Ping Fairway Woods – Syndication Server

Ping releases G430 LST 3-wood

Ping’s newest fairway wood combines carbon fiber, titanium and tungsten for a low-spinning option for fast-swinging golfers.

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Gear: Ping G430 LST 3-wood
Price: $600 with PING Alta CB Black, Mitsubishi Kai’Li White or Project X HZRDUS Smoke Red RDX shaft and Golf Pride 360 Tour Velvet grips
Specs: 169-cc volume with adjustable hosel, titanium face and chassis, carbon fiber crown and tungsten sole plate. 15-degrees only.

Who It’s For: Golfers who want a low-spin, distance-oriented 3-wood that is loaded with the latest technology.

The Skinny: Ping has taken the technologies used in the G430 LST driver and added extra weight to the bottom of its new low-spin 3-wood to create a club that fast-swinging golfers can use as a driver alternative off the tee and a powerful club to attack long par 5s from the fairway.

The Deep Dive: While the Ping G430 family was released in North America back in January, the G430 LST 3-wood was quietly made available to PGA Tour pros separately this spring, and it is the most technologically advanced fairway wood the Phoenix, Arizona-based company has ever created.

Most fairway woods are designed with stainless steel, because it is strong, but over the last few seasons, some brands have tinkered with multilateral designs that are typically associated with drivers. The G430 LST 3-wood fits into that category.

Ping G430 LST 3-wood — Using titanium in the face and carbon fiber in the crown allowed Ping to add a massive tungsten sole weight to lower the center of gravity. (Ping)

Like Ping’s G430 LST driver, the G430 LST 3-wood, which is only available in a 15-degree version, has a carbon fiber crown that wraps into the sides of the club to reduce weight on the top of the head. It saves about 5.5 grams of weight compared to a stainless steel crown of the same size.

The G430 LST 3-wood also features a 2041 Beta Titanium face and a Ti 8-1-1 body. Titanium, which is usually reserved for drivers, is significantly lighter than stainless steel, which is often used in fairway woods, and it can flex more efficiently at the moment of impact, to help golfers generate more ball speed and distance.

That saved weight has been concentrated in the bottom of the club in the form of an 80-gram tungsten sole weight. It pulls the center of gravity location down and back to encourage higher-flying shots with less spin.

An adjustable hosel allows players and fitters to increase or decrease the loft by up to 1.5 degrees, so this 3-wood can have as little as 13.5 degrees of loft or as much as 16.5 degrees.

Ping G430 Max, G430 SFT fairway woods

Ping designed the G430 fairway woods with carbon fiber crowns, improved faces and high levels of stability.

Gear: Ping G430 Max, G430 SFT fairway woods
Price: $385 each with Ping Alta CB Black 55 shaft, Project X HZRDUS Smoke Red shaft or Mitsubishi Kai’ Li White shaft and Golf Pride 360 Tour Velvet grip
Specs: 17-4 stainless steel body with a maraging stainless steel face, a carbon fiber crown and an adjustable hosel. Lofts: 15, 18, 21, 24 degrees for the Max; 16, 19, 22 degrees for the SFT.
Available: Jan. 26

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Who They’re For: Golfers who want customized performance, more distance off the tee and from the fairway, and extra forgiveness.

The Skinny: Ping designed the three G430 fairway woods for different players. The SFT models were designed to help golfers who slice, while the Max fairway woods were designed to be forgiving and versatile.

The Deep Dive: There was a time when fairway woods were something of an afterthought to golf equipment makers. Drivers typically get a lot of glory, and irons are designed to be both attractive and packed with performance. Fairway woods, intentionally or not, were often overshadowed.

But as with the G430 drivers, Ping’s new G430 fairway woods are loaded with features that make them distinctly different, so players and fitters can manipulate and adjust them to achieve precisely the flight and the distance they want.

Both the G430 Max and G430 SFT have crowns of carbon fiber, and they wrap over the edges and into the toe and heel areas. Ping calls this Carbon FlyWrap, and it helps reduce weight on the top of the head.

All the Ping G430 fairway woods also have a hosel that allows players and fitters to increase or decrease the stated loft by as many as 1.5 degrees.

Ping G430 Max fairway woods (David Dusek/Golfweek)

The G430 Max is intended to be an all-around fairway wood that can work for a wide range of players. It has a stainless steel body and face, and the club’s center of gravity is lower than the previous G425 Max fairway wood’s, which should make getting the ball up easier and help golfers land shots more softly on the greens.

While the G430 Max is not designed to be a low-spin fairway wood, it does produce 400 rpm less spin than the G425 Max. The higher launch angle and lower spin rate helps the G430 Max produce 4 more yards of carry distance.

The G430 Max also has the broadest range of loft offerings.

