89 replies to this topic

[agentphil]

A few weeks ago I ordered my Ping G25 driver. One of the requests was for it to be digitally lofted at 9.5*. When I opened up the box and pulled out the club, the driver head says 8.5*.

Do you think they just pulled an 8.5* head that measures 9.5*? Last time I ordered my Ping driver, I made the same 9.5* request...and the head read 9.5* - that just makes sense to me. I assumed this head would read 9.5* as well. I was not expecting this.

Has this happened to anyone else? I know it's just one degree, but we are WXR's, and our golf psyche is important to us.

[minhjn]

This happens a lot. I'm sure your head is 9.5 as you requested

[Big Ben]

100% fine, for Ping to digitally loft 9.5 they would almost always use a 8.5 head, Ping drivers always run 1-2* more loft then numbered...BB

[Doc Mcstuffins]

You're straight Agentphil. To achieve a 9.5 digital loft they need to start with an 8.5 head.

[freddyottawa]

This happens almost everytime someone on this site requests a digitally lofted head from PING. I'm pretty confident you have got what you asked for what that head.

[nyjets1]

i have ordered many DL Ping drivers everytime they come back with a 1* lower stamped head. Im 100% sure you got what you ordered

[Gbyeball]

As everyone said above you have the actual loft that you ordered.

Just so you understand how Ping goes about providing your with what you requested. They grab a bunch of heads then measure them. The first one that is closest to what you asked for is what you get regardless of what the number is on the head. So although it says 8.5  it actually measures 9.5

[agentphil]

Alright, cool. Thanks everyone. Sounds like I have a 9.5* head.

So I guess this means that when we look at a mfg website, like Ping for example, and it says that Lee Westwood uses a 10.5* driver, we can assume that we have no idea what his driver loft is since the site will simply list the loft stamped on his club. Correct?


...not that I'm trying to match some pro's loft, just clarifying.

[bennyblanco]

agentphil, on 21 February 2013 - 08:26 PM, said:

Alright, cool. Thanks everyone. Sounds like I have a 9.5* head.

So I guess this means that when we look at a mfg website, like Ping for example, and it says that Lee Westwood uses a 10.5* driver, we can assume that we have no idea what his driver loft is since the site will simply list the loft stamped on his club. Correct?


...not that I'm trying to match some pro's loft, just clarifying.

I'd venture to say the info on their site is pretty accurate. If you read through a large number of the staff pro's WITB on PING's new and improved site, they provide some wacky specs including grip type, extra wraps on grips, "black tape" on putter, "-/+" setting on the Anser/G25 heads, etc.

I'd assume if they wrote 10.5º of loft for Westy's driver, that it would be pretty close to accurate. Plus, Westwood has a trappy-- low-draw swing from what I can recall.

[mikedit]

Same thing with the Anser I ordered, digitally lofted at 9.5 but the head says 8.5.

[Britboy]

Interesting topic. Sounds like the OP can be confident that he got the correct loft but I suspect the second-hand/eBay value of an 8.5 loft driver is a bit lower than a 9.5 which suits a wider range of golfer.

[Fore(ged)]

How does digital lofting actually work?

[jay65]

I'm off to a Ping Demo day tomorrow. If I get on well with the G25 or Anser Driver and want to order, should I ask the Demo guy the 'actual' loft on the Driver that I am trying and being fit from? And would he actually know?

[jeffrey r]

Fore(ged), on 22 February 2013 - 08:30 AM, said:

How does digital lofting actually work?

When OEM's produce drivers, there are certain acceptable variations from the stamped loft.  For example, a 10.5* stamped head could be 11.5* actual loft or 9.5* actual loft.  

Digital lofting means that the OEM will pull driver heads from their stockpile, and measure each of them to find an actual loft closest to the customer's requested actual loft.  If you want an actual 10.5* loft, you may end up receiving a stamped 9.5* head, since Ping usually has a higher actual loft than stamped.

Edited by jeffrey r, 22 February 2013 - 08:38 AM.

[chickenpotpie]

What does your order ticket that came with the club say on it?

[just win]

I will use Tiger for example, just because all of his club specs are in a thread somewhere here on wrx.  His driver says 8.5 on the bottom and it plays at 10.5 according to the screenshot of his club specs even though their website says 8.5.  I do have a feeling though that the PING website has all the correct information just becuase they list everthing from lenght to lie and grip size.

Edited by just win, 22 February 2013 - 09:42 AM.

[Fore(ged)]

Why can't OEMs just make clubs be what they say they are. Is it that hard?

[cxissi]

I don't like the sounds of this.. Being a leftie I want to order an 8.5 digtal g25 driver . I wonder if they even made such a thing as the lowest loft stamp is 8.5 ?
gb

[JustTheTips]

They can't do it because all the players would demo the wrong clubs and then complain about the poor performance.

Fore(ged), on 22 February 2013 - 09:58 AM, said:

Why can't OEMs just make clubs be what they say they are. Is it that hard?

[jay65]

As I asked earlier, but didn't get an answer, do you think a Ping fitter at a Demo day will know the 'actual' lofts on the Drivers he is fitting from?

[czastrow]

cxissi, on 22 February 2013 - 10:02 AM, said:

I don't like the sounds of this.. Being a leftie I want to order an 8.5 digtal g25 driver . I wonder if they even made such a thing as the lowest loft stamp is 8.5 ?
gb

Oh don't worry, they will find you an 8.5.

[zerofade]

jay65, on 22 February 2013 - 10:38 AM, said:

As I asked earlier, but didn't get an answer, do you think a Ping fitter at a Demo day will know the 'actual' lofts on the Drivers he is fitting from?

