Product: Ping G410 hybrid

Pitch: Per Ping: “Our first-ever adjustable hybrid allows you to customize your ball flight eight different ways through more loft (+/- 1.5 degrees) and lie combinations for consistently better results. Thinner and more flexible, the maraging-steel face generates faster ball speeds and higher launch so you carry trouble while hitting (and holding) more greens. A larger profile provides added stability and helps elevate MOI heel to toe.”

Our take on the Ping G410 hybrid

We all want the same thing from a hybrid — forgiveness, green stopping power, extra ball speed, adjustability (fitting options), and consistency. For the longest time, it seemed that for any particular hybrid, you could you pick four of the five but with the Ping G410, there is no sacrifice to be made: you get all five.

When designing the G410 hybrid, the team at Ping pulled out all the stops and finally included the option of adjustability on the consumer level for dialing in both loft and lie angle — something the company famously popularized with the color coding system. It should be noted in BIG BOLD LETTERS that Ping has ALWAYS given accounts the option of ordering hybrids either digitally lofted and bent for lie within a couple of degrees through the WRX Department (hey that has a nice ring to it) for a few extra bucks, but it was never really advertised, and I would guess, underused.

With the new adjustable hosel, the ability to fine tune and dial in has never been easier. Just like with the entire G410 metals lineup, it’s all about increasing the ability to fit better, decrease dispersion, and help golfers score better.

Ping Canada HQ fitting studio.

SO… about this hybrid. I was recently given the opportunity to go through a long game fitting at Ping (Canada), which included getting me dialed into a G410 17-degree hybrid to gap in between my longest iron and my 3-wood. I have played a 5-wood in the past but recently have been much keener on a hybrid because of the versatility and shorter length to help with dispersion.

Here are the biggest takeaways from the fitting

• The Ping G410 hybrid is FAST — compared to my current hybrid, which has 16 degrees of loft and is a full inch longer than the 17-degree G410 (tested at 17 degrees), I was getting faster balls speed (2-3 MPH) even though I was swinging my own club faster on average 1.5 mph. That’s a noticeable gain in ball speed, and it’s all thanks to the maraging-steel face that, along with other design aspects of the head, produces consistently faster ball speeds across a larger area of the face.
•  The shape at address, for me, is another reason this hybrid sets up so well to the eye. It’s deep enough to give you confidence from a lie in the rough yet shallow enough that from a tight lie, it’s easy to elevate. Sure the “ease to elevate” might not apply to someone fitting into a 17 degree, but for the slower speed players that will fit into the higher lofts (up to 30 degrees in the standard setting), it’s a huge factor for players and fitters alike. I can’t count the number of combo sets I built in a previous life that involved Ping hybrids down to the 6-iron for players with less speed.
• The “wood-like” rounded shape, compared to a compact driving iron style hybrid (think Crossover), did wonders to help get my launch window up, even though spin was in a very controllable range. This increased carry distance and decent angle — more parameters that measurably help hold greens. Distance was comparable to my 5-wood, but with a tighter dispersion and at a shorter length.

• Now to that adjustability. Oh, how I (along with many fitters and builders) have longed for an adjustable Ping hybrid. Getting the distance and launch window dialed in exactly to the player helps deliver confidence that you aren’t making any sacrifices during a fitting or in your bag as a player. As I mentioned off the top, Ping has offered bending hybrids in the past, but since it was never an actual option to test, there was a lot of guesswork for the fitters. The adjustable hosel puts an end to that with lie angle adjustments totaling three degrees to help golfers are both ends of the lie angle spectrum & those looking to help prevent misses one way or the other.

At the end of the day (or start to your season), when it comes down to finding the right clubs to properly gap the higher end of your set, there will always be a lot of options depending on a number of factors including clubhead speed, impact dynamics, usual course conditions, and personal preference. If you play in dry, windy Texas, for example, the hybrid or even Crossover, might be the better option than the 5-wood, and vice versa if you play anywhere in the North East. No matter how you end up gapping the clubs through your set, make sure to get fit to play your best (you knew it would be in there somewhere), and give the G410 a shot.

• More discussion about the Ping G410 hybrid in the forums