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Prize Fight: TaylorMade M2 vs Ping G400 Drivers

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JB

JB

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What do you get when you grab a bunch of strangers, some of the newest golf equipment and the Foresight GCQuad launch monitor? A day of fun and data capture and that is exactly what took place just a few days ago. Armed with some premium golf balls (in this case Snell MTB), THP Golf rounded up some strangers to pit two drivers against each other in the segment on THP known as Prize Fight!

Prize%20Fight-L.jpg


Check out the results here.

https://www.thehackersparadise.com/prize-fight-ping-g400-vs-taylormade-m2/
 
Interesting results, surprised the Ping lost by so many yards based on the feedback others have on it thus far. But Ive also seen firsthand how long the recent TM drivers are for folks.

And I would have been that guy going out on the range to retrieve all of those Snell golf balls lol

@JB any videos of the gathering (especially of the ball busting lol)?
 
This is a really great format for testing.

Sounds like this is the same thing we've heard from some other folks who have tried the G400 - forgiving, but not as long as some of the other options out there. I'm wondering if playing the G400 at 9.5/9.0 and knocking launch/spin down a bit would help, since it seemed to consistently launch higher and spin more. Based on the smash factor, it seems like a fitting could "wake up" that driver a bit more.

And something I never thought I'd see about a PING driver: 5 of the 8 golfers preferred the sound of the Ping G400
 
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mikedean441 said:
Interesting results, surprised the Ping lost by so many yards based on the feedback others have on it thus far. But Ive also seen firsthand how long the recent TM drivers are for folks.

And I would have been that guy going out on the range to retrieve all of those Snell golf balls lol

@JB and pics or videos of the gathering?
Click to expand...

I have images and such, but people didn't sign a waiver to use their likeness. I have emailed all of them asking permission.
The balls were gathered by the facility for me. Super cool of them.
It wasn't much of a gathering is it was 1 on 1.

mpeterson said:
This is a really great format for testing.

Sounds like this is the same thing we've heard from some other folks who have tried the G400 - forgiving, but not as long as some of the other options out there. I'm wondering if playing the G400 at 9.5/9.0 and knocking launch/spin down a bit would help, since it seemed to consistently launch higher and spin more. Based on the smash factor, it seems like a fitting could "wake up" that driver a bit more.

And something I never thought I'd see about a PING driver: 5 of the 8 golfers preferred the sound of the Ping G400
Click to expand...

I believe a fitting would help the G400 quite a bit (along with all drivers) for many golfers.
 
6 of 8 had higher smash factor with the Ping but 7 of 8 had more carry with the TM...does that imply the Ping would be the better option for more players with a fitting?
 
What did the guys think of the shaft and how it meshed with the heads?
 
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tequila4kapp said:
6 of 8 had higher smash factor with the Ping but 7 of 8 had more carry with the TM...does that imply the Ping would be the better option for more players with a fitting?
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You can take that for what it is. It could also mean that with fitting, the TM golfer would find the center more (maybe) and get even more distance.
It goes both ways.
 
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mikedean441 said:
What did the guys think of the shaft and how it meshed with the heads?
Click to expand...

We chose a mid/mid shaft for this very reason and honestly, there was literally not a single comment about the shaft.
One thing to note, not a single one of these golfers is "online" so to speak, and I think shaft conversation is still wildly less popular in the real world.
 
All I keep thinking is, damn that is a lot of Snell golf balls. lol

Fun little write up for sure.
 
I know it must have been some work to put this together however it must have been fun when you were in the middle of the testing.
Question - How many said they would go out an buy a M2 Driver?
 
This part is the most interesting to me:

7 of the 8 golfers had more carry distance with the TaylorMade M2 than that of the Ping G400
6 of the 8 golfers had a higher smash factor on average with the Ping G400

I would have thought those two would have gone pretty much hand in hand.
 
markm778 said:
I know it must have been some work to put this together however it must have been fun when you were in the middle of the testing.
Question - How many said they would go out an buy a M2 Driver?
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This is where it gets interesting and I am glad you asked.
Only one and I think he already bought it. The others preferred their current driver to the M2.
2 people said they were going to buy the G400 and it is no coincidence that they both currently play Ping drivers.
 
This is absolutely an awesome test. Love putting clubs in the hands of everyday golfers and letting numbers tell the story.

However I take offense to the use of 100 mph swing speed being called "moderate." Mine would have to be called geriatric then. Haha.
 
Enjoyed the write up. Having them lofted similarly, at equal playing lengths, and with the same shaft provides a strong baseline. Very informative.

Biggest takeaway is the ball speed difference.

Sent from my LG-H810 using Tapatalk
 
Lions81 said:
This is absolutely an awesome test. Love putting clubs in the hands of everyday golfers and letting numbers tell the story.

However I take offense to the use of 100 mph swing speed being called "moderate." Mine would have to be called geriatric then. Haha.
Click to expand...

He called it moderate...haha.
I was fortunate to have two of my wife's friends husbands come and take part which was interesting because despite me meeting them on one other occasion, I didnt know they were golfers and neither is really into equipment, although Charley can definitely hit the ball.
 
JB said:
We chose a mid/mid shaft for this very reason and honestly, there was literally not a single comment about the shaft.
One thing to note, not a single one of these golfers is "online" so to speak, and I think shaft conversation is still wildly less popular in the real world.
Click to expand...

Must be in that Florida water lol. Most of the guys at my course freak out when i let them hit a new club, specifically on what shaft is in it haha.

Maybe it's because they know I am a low cap that plays low/low.
 
I know its a small sample size, but 12 degree launch with 2400 spin is pretty darn good for the masses in a stock setup for TM.
 
Lions81 said:
I know its a small sample size, but 12 degree launch with 2400 spin is pretty darn good for the masses in a stock setup for TM.
Click to expand...

Definitely a small sample size, but we were impressed as well. That is lower spin than I get with it, but remember those are averaged. We had one golfer that had that thing at 10 launch and 1240 spin and that is crazy low.
 
Lions81 said:
I know its a small sample size, but 12 degree launch with 2400 spin is pretty darn good for the masses in a stock setup for TM.
Click to expand...

i didn't think it was stock. i thought it was hzrdus red in both.
 
great test jb! i would really like to do something like this with my gamer ball, because i've seen what the right ball can do for me. i love that you did this with a real ball rather than a dead range ball.

without revealing the winner, i would have thought the ping would have been the winner because it launched higher, spun more (good for most), had better dispersion, sounded better, and gave the best smash factor. the tm looked better and carried farther. yet it still won. i think that speaks volumes to what 99% of golfers really care about.
 
I believe this contest shows the importance of fitting.

I don't really take anything from the results other than it was fun.
 
JB said:
This is where it gets interesting and I am glad you asked.
Only one and I think he already bought it. The others preferred their current driver to the M2.
2 people said they were going to buy the G400 and it is no coincidence that they both currently play Ping drivers.
Click to expand...

How many asked you at the end "Let me get my driver so that I could compare it to these 2"?
 
This was fun, like many others surprised that Ping lost so badly compared to what we have been hearing about it. Really surprised by the avg spin, isn't the G400 supposed to be a low spin head?

Also I love that MTB's were used instead of range balls. This is actually one question I was going to ask in a thread, but I'll just ask it here. Should fittings be done with real golf balls vs range balls and/or how much difference does that make?
 
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