My Experiences with G20 Driver

  Ever wish you could take only the best qualities from ‘x’ and ‘y’ to make ‘z?’ Especially when it comes to golf clubs? Well a company did just that for you this year. PING’s new G20 driver combines the best qualities from two of their drivers from last season, the K15 and G15.    

  PING has a staunch following that borders on fanaticism yet they always offer clubs that may look ‘plain’ or ‘boring’ but lately their designs are slowly emerging from those shells while still maintaining their core values. If you’re interested in long, forgiving, powerful, and straight driver then you may want to read on because these are all qualities that have been taken from two previous drivers and put into one nice and neat package. This all sounds good but do these qualities work or is it an experiment gone wrong? Check it out.

  The 460cc clubhead is made fromTi 8-1-1, a lighter, lower-density alloy. Ti 8-1-1's high strength-to-weight ratio allows for additional weight to be strategically placed for increasing the MOI on both the vertical and horizontal axes. Weight savings from varying wall thicknesses in the crown and body are positioned to optimize performance and durability.

Letter for letter there’s really nothing revolutionary about the G20. According to PING, the G20 features:

§  Aerodynamic 460cc head with a larger face to create forgiveness and power across the entire hitting surface.

§  External weight to help promote high launch and low spin.

I hit the G20 today and was really surprised by it.  It has a fairly square look at address, which took some getting used to, being a Titleist guy.  It was a demo 9.5 degree with the TFC 169 S shaft.  My average spin was around 1850 with a high of around 2000 and a low of around 1650.  I don't know what that shaft really is, but I've never had such low spin with an S flex.  Specs say it torques at 5.9, but my average launch angle was 15.5.   My current driver averages 8.3 seconds flight time.  This one was around 7.1 with way more distance...like 40 yards more.  I like my current driver/shaft combo because it is laser straight, but I get a little nervous with the high flight time.  It's just in the air way too long for comfort.  The G20 with the stock shaft had a little draw to it.  I'm hitting it so much squarer these days, I don't need the backspin to keep it on line, so I was looking for something different.  I may have found it....  Waiting for the price to drop.