Ive wondered this as well. I was fitted a while back and they put me in an 8.5 head but was it really 8.5?  I would say most likely not.  For all I know it could be a 10deg head. I don't think they're fitting carts have digitally lofted heads. It would be interesting to hear what the fitter says cos knowing how off the lofts can be what good does a fitting do if they dont know the true lofts of the fitting heads?  And if they are digitally lofted you just got fitted but will need to pay the extra $15 to get the DL head that you were fit for. Stupid if you ask me

Edited by zerofade, 22 February 2013 - 11:21 AM.

[jay65]

zerofade, on 22 February 2013 - 11:20 AM, said:

jay65, on 22 February 2013 - 10:38 AM, said:

As I asked earlier, but didn't get an answer, do you think a Ping fitter at a Demo day will know the 'actual' lofts on the Drivers he is fitting from?

Ive wondered this as well. I was fitted a while back and they put me in an 8.5 head but was it really 8.5?  I would say most likely not.  For all I know it could be a 10deg head. I don't think they're fitting carts have digitally lofted heads. It would be interesting to hear what the fitter says cos knowing how off the lofts can be what good does a fitting do if they dont know the true lofts of the fitting heads?

Exactly. Its very hard to make a decision on the loft of a digitally lofted head, unless we know the 'actual' loft of the club we are being fit from, surely?

[just win]

jay65, on 22 February 2013 - 11:23 AM, said:

zerofade, on 22 February 2013 - 11:20 AM, said:

jay65, on 22 February 2013 - 10:38 AM, said:

As I asked earlier, but didn't get an answer, do you think a Ping fitter at a Demo day will know the 'actual' lofts on the Drivers he is fitting from?

Ive wondered this as well. I was fitted a while back and they put me in an 8.5 head but was it really 8.5?  I would say most likely not.  For all I know it could be a 10deg head. I don't think they're fitting carts have digitally lofted heads. It would be interesting to hear what the fitter says cos knowing how off the lofts can be what good does a fitting do if they dont know the true lofts of the fitting heads?

Exactly. Its very hard to make a decision on the loft of a digitally lofted head, unless we know the 'actual' loft of the club we are being fit from, surely?

They will not have a clue and will go by what's stamped on the bottom.

[jay65]

just win, on 22 February 2013 - 11:33 AM, said:

jay65, on 22 February 2013 - 11:23 AM, said:

zerofade, on 22 February 2013 - 11:20 AM, said:

jay65, on 22 February 2013 - 10:38 AM, said:

As I asked earlier, but didn't get an answer, do you think a Ping fitter at a Demo day will know the 'actual' lofts on the Drivers he is fitting from?

Ive wondered this as well. I was fitted a while back and they put me in an 8.5 head but was it really 8.5?  I would say most likely not.  For all I know it could be a 10deg head. I don't think they're fitting carts have digitally lofted heads. It would be interesting to hear what the fitter says cos knowing how off the lofts can be what good does a fitting do if they dont know the true lofts of the fitting heads?

Exactly. Its very hard to make a decision on the loft of a digitally lofted head, unless we know the 'actual' loft of the club we are being fit from, surely?

They will not have a clue and will go by what's stamped on the bottom.

Lol. Well how on earth can they do a proper fit then, if they won't know the 'actual' lofts on the Drivers on the back of their vans?? And how can anyone ask for a digitally lofted Driver if he/she doesn't know the loft on the club they are hitting at a fitting/demo day? I would be interested to know how anyone that ordered a digitally lofted Driver from Ping, how they came to the conclusion to order that particular loft?

[Redbird]

I love ping, but that is half-arsed.  No one knows what the hell they're are swinging unless they have it digitally lofted?  So what's this say for the adjustable drivers?  You hand a person a club not knowing what the true loft is and then allow them to adjust it, but what they think they are adjusting it to is BS?  We pay how much for the thing?

Edited by Redbird, 22 February 2013 - 11:52 AM.

[Big Ben]

If you order a digitally lofted Ping at say 10.5 actual it will almost always be 9.5 head, Ping heads are always more loft than stated. I think it's smart, guys walk in and say I've always played 9.5, fine here it is and look how good the numbers look! Dude probably needs 11* of loft actual...BB

[mackepa]

cxissi, on 22 February 2013 - 10:02 AM, said:

I don't like the sounds of this.. Being a leftie I want to order an 8.5 digtal g25 driver . I wonder if they even made such a thing as the lowest loft stamp is 8.5 ?
gb

I ordered a PIng G20 digital lofted to 7.5*
they got it right on the money with an 8.5* head. that sucker was wide open too. couldn't hit a hook to save my butt.

[kellygreen]

Fore(ged), on 22 February 2013 - 09:58 AM, said:

Why can't OEMs just make clubs be what they say they are. Is it that hard?

Manufacturing tolerances and testosterone poisoning.

People tend to want to play with the lofts their egos want to believe they can handle...and not that their swing speeds demand.

By having lofts run a bit high, you are more likely to a player to play the proper loft (if only by accident) and they are more likely to be satisfied with the product.

Exact lofts for every driver head would increase manufacturing costs....and lots of golfers would wind up playing with the wrong loft, and would wind up bad-mouthing the product.   Rather than admitting that they really need a more lofted club.

[mackepa]

Redbird, on 22 February 2013 - 11:52 AM, said:

I love ping, but that is half-arsed.  No one knows what the hell they're are swinging unless they have it digitally lofted?  So what's this say for the adjustable drivers?  You hand a person a club not knowing what the true loft is and then allow them to adjust it, but what they think they are adjusting it to is BS?  We pay how much for the thing?

they do it for the majority consumer who thinks they need a 9.5 stiff shafted driver when they actually need something around 10.5-11.5 with a softer shaft. Us golfers on WRX aren't the average consumer. we're more informed when it comes to clubfitting.