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Ping Anser Driver Review - Forum Testing

SuperStroke
royalwulff said:
I am in catch up mode right now so this is a skim alert but do any of you guys have a mid 90's swing speed and how does this driver handle that swing speed?
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That would be me dude. Handles it just well. More importantly is the right shaft with that swing speed. I think the Ping TFC fits it perfectly.

Tadashi70 said:
KMac those are some good numbers right there and the hit pattern on the face is consistent. I see you misses are off the toe but other than a couple it looks like you made solid contact.
It also sounds like your building some confidence with this driver. I hope this positive trend continues TigerMAC
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LOL @ TigerMac. Thanks for the words Forum Leader Freddie. I think those shorter drives are probably the ones off the toe but Im still making friends with the Anser so Im not exactly sure just yet. I'll clean the face off before my next time out to try and see each mark in comparison with the results.
 
Kmac that is a solid front side of 86%. I love the pics of the face and especially the tee height. I know I tend to tee my ball a lot lower than others.
 
@ KMAC - what is your swing speed?
 
Chunkylover77 said:
Kmac that is a solid front side of 86%. I love the pics of the face and especially the tee height. I know I tend to tee my ball a lot lower than others.
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Something that made me lol was that front was with the Prov1 which Id never played before. Ive always been one to tee the ball low too and now I wonder if that has really hampered my driving.

tequila4kapp said:
@ KMAC - what is your swing speed?
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If I swing out of my shoes I might hit 100 or so but on average low 90's.
 
Kmac said:
If I swing out of my shoes I might hit 100 or so but on average low 90's.
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Thanks. I like how you GPS'd your drives and gave distances for all holes. Good info. So your average for the 13 drives was 239.33. If we take out the four outliers (280, 277, 204, 216) your average was 236.87. Do these numbers seem consistent with distances you get with other drivers? (My gut reaction is the distance seems in the normal range for your SS).
 
tequila4kapp said:
Thanks. I like how you GPS'd your drives and gave distances for all holes. Good info. So your average for the 13 drives was 239.33. If we take out the four outliers (280, 277, 204, 216) your average was 236.87. Do these numbers seem consistent with distances you get with other drivers? (My gut reaction is the distance seems in the normal range for your SS).
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Yeah that sounds about right. I don't get a lot of 280 yard drives unless its wind aided and or downhill. So yeah I'd say that sounds about right.
 
Sweet write up and pics kmac. Good round too dude.
 
I spent a little time with the Anser in St. Louis this weekend. Out of the few drivers I hit, the Anser really wowed me and I had no issues or gripes with the Anser 9.5 with TFC stiff shaft. I was really hitting that setup well from the word go. Still not a huge fan of the sound of Ping drivers, but the ball felt really good off the club face and I was seeing a nice penetrating ball flight and the distance was really outstanding. Outside of the sound, the feel and ball flight I was seeing was very similar to my 910 when I had the Ahina S in my driver.

I am in no hurry to dump my 910, but if I was, I would give the Anser a long hard look. And listen less.


Gregory Hines. Tapping.
 
I had a great day with the Anser today. More will be up later.
 
Excellent write up Kmac, this may be a dumb question but are your drive distances normally vary that much?
 
3rd round with the Anser- 'Ahina shaft

The Crescent Golf Course, Salisbury, NC
75* with very little wind
White tees, 6311 yds, 70.6/ 127

This course was a little bit weird. It took the driver out of your hand for a majority of the first 9 holes. We ended up playing the front twice due to the course being so slow. I think I hit the Anser on 3 holes the first time and 4 holes the second time. I had 66% FIR on the first nine and 50% on the second nine. The few fairways I missed, were barely off the fairway and didn't penalize me hardly at all.

Here are the cards from the round.

Spoiler

9232012frontnine_zps9f8a9842.jpg

9232012backnine_zps92396112.jpg



I also recorded the yardages for each hole I used the Anser. I didn't use my phone GPS, but used a rangefinder to the flag and subtracted it from the total yardage.

1- 230 push to the right
3- 270 middle of fairway
6- 263 middle of fairway
10- 240 push to the right
12- 302 middle of fairway, I cut more of the corner off the dog leg this time.
13- 293, middle of fairway
14- 278, right of fairway
15- 287, I hit another ball to see about driver distance.

