Ping G30 Fairway Wood, Hybrid Review
Forgiving.
Easy to hit.
Powerful.
Do I have your attention?
The G30 is what Ping says to be their
revolutionary series. The G series has always
been a club for players who are willing to
sacrifice workability for added forgiveness.
However, this time around, you get the entire
package.
The Ping G30 Fairway woods and hybrids offer
a hotter face then previous years with
added forgiveness. The G30 fairway metals
incorporate Ping’s new Turbulator
technology along with an all new Carpenter
475 face material which increases ball
reflection across the entire face. The G30
hybrid line uses Ping’s 17-4 stainless steel
face; however, this year ping has H900 heat-
treated the face to offer a thinner wall to
increase ball speed.
FIRST REACTION
With all this talk about “new face materials”,
“improved center of gravity” and
“Turbulators” it’s easy to get confused. I put
together a testing session to compare
head to head the G30 Fairway woods and
Hybrids to the previous G25 to really see
what has changed.
After taking 10 Shots with each club, here’s
what I came up with:
Fairway Wood
G30/ 3W /14.5*/ Stiff
Swing Speed: 106mph
Ball Speed: 154 mph
Launch angle: 10*
Total Distance: 275 yards
G25/ 3H/ 15*/ Stiff
Swing Speed: 104mph
Ball Speed 149 mph
Launch Angle: 11.5*
Total Distance: 268 yards
Hybrid
G30/ 3W /19*/ Stiff
Swing Speed: 101 mph
Ball Speed: 131 mph
Launch angle: 10*
Total Distance: 232 yards
G25/ 3H/ 20*/ Stiff
Swing Speed: 101 mph
Ball Speed 130 mph
Launch Angle: 11.5*
Total Distance: 231 yards
After both tests I was most impressed with the
performance of the G30 3-wood. Like
the driver, the G30 3-wood has Ping’s
Turbulators which really make the club easy to
align but let us not forget the 2 MPH increase
in clubhead speed. The feel of the G30,
like most Ping clubs have a distinguished
sound at impact and smooth feel. Compared
to the G25 the G30 felt smoother and faster
hence the distance increase. Both Shafts
that come in the G25 and G30 feel strong and
stable and the swing weight of both
clubs feel nearly identical. Although both clubs
are similar It would be a no brainer to
retire that G25 for the G30.
As for the hybrids, the G30 and G25 ended up
being a close match. After several
swings, both clubs yielded nearly identical
numbers. In fact, both the G30 and G25 have
a nearly identical feel and look very similar at
address. Based on the results I would
conclude by saying both clubs deliver similar
performance. Sadly, both clubs don’t have
an alignment aid on the crown which is
something I see helping many golfers.
FINAL THOUGHT
It’s hard to complain about simple yet intuitive
performance. Ping has been introducing
high-performance clubs to the market for
decades. The G30 brings a lot to the table,
including Ping’s unusual yet effective
Turbulators, which seem to add performance in
both the metal wood and driver. The G30
hybrid didn’t seem to outperform the G25.
Nonetheless the G30 hybrid is a great club with
superb feel and outstanding
forgiveness, regardless of it’s lack of an
alignment aid.
The Ping G30 fairway woods and hybrids retail
at $250 and $220, respectively and will
be available in early August at most golf
retailers.