By Dominic Choma, Club Fitter
High and far, that is the main goal for the majority of golfers when it comes to their iron shots. High because that will allow the golfer to achieve the proper landing angle for their iron shots, providing more control. Far because, well, everyone wants to hit the ball farther, right? In all seriousness, most golfers will benefit from hitting the ball farther, as they will be able to hit 1 or 2 clubs less on their approach shots, giving them more control. With those 2 features in mind, Ping has introduced the new G700 iron this spring.
The G700 iron features a hollow body design, which offers a few benefits to help the golfer hit their shots higher and farther. First off, a hollow body design allows for the center of gravity to be placed lower and further away from the clubface. A center of gravity that is lower and farther away from the clubface will make the club fly higher, while also making the club more forgiving. Another benefit to a hollow body design is that the engineers can make the clubface thinner. A thinner clubface will be able to flex more at impact, which will in turn will generate more ball speed on center strikes, as well as on off center strikes. More ball speed on both center and off-center strikes will provide the golfer will more distance regardless of whether they make their best swing or not.
Numbers time. I put the G700 iron up against my current 7-iron, to provide a baseline to see what kind of distance the G700 can help others gain. Both clubs had a Dynamic Gold X100 Shaft in them, at +½” and green color code lie angle. My current 7-iron is a Ping iBlade with 32 degrees of loft, compared to the G700 at 29.5 degrees.
| Club | Clubhead Speed | Ball Speed | Smash Factor | Launch Angle | Spin Rate | Carry | Height | Land Angle |
| Current | 95.9 | 131.8 | 1.37 | 15.2 | 7092 | 186.3 | 108 | 49.2 |
| G700 | 97.3 | 135.9 | 1.40 | 14.1 | 6324 | 196.3 | 109 | 48.5 |
For my current 7-iron, these are typical numbers. My clubhead speed averaged 96 miles per hour, with 131.8 mph in ball speed, which gives me a smash factor of 1.37. My launch angle was 15.2 degrees on average, with 7092 rpms of spin. My carry distance came out at 186.3, peak height was 108 feet with an angle of descent of 49.2 degrees. Overall, I have nothing to complain about, as the numbers with my current 7-iron are what I am looking for.
As for the G700, my clubhead speed did increase to 97.3 miles per hour. While my clubhead speed increased 1.4 miles per hour with the G700, my ball speed increased even more, with an average of 135.9 miles per hour an increase of 4.1 miles per hour. This increase in ball speed raised my smash factor to 1.40, or in other terms I increased how efficiently I was transferring my clubhead speed into ball speed with the G700. Launch angle decreased to 14.1 with the G700, and my spin rate dropped down to 6324 rpms. This may sound like a problem, but when we look at my average peak height and landing angle we see that they have essentially stayed the same. My peak height was 109 feet on average, or 1 foot higher than my current club, and my landing angle was 48.5 degrees, which is .7 degrees lower than my current club. Both changes are essentially negligible, but what it tells us is that the G700 is flying as high as my current 7-iron and stopping about as fast as my 7-iron when it hits the green, while going 10 yards farther. For me, this isn’t something I necessarily need. For most golfers however, hitting a 7-iron with the same height and landing angle while adding 10 yards will allow them to hit one less club into the green, which in turn leads to closer approach shots and lower scores.
Many golfers are looking to be able to hit iron shots that fly high, land soft, and go farther. A golf club that has a thinner face, combined with a lower and further back center of gravity will allow the golfer to hit those irons shots that fly high, while also flying farther. The Ping G700 incorporates this hollow body design to great effect, creating an iron that provides the proper peak height and landing angle while adding 10 yards in carry distance.
