Equipment
Ping Rapture V2 Hybrid – Review
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It is very difficult to replace a club in my bag that has been ever so faithful to me for the past two plus years. I know that my hybrid never looked at another golfer with envy. I know that I have eyeballed many a possible new hybrid to replace my faithful until the end, Callaway 3H. I find it amazing that I stuck with her for as long as I did.
You know, I grew tired of her steel core and lusted for a newer, sleeker and avant-garde looking babe to idle away the hours on many a golf course. Being the fickle golfer that I am, I looked at many a new girl, or hybrid. For the time being, I settled on the new Ping Rapture V2 20 degree hybrid. I swear I’ll never date that 3 iron girl again. She just could never be counted upon when you really needed her to take care of your needs. On to my newest love affair, enter the Ping Rapture V2 hybrid. Not only a looker, but a pure performer as well.
According to Ping Golf, they wanted “to ensure forgiving and higher launching results so their engineers relied on the density of a tungsten sole plate in the design of the Rapture V2 Hybrid Series.”
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The design features a “sloped crown design and the 112 gram tungsten sole–which represents 48% of the club head’s mass–allows the center of gravity (CG) to be positioned lower and farther back from the face.” The Rapture V2 hybrid’s “larger head profile and longer face increase the moment-of-inertia for improved accuracy and confidence.” All golfers need a lot of both. And me? I’ll take all that I can get. I thought about the Ping G10 hybrid as well, but the Rapture V2 is the one that really caught my eye.
One small thing that I was concerned about was replacing the accuracy of my Callaway Uniflex steel golf shaft. These shafts have always been top- notch performers for a ‘tweener (not regular, yet not stiff) such as myself. No matter how good these steel shafts are, I am always searching for a graphite shaft that I can live with for fairway wood and hybrid shots. Although I really liked the bright green fading into black Ping TFC 939D graphite shaft, I was more worried about what type of ball flight characteristics this Ping graphite shaft would offer me. This Ping shaft offers a very straight and piercing ball flight that really seems to take off and surpasses any expectations that I had for it prior to purchasing it.
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I don’t miss my Callaway 3H one tiny bit, not at all. This change is very surprising to me. Why is that? That Callaway hybrid had been in my golf bag for well over two years. This is a lifetime for a club in my bag! It is now relegated to light duty in my back up golf bag. Compared to the Callaway, the ball really takes off with authority when the V2 hybrid comes into contact with the ball. This is quite pleasing, so much so that I ordered the V2 Rapture 3 wood to replace my Cobra Speed LD-F 3 wood, but I digress, that review is in your future. Because this hybrid is 20 degrees (my old hybrid was 21 degrees) I feel like I can ditch my 19 degree Cobra LD-F 5 wood (and not miss out) and add a wedge if I so desire. In the few rounds that I have played with it, it has become my “go to” club and that says a lot. There is nothing more satisfying than reaching for a club without any doubt. If you are in search of a high performing hybrid, why not check out the new Ping Rapture V2 series, you just might be impressed.
Cameron Young’s WITB from his win at the 2025 Wyndham Championship. Cameron is a Titleist staff player but his bag is definitely filled with some unique clubs. Here are the clubs he used to secure his first PGA Tour win!
Driver: Titleist GT2 (9 degrees, A1 SureFit setting)
Shaft: Mitsubishi Tensei 1K Pro Orange 70 TX
3-wood: Titleist GT3 (15 degrees)
Shaft: Mitsubishi Tensei 1K White 80 TX
Hybrid: Titleist GT2 (21 degrees)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus HB Black VeloCore+ 10 X
Irons: Titleist T200 (4), Titleist T100 (5), Titleist 631.CY Prototype (6-9)
Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold X7 (4-9)
Wedges: Titleist Vokey Design SM10 (48-10F, 52-12F, 56-14F @57), WedgeWorks (60-K* @62)
Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold X7
Putter: Scotty Cameron Phantom 9.5 Tour Prototype
Grips: Golf Pride Tour Velvet Cord
Ball: Titleist Pro V1x Prototype
- Peter Malnati what’s in the bag accurate as of the Wyndham Championship. More photos from the event here.
Driver: Titleist GT3 (10 degrees, C2 SureFit setting)
Shaft: Project X Denali Blue 60 TX
3-wood: Titleist GT3 (15 degrees, A1 SureFit setting)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus TR Blue 7 X
7-wood: Titleist GT2 (21 degrees, D1 SureFit setting)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus TR Blue 8 X
Irons: Titleist T150 (4, 5), Titleist T100 (6-9)
Shafts: True Temper AMT Tour White X100
Wedges: Titleist Vokey Design SM10 (48-10F @47, 52-12F, 56-08M @57, 60-04T @62)
Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S400
Putter: Scotty Cameron Studio Style Fastback 1.5 Tour Prototype
Grips: Golf Pride Tour Velvet
Ball: Titleist Pro V1x Yellow
We’re proud to once again partner with 2nd Swing Golf to bring you GolfWRX Members Choice 2025! 2nd Swing has more than 150,000 new and pre-swung golf clubs available in six store locations and online. Check them out here.
What is the best driver in 2025? At GolfWRX, we take great pride in our online community and the cumulative knowledge and experience of our members. When it comes to the best driver of 2025, we want to know what our forum faithful think.
Since our founding in 2005, the bedrock of GolfWRX.com has been the community of passionate and knowledgeable golfers in our forums, and we put endless trust in the opinions of our GolfWRX members — the most knowledgeable community of golfers on the internet. No other group of golfers in the world tests golf clubs as frequently or as extensively, nor is armed with such in-depth information about the latest technology.
Below are the results of GolfWRX member voting for the 2025 best driver, along with the vote percentage for each club.
