PING’s motivation for creating the G Fairway?
Yeah…a new driver generally requires a matching fairway, but there’s a bit more to it than that.
The main motivation behind the G Fairway family was to help players hit the ball in the air more easily. To expand on that a bit, PING wanted to create a fairway wood that would offer the ball speed of the G30, but would be even easier to hit.
Imagine this scenario…you’re 2-whatever (individual mileage varies) out on a long par 4, or maybe you’re trying to reach a par 5 in two. The lie is tight, maybe slightly downhill, maybe even a little muddy. Just for good measure, lets put some water on the right side.
If you’re like me (on a sensible day), 8-iron is looking pretty good right now. PING, however, wants to give you the confidence to put that 8-iron back in the bag and reach for the club that can put it close.
That sounds great, but how can it actually do that?
Lower the Leading Edge
For PING a good bit of the answer lies in the leading edge of the club. PING thought that if they could reduce the bounce height such that the club sits closer to the ground it could potentially improve impact conditions. The R&D guys spent a lot of time looking at impact conditions, divot patterns, and generally trying to figure out how low was too low.
When all was said and done, the pushed the leading edge 3.5mm closer to the ground. When they went outside to test on actual turf conditions, using Foresight’s HMT they found that golfers were hitting the ball an average of 12% higher on the face. Effectively it makes hitting a fairway wood a bit more like hitting off a tee. There’s reduced gearing from low face contact and increased efficiency (contact closer to the neutral axis). Ball speed goes up, launch angle goes up, and when both of those happen, confidence tends to go up as well.
Reduced Crown Thickness
As with the driver, PING was able to eliminate a significant amount of weight in the crown. By reducing thickness by 7 grams (25% improvement), PING’s designers freed up mass which was used to boost MOI.
Tiered Cascading Sole
The G Fairway features a new sole design which has what PING describes as cascading shape. As you move from one stepped tier to next, the sole helps to move stresses away from the face, which allowed PING to thin the fairway’s face around the perimeter for increased ball speed on off-center hits.
3 New Models
With its latest round of fairways, PING is expanding its offerings to include 3 distinct models to provide not only a variety of lofts, but to also fit a wider variety of golfers, while addressing some very specific desires.
G SF Tec Fairway
The less aggressive take on K15-inspired SF Tec features a heel bias (slice correction) and a lighter swingweight than the other G fairways. It’s noticeably rounder in shape (to me it looks like the first generation Nike VR fairway), but it’s not aggressive or wonky. My time with it on PING’s range suggests it does exactly what it’s supposed to do.
Available Lofts: 3W-16°, 5W-19°
G ‘Stretch 3’ Fairway
For those times when you need to stretch it out just a bit. Designed to be the longest of the G Fairways, the Stretch is nearly as long as PING’s Rapture fairway from a couple seasons ago. While we discussed the Stretch as a mini for a guy who doesn’t want to hit a mini, it’s definitely not a club that exhibits any sort of tee bias. That said, it does have the largest head of any G Fairway (184cc vs. 167cc in the regular), and while some might translate that as a more off-the-deck friendly take on Callaway’s Deep series, it should be noted that the Stretch’s deep body design makes it the highest MOI offering in the G fairway family.
Available Lofts: 3W-14.5°
G Fairway (Standard)
Perhaps lost a bit between the highly-targeted Stretch and SF Tec models, the standard model is PING’s middle of the bell curve fairway offering. That perhaps makes it a bit less exciting than the other two, but PING believes that in delivering on its promise of G30 ball speeds in an easier to hit package, it has created a club that will work well for a large percentage of golfers.
Available Lofts: 3W-14.5°, 5W-17.5°, 7W-20.5°
And finally…Grooves Matter
The usefulness of grooves on metalwoods has been debated, but PING has found that when hitting from light to moderate rough or dewy conditions, grooves absolutely matter.
The addition of grooves of G Fairway 5 and 7 woods improves both performance and predictability. If you’ve ever had to hit out of the rough of #1 at Torrey Pines South, you know EXACTLY why that predictability part matters. When it’s wet, similarly to irons, grooves help spread moisture and improve friction. PING leaves the grooves unpainted to maximize depth.
G Fairway 3 woods have no center grooves, instead relying surface roughness to create spin reducing friction.
Pricing and Availability
MSRP for G Series Fairways is 287.50. Retail availability begins 2/11, but golfers can get fit and demo the product before that at authorized PING fitting accounts.
Kenny B
8 years ago
I like Ping. I play the i20 irons. I am thinking about the Ping driver. But it has been mentioned many times that lofts are jacked for distance, and now it’s come to fairway woods. The Ping 5W at 17.5* is really a 4W and the 7W at 20.5* is almost a 5W. I suppose I could get the Ping 7W and pair it with my 23* 7W and have two 7 woods!
I want a Ping 23* and 27* FW.