Equipment
SPOTTED: Ping “Blueprint” Forged prototype irons
On Tuesday, Ping staffer Louis Oosthuizen posted photos of Ping prototype irons, which look as though they will be called “Forged Blueprint” based on the stampings.
See what GolfWRX Members are saying about the Ping prototype irons.
Looking forward to testing my new @pingtour prototype irons. #forged Been working with @PingTour for a long time to get these in the bag ???? pic.twitter.com/REAh5glGee
— Louis Oosthuizen (@Louis57TM) October 2, 2018
Judging by their sleek designs, and the fact that Louis Oosthuizen is testing them, the irons could be the replacements for Ping’s previous iBlade irons, which mixed design principles of both blade irons and more forgiving cavity back irons. But if you look closely, the irons also have a screw, or “tuning port,” in the toe of the irons. This could mean that they are hollow-bodied, much like the current, game-improvement G700 irons. But the irons also say forged; is the entire iron forged, or just the face? Are we looking at a forged blade iron with the forgiveness designs of a G700?
For now, we’re left to speculate on the designs and analyze the photos from Louis.
See what GolfWRX Members are saying about the Ping prototype irons.
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...
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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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Kevin
Jan 5, 2019 at 9:46 pm
As someone who has heard from Ping inside reps I can tell you they have no foam inside and the screw on the toe will open up to a hallow inside. The club is fully forged and may not be released to the public in general. I would love to have a set of these myself but I fear they might not be released to the public. Ping is only going to release these if they fee the demand is worth the price tag they would need to place on them due to the forging process as it is far more expensive than casting as they have done for most of their irons. They now have access to the Nike golf technology as Nike sold them many patents when they exited the golf business as Nike repspected Ping enough to go to them first and is the reason why a decent amount of the Nike tour pros are playing Ping now.
ht
Oct 3, 2018 at 3:53 pm
NIP set of MP-64’s in the BST right now for less than half of what these will cost. Can’t see any other reason to buying other than to satisfy your hoe urges. Nothing wrong with being a club hoe
William Davis
Oct 3, 2018 at 1:54 pm
I have a set of 25 year old Mizuno TP9 irons. Why would I want these?
William Davis
Oct 3, 2018 at 2:06 pm
…. and I’m only 22 years old ….!!!!!!
The dude
Oct 3, 2018 at 8:05 pm
Ya don’t get IT
Jim
Oct 3, 2018 at 12:14 pm
Meh… Buy & use late 60’s / early 70’s Wilson Staff – better clubs, solid carbon steel, no hollow or foam-filled gimmicks. But of course, if “growing the game” and helping manufacturers survive is your goal, then by all means acquire new clubs every few months.
oppie
Oct 3, 2018 at 2:03 pm
… for rich, old and impotent Baby Boomer (1945-1965) golfers who have more money than brains or talent… and gotta have a good looking WITB set of arsenal of weapons.
Mokokos
Oct 3, 2018 at 11:37 am
This not the first attempt by Ping of this type of forged irons. I have the 2nd generation Anderso irons which were forged and hollow bodied. They are very good and accurate and Miguel Angel Jimenez won a tournament gamingvthese irons. The only drawback was the dead feel and dull sound of these irons. Hopefully Ping has addressed that issue with these prototypes. I still think when you go hollow body you need some kind of creative insert to improve the feel and sound of the strike.
Mokokos
Oct 3, 2018 at 11:40 am
Sorry, I meant to type Anser irons.
oppie
Oct 3, 2018 at 2:05 pm
Yes…. sound and orqasmic impact feeeel are so important to incompetent duffers with no consistent swing.
ogo
Oct 2, 2018 at 1:46 pm
Kudos to Andy Tursky for this!!!:
“But the irons also say forged; is the entire iron forged, or just the face? Are we looking at a forged blade iron with the forgiveness designs of a G700?”
I’ve been questioning the “fake forged” scam starting with the P-790 and now you’ve taken up the cudgel questioning another hollow iron design. Welcome aboard!!!!
ogo
Oct 2, 2018 at 1:52 pm
Furthermore, it’s obvious the club OEMs are attempting to design in that soft buttery feel of fully forged irons but only hit on the sweet spot. A hollow iron filled with jello goop may absorb the clank of off-center hits to make the duffers feeeel gooood. Obviously an open cavity back with a rubbery insert just doesn’t do it so PING is following the herd their their PXG/TM hollow versions.
jo
Oct 3, 2018 at 9:21 pm
maybe in some cases, but wait until you get old and you’ll appreciate the shock absorption.
ogo
Oct 4, 2018 at 9:55 pm
Use soft lady’s flex graphite shafts because you must stop the mis-hit ‘shock’ in the shaft… NOT the clubhead.
James
Oct 2, 2018 at 11:39 am
Looks like there is a faint mark on the toe area to designate tungsten (much like the iBlade).
ogo
Oct 2, 2018 at 2:28 pm
Do you know why TM and PING are inserting very high density tungsten plugs low in the toes of their irons…. and why PXG achieves the same effect with external tungsten screws? I do…. 😀
Luke
Oct 2, 2018 at 5:26 pm
Why?
oppie
Oct 3, 2018 at 2:09 pm
… because most recreational golfers hit low in the toe… and the extra metal toe weight compensates for incompetence.
rex235
Oct 2, 2018 at 10:27 am
Am in as soon as they show a LH set.
Roy
Oct 3, 2018 at 9:36 am
so never…:-(