I was not only really consistent with the driver today, but long. The fairway was a bit dry and I think was able to get some really great roll outs. These seem about 10 or 15 yards longer on some holes. The Anser/ 'Ahina combo just keeps surprising me on how consistent it is. I plan on getting out tomorrow and plan on using just the TFC to get a comparison round. One thing I can tell you for sure is the face on this driver is hot! I am getting some drives out there further than I ever have before. I can accredit most of my success on this round to the Anser getting me close on the longer holes to get my score down. I ended up with my lowest score yet, a 75 today.


Previous post
 
Nice update grant. You were crushing it there for the last couple holes. Where did you find yourself teeing the ball on your tees?


IceyShanks said:
Excellent write up Kmac, this may be a dumb question but are your drive distances normally vary that much?
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I can hit short drives with the best of them but no usually I'm consistently short lol. I've been seeing my distance sneak back up a bit lately as the swing seems to be making some progress now. Why it's taken all golf season who knows. Golf I guess.
 
Great seeing everyone having success with the stealth bomber.

Kevin you have to be pretty happy with your decision to go regular shaft?
 
Kmac said:
Nice update grant. You were crushing it there for the last couple holes. Where did you find yourself teeing the ball on your tees?
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I vary between the 3rd and 4th line towards the ground end of the THP epoch tees. That seems about the right height for me.
 
FrankA said:
Great seeing everyone having success with the stealth bomber.

Kevin you have to be pretty happy with your decision to go regular shaft?
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So far so good. Not really seeing anything that would suggest its hurting me. When I put a good swing on it I can aim down the left side and it will fade right back into the middle. Those two 280 yard drives were exactly like that.
 
9 fairways hit out of 12 with the driver today. 3 drives over 300 yards (302, 303, 307) as measured by sky caddie. Two of those were elevated greens. Nuff' said for now. PING makes me :D


I let Siri do my THP'ing on my iPhone 5
 
Nice Grant, you as we'll seem to be getting a long with your driver. Are you adjusting ball flights into the wind or done wind? Or are you pretty neutral in your setup on each drive
 
Tadashi70 said:
Nice Grant, you as we'll seem to be getting a long with your driver. Are you adjusting ball flights into the wind or done wind? Or are you pretty neutral in your setup on each drive
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I try to stay pretty neutral. If it is really windy I might tee the ball lower and move it back in my stance some.


Tapatalkin
 
GrantD said:
I try to stay pretty neutral. If it is really windy I might tee the ball lower and move it back in my stance some.


Tapatalkin
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i know you've mentioned it but what is the ball flight you're seeing? I'm impressed by the distances you are getting.
 
Tadashi70 said:
i know you've mentioned it but what is the ball flight you're seeing? I'm impressed by the distances you are getting.
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I am getting a mid ball flight. It is not really getting up there high enough to float out, but seems to penetrate the whole flight. They are low missiles, but more mid. I am loving it.


Tapatalkin
 
GrantD said:
I am getting a mid ball flight. It is not really getting up there high enough to float out, but seems to penetrate the whole flight. They are low missiles, but more mid. I am loving it.


Tapatalkin
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impressive, the ball speed has to be up there and I like mid flight bullets. Keep it up grant!
 
Tadashi70 said:
impressive, the ball speed has to be up there and I like mid flight bullets. Keep it up grant!
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Yeah man. I have noticed a great different since taking lessons. My lag is really good and it shows in my driving. JB even said it was a world of difference at the NC event.


Tapatalkin
 
GrantD said:
I am getting a mid ball flight. It is not really getting up there high enough to float out, but seems to penetrate the whole flight. They are low missiles, but more mid. I am loving it.


Tapatalkin
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Nice updates Grant! I was going to ask the same question as Freddie but it was already asked/answered. Is this flight any lower than you previously saw with other drivers? Sounds like the mid flight is what you prefer as do I.
 
mcook77 said:
Nice updates Grant! I was going to ask the same question as Freddie but it was already asked/answered. Is this flight any lower than you previously saw with other drivers? Sounds like the mid flight is what you prefer as do I.
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It is slightly lower. I had a 10.5 with higher launch shaft. The 9.5 and 'Ahina shaft are a good combo for me. The TFC shaft launches slightly higher, but not to high. I have a lesson on Wednesday and hope to get on a launch monitor for a bit. I would like to see if the 'Ahina ball flight is better than the TFC. I right now prefer the mid flight, but would switch to the higher one if it gets a few extra yards.


