PING G430 Irons

[fixyurdivot]

Pretty psyched to test PING's latest offering in the G series irons.  Much like the "Tortoise vs. Hare" story, PING's engineering group has been, it seems to me, venturing down the "distance above all else" highway with caution.  This is what catches my eye in reading John Barba's overview on the PING G430 irons.

Clearly, PING is trying to thread a very elusive needle here.

“We want to deliver distance in an even more playable way,” says Stokke, “and not just make that player see it and buy it but so they’re going to go out and play their best with that iron.”

It has long been my impression that PING, more so than any other OEM, puts player/customer game performance as "job #1".  As of now, Cobra's ForgeTec X are in the top position to replace the Srixon's... will the G430's create another conundrum for me?

Who else is excited to test these?

[GolfSpy_APH]

Honestly no, but I'm more looking at the i230 if anything. 

However these do look like a great iron (as usual from Ping).

[Dr Strangelove]

I'll be following reviews, but while they look nicer than the G410 and G425 they are not very inspiring.  A mid-caps comparison against the i230 irons would be interesting.

[fixyurdivot]

I finally got a chance to hit the 430's at a Demo Day and ultimately was underwhelmed.  For the more aggressive lofting, they were not producing the distance I expected and looks, especially the badging, were less than inspiring.  They claim the "iris" serves a performance function... hope so, because it's kind of funky looking to me.  I also hit the i230's and liked these much better.  Distance, feel and aesthetics were much better. 

As it stands now, the Cobra ForgeTec X still have my attention.  Whether something else surpasses them by the time I'm ready to make a change, we'll see.

[J7Hawkins]

On 3/13/2023 at 9:58 AM, fixyurdivot said:

I finally got a chance to hit the 430's at a Demo Day and ultimately was underwhelmed.  For the more aggressive lofting, they were not producing the distance I expected and looks, especially the badging, were less than inspiring.  They claim the "iris" serves a performance function... hope so, because it's kind of funky looking to me.  I also hit the i230's and liked these much better.  Distance, feel and aesthetics were much better. 

As it stands now, the Cobra ForgeTec X still have my attention.  Whether something else surpasses them by the time I'm ready to make a change, we'll see.

I agree with your assessment here. The 430 was underwhelming and a bit “clicky”. Had that typical Ping feel and sound but really lacked behind a lot of the comparable irons for me. I was disappointed as I thought going into the year I may transition to a full Ping bag. Not this year!

[GaryF]

On 5/12/2023 at 10:11 AM, J7Hawkins said:

I agree with your assessment here. The 430 was underwhelming and a bit “clicky”. Had that typical Ping feel and sound but really lacked behind a lot of the comparable irons for me. I was disappointed as I thought going into the year I may transition to a full Ping bag. Not this year!

I recently hit the 430s about 3 different times at stores just to try out and get a feel for them. They seemed ok.Then I went for a fitting by a guy that fits for all major brands. They just didn’t perform with the desired carry/spin and was kind of disappointed.  Hands down, after trying several brands and shaft combos, JPX923 HMs won out.

[Ding-dong]

I have ordered some, in retro lofts with the cb graphite shaft in regular. I tried i230, i525 as well. Fitter recommended i525, which I rejected ( see another thread where I am told , my experience of this type of club is wrong) .

I previously have played mp20 , hmb combination sets, PXG 0211 Dc , ping i15 and e irons … the last two sets were always best for me, they give me forgiveness on poor strikes and don’t have a massive difference on centre strikes. 
So I will see how I get on, I am not so bothered by feel, centre strikes feel good on everything but I think distance control is key. I think it is easy to get carried away with aesthetics and forget what the irons need to do.