Ping G430 SFT fairway woods (David Dusek/Golfweek)

Ping offers the G430 SFT (straight flight technology) for golfers who slice. With extra weight in the heel area, this fairway wood is designed to close more easily on the downswing, so golfers can make contact with a square face and reduced sidespin.

The G430 SFT creates 2.3 mph more ball speed than the previous G425 SFT, which translates to 7 more yards of carry distance.

Photos: Ping’s yet-to-be-released G430 driver, woods and irons hit USGA Conforming Club lists

New Ping G430 clubs hit the USGA’s Conforming Club lists on Monday, including three new drivers.

Historically, Ping has released a new family of woods and irons every year, and while the Phoenix-based company has often debuted new better-player irons around U.S. Open time, the clubs most recreational golfers will use come out in January. However, nothing new was released before the start of the 2022 season and the G425 drivers, fairway woods, hybrids and irons stayed in the line-up.

Now, however, things appear to be set to change as several new Ping G430 clubs hit the USGA’s Conforming Club lists on Monday, including three new drivers, as well as new fairway woods, hybrids and irons.

While the company is mum on the details, the clubs have some familiar markings on them that may give away some details. For instance, the three drivers are the G430 Max, G430 LST and G430 SFT. Drivers with a Max designation have been stability-enhanced clubs that are made to be forgiving on mis-hits, while LST has stood for low-spin technology and SFT has stood for straight-flight technology. So, it is probably safe to assume that Ping is sticking with the formula offering a standard, a low-spin and a slice-fighting version of its new driver.

Ping G425 Max, G425 LST, G425 SFT fairway woods

Ping’s new G425 fairway woods have a new face design and aerodynamic shape to help golfers get more distance and forgiveness.

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Gear: Ping G425 Max, G425 LST, G425 SFT fairway woods
Price: $327.50 each with Ping Alta Slate CB shafts
Specs: Stainless steel chassis with managing stainless steel face.

Ideally, a fairway wood should blend distance with forgiveness, making it a club that golfers find easy to hit and that can perform equally well off the tee or from the turf. With the G425 fairway woods, Ping thinks it has a lineup that can do the job better than ever.

There are three G425 fairway woods – the Max, LST and SFT – that share several technologies.

The first is a new Face Wrap hitting area. Instead of the face being a flat piece of stainless steel soldered to the body – common with many fairway woods – it wraps into the crown around the toe area and under the leading edge in the sole. Ping said this design allows nearly all the face and places in the crown and sole to flex at impact for increased distance and more ball-speed protection on shots hit outside the center.

Ping G425 fairway woods — The Wrap Face design of the G425 fairway woods broadens the sweet spot. (David Dusek/Golfweek)

Ping also reworked the roll in the face, which is the curvature from the top to the bottom of the hitting area. The company refers to it as Spinsistency, and in reality it is an adjustment to the loft in different parts of the face. Typically, shots hit low in the face generate more spin, but Ping designed the lower portion of each hitting area to have slightly less loft to negate that. At the same time, slightly more loft was added high in the face. As a result, spin is normalized more effectively across the entire hitting area, so golfers can expect a more consistent launch and better distance.

All three fairway woods come standard with an adjustable hosel that allows players and fitters to increase or decrease the club’s stated loft by as many as 1.5 degrees.

The G425 Max fairway woods will be available in 14.5-, 17.5-, 20.5- and 23.5-degree versions and likely will be the most popular of the three. It has the highest moment of inertia of the three and creates more ball speed for about 4.5 more yards of carry distance than the G410 fairway woods they replace, Ping said.

Ping G425 LST fairway woods (David Dusek/Golfweek)

The G425 LST, which will be available only as a 14.5-degree 3-wood, creates less spin for golfers who want a lower, more-piercing ball flight (LST stands for Low Spin Technology). Ping said it produces 200 rpm less spin than last season’s G410 LST, and 450 rpm less on low-struck shots thanks to the Spinsistency face. As a result, it is about 5 yards longer.

The G425 SFT will be available in 16-, 19- and 22-degree models and is for golfers who battle a slice (SFT stands for Straight Flight Technology). The club has extra weight in the heel area to encourage the face to close more easily on the downswing to reduce sidespin. Ping said it has 6 yards more draw bias than last season’s G410 LST fairway woods and more than 18 yards increased draw bias versus the G425 Max.

All three G425 fairway woods come standard with a Golf Pride Lite 360 Tour Velvet grip fitted with an Arccos sensor. Golfers who purchase one or more of the G425 driver, fairway wood, hybrid, iron (up to five) or Crossover are eligible for 14 free Arccos screw-in sensors and a 90-day app free trial for a $19.99 shipping and handling fee.