I tried out the Ping G2 with a 11.5 loft and a soft regular shaft, it went like a rocket and I was very pleased with it, so I placed an order for one. because of the popularity of this driver, everyone had sold out of heads and Ping, as I understand it, had to import more from the States. Now i discover that Ping are no longer doing the G2 but are putting the G5 on the market, available in September. The new G5 doesn't have an 11.5 loft only a 12 degrees. My questions is, how much difference will .5 degrees make to the trajectory of the ball and if I already hit the ball reasonably high and long, do I really need 12 degrees loft??

I would go with the 12 degree. I understand that you already hit it fairly high and long, but how straight??

As the loft increases, so does the backspin and on the flip side the sidespin decreases, making it easier to hit the ball straight.

I think you'll find that as you go to a lower loft (10.5 degree) the amount of backspin decreases and the amount of sidespin increases making it easier to slice/hook the ball.

Hope that made sense..

Hook It,

Thanks for that, yep it makes sense, at 73 years of age, I was a bit worried about loosing some length. I can manage about 280/90 at the moment with a Cobra 440 but I find the Ping a much more comfortable club to use.

You're 73 years old, and can hit it 280 / 90????

That does it, I'm taking up tiddlywinks

:-(

Still down on your forum notes as using a Wilson Driver. I take it that only went about 270 then??

McAlan, Yep, I have always been a long hitter and luckily still am. As for the Wilson Fat Shaft Driver, I found that too rigid and very unforgiving. someof my mates at the club bought this Cobra 440 and waxed lyrical about it so i tried one and found it to be a great club, as long as you can stand the noise when you hit the ball. Mind you, its not a comfortable to use as the Ping G2 which by theway is now extinct!

Can I join you Mc Alan.....? ;-(

Just to cheer you up, Alex.... I see Levein has signed another Hearts reject, Joe Hamill. He's pants, by the way ;-)

(apologies for the hijack thread!)

Lol! And he's on a 4 year deal!

My sons got a ping g2 and hes 14 and he can hit 250 which is pleasing but not when i play with him:(

73yo waxed lyrical 280yd driving bullshi$$er.

Darren L 25

jealousy will get you nowhere, neither will being rude!

Keep practising and grow up.

Not sure if this helps in any way but I recently had all of my clubs evaluated - loft, lie, flex, etc. - and it turns out that when measured, my '10 degree' G2 has a 12.5 degree loft - ?!?!
BUT I bought it cos I hit it better than any of the other makes/clubs I tried, which were all marked as being around the same loft as the 10 dgree club I thought I was hitting.
I'm forced to conclude that some of the others were probably closer to 10 degrees than the Ping is and therefore I didn't get as good trajectory (height, mainly, as I tend to hit the ball quite low) with the others as the Ping had a 2.5 degree head start! (The Ping was also measured as being 0.5 degree closed, which may help to explain why I'm now hitting a lot of draws).
From that experience, which was something of an eye-opener, and armed with the knowlege I now have, I'd say a 0.5 degree would likely give you about the same conditions... assuming it is actually 0.5 degrees difference between the two!
Looks like the only way to find out for definite whether there will be much difference between the G2 11.5 degree and the G5 12 degree is by going to hit one.

Darren, 73 year old hitting 280 yards is not a fish story by any means. I've seen 12 year old and 80 year olds hitting balls into that territory. Its all about technique, rythym and timing.

Well said henry

It happens I see older players take half swings and the ball still shoot bl@@dy miles!

Thank you gentlemen for your comments and support, I have no need to exagerate or as the young man said earlier bu@@S@@@t, I did all that when I was his age!! - Richard, once the G5 is on the market, I will give on a go and see what happens, as I said earlier, I had ordered an 11.5 with a soft regular shaft so I am very interested to see what happens with the extra .5 degrees.

Ron;
There are a few G2 11.5 deg on ebay with regular shafts. Some are new, some used.
Hope that's of some help.

Buddie,

Thanks for that. I have tried the 'Regular' shafted G2's also the 'Soft Regular' and find I get much more consistency with the 11.5 'Soft Rgular' shaft, but thanks again for that info. I will have a look at E.Bay and perhaps one of the vendors has a 'soft' shafted club (if you see what I mean!) and wants to sell it. I will let you know how I get on.