The original Ping Glide wedge was one of the best cavity back wedges in the market and now Ping has put a little spin on it with version 2.0.
The same clean lines and Hydropearl chrome finish repel water to enable the Glide 2.0 to slip through the turf and this is a professional looking wedge.
The main change is a slight refinement of the grooves by Ping using their precision milling to steepen the sides of the walls on the grooves by 4°.
On the lower 46° to 52° lofts this increases the side wall angle from 16° to 20° and there is also an extra groove on the face too. On the higher lofts from 54° to 60° the wall is also now up 4° to 28° and these wedges get two extra grooves.
Ping claim that on full shots you will get an extra 200rpm in the dry and 1000rpm in the wet, which is pretty signficant. Out on the course the grip was certianly there and this is a good improvement on a groove that was already one of the better performing ones.
There is the same choice of 4 sole grinds to vary the bounce, from the lower bounce Thin Sole (TS) through the Standard Sole (SS), Wide Sole (WS) and the Eye Sole (ES), which has the inverted cavity from the classic Ping Eye 2 wedge and is particularly good out of sand.
Compared to the previous version, the soles are very similar in shape with the numbers now on the toe and provide the right level of bounce for the required shot.
There is a decent amount of heel and toe relief if you like to play around with opening and closing the face and this works really well on the higher lofted 58° SS, which had a lovely balance and was easy to flip the ball up.
The only change in the lofts is that the SS starts at 46° instead of 47°, so there is no 48° version and that is probably because this is there as an alternative to the 45° or 46° set wedges that you get in the i200 and iBlade irons respectively.
As most specialist wedges are blade style and most irons these days are cavity backs of some description, then the Ping Glide 2.0 will fit into most sets as it will keep the cavity back theme going and I like that concept.They will of course blend in particularly well with the Ping i200 and iBlade thanks to the similar looks.
The 2.0 also retains the longer Dyla-wedge grip that gives you reference points if you like to grip down the shaft in order to vary the distance the ball goes with the same length of swing.
This is a clever device and it is good to see it continued as an option to the standard variable width Ping grips.
All the models come with Ping's AWT 2.0 Wedge shaft which weights slightly less than the previous CFS shaft and should give a little higher trajectory.
Overall this is another great wedge from Ping and more of a fine tuning of the original Glide, because when it comes to cavity back wedges, they have already hit the target.
Ping Glide 2.0 Stealth Wedge Review
In January 2018 Ping extended the range with the Glide 2.0 Stealth wedge, which is the same shape and style as the original but in a black QPQ (Quench Polish Quench) finish.
Ping claim that the darker finish reduces glare and makes the head look smaller at address, which it may do, but I have yet to be blinded by a club and bigger is better in my book.
The only other difference is the milling of an extra half groove in the space at the bottom of the face to add a little extra spin, especially on those shots hit lower on the face and we are not talking thins here.
It still performs just as well as the standard model so if you prefer this darker look, especially if you get some good wear marks going, then the Glide 2.0 Stealth wedge is going to steal the show.