Tapatalkin
 
2nd Full Round+ with the Anser
Date: 9-21-2012
Location: Hamilton Elks Golf Club, Blue Course, Blue Tees 36.2, 132
Club Tested: Ping Anser driver 9.5* Diamana Ahina
Previous Club: Nike VRS
Ball used: Titleist ProV1/Bridgestone B330S/Top Flight XL3000
Conditions: 65* and Sunny

Took the Anser out for another run. My course has 27 holes and 18 of them were tied up with tournaments so I played the same 9 3 times. I used the driver on 6 of the 9 holes and GPS'd all drives. After a few drives I really started making sure I was bringing the driver back more on the takeaway as some of the swings I first made felt like I was "short arming" them and the distances backed that up.

Hole #1-395 par 4-Pretty straight away hole, fairway bunkers on the left and right near 240ish. Tee box sets up to the right side with the trap and over hanging trees.
Drive #1-Hit it straight but with tee box setting up right, I ended up in first cut of rough near the trap. Distance 238 yards.
Drive #2-Caught it thin, and while I was glad to hit a fairway, I had a ways to go, distance 211
Drive#3-Similar to drive #1 but I made it past the trap, 252 yards with a nice 9I to the green.

Hole #2-358 par 4-Normally not a driver hole for me, but wanted to give this a run since Im testing, Water all along the right side and the fairway slopes hard to that side.
Drive#1-Got under this one a bit, started up the left side and thanks to a nice bounce and sloping fairway, I ended up with a decent 254 yard drive just off of the right side of the fairway.
Drive#2-This thing was a missle, started down the right side and was afraid with the minimal real estate on that side that I may have went into the water. Ended up about 3 yards away from the water, awkward stance for my 2nd, but a good drive of 251.
Drive#3-Not one of my better swings, snapped it out to the left side just left of the cart path into some nice thick rough. Distance was only 224.

Hole #5-501 par 5- Trees down the left side and then a nice fairway trap basically where you try to aim on this hole.
Drive#1-Hit it down the left side, cleared all of the trees, first cut of rough, 245 distance.
Drive#2-This was the one I sent the pic of on Friday, 279 into the strategically places sand trap, this one really popped off of the driver, might have only been the 2nd or 3rd time ever Ive been up that far from the tips.
Drive#3-Hit this one solid as well, short of the trap into the first cut of rough on the right, 262 yards.

Hole #6-425 par 4--Nothing fancy here, just straight down the middle. Hole gives me fits as I normally have longer 2nd shots into the green that is sloped in what seems like every direction.
Drive#1-Smacked one down the middle of the fairway, not a ton of roll as fairway with a little soft, 248 yards.
Drive#2-Thin tee ball that didnt even look like it was going to make it to where the fairway started, was in the first cut on the right, had 216 in and smoked a mashie 7W onto the green, par!
Drive#3-Pushed one down the right side into the thick rough, 238 yards.

Hole #8-423 par 4-Dogleg left, bunker sits right at the end of the fairway for those that hit the ball dead straight.
Drive #1-High ball that had a little slice on it, thought it was OB but ended up a foot or so from the nasty stuff, 244 distance.
Drive #2-Dead straight, just wrong hole to do it, right into the sand trap, 255 yards.
Drive #3-Almost as straight as #2 but just to the right of the previous line, ended up short right of the trap 247.

Hole #9-503 par 5-Dog leg right, not reachable by me in 2.
Drive #1-253 yards into the fairway, not far enough right to mess with the dogleg which was fine by me.
Drive #2-Overswung a little on this one, had some slice on it, but not too bad, needed a miracle to clear the trees of the dogleg, didnt happen...OB (and only double on that 9).
Drive#3-Felt like a shortened swing but I poked it out there decent, 243 yards onto the fairway. Eventually lead to me making a 11 foot putt for birdie.

Scores...41/43/39

Overall:
Really felt good with this club Friday. Once I really started to focus on getting my left shoulder to my chin before the downwing I noticed much better contact and much better yardages. Still had some where I felt like I wasnt swinging hard at all, but while those turned out short, they were nice and safe. Didnt see much on the slice front which made me happy as it kept the penalty strokes to a minimum.

I really seem to be finding the center of the club face on the majority of my shots. I can honestly say its been much more consistent in that respects than any other driver ive hit before. Im hoping once I can get my swing grooving, to possibly get back to a neutral setting and reduce some of the loft as I dont really need help getting the ball in the air, and this time of the year the wind typically gets brutal. Right now Im leaving it at 10* more for the closed face than anything until my slice demons are gone.
 
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