The PING G425 driver just hit the USGA conforming list. You will start to hear news about the product line, mostly the driver as irons won’t be on there, but it will be a full line. To start with, here is what we can say. The G425 driver is made up of three models.
MAX
LST
SFT
The major story for driver will be a re-engineered CG shifter (weight movement) and a larger difference between the three models than the G410. For irons will be HydroPearl Consistency and multimaterial badge for feel.
These products (the full line) will then officially be released in Japan the following week. Shortly thereafter the full line will be released in AUS. They will NOT be released in N. America and PING will have no mention of them on their websites or marketing until embargo late into 2020, with a release date of 2021.
Those countries will have the lines listed on their websites at launch time (for Japan, it will next week and AUS the week after that). Speaking with the company over the last month, they have no official statement on the release currently, but do understand that as items hit the international PING sites, that messaging and images will appear.
That’s definitely my expectation. Ping pretty much hangs on my every word
What do you suppose we are looking at here ? View attachment 8960016
I’m going to assume that since they got rid of the "Plus" at 455cc that the MAX is 460cc. The head shape looks pretty similar except the weight now slides and seems to not move as far as the G410. You definitely can’t slide it as far into the draw position in the heel as the SFT model.
It might just be the same shiny material as the bottom of the G410 reflecting light on the camera angle.
I don’t think they had another option.
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If the PING racks are bare (they aren’t near us), that is another reason not to delay release.
The 4 week lead time on custom clubs, is pretty common in golf right now due to sales skyrocketing, but theirs are actually down off course, year over year for last months Data Tech.
i’m with you here on both accounts. usga pics have often led us to say "this club looks like garbage" then when released it looks much better. i can’t think of many times the usga pic has looked better than the final released product, so if this looks good now it will probably only look better when released.
I know the 400 max wasn’t the best sounding driver I’ve ever gamed, but the numbers tell me it’s the best performing driver I’ve ever gamed. i’m very interested to test the 425 max when it comes out.
The 410 Plus also says "Forged Face" at least when I was in PGASS last weekend
Was in my local grass roots store this weekend and The only thing left in the G400 line we’re a couple sets of irons and a few crossovers. Woods and Hybrids were sold out. As for the G410 line they had a handful of drivers, FW and hybrids left. About 6-7 weeks ago the racks were pretty full. It’s the lowest inventory for Ping that I’ve ever seen in there.
If that was calculated by Ping to manage inventory I’d say that’s a good thing. If they simply are out of stock then I’d say they are missing out on sales. At $249 the G400 driver is a great value.
That is absolutely true and also leads to what I believe is a staffing and production capacity issue they are dealing with. I’ve heard of people making online orders for Callaway stuff on here and getting it in a week. I can only assume it probably got shipped from Mexico like some things I’ve ordered from Callaway in the past and they don’t have any supply chain issues for certain components.
I bought what I thought was a used demo shaft on eBay for my G400 Max a couple of months ago that ended up being ordered direct from Ping. It took a little over 4 weeks. I have on order right now a LH G410 with the Even Flow shaft. That is just not something anyone carries on the shelf around here but it is something I would struggle to call a "custom" order since it is just a stock option. I guess it isn’t sitting in a warehouse anywhere and somebody needs to build it. I still don’t know when it will be shipped after ordering it a week ago.
When the Max has some melt thrown in, it sounded just fine, and I thought the 410 felt/ sounded great. Definitely looking forward to more info on this.
The regular 400, which I gamed for several months before the Max made its debut, had excellent sound/feel. Not Mavrik feel but a more precise sound than Max.
I did love the 400 sound.
Callaway, TaylorMade, Cobra, Titleist and Ben Hogan are all running up to 2 months on custom. Not every item of course.
Very similar to Ping.
It is not only about staffing, but about components.
Companies are selling more now than they have in a long time and two of the largest retailers have had back to back record months. Custom ordering makes up a percentage of overall sales, so delaying an entire lineup for 5-6 months based solely on that would not make a lot of sense, when as was mentioned, stores are bare in some areas.
One would have to say, "yes."
You are either or
I played the G400 driver for about a year and liked the shots but did not care for the loud-tinny impact sound. Also, looking at turbulators I thought was a bit annoying, so I sold the club. When I saw the G410 had turbulators I did not even consider trying or buying one.
My favorite Ping driver was the original Rapture. It had a good looking head shape and a very pleasing muted impact sound.I would like to see Ping go back to producing composite top drivers, because that material brings a muted impact sound instead of loud-tinny.
I played the Rapture V2. Ping, being engineers, possibly thought the weight savngs were not worth the loss in structural stiffness. I assume Callaway went to Jailbreak to gain more stiffness to offset the composite top. Just a thought – may be a bad thought… I did not sleep at a Holiday Inn Express last night, not an expert on anything.
Genuinely curious, how a January release fixes that though?
I think more people start buying new stuff in January/February for the upcoming season and winter/spring trips. I know I have bought stuff then but I rarely buy new equipment in October and November.
I have to think it is a supply constraint of some sort.
At first I thought supply chain then I started thinking about the release and how the initial tech story isn’t exactly earth shattering. It wouldn’t surprise me if your guess is accurate.
I like Mizuno releases – Mid-September. Still gives peeps in NE a month or more to play and the peeps in SE, SW and West get to play year round – also helps cash flow. Intro in January and a lot of peeps are not purchasing ’till March when they are thawed out.
A smaller but more forward version of the Titleist design?
View attachment 8960046
I think the original Rapture was expensive to produce, and my best guess is that is why Ping stopped making composite top drivers.
My genuine opinion (from speaking to some that supply) is that a decision was made early to delay. Then sales skyrocketed and they have not adapted as well as the other brands in doing so in terms of sharing messaging, etc.
What is interesting is this is the first time Ping has ever done anything like this. Split releases.
The fall has been the time in which they have really shined in sales and in January that driver market gets a bit more crowded. They will be the only brand in North America without a release and that is super interesting for us #GolfNerd people that like to examine and look deeper.
I think you are correct
Odd, not seeing the logic of that (yet)
420 is probably bad for google searching.
I don’t think I ever get golf club numbering.
And so far, 2020 hasn’t shown up well –
True
This release is firmly in the "I’ll hit it one day, but I don’t care when." category for me.
View attachment 8960081
See, I’d think that would be a GOOD marketing campaign, bring in more people to the golfing fold…
I wonder what’s up with the numbering? 400, 410, 425? But Ping has always been bad at numbering.
Probably didn’t think about the inevitable 420 jokes [emoji23]
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