FIRST HIT VERDICT

Mid handicap, gameimproving irons used to be ugly old beasts, so much so that if we sat the new G425 alongside the original G2 from 2004, you’d be forgiven for thinking the two don’t belong within the same gameimprover iron category today.

It’s taken 16 years of development to make the G425 this good, and every step along the way’s produced a good mid-handicap G iron. But, like Ping say, their brief was to take G from good to great, and in our eyes, with the G425, they’ve utterly achieved it.

By utilising toe screws, we love how it’s possible to squeeze the G into a slightly smaller chassis. The idea gets rid of Ping’s traditional boxy look, and makes G425 more attractive than the previous G400 and G410 irons. But it’s how the G425 stood up against stronger lofted competition in testing that really stands out.

Put simply, the G425 launched and flighted shots higher, with more backspin (stopping power), before descending onto the green at a steeper angle than any of the competition. Yet it gave up nothing in terms of carry distance. That’s outstanding however you put it.

And that’s not all. Should you really want to step on the distance gas, Ping also have the option to ‘Power Spec’ a set for you (so lofts become stronger – by 1.5º in the 7-iron). The idea adds speed and distance (at the expense of backspin, height and descent angle) so long as you have enough launch to get the best out of a more strongly lofted model.

We’ve seen enough from the G425 to say that if you’re playing a game-improving Ping iron that doesn’t have a cascading sole and an undercut topline (which both aid loft flexing) and team them with toe screw weighting (only the previous G410 does), you’re missing out. And by that we don’t just mean looks wise, but in distance and dispersion terms too.