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PING Gmax Irons Review Thread

SuperStroke
Trevor68 said:
Hawk,
I currently game the Cally XRs. Would you say these Pings are about equal in terms of height, forgiveness and distance?



Driver: Nike Covert 2.0 12.5 degrees
Fairway: Callaway X2Hot 4 Wood
Hybrid: Callaway X2Hot 5 & 6
Irons: Taylormade Rocketbladez 8,9,P
Wedges: 52 Mizuno, 56 rtx, 58 smart sole, 64 rtx
Putter: Ping Scottsdale TR 33
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Trevor68 said:
Hawk, apart from disliking the sound, would you consider these irons to be a substantial upgrade over the Karstens?


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Trevor - so sorry for the delay man!

I haven't hit the XR's. Just based off what I know, I think you'd probably see comparable performance. Some small differences of course, but I'd bet you it wasn't all that noticeable to the naked eye. These are exceptionally forgiving, acceptable for distance, and can really help with the low balls.

I don't think they are much of an upgrade from the Karstens though. In fact, if you offered me either I'd take the Karstens based on finish and sound alone. Didn't see enough difference in performance to excuse those two things for me individually. That's not to say they performed poorly, because they were actually really good. Just didn't love the sound or looks comparitively.
 
I was able to test the Karsten and Gmax irons side by side using Foresight at a PGA Superstore. They are both awesome clubs which go high and long. Forgiveness is pretty close to ridiculous.
I ended up choosing the Gmax due the lack of dispersion. This is not to say that the Karstens were not straight, its just that the Gmax were the straightest irons i have ever put a swing on.


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Excellent. Glad you found a match dude.

I've enjoyed the rounds I had with them as well. When I'm swinging halfway decent I was able to get quite a few good birdie opps.
 
UncleDanger said:
I'm not about the sound.
One question and one question only:
How do they perform?

That's all I care about. If the sound bothers my opponent, all the better.
Haven't heard this much whining since Chambers Bay. :smirk:
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Jman said:
If you've read through the thread you'll see Hawk has given several performance updates with a ton of great info, sound may not matter to you, but to many of us its a big deal and definitely worth talking about and covering.
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Sound will absolutely sway a decision for me. If a club sounds bad, no chance I play it. Sorry, it's just not worth it. Plenty of options out there that sound good to choose one that sounds terrible. there is a reason a certain manufacturer places a huge amount of emphasis on sound and scientifically tunes their products.
 
Hi guys,

I'm currently playing with 2009 Burner Plus irons and I'm wondering if all of those rather new game improvement clubs (G Max, Karsten, Altitude, RSi 1 etc) are way better? Will I notice a big difference/improvement or should I just stick with my Burners, paint 'em blue, and add a yellow dot..?
 
Holy cow these club heads are huge. I played the Ping G5's for nearly 10 years, and these feel like they dwarf the G5's. They also sounded bad to me, which Hawk had already touched on. I did not care for them at all.
 
ProHacker said:
Hi guys,

I'm currently playing with 2009 Burner Plus irons and I'm wondering if all of those rather new game improvement clubs (G Max, Karsten, Altitude, RSi 1 etc) are way better? Will I notice a big difference/improvement or should I just stick with my Burners, paint 'em blue, and add a yellow dot..?
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Welcome to THP!

I wouldn't say WAY better, but small things can add up if they suit you.

Example on these would be the sole design. It's got the benefits of a wide sole, but is beveled on the trailing edge, which should help it interact with the ground a little better. They've really driven the weight down in these irons too, which could give a little boost in height for you.
 
Hawk said:
Welcome to THP!

I wouldn't say WAY better, but small things can add up if they suit you.

Example on these would be the sole design. It's got the benefits of a wide sole, but is beveled on the trailing edge, which should help it interact with the ground a little better. They've really driven the weight down in these irons too, which could give a little boost in height for you.
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Hawk - I didn't notice a ton of discussion on this, so please feel free to yell at me and point me in the right direction if it's a skim/reading comprehension issue. How have you found the new approach to swingweighting they're using for these? I haven't had a chance to swing these again, but they definitely felt really, really light in hand in the long irons, and I couldn't really decide how I felt about that.
 
You know, that's a good question and an aspect that I never really thought about while I was on the course. Like usual, I limited 4 iron exposure to the range anyway and my thoughts are up there on it.

