You’re not a beginner, you’re starting to get the feel of the club and your confidence is growing all the time. You are now at the stage where you need a new set of clubs, upgrade your equipment and your game. What should you be looking for?
The Ping G10 irons might just be the clubs that tick all the boxes for you.
The Ping G10 Iron Review
Why should you consider the Ping G10 irons? Firstly, they are not new. They are not the latest in the ever-evolving world of high-tech design. There is a good reason for that, why change what’s working?
The Ping G10 irons are quite a few years old now but they still offer plenty of game-improvement benefits to many golfers out there. It is a tribute to Ping’s high-held reputation that this club continues to remain so popular.
This club has set the standard that others follow. The competition has tweaked the design of their clubs and achieved only minor improvements.
As good as they are and despite their remaining popularity, there is always bad with the good.
Things to consider before buying
We need to be careful not to make too big a change, and tackle something we can’t handle. I once tried to hit some “players” clubs, blades that many of the professionals use, and found them quite difficult to control. A mid-handicapper should graduate through the more high-tech cavity clubs that offer more forgiveness.
With the correct clubs, you can continue to grow your game and improve your handicap to single figures. There are many professionals on the circuit who use cavity irons, so don’t be in too much of a hurry to go to blades.
The Ping G10 irons are ideal for mid to higher handicap golfers, but not recommended for beginners nor for very low handicap players.
Alternatives that beginners might consider are the Callaway Strata Ultimate or Wilson Ultra complete sets. These clubs are ideal for beginners to get into the game and are good value for money.
We want clubs that are user-friendly, what’s known as game improvement irons. They have to carry a well reputable brand name with a proven track record. They need to “look” good in the bag, and they need to be not too heavy on the pocket.
Pros:
- Good lift-off, easy to launch.
- Solid pure feel.
- Super forgiving.
- Classy great looking clubs.
- Affordable, easy on the pocket.
Cons:
- Too straight, lack workability.
- It will not suit the purist.
- Don’t have all the latest high-tech innovations.
Features and benefits:
- Stainless steel construction
The Ping G10 club head is manufactured from 17-4 Stainless steel and the club head tends to be larger than usual. Some players have found this a bit off-putting but reported that it did not take long to adjust. Personally, I felt it gave a higher degree of confidence while setting up over the ball.
The cavity in the G10 has been made bigger allowing the weight to be moved further back and lower down to provide more forgiveness. Creating the cavity and moving the weight to the perimeter of the club face increases the MOI (Moment of Inertia) the technology that helps players make massive improvements to their game.
This quality, forgiveness, is a feature throughout the whole set making these clubs easy to hit, with consistent direction and good distance.
A further benefit is that even shots that are off-center, or missing the sweet spot, will still go fairly straight to your target area although you might forfeit some distance.
The G10 head also features an additional toe weight and a wider sole greatly enhancing turf interaction, feel, and consistency.
The standard set makeup is: 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, PW. Also available is 2, GW, SW, LW.
1. Tuning Port Insert
As the cavity is enlarged the face becomes thinner and needs to be reinforced and stabilized. This is achieved by the introduction of the CTP (Custom Tuning Port). The benefit of the CTP insert is to enhance the “feel” or feedback that you get from the cast head-on impact. The reinforced club face makes it “super-hot” and gives you the increased distance.
2. Ascending Weight Technology
Ping uses longer standard steel shafts which are lighter than the shorter iron shafts. The ascending weight starts with the heaviest shafts in the wedge becoming progressively lighter, with the lightest found in the driver.
These graduated shaft weights along with the wider sole, as previously mentioned, greatly enhance turf interaction. The greatest benefit is the consistency that this technology provides and the resulting control and confidence that the player will experience.
Shaft flex options: Light, Regular, Stiff, and X Stiff, also available with graphite shafts.
3. Custom Fitting
The most popular feature, and reason for the growth of popularity of the Ping G10 brand, is the custom fitting service. Simply put, we are all individuals and no two people have the same height, weight, grip, strength, and swing speed. It stands to reason then that we should not all have the same clubs and that custom fitting would make a huge difference.
Ping has revolutionized the industry through this technology and the use of the PING nFlight Technology analysis tool.
The player’s swing is analyzed to determine all the specifications that the clubs should have. From the result, the requirements for spin rate, trajectory, and shot shape can be determined and the benefit is to enhance the player’s iron distance, control levels, and consistency.
4. Offsets
The high degree of game-improvement features has a negative effect as we saw in the cons. The biggest drawback is the loss of control, making it difficult to shape the ball, to either fade or draw. In an attempt to compensate for this to some degree Ping G10 irons pay close attention to the offsets.
The offset on the long irons is optimized in order to make them more forgiving, while the offset is reduced on the short irons to give them more playability.
5. Pure and solid feel
Most important for the mid handicap player is confidence. The Ping G10 with the larger than average head, gives a very solid and powerful feel when striking the ball. The forgiveness is exceptional and if you mishit the ball you might lose some distance but should not be too heavily penalized on the direction.
Alternatives
There are a couple of very competent and user-friendly alternatives on the market that can stand next to the Ping G10.
The TaylorMade SIM Max OS is a good choice and features a high degree of forgiveness. The SIM stands for Speed in Motion and OS is out size. This SIM shifts the focus more towards shaping and aerodynamics, which in turn might trade off some of the directional accuracy. To compensate the size of the club head was increased to restore the forgiveness quality.
This club is best suited to the high handicap player and compared to the Ping G10 is much bulkier, has a harder shape and the sound and feel are not too impressive. This is a bit heavy on the pocket.
The Wilson D7 is a highly competitive golf club in the game improvement range and with the D7 Wilson has really come to the fore. They sport a new cleaned up chrome face, a thinner top line, more power holes in the sole of the longer clubs. Generally, the feel is better on the shorter irons and but seems to be not as strong on the long irons.
A very good alternative, especially for mid to high handicappers, with an equally competitive price tag.
Callaway is another big brand name and their Mavrik Max would feature in this category. Packed with state of the art technology they feature the following:
Flash Face Cup Technology creating boosted ball speed and increased spin robustness.
Tungsten Energy Core promotes optimal launch and ball flight with strong lofts and land angles.
Urethane Microspheres to absorb unwanted vibrations and enhance feel.
With all this said there are some cons, they look a bit chunky, distance control is difficult, it’s hard to work the ball, and it is pricey.
Final thoughts
The Ping G10 is not the latest high tech golf club on the market, it does not feature all the new AI groundbreaking discoveries, but it is a tried and tested product which despite being a few years old still more than holds up to the competition.
The Ping G10 gives you great distance, excellent forgiveness, a good feel, very good durability and beats the rest on price.
If you haven’t taken these for a test drive, why not?
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Nick is the founder of GolfSpan and an avid golfer. He's not quite a pro but has over 15 years of experience playing and coaching golfers worldwide. His mission is to bring the golfing community a better experience when it comes to choosing the right golf gear and finding the right setup for your game.
