G425 Max Driver, why no love?

[RSS]

I recently purchased the G425 Max 10.5 with Tensei Orange 55 shaft. It worked well against all the others in my fitting. The only downside was the distance being shorter than the TM, Callaway and Titleist. The consistency was the best however. Now that I have it on the course I am second guessing myself and wonder if a longer not as accurate driver is better for me? I am a high handicapper and need all I can get. Also other than a few Youtubers, the club has not been well liked. Appreciate your thoughts.

[RickyBobby_PR]

Most of the time there’s going to be five and take between distance and dispersion when choosing a club. It comes down to how much one is willing to give up. If one driver is 5 yards shorter but the dispersion has balls staying in the fairway or barely missing while the other driver(s) have balls going into areas where a recovery shot is needed or not possible then sacrificing 5 yards isn’t that big of a deal.

I personally don’t let opinions or reviews of clubs from people justify my decision to purchase a club or not. 
 

How much shorter in your fitting was the g425 Max compared to the others? How much better was the dispersion.

If the club helps you play better is what matters.

[RSS]

Thanks about 10 yards shorter on average with roll and Ping dispersion was tighter groupings with TSI2 2nd.

 

Thanks

[dlow206]

As a high handicapper, I look at dispersion from the perspective of balls acceptably in play vs. not. "Acceptably in play" is my own terminology for meaning would it put me in an acceptable place for a second shot that wouldn't have been OB, in the woods, etc. 

When testing my TSI2 vs my old SIM Max gamer, the difference i found was that I was more likely to miss big right that would lead to OB balls. The SIM Max was probably 5 yards longer, but wasn't worth the risk due to the more likely big right miss that would be OB. 

I have found the above from my test plays out on the course. SIM Max used to hit OB right occasionally. TSI2 I can still miss right, rarely big OB right ball.  

[RickyBobby_PR]

44 minutes ago, RSS said:

Thanks about 10 yards shorter on average with roll and Ping dispersion was tighter groupings with TSI2 2nd.

 

Thanks

In reality 10 yards with roll isn’t a lot. Roll is going to vary from hole to hole course to course and even shot to shot. Having a driver that has better dispersion and giving up that little bit of yardage isn’t really an issue IMO. 

[Micah T]

I have the ping G410 LST: I hit it the shortest of all the clubs I tested against it, but it stays in the bag due to dispersion. I can hit a sim or epic flash 30 yards farther; but god himself doesn’t know where it’s going. 2 way misses were the norm and routinely had 4-6 penalty strokes a round from blasting balls into Narnia. My handicap is down 7 strokes since I put the ping in my bag. Game what you can keep in play, game whatever has a predictable miss. A strokes gained perspective has value, but don’t tumble too far down that rabbit hole: for me, 285 and in play beat 330 2/10 times with another 2 requiring a chip out from under trees and 6 OB bombs that had me hitting my 3rd still in the tee box.


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[Pupini]

3 hours ago, RSS said:

Thanks about 10 yards shorter on average with roll and Ping dispersion was tighter groupings with TSI2 2nd.

 

Thanks

How many rounds have you played with it? I just bought the Ping 425LST because the Max gave me too much spin. I've always been long enough that I would gladly give up 10 yards for more accuracy, so it's more of a personal preference.

[RSS]

Thanks all the commented. You have given me a better appreciation for the club.

[pouetvl]

3 hours ago, RSS said:

Thanks all the commented. You have given me a better appreciation for the club.

It should, on most test I've seen the ping come a little shorter than other brand, but again ping shaft is shorter which help in dispersion normally, I got myself a ping 410 SFT, should help me hit the fairway more often, I know it hit shorter but when I can find my ball after my drive its a bonus. In the end I save more on ball in a year that compensate for the driver anyway

 

Edited March 18, 2021 by pouetvl

[wwaldo]

I play the G400MAX which I bought when they were introduced. I was able to demo several (3) other 2018 new drivers and I actually liked all of them. All were longer than the Ping by around 5-12 yds however the Ping was consistently finding the fairway whereas the others were finding areas that added strokes. With the Ping for the last 3+ years, I have shot consistently in the mid to upper 70s, something I had never done in years past. I definitely plan on scheduling a fitting for the G425, either LST or MAX.

