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PING G15 Driver Review – Without The Hype
Every year it seems like one company after another hypes up the release of their new driver yet to the point almost no one even listens anymore. Because every year so many of them fall short of their promises and claims. That is what we are here for…we want to be the only truly 100% unbiased review site on the web. Of course every company is going to try and hype their product…we get it…that is what sells clubs. But we are out to have the most informed golf blog on the planet. So…if it is good we will tell you it is good and if it is bad we will tell you just how bad it really is. That is because the next time you go to spend your hard earned money on a golf club e don’t want you spending a dollar if it doesn’t improve on what you already have.
And that brings us to our Ping G15 review today…and is another reason why I talked about hype. You rarely hear it coming from this company. But year in and year out after all is said and done and all the hype from the all the other companies has died down…if you start asking guys what feels the best and what driver they have liked the most…a Ping driver is almost always in the conversation. Now in regards to looks they are not my cup of tea…the graphics always seem to be way out in left field compared to the rest of the industry…but hey it has worked for them.
Looks – She’s not a beauty Queen…BUT…
Well like I said the Ping drivers graphics and layout has always seemed gaudy and very elementary to me but graphics aren’t responsible for hitting fairways so no big deal. Even though we were not big fans of the graphics, the Ping G15 did have some improvements over some of the their past driver designs. For one thing they got rid of the half-moon crescent thingamagig on the crown which was good to see.
The other difference you will notice is in the shape of the head. It has a less traditional pear shape and more of a triangular look to the head at address. This has increased the MOI over past designs and helped to improve those off center hits.
Performance – Long, Straight, Solid Feel
So was I impressed with the G15? Actually I was…looks were deceiving. Because when I first brought it out I would NOT have put money on it being the winner of the bunch. Like always it did not get as much attention from me or the testers at first but by the end it was the crowd fav. I took it out to the range with 5 other drivers… and 10 random handicap golfers to test out the club. All golfers hit all of the drivers including the Ping G15.
And the result:
* A shocking 50% of the golfers chose the G15 as their favorite…the next highest driver received just 30% of the votes.
We also launch monitor tested the drivers and the G15 performed well here as well. It performed good in distance and well above the competition in off-center hits. Which for the average golfer should be one of the most important factors. The G15 almost performed as well on hits off the toe as it did on perfectly struck drives. However, it did not perform very well on hits of the heel.
The one main hang-up for me with this driver is that it is not adjustable. For instance the driver that came in 2nd place I would contemplate putting in my bag over the Ping G15 just for the simple fact that it is adjustable. We are not always hitting a nice draw or a consistent fade over the course of a summer so it is nice to have that ability to change the driver on the fly to adjust for our minor swing changes. But I got to say that I was otherwise impressed with the Ping G15. It was definitely an over-achiever.
Conclusion – Hard To Argue With Results
No matter what this driver looks like the thing just performs. And like always Ping just seems to put one consistent driver out after another. It is hard not to like it when it hits it straight and goes long and feels great at contact. Now you might not turn heads at your local course when you whip it out of your bag…but you might have some friends you didn’t have before the round when all the guys are asking if they can hit it on the range after the round.
It just seems to be one of those drivers that takes more time to catch on because it really is a word of mouth type of success with their drivers. Golfers always want to try what someone else has got if they are hitting it well. And that is how Ping’s drivers usually move off the shelf and into golfers bags. Just like in the restaurant business…if you got good food people are gonna hear about you. And it is just a matter of time before you become the lunchtime hotspot.
PROS:
* SOUND
– like always Ping has maintained a solid sounding driver. This isn’t the typical hollow aluminum can you get from many of the drivers nowadays.
* FEEL
– This is an area this driver stands above the rest in my opinion. The face feels good almost anywhere you hit it, which is a major + for the average golfer that does not get to play enough to strike it on a dime.
* DISTANCE
– the Ping G15 driver performed well above average in the distance category. For driver that does not show off with all the bell and whistles it still shined above the majority of the competition.
CONS:
* ADJUSTABILITY
I know that Ping prides themselves on not following the crowd when it comes to BS technology. They are usually last to the table if they even come with ome of the crazy stuff companies put out. But the adjustability tech is here to stay in my opinion. It helps all golfers…from hacks to the pros.
* LOOKS
– well I don’t want to beat a dead horse with this graphics thing…but I am just curious whether or not this is done on purpose and they have done some research on golfers about what they thing about when they here the name PING…and their answer was ugly graphics…because that is the only reason I could think of them leaving them like this for production
(==> Note to golfers <==) always get professionally fit if possible…because results with a stock shaft can vary tremendously from one type golfer to another. Getting proper launch angles and spin rates for any driver you play outweighs the importance of the head 10 fold. So if you choose a G15 driver make sure to get fit with a shaft that gets you the maximum performance possible
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