Ping G440 Max, G440 LST, G440 SFT drivers

Gear: Ping G440 Max, G440 LST, G440 SFT drivers

Price: $650 with Alta CG Blue, Ping Tour 2.0, Project X Denali Red or Mitsubishi Tensei 1K Black shafts and Golf Pride Tour Velvet grips.

Specs: Titanium face and chassis with carbon fiber crown, tungsten weights and adjustable hosel.

Available: Jan. 30

Who They're For: Golfers seeking more stability and better performance on mis-hit drives without sacrificing ball speed or distance.

What You Should Know: Ping designed all three G440 drivers with carbon fiber crowns and new weight-saving adjustable hosels, then used the saved weight to enhance stability and increase ball speed.

The Deep Dive: Over the past decade, Ping worked to create the most stable and forgiving drivers possible while still delivering ball speed. This effort culminated in last season’s G430 Max 10K, the first Ping driver to break the 10,000 total moment of inertia barrier.

While the G430 Max will remain in Ping’s lineup for 2025, the Phoenix-based brand has updated the rest of its driver lineup with the release of the G440 family.

The G440 Max, G440 LST and G440 SFT were designed to address the needs of different golfers, but they share key technologies and offer upgrades over their G430 predecessors.

Previously, only the G430 LST driver featured a carbon fiber crown, but now all three G440 drivers come with Ping’s CarbonFly Wrap. This carbon fiber crown extends around the top of the club and into the toe and heel areas. Carbon fiber weighs less than titanium, which lowers the center of gravity and creates discretionary weight that Ping’s designers shifted to other areas of the clubhead.

The crown also features five fang-like pieces, known as Turbulators, that help guide airflow around the head more efficiently. This aerodynamic design enables the G440 drivers to move faster through the air, making it easier for golfers to generate more clubhead speed.

The hitting area on the G440 drivers is shorter than it was on the G430, and the titanium face is thinner, both of which reduce weight.

An additional weight-saving element, which is less visible, is the Free Hosel design. While the eight-position hosel remains adjustable, allowing players and fitters to tweak loft and lie angles, Ping removed material from the part of the hosel that connects to the head. This removed weight, previously located high in the clubhead, helped further lower the center of gravity.

What did Ping do with all that saved weight? The back weight in the G440 Max and LST, which Ping calls the CG Shifter, is heavier than it was in the G430. Now weighing in at 29 grams, the weight can be moved to create a draw or fade bias, or left in the center position to boost moment of inertia and overall stability.

The G440 SFT comes with a 23-gram back weight that can be adjusted to two positions: Draw and Draw+.

As a family, the G440 series generates higher launch angles than the G430 clubs, and each driver comes standard at 46 inches in length. This allows fitters to use lower lofts to create similar shot trajectories with increased ball speed and consistent spin rates.

The 460-cubic-centimeter G440 Max driver likely will appeal to the broadest range of players and was designed to be the most forgiving in the G440 lineup. On off-center hits, it’s the most stable of the three drivers and helps preserve ball speed.

The 450-cubic-centimeter G440 LST is the low-spin option for players who generate excessive spin off the tee. It produces the lowest launch of the three drivers, and its three-position back weight makes it suitable for fast-swinging, skilled golfers who prefer to hit draws and fades.

The 460c-cubic-centimeter G440 SFT was designed to produce straighter shots for golfers who struggle with a slice. It shares the larger volume of the G440 Max but features a 23-gram heel-side weight in both positions. This design helps golfers close the clubface more easily during the downswing, reducing left-to-right slice spin.

This article originally appeared on Golfweek: Ping's three G440 drivers blend distance and forgiveness