Finding the fairway always beats 10 yards longer in the rough/woods.

[bens197]

On 3/17/2021 at 5:00 PM, RSS said:

Thanks all the commented. You have given me a better appreciation for the club.

You chose the club that works best for YOU. Don't forget, you led off by saying this:

"I recently purchased the G425 Max 10.5 with Tensei Orange 55 shaft. It worked well against all the others in my fitting."

You have a great driver and shaft setup...play well!!!

 

[03trdblack]

I was a little disappointed that the distance wasn't quite up there with the best of this year's drivers.  In addition, the sound is just not pleasing at all and reminds me of the square driver era.   

[RSS]

Thanks everyone for your help. Another idea?? What if I get a lighter back weight for the G425, would that get more speed for more distance and keep the solid MOI of the Ping?

[Thin2win]

1 hour ago, RSS said:

Thanks everyone for your help. Another idea?? What if I get a lighter back weight for the G425, would that get more speed for more distance and keep the solid MOI of the Ping?

Theory to practice on that one is always a question mark. 

A lighter weight could help you swing faster, but it is probably the weight of the Ping that makes it so accurate for you. 

I know over all the G425 Max didn't get love from most wanted here, but on other corners of the internet it was highly praised. 

And remember, most wanted just tells which club fits the most people, not which club fits you. Every club in most wanted probably has a subset that it is best for regardless of where it fell in overall testing. 

[RickyBobby_PR]

10 hours ago, RSS said:

Thanks everyone for your help. Another idea?? What if I get a lighter back weight for the G425, would that get more speed for more distance and keep the solid MOI of the Ping?

What was the carry distance for the all of the drivers you hit at your fitting?

 

[RSS]

210 G425 carry 220ish for Speed and RAD.

[tony@CIC]

1 hour ago, RSS said:

210 G425 carry 220ish for Speed and RAD.

Carry with your old driver (and type)?  Stock or aftermarket shafts with 425 & Rad?

[RickyBobby_PR]

1 hour ago, RSS said:

210 G425 carry 220ish for Speed and RAD.

 

On 3/17/2021 at 12:19 PM, RSS said:

It worked well against all the others in my fitting.

 

On 3/17/2021 at 12:19 PM, RSS said:

The consistency was the best however.

Going to use your statements from the OP. You picked and I’m assuming in conjunction with the fitter that the best driver for your game. Based on all the information during your fitting the g425 gave you the best of both worlds of playable distance and dispersion even tough you had to sacrifice give or take a club of distance.

I use your statements because you said it was basically the best of all drivers but now that you are playing it appear as though ego might becoming into play in wanting more of the distance than the better overall performance. Nothing wrong with wanting more distance as we all would like that and would take it if someone gave it to us. 
 

I would imagine the fitter would have considered what changing the back weight would do could have done to the performance of the g425 that you are now pondering but he chose not to go that route more than likely because it would have negatively affected how the club works for you. 
 

If you swapped it out it might give you some express speed but it might not. It could even affect spin and dispersion that would then be worse for you and  could even rob some of the distance you get.

It really comes down to what you want. The best performing driver from your fitting or distance and to sacrifice overall performance. 
 

Personally I go with the overall performance and predictability of a club. 

 

[RSS]

Thanks!!!

 

[Tom D.]

On 3/17/2021 at 12:52 PM, Micah T said:

I can hit a sim or epic flash 30 yards farther; but god himself doesn’t know where it’s going. 2 way misses were the norm and routinely had 4-6 penalty strokes a round from blasting balls into Narnia.

Great prose there !  Gave me a good chuckle, thanks !

[jp0319]

From what I have read the 425 Max just doesn't perform any better than the 410 Max so there may be a lot of Ping players that figure there is really no reason to buy the newest model (Myself included). On the accuracy front, personally, I'd always prefer to be in the fairway and short as opposed to in the rough or OB long...

[fixyurdivot]

21 minutes ago, jp0319 said:

From what I have read the 425 Max just doesn't perform any better than the 410 Max so there may be a lot of Ping players that figure there is really no reason to buy the newest model (Myself included). On the accuracy front, personally, I'd always prefer to be in the fairway and short as opposed to in the rough or OB long...

