 this delivers in bucket loads.
03:10 So what do the numbers say?
03:12 Well, this is where I started to get really excited.
03:15 Obviously, I've mentioned during testing,
03:16 I could feel the stability and the really tight dispersion.
03:20 But as I also mentioned, this has historically come off
03:22 with a bit of a trade-off for me in terms of excessive spin.
03:25 But not this time.
03:26 So from an average club at speed
03:41 of around my standard 120 miles per hour mark,
03:44 I was getting a really solid 174 miles an hour of ball speed,
03:48 which from a driver as safe as this thing is exceptional.
03:52 I was launching exactly where I'd want to,
03:54 around the 11 degree mark,
03:56 and the all-important spin number
03:57 that I was eagerly anticipating was,
04:00 it was just under 2,500 revs per minute,
04:03 which from a club head with this level of MOI,
04:06 is frankly astonishing.
04:08 Now this all added up to an average carry for me
04:10 of 293 yards and a total of 316.
04:14 Another big part of this story is the dispersion.
04:22 Now I noticed through my testing,
04:24 and I'm not known as a particularly straight driver
04:26 of the golf ball if I'm honest,
04:28 but my left to right and even my front to back dispersion
04:31 with the Ping Max 10K was ludicrously tight.
04:34 So I wanted to test it against some of the other models
04:37 within the range, I've got the LST,
04:40 and I've got the Max Head,
04:41 'cause I wanted to see where it stacked up
04:43 from a dispersion point of view.
04:44 So starting with the Max model,
04:47 as you can see from the graphic,
04:48 dispersion was pretty tight.
04:49 Hit one where I just shut the face down
04:51 and it kind of zoomed off to the left a little bit,
04:53 but on the whole, dispersion was pretty tight.
04:56 But I did achieve that with quite a high spin number,
04:59 so I was spinning that well over 3,000 revs.
05:01 So that's something to note with the Max range.
05:04 It is stable and you will get a nice tight dispersion,
05:07 but it will suit players who need a little bit more spin.
05:10 Moving on to the LST,
05:12 well you can see straight away,
05:14 my dispersion's gone up.
05:15 Certainly my distance and my spin numbers
05:17 are more in line with what I would generally want to see,
05:21 but it does feel a little bit more volatile
05:23 from a left to right perspective.
05:25 So again, that's something to be aware of.
05:28 And then finally, I've got the Max 10K.
05:31 I think I've said enough good things about this drive,
05:33 but I think this graphic says it all.
05:35 From left to right, from front to back,
05:38 that's a ludicrous dispersion pattern.
05:40 And I've not cherry picked these,
05:41 I've just hit five shots straight out the bat
05:44 in the same place, with the same shaft
05:46 and the same setup and the same balls,
05:48 and this is the data that's come out
05:50 and it's what I've seen throughout testing.
05:52 Now from the discussions I've had with Ping
05:54 and the engineers at Ping,
05:55 they're very smug about this driver
05:57 and they've got every right to be.
05:59 Now I think this driver will benefit
06:01 just every genre of player,
06:03 from the weekend warrior to the tour player.
06:05 Everyone is going to benefit
06:07 from this level of stability and playability
06:10 and you're just going to have to dial your spin numbers in
06:12 with a really good fitting.
06:13 It comes in nine, 10 and a half, and 12 degrees of loft,
06:17 so there really is something for everyone here.
06:19 Ping G430 Max 10K might not just be
06:22 my favorite driver of 2024,
06:25 this might be the best all-round driver that I've ever hit.
06:29 So it won't surprise you to know
06:31 it's going straight in my bag for 2024.
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06:47 you