In the world of new drivers, Ping and its G Series continually push the limits of technology, fitting, and forgiveness. With the new Ping G425 drivers for 2021, Ping is once again offering golfers uncompromising distance, more custom fitting options, and greater stability.

2021 Ping G425 driver: Making great even greater

Ping has always had a relentless focus on improvement, which is why, model over model, it has provided constant improvement in almost every measurable performance category, including, most notably, stability.

The best way to explain what the designers and engineers at Ping have done to make the new G425 drivers their best yet is to look at all of the technology that has been accumulated into the three new G425 driver models—the G425 Max, G425 SFT (Straight Flight Technology), and G425 LST (Low Spin Technology).

Ping G425 driver technology

Aerodynamics: The Ping G425 drivers all feature reconfigured turbulators to improve airflow and help increase aerodynamic efficiency towards impact. The smoother and less disrupted the airflow is around an object, the faster it can move. Although not as scientifically complicated, they also offer a visual aid from address to help with alignment.

• More photos and discussion in the forums. 

From Ping’s engineering team

“[Turbulators] are proven to delay flow separation over the driver crown by influencing the behavior of the boundary layer. The quantitative drag measurements indicated about a 25-percent reduction in drag for orientations and speeds toward the end of a typical downswing with a 100 mph impact clubhead speed.”

Dragonfly crown: Although it’s not visible from the exterior of the head, Ping’s all-titanium crown saves mass by removing material from the lowest stress areas and creating a “framed” lattice structure to increase rigidity and lower the clubs center of gravity. The extra mass saved also allows the engineers to reposition it around the head as needed depending on the model to control ball flight and boost MOI properties.

Ping is staying the course with the all-titanium construction because engineers believe it offers the most advanced way to save weight compared to carbon composite, which needs excess ledges and bonding agents to get it to stay safely in place. It’s not that they never tried it either—if you take the wayback machine to 2007, Ping had a visible carbon crown on the original Rapture.

TS 9i + forged face insert: Much like the previous G410 drivers, the G425 models all feature a forged TS 9i+ face insert to increase ball speed. This is possible because the new + material is stronger and offers 20-percent more stretch and rebound which in turn allows engineers to make the face thinner, improve variable face thickness, and maximize the high COR area around the face.

Rough face texture: When most people think about face texture and performance they think wedges, but with drivers, having a more textured face offers similar performance advantages. By increasing friction on direct strikes (wedges are more of a glancing strike) the forgiveness properties of the driver (bulge and roll paired with MOI) have a greater effect, meaning misses go straighter.

• More photos and discussion in the forums. 

Extreme weighting properties: This is where everything comes together to make the G425 the fastest and most forgiving drivers Ping have ever made. A gram saved here and a gram saved there all add up to allowing engineers to push more weight low and back into the head. Instead of pushing for low and forward to decrease spin while sacrificing forgiveness, Ping goes the other way by pushing lower to decrease spin and build the most stable drivers in golf—truly the benchmark for the rest of the industry.

This also means when it comes to the non-CG adjustable G425 SFT, Ping can increase bias in the head further to make it the most anti-fade biased driver the company has built.

Ping G425 models

Ping G425 Max

The best way to describe the G425 Max is by calling it the secret love child of the G400 Max and the G410 Plus, both from looks and design perspective. The G400 Max, by all accounts, was a higher MOI driver than the G410, but the G410 Plus allowed fitters to dial in the center of gravity location like never before. This CG tuning means each driver put into the hands of a golfer is more ideally suited to that player, which leads to tighter dispersion, better strokes gained, and helps lead to lower scores.

The G425 Max is a 460 cc head, which features a 26g moveable tungsten weight in the rear. To put that into perspective, the G400 Max rear non-adjustable weight was 20 grams and the G410 Plus moveable CG shifter was 16 grams. This increases the G425 Max’s MOI by a very impressive 14 percent while still allowing the same amount of CG relocation.

• More photos and discussion in the forums. 

This extra mass is also how the weight track can offer less movement on the exterior of the head while still creating the same level of movement inside the head to create a draw and fade bias.

In true Ping fashion, the G425 Max will be available in both right and left-handed in 9, 10.5, and 12-degree lofts.

Ping G425 LST

The G425 LST (Low Spin Technology) model seems pretty self-explanatory, but it’s important to help identify its differences and how it can help the golfer looking for additional spin reduction.

Coming in at 445 cc, 15 cc smaller than its big brother the G425 Max, the LST offers a more pear-shaped profile to appeal to players looking for a more traditional look. Those 15 cc’s were mostly removed from the rear of the head to shorten the driver’s front-to-back length and move the center of gravity closer to the face to lower spin—without sacrificing overall MOI as much as possible.

It has a 17-gram tungsten CG shifter to help produce a draw, neutral, and fade bias, and from a fitting perspective, the LST spins 500-700 RPM less than the G425, according to Ping’s internal player testing and 200 RPM less than the previous G410 LST. The 500-700 RPM represents a much greater separation between models versus the G410 Plus driver line, which means it is easier for golfers to find their ideal fit.

The G425 LST will be available in both right and left-handed with 9 and 10.5-degree lofts.

Ping G425 SFT

• More photos and discussion in the forums. 

The G425 SFT is officially Ping’s greatest slice killer to date. Thanks to the fixed heel-biased 23-gram tungsten weight and adjusted head shaping, it offers 10 yards more left bias than the previous G410 SFT and a whopping 25-plus yards more fade correction than the G425 Max.

Much like the Max model, the G425 SFT comes in at an MOI maximizing 460 cc and comes in one standard loft of 10.5 degrees in both right and left-handed.

Price, availability, and additional specs

The Ping G425 drivers will be available for pre-sale starting today and will be available at retail starting February 4. All three of the G425 models are priced at $540.

The stock shafts are Ping’s proprietory Alta CB Slate 55 in soft-regular, regular, stiff and x-stiff for players with a generally smoother tempo, and Ping’s 65 g, and 75g options, in regular, stiff, and x-stiff for players with faster tempos and higher swing speeds to increase stability and lower spin.

• More photos and discussion in the forums. 

Two new aftermarket options are Aldila’s Rogue White 130 MSI 70 in regular, stiff, and X, along with Mitsubishi’s Tensei AV Raw Orange in regular, stiff, and x-stiff which fit in well to offer a broad-ranging selection to fit almost any golfer’s needs.

The final part of the puzzle is the grip, and the Ping G425 drivers will all come stock with Ping X Arccos GP lite Caddie Smart Grip, which features an embedded sensor to record and analyze every shot taken during a round when paired with the Arccos Caddie app. With the purchase of a G425 driver, golfers will get a 90-day free trial of the app, and then the options of a $99.99 annual subscription.

Golf Pride 360 Tour Velvet/Arccos Caddie Smart Grip is available in Aqua (-1/64″) undersized, White -standard, and Gold (+1/32″) oversized.

• More photos and discussion in the forums.