Best driver of 2025: The top 5
5. Callaway Elyte Triple Diamond: 6.02%
Callaway’s pitch: “For golfers looking for a fast, forgiving, yet workable driver, the Elyte Triple Diamond features a tour-inspired shape and is the preferred model by most Callaway tour players.”
You can read what other golfers are saying about the driver in the GolfWRX forums, and see our launch piece here. Shop the Callaway Elyte Triple Diamond here.
4. Ping G440 Max: 6.86%
Ping’s pitch: “The most forgiving G440 model, MAX has a hotter face to generate speed and distance, and a lighter overall system weight with a longer shaft (46″) for faster clubhead speed, higher launch and longer carries. The Free Hosel and Carbonfly Wrap crown save weight to create our lowest CG ever and increase forgiveness while contributing to a more muted, pleasing sound.”
You can read what other golfers are saying about the driver in the GolfWRX forums, and see our launch piece here. Shop the Ping G440 Max here.
3. Ping G440 LST: 9.53%
Ping’s pitch: “LST is an especially good fit for faster swings, offering less spin and more control with a penetrating trajectory. A hotter face, lighter overall system weight and longer shaft (46″) deliver more speed and distance while maintaining tight dispersion.”
@phizzy30: “Not a fan of Ping drivers in general, but 440 LST takes the cake. It’s super forgiving across the face for a low spin head, looks and sounds good and the ability to make it play neutral or slightly fade biased through the hosel settings is very appealing.”
You can read what other golfers are saying about the driver in the GolfWRX forums, and see our launch piece here. Shop the Ping G440 LST here.
2. Titleist GT3: 16.55%
Titleist’s pitch: “The GT3 Driver offers Titleist’s boldest combination of power and personalization through adjustable performance. Dial in the CG Track to your frequent contact location to make your biggest drives even bigger while taking total control over flight and shaping.”
@mrmikeac: “I’ve been Anti-Titleist for years and years and years (outside of Vokey, of course). With that being said, HOLY BEGEEZUS the GT3 driver is an absolute NUCLEAR MONSTER! This thing blew my G430 10K Max out of the water in every single category. Forgiveness is the biggest thing that stands out of me, the 3 model has always been one of the less forgiving models in the past but this GT3 can take bad shot after bad shot and still end up in the fairway, I think a ton of that has to do with the adjustability, it’s actually effective. Feel and sound is perfect, that solid crack is so addicting to hear and when you hit it out the screws this thing can absolutely bomb it. Titleist, I’m sorry for doubting you. You have converted me.”
You can read what other golfers are saying about the driver in the GolfWRX forums, and see our launch piece here. Shop the Titleist GT3 here.
1. Titleist GT2: 22.91%
Titleist’s pitch: “Delivering impressive distance from any impact point, the Titleist GT2 Driver extracts maximum performance through a forgiving design. Get the stability and added confidence of a high-MOI driver without sacrificing speed.”
@DTorres: “The Titleist GT2 has proven to be the best driver of the year. Packaged in a classic profile, GT2 perfectly balances performance and forgiveness while consistently being a high performer across all categories.”
You can read what other golfers are saying about the driver in the GolfWRX forums, and see our launch piece here. Shop the Titleist GT2 here.
Other drivers receiving >2% of the vote
| Driver | Vote percentage (%) |
|---|---|
| Cobra DS Adapt Max K | 4.85% |
| Ping G430 Max 10K | 3.85% |
| Callaway Elyte Triple Diamond | 3.68% |
| TaylorMade Qi35 | 3.51% |
| Callaway Elyte | 3.18% |
| Cobra DS Adapt X | 2.34% |
| Cobra DS Adapt LS | 2.17% |
| TaylorMade Qi35 LS | 2.17% |
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Peter Malnati WITB 2025 (August)
Peter Malnati what’s in the bag accurate as of the Wyndham Championship. More photos from the event here. Driver: Titleist...
Cameron Young’s winning WITB: 2025 Wyndham Championship
Driver: Titleist GT2 (9 degrees, A1 SureFit setting) Buy here. Shaft: Mitsubishi Tensei 1K Pro Orange 70 TX 3-wood: Titleist...
Camilo Villegas WITB 2025 (July)
Camilo Villegas WITB accurate as of the Wyndham Championship. Villegas was undecided on a 3-wood when we shot his bag. ...
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Luc
Jul 1, 2009 at 6:08 am
after hitting a few balls with the Rapture V2 in a proshop I decided to go to my pro and do a club fit along with a product comparison (against my one year-old Callaway hybrid and the brand new Diablos).
Well the Diablo performed well to say the least but nothing compares to the Rapture. I’ve never felt so excited for a golf club. I had no idea that a specific club could bring my swing to such a level of excellence. The failure rate (missed hit, top, etc…) stands below 20% which is almost impossible to achieve with my current handicap (>95). And I am talking about range balls on the grass, not on a tee.
This review is *exactly* what I would have written about my own experience. And I am calling the shop right now to order this “magic” club 🙂
Give it a try, you won’t regret it!
PS: I am going for the regular flex with 20degree
Ronnie
Nov 21, 2008 at 2:19 am
How would you stack up the new TFC939 shaft against the TFC909, and my favorite, the TFC100?
I’m looking at replacing a 17* G2 5 wood that has the TFC100 shaft (stiff). This Rapture V2 looks like a terrific candidate.
Thanks for the great review!
REH
Nov 17, 2008 at 1:18 pm
Paul,
1. Dont call me MR.
2. I went with the stiff flex.
Paul
Nov 17, 2008 at 12:05 pm
Mr Hetzel,
Did you go with Regular or Stiff shaft for your new hybrid?
I’m interested as I too liked the Cally Uniflex.
Thanks for the review.