Review: Ping G30 Driver

The Forgivenator
The biggest conversation point with the new G30 driver is the Turbulators.  Those ridges along the crown of the driver are said to offer better aerodynamics thus making this driver faster which also equals longer.  While I don’t have wind tunnel testing, my Flightscope numbers show my highest clubhead speeds of any club I’ve tested.  But to me the real story is the forgiveness of this driver.  You can hit it anywhere on the face and get long drives that find the fairway.  I call it the Forgivenator!
Ping is bringing a whole bunch of new features to the G30.  The Turbulators, new face material, new adjustable hosel, and new shafts.  One of the factors that might get overlooked is the specs.  This driver has a heavier head than most and even with counterbalanced stock shaft plays at D3.  While it is only a couple grams, it helps with feel and forgiveness.  I played the Tour 80 shaft at 45.25″ at D3 as my go to combo.  I messed with the settings and settled back on neutral.  
 

Ping is offering 3 stock shafts, the TFC 419D High Balance, the Tour 65 and the Tour 80.  I ordered the TFC and Tour 80 to make a comparison.  The TFC 419D is a lightweight counterbalanced shaft.  Many of Ping’s stock shafts have been counterbalanced in the past, but this one has even more counterbalance.  While the feel was great, the results didn’t work for my swing.  My first couple swipes on the Flightscope looked really good, but after that my timing was off and everything I hit went way right, no matter the setting or what I tried to do by manipulating the swing.  That High Balance point just didn’t work for my swing, but the Tour 80 on the other hand is a perfect fit.  

My first round was a day after significant rain the week before making the fairways soggy.  I hit high bomb after high bomb right in the middle of the fairway allowing me to post my best score on a course that I’ve had troubles on in the past.  Even though my score was low, I felt really short off the tee.  Every ball just hit the fairway and stuck.  I was afraid that it was spinning too much.  After things dried out, I learned that this isn’t a short driver, nor does it spin too much, it was just that wet that the ball never bounced forward.  I started finding my ball at those expected distances again.  These Turbulators work, I hit some really long drives under normal conditions.  If you go down to the Flightscope chart below, you will see the highest average clubhead speeds I’ve ever had.

Ping obviously put a lot of engineering into the Turbulators to decrease wind resistance and gain clubhead speed.  Even the Pros are finding some added yardage (and winning a whole bunch of money too).  What impressed me more than the clubhead speed is the G series continued commitment to forgiveness.  I have a couple other drivers I hit further, but not one driver is even close to the forgiveness of the G30.  I think it may be the most forgiving driver I’ve hit (once the right shaft was installed).  What is great about the G30 forgiveness is that it doesn’t sacrifice distance for accuracy, it has both.

I’ve read a couple early complaints about struggling with alignment from other golfers which I just didn’t find.  The ball fits perfectly between the center Turbulators and the face squares up nicely.  I did noticed I moved the ball one Turbulator towards the toe and I then hit the ball dead center more often.  When I had it between them I was hitting more heel shots.

The Ping G30 has many new features, even though it is still in the G series mold.  The turbulators are big and bold, but the new hosel adaptor is completely changed too, offering greater adjustability.  The past adaptors were plus or minus a .5 degree.  The new adaptor offers 5 settings, Neutral, + .6, + 1.0 – .06 and – 1.0.  While I appreciate the additional settings from a fitting standpoint, I’m bummed I can’t use any shafts I have from previous Ping drivers.

The feel of the G30 is very hot, but similar to past G series driver with a slight more hollow feeling than the I series.  The sound is a louder and higher pitch of metallic whack, but still pleasing to the ear, just not quite as perfect as the I series.  The T9S face is hot everywhere.  It didn’t seem to matter where I hit it, the results were very similar.

The Ping G30 isn’t just hype, it delivers on its promises of faster ball speeds yet super forgiving.  Ping has always prided itself on fitting and the G30 is no different.  Just because the head is great, make sure to pair it with the best fitting shaft for you to get the most out of it.  If you want faster clubhead speeds and forgiveness then check out the Ping G30, The Forgivenator!

Check the price online here

For more information: www.ping.com

Quick Hits
+Super forgiving
+Faster clubhead speeds
+Low spin
+Hot feel everywhere on the face
+More hosel adjustments

–New hosel adaptors

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