A good many argue the G410 offered no improvement over the G400. PING is well known for being rather self limiting in the hype game. Their advertising shows small improvements in hitting data performance and I tend to believe it accurate.  If only we could conduct controlled tests (and blind were that possible), with a couple hundred players across the range of skillset...

[jp0319]

11 minutes ago, fixyurdivot said:

A good many argue the G410 offered no improvement over the G400. PING is well known for being rather self limiting in the hype game. Their advertising shows small improvements in hitting data performance and I tend to believe it accurate.  If only we could conduct controlled tests (and blind were that possible), with a couple hundred players across the range of skillset...

I agree, but usually Ping waits longer to come out with new versions for this reason. It surprised me when they came out with the 425 on the heels of the 410 because of the incremental improvement nature of their releases...

[RickyBobby_PR]

Just now, jp0319 said:

I agree, but usually Ping waits longer to come out with new versions for this reason. It surprised me when they came out with the 425 on the heels of the 410 because of the incremental improvement nature of their releases...

Ping has an 18-24 month cycle that has been standard for a long time so the g;25 wasn’t on the heels of the 410 but in the normal product cycle release.

They also redesigned the moveable weight in the g425 based on fitting information around the g410. 
 

In most driver releases from the various brands year to year releases don’t always yield what most consider significant improvements. 

[Nateyeight]

I just switched from a GBB EPIC to a PING G425 Max and noticed a massive difference. I hit way more fairways and the difference between a good strike and a bad strike with the PING is minimal. The GBB EPIC though, majority of my bad strikes were OB. I am a high a high handicap player too, and hitting fairways are more important to me. Make sure you get a good hybrid you can flush, and that can make up any distance you may get with another driver on those longer holes. 

[03trdblack]

Ping has to figure out how to fix the sound. How could they go so far backwards in sound from the g400 series?? I just can't listen to the G425 Max and there are a lot of driver companies making incredible drivers that have figured it out. 

[dolleris]

13 hours ago, 03trdblack said:

Ping has to figure out how to fix the sound. How could they go so far backwards in sound from the g400 series?? I just can't listen to the G425 Max and there are a lot of driver companies making incredible drivers that have figured it out. 

This - main reason for me returning mine. Also, it feels somewhat head-heavier compared to the 400 Max,  I had previously

[Micah T]

I just switched from a GBB EPIC to a PING G425 Max and noticed a massive difference. I hit way more fairways and the difference between a good strike and a bad strike with the PING is minimal. The GBB EPIC though, majority of my bad strikes were OB. I am a high a high handicap player too, and hitting fairways are more important to me. Make sure you get a good hybrid you can flush, and that can make up any distance you may get with another driver on those longer holes. 

Same for me with the epic; the bad shots were just incredibly bad. I switched to the 410+ , then the LST this year.


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[Bosox04]

We had a Ping fitting event at the course last Saturday. I compared my G400 Max vs the G425 Max. Both were very straight, and the 425 was slightly longer, and I mean 3-5 yards longer. Not enough of a difference to spend $500. 

[revkev]

It's different strokes for different folks always -  I couldn't care less about the sound of anything - I played my best golf ever with a totally unexpected driver that I ended up being fit for - it was uglier than death and sounded worse - some iteration of Mizuno driver about 10 years ago.  Looked like a pancake, sounded worse and hit the ball 245 down the middle of the fairway with a slight draw every single time.  Never had to practice with it, just pulled it out of the bag on the 2nd tee (1 was always a hybrid for me then - pre every stroke counts) and off I went with it - played to a 1 or less for two seasons - then I gained weight, got sick and lost over 10 MPH in swing speed that I've been chasing ever since

 

TruFit identified the 425 Max as the best driver for me this season - we shall see - I do think it's significant that the data from my current gamer - the 410 LST would have been in that mix.  I would consider $500 for 5 functional yards because it would actually be less than that with my trade in - I'd keep the LST and trade the 410 Max that I have.  Since the G30 Ping drivers have consistently been the best choice for my swing - that doesn't mean they are for everyone but whatever they do in design seems to work for the way I deliver the club to the ball.  If it works I get used to the sound/feel.