Ping is without doubt one of the most popular brands in golf. Known for its rich heritage of producing consistently great golf gear, that’s as beneficial to the likes of Viktor Hovland and Tyrell Hatton, as it is to you and me.
In doing so, Ping have become synonymous with the words forgiveness, stability and reliability – terms which may not seem like needle-movers, but in context of the sport we’re playing, have proven to be very much so. Golf is (very) tough, after all.
Like the move to carbon, mini-drivers, zero-torque putters and speed-injected players distance irons, 10K MOI drivers are amongst the hottest trends in the golf gear space. 10K drivers, is a ‘new category’ that Ping played a huge role in bringing to the attention of the discerning golfer, with the launch of 2024’s Ping G430 Max 10K Driver.
10K is all about maximum stability of the clubhead at impact, in the hope of giving golfers the best chance of delivering a square clubface more often. 10K means 10,000 moment of inertia (MOI), and without going into the boring detail too much – that’s a hell of a lot.
In the last couple of years, Ping have fallen into a 2-year lineup release cycle, first launching their main family of clubs (most recently the G440 line-up) to then follow it up the year after with a 10K version of the same driver.
2026 sees the launch of the Ping G440 K driver, following last year’s release Ping G440 Max, SFT and LST drivers – let’s see what all the fuss is about.
Who Is It Aimed At?
Naturally, you’d think that this driver is only aimed at golfers that can’t hit a fairway for toffee, and in most cases you’d be right. However, given the fact that back in 2018 Tony Finau, amongst many other Ping staffers chose to put the super-high MOI version of latest Ping driver (G400 Max) in the bag, shows that there’s appetite for these fairway finding machines outside of the weekend-warrior.
Having said that, the new Ping G440 K driver is expensive, so to be even thinking about splashing the cash on one of these, you’ve really got to be well off, know your gear and be proactively trying to improve your game.
The relentless rise of golf equipment costs quite clearly proves that there’s plenty of those people out there…
The Tech
Ping are calling the G440 K their highest MOI driver ever, making it their straightest and most forgiving model.
It uses the same dual wrap and Free Hosel technology as the rest of the G440 range. This saves weight from the sole, crown and hosel, allowing Ping to move the CG lower and deeper in the clubhead. This is said to both raise ball speeds, and add more forgiveness.
There’s a heavier tungsten weight at the back of the head, which can be set in either Neutral, Draw or Fade settings to optimise ball speed, launch and