I never recall getting a sense of anything being off in the 6 iron and to be honest, I'm not sure if I've even had to hit the 5 iron lol. It's just not a club I need to use very often.

The 6 iron though I distinctly recall hitting a few really nice shots with, but I'd struggle to attribute it to the weighting absent some sort of control.
 
Hawk said:
You know, that's a good question and an aspect that I never really thought about while I was on the course. Like usual, I limited 4 iron exposure to the range anyway and my thoughts are up there on it.

I never recall getting a sense of anything being off in the 6 iron and to be honest, I'm not sure if I've even had to hit the 5 iron lol. It's just not a club I need to use very often.

The 6 iron though I distinctly recall hitting a few really nice shots with, but I'd struggle to attribute it to the weighting absent some sort of control.
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I suppose "never noticed/thought about it" is a good thing - thanks.
 
Nice review Ryan. I have gamed Ping irons in the past and they have performed well, these look and sound like they will perform well for the market they are targeting.
 
PING Gmax Irons Review Thread

It always cracks me up when people look at a a super game improvement iron and says that it will work for its target audience. Not because the statement is wrong (it will indeed work), but because they will work for everyone performance wise. Who doesn't need a straight, long and high iron?! Heck, that is even the type of shot that I see all the time in the PGA Tour.
At the end of the day, everyone should swing whatever they like, but i am pretty sure 99% of amateurs, if fitted to the right shaft, would love the performance that they would get from these irons.


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Great writeup Ryan. These clubs are aimed at golfers like me - slower swing speed, directional/height issues at times with an inconsistent swing, etc. But the looks and sound of these irons are definitely a turnoff for me, especially given the other SGI irons out there that seem to do just as good a job as the Gmax. Still, they perform very well as you've shown. I should definitely give these a few hits myself to check them out against my current SGI irons.
 
I come from a Hockey background and in that sport the blade that you play with is massive. So, when i play golf, I am usually intimidated by small blades. These irons look beautiful to me, but I am sure I am one of the rare few that looks at it this way.


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Well done Hawk. Funny how you get acclimated to sound when the performance is there.
 
Great review and thoughts, Ryan.

These definitely have me intrigued. I am all for forgiveness!!
 
Trevor68 said:
It always cracks me up when people look at a a super game improvement iron and says that it will work for its target audience. Not because the statement is wrong (it will indeed work), but because they will work for everyone performance wise. Who doesn't need a straight, long and high iron?! Heck, that is even the type of shot that I see all the time in the PGA Tour.
At the end of the day, everyone should swing whatever they like, but i am pretty sure 99% of amateurs, if fitted to the right shaft, would love the performance that they would get from these irons.


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Maybe it will.

There are plenty of swings that I've been around that wouldn't benefit much from something like this. Typically people that already hit it long, high, and straight, though I think that's possibly the most overused cliche in all of golf equipment. Most of the people that actually do that (there's not very many) don't need these golf clubs, and those that don't still will be missing at least one or two of those things. Even I look at my 'high' shots with these and they pale in comparison to some of the THP'rs I play with. It's all relative.

The sole is going to take away some versatility for a better play, especially in the wedges.

The light weight could have tempo implications for some.

Some just hit a smaller head better.

I'm not going to discount the idea that more would benefit from them than would like to admit it, but it's certainly not 99% of the people I've played with. Especially if we look at total score. To give you an example, I scored slightly higher during my rounds with these in the bag (a stroke or two) and hit the same or fewer number of greens than I did when I was playing the Hogan FT15's.
 
I see you mentioned that they are light weight which surprises me.
The stock shafts in my Rocketbladez are 85g. The stock shafts on the Gmax irons that I tried (Stiff) are 110g.


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110g is still considered on the lighter side. Still lighter than what many stronger swingers play. Lighter swing weights as well due to lighter heads.
 
First rate review! Perhaps Ping will be inspired to take a closer look at the look/sound/feel aspects of this design for the next iteration. For me, distance and forgiveness are my main concerns, so these will definitely get a try-out the next time I’m in the market for new irons.
 
Thanks for the review Hawk, very much appreciated!
 
My question is how much more forgiving are they than the G30's? Or even the Karstens.
 
Same as the Karstens - or if there is a difference it's tiny and probably only recordable via iron byron or something.

Compared to G30's - probably noticeable (more).
 
Hawk how would you compare them to the Cleveland 588 Altitudes
 
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