PING Gmax Irons Review Thread

Thoughts from recent round - let me know if you have questions.

The Sound

I spent a lot of time talking about this from the outset, and rightfully so, but I will say that as time passes, things like this become less important or noticeable. That was certainly the case yesterday - to the point that I all but forgot about it.

That's me though. I'm relatively easy going, but I will call it like I see it (or hear it in this case).

Looks

For the most part, they speak for themselves. I mentioned earlier that I don't think the primary goal when designing these irons was to make something internet people got light in the loafers over, but at the same time I'm sure they want to produce something that is at least reasonably attractive. If we look at the Karstens, I think they've taken a step back here. Not a dealbreaker though imo.

The COReye thing is certainly a bit of an eyesore. Again though, I played a full round yesterday and don't recall the thing entering my mind, whether I was looking to grab a club or holding one (you can't see it at address).

The size/shape is another thing I'm not in love with, but also not too concerned about while playing. Would it be my personal choice if I was out shopping for irons? No. When it comes to the review, that matters about as much as what color socks I had on yesterday though. You all know what you like and don't like.

All of that said, just like with the Hogans (where I didn't set up in fear), I'm not setting up with these in disgust. They look like an iron, which is a strong point in a world of hybrid-esque SGI clubs. Big COReye aside, I'd lean towards what I'm looking at with these over their peers in many cases. As you get into the 8 iron region and below, which is where the bulk of my approach shots were taken from, they are nothing abnormal at all. I think the most shocking aspect of the looks comes from them sitting in the bag with that wide sole staring at you, but you don't see that at address (aside from the 4 iron, which I can't hit anyway).

The Finish

If I was going to complain about anything regarding the looks, this would be it. I do not like this finish compared to many others I've seen in the last five years. It gets beat up (scratches) and just generally doesn't look very good after a short time. The face takes a beating quickly in my experience. My 8 iron is already all scratched up on the leading edge, which I will admit did hit a standard fairway bunker shot, but when I look at it in comparison to the finish on the Hogans or Z545 it's a real bummer. Finish on the Karsten was much better, and though I get the reason for wanting to meld everything under the "G" line, it doesn't make me any less disappointed by it.

Sole/Playability

I spent a great deal of time in the Karsten review talking about PING's sole geometry and its usefulness for certain players. PING is saying they relieved the trailing edge a little more on the Gmax, which wasn't all that noticeable to my eyes, but I'll take them on the word. It's a big sole and there's a reason for that. Lower CG, Higher MOI, higher launch angle, more forgiveness on fat shots, less tendency to dig if you're steep, etc. All things that address issues endemic to the target consumer. It's not pretty, but it's there for a reason.

The question often comes from people - does the sole impede you in dry conditions or on tight lies? Here's a look at the fairways yesterday.

91b72abafebced1687b49bdb45ad420b.jpg


In my opinion, pretty tight and pretty sparse. Definitely not soft by any means. Rough was mid-dry and not all that long.

I noted in the first update that the sole feels clunky coming from what was essentially a blade iron to these. I think that's got to be expected considering the circumstances, but even so - I felt like I had very positive results from lies like what you see in the picture. Tendency was to bounce a little on heavy shots, which gave me some thin contact at times, but I often got better results than I deserved.

More of a bruising of the grass rather than a clean, pretty divot. My divots are little though, even with a tiny-soled iron.

I do not like the sole in the wedges, whether it's for a 100 yard 9 o'clock swing or a 40 yard pitch. That's me. I like a nimble sole for those shots.

Didn't have many shots from the rough, but the one that comes to mind was easy to get a club on and resulted in a GIR from 160 yards with a 6 iron, so it's absolutely doable in the right conditions.

Distance

Simply put, I just hit the same club I would always hit in a certain situation and that worked. So, distance is what I'd expect.

Height

I did really enjoy this aspect of the Gmax. Hogans weren't the highest flying irons and it's always fun to see high balls. Nothing like the THP beasts I see in person, but for me - higher than normal and that resulted in relatively good control of my golf ball into the green.

Lot of shots into elevated greens over big bunkers at this course and I didn't hit one of them in those situations, even on a thin shot or two. Big soles have their merits.

Forgiveness

Very good. Especially with low face contact. One shot comes to mind with the 7 iron from 150 to an aforementioned elevated green with trouble. Here is the hole actually.

DSCN2465-L.jpg


Pin was behind that bunker on the left and I was down below in the fairway. I went bottom-groove style and started begging the second it came off the club. I still don't know how it happened, but it hit the collar and bounced to the back of the green for an easy up and down.

As far as lateral contact, I will re-state what I said in an earlier update. I'm not exactly sure where I'm hitting the ball left/right on the face based on feel/sound. I do know that when I was hitting normal/average shots they were all right around the same area in terms of distance. That tells me they equal forgiving. As if we needed me to make that judgement.

