I just tried the brand new PING G430 driver and was mightily impressed. I had a one hour session with a visiting PING fitting specialist at my local club on the driving range. My strongest impression was the incredible stability of the head through impact. I currently use the G425 Max and the G430 Max was another step up in terms of solid hits long and straight. It sits lower on the ground than my current PING driver and feels awesome into the back of the ball.

Boom The New Ping G430 Max

I tested two shafts with the new PING G430 Max, the Project X HZDRUS Smoke Red RDX; and the ALTA CB Black. The ALTA was a longer shaft and gave a wider swing arc but felt stiffer than the HZRDUS Red. Both shafts were impressive in terms of performance and gave me ball speeds around 141 miles per hour. Being at the end of my sixth decade these figures are good for me.

Jason Day Tests The Latest Ping G430 Driver

Jason Day, who has had a couple of top ten finishes in his last two starts on the comeback trail, has been trialling the G430 LST in competition. It looks like, from the reports of his feedback, that it might be there to stay in his golf bag.

PING G430 3 Fairway

The new PING G430 driver felt so good I got into the 3 fairway too. I have been enjoying the PING G410 3 fairway for a number of seasons. Actually, it transformed my ability to hit the 3 fairway off the deck. Previously, I struggled with this club in my hands but now it is one of my favourite clubs to hit. I am wearing the G410 out so I thought it might be time to upgrade. The new G430 3 Fairway is another classic fairway metal from PING. So easy to strike and it goes like the clappers. This is a real beauty folks.

©GolfDom

Postscript

They say the path of true love rarely runs smooth and thus my relationship with my new Ping G430 Max driver has hit a few bumpy parts of the rough and not always the fairway. Indeed, upon arrival, a couple of weeks after my fitting session, I really struggled with the shaft and the driver itself. Somehow the stiff 65g HZRDUS red shaft was not for me – it felt too light in my hands and I was pulling and overswinging. I sourced another shaft, a stiff 67g Tensei CK white shaft and we have been trying to make this relationship work.

OK details – I have been skying drives with this club, which I never did with my old PING G425 Max driver with a stiff 65g Tensei raw av orange shaft. The head of the new PING G430 Max driver is a few millimetres shallower than the G425. Somehow I find myself getting ahead of this driver and hitting shots off the top of the face. Something is not right in my fit with shaft and head I guess. I am persevering and I am adjusting my swing to the beast. When I do get it right it goes beautifully. Teething troubles are all too common in most marriages I hear. I will keep you informed as to my progress. Of course, we all have periods where we can get a bit shaky with the driver – we will see.

I wonder why PING changed shafts on this model? Was it a price thing? I loved that stiff Tensei orange AV raw 65g shaft!