Ping G430 iron £150 per club
GM verdict
If asked to consider the brand that offers the most user-friendly irons in the game, many will immediately think of Ping and specifically its G ranges, which have helped inconsistent golfers mask their ball-striking flaws for nearly two decades.
The Ping G425 iron was, and still is, an incredibly accurate model, but in a world where distance is king, it didn’t have the ‘wow’ factor of the Taylormade Stealth or Wilson D9. Step forward the Ping G430 iron, billed by the brand as being ‘distance competitive, scoring uncompromised’. It achieves this through multiple design changes, as well as some alterations in the set make-up. As a result, it’s long and playable and there are multiple build options for golfers to get the right configuration for them.
The notable offset, generous topline and iron number inscribed on the face carry over. One thing you may not see is the extra one degree of bounce on the sole, which not only helps to lower the
CG but also provides a little more insurance on those extreme misses where the club contacts the ground too early.
We tested the Ping G430 iron indoors on the Foresight Sports Gcquad launch monitor with Titleist Pro V1x golf balls, before having a session on the range at Prince’s Golf Club. The G430 7-iron comes in at 29°, which is a degree stronger than the G425, so we were expecting more distance. In the same length and flex AWT 2.0 shaft, the G430 was nearly 2mph faster than G425. Despite the stronger lofts, the launch and peak height were similar, with the G430 reducing spin by just over 500rpm. This all equated to five yards of extra carry at 176 yards.
These numbers are significant, because distance has been added without sacrificing launch or height. For context, the ball speed and carrydistance data was comparable to our testing of the new Cobra Aerojet iron, which is 2.5° stronger in loft. Our shot pattern with G430 was more consistent, too.
Both irons were pretty straight, but with G425 shots tended to drift both ways, whereas with G430 the windows were smaller. Misses low on the face got up higher than we expected, too.
The new Purflex badge has a clever design made up of 15 pieces that form seven flexible zones so as to not restrict the bending of the face. It really helps soften the sound, which is quite short and lower in pitch – it certainly contributes to a softer feel than you would typically associate with a gameimprovement iron.
To tidy up the gapping, Ping has added a 45° wedge below the 50°. There are four specs in the G430 range: standard spec, power spec (1.5° stronger lofts), retro spec (1.5° weaker lofts) and a new HL (high launch) build, which is also available in the Ping G430 metalwoods. This has a lighter swing weight to help slower-swing-speed golfers optimise performance.
Factor in these considerations, along with the performance enhancements over G425, and there’s a strong case for the G430 being the most comprehensive or widely appealing distance iron on the market in 2023.
“THIS IRON MAKES DAUNTING APPROACH SHOTS SEEM EASIER, UPPING YOUR ENJOYMENT LEVELS”
Joel Tadman, GM technical editor