Results

Broken record Hawk will tell you he scores about the same, regardless of the irons. Actually, that's what happened. Slightly worse than it should have been due to four blow up holes, none of which were exactly iron related. Two started with bad decisions/execution off the tee. Two were double-shots of water balls on the same hole, neither with a Gmax in hand. Golf happens.

Regardless, some things to nitpick about and some things to really embrace. Fun round and I was very happy to hit 7 GIR's and have a couple near misses. My neighbor gave me a few oohs and ahhs, which is good for the fragile ego.
 
Thanks guys.
 
Its crazy that the finish on these can be so weak yet on the other irons they release in the iE1's its better than in their previous 2 versions.

C'mon PING.
 
Its crazy that the finish on these can be so weak yet on the other irons they release in the iE1's its better than in their previous 2 versions.

C'mon PING.

I especially look at if from the perspective that the target market is the one that is going to have more oopsies. Nobody wants a lasting reminder of when they missed the grooves lol.
 
Most interesting to me is the "standard" yellow dot configuration. More and more upright to "fix" slices I guess.
 
I especially look at if from the perspective that the target market is the one that is going to have more oopsies. Nobody wants a lasting reminder of when they missed the grooves lol.

Hawk - would you say it's the same finish as the G30 irons, or is it a bit different? They looked similar to me, but the demo set they had at the store looked a whole lot more scuffed up in the face than it should have after being there for a few days. The G30s do wear relatively quickly on the face, at least compared to my old G15s.

Got a few swings in with these while waiting for a putter grip to be installed (yes, I'm lazy). The sound is DEFINITELY different than previous iterations of Ping SGI clubs I've tried, but I think your point about not noticing after a short period of time is a good one - by the time I got through the tiny bucket of balls, it wasn't something I was thinking about. The nice thing about the store I hit these at is that they have the full iron set out to demo - I was able to take a few cuts with the 4i, 7i, and wedge. I don't know how I feel about the progressive swingweighting - again, probably something I'd get used to, but it would take a bit longer than the amount of balls they gave you to demo. I don't have any issues with the D0 that most Ping clubs are standard at, but I found myself getting really quick with the 4i. My experience with misses also mirrors Ryan's - hard pressed to really feel where you've missed on the face, much more so than with the G30s. The stock yellow dot configuration is a bit strange to me - but I've played either red or black dot in previous sets, and Ping's static fitting has me in purple.

I prefer the G30s to these by a large margin. Then again, I also hit the G30s better than I hit the Karstens so that doesn't particularly surprise me. I think there's a large segment of golfers that, if they don't mind the looks, will get a lot out of these.
 
Most interesting to me is the "standard" yellow dot configuration. More and more upright to "fix" slices I guess.

Not really, the move to yellow in these and blue in the iE1's as standard lie was because those were the two most commonly fitted colors for these type sets based on their data.
 
If I was guessing, I'd say it's the same finish. The wear on the leading edge is almost identical. I guess I should apply my feeling on black finishes to this one, but I just always assumed it would wear differently.
 
Not really, the move to yellow in these and blue in the iE1's as standard lie was because those were the two most commonly fitted colors for these type sets based on their data.

That's really interesting, and smart - doesn't surprise me that Ping used data to make that decision at all.
 
MP, thanks for the thoughts sir.
 
whoa... these may be the ugliest golf clubs I've seen in the last 2 years...




maybe even 3...
 
Turn up speakers all the way. It's very high pitched. What a shame.



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:
 
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:

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.
 
That's cool.

There are comparable performing golf clubs that don't sound terrible though.
 
That's cool.

There are comparable performing golf clubs that don't sound terrible though.

And I think it's especially notable since the clubs they replaced fit that description.
 
I admit that when I saw the GMax pics online I wasn't a fan. However after seeing them at Golfsmith the other day they looked much better in person. I thought the Karsten was pretty underwhelming looks wise. This has more flash to it.
 
Great thoughts so far Ryan. I agree with your thoughts.. With all of the good clubs OEMs are putting out these days, no need to sacrifice finish and sound when you can find something that performs very similarly that doesn't have those issues.

That being said, they certainly aren't the worst looking irons I have ever seen, but that sound.... tough to get over in my mind
 
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.

I definitely read the entire thread and saw Hawk's reviews and updates. I was posing more of a rhetorical question/opinion.
That is, my only care is the performance of a club; not the acoustics.
I guess my sarcasm re: whining didn't come across clearly. My fault.
I'm gaming the G30 irons and loving them. No plans to move on from these for awhile.
That being said, there are clearly many options of high quality out there for all of us.
We vote with our wallets, so time will tell whether the Gmax makes more sound on the course or with a loud Thud! of failure...
 
If there were no other Altitudes in the world I'd buy these. Sounds like a similar player in mind in the design.
 
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
 
I especially look at if from the perspective that the target market is the one that is going to have more oopsies. Nobody wants a lasting reminder of when they missed the grooves lol.

Hawk, apart from disliking the sound, would you consider these irons to be a substantial upgrade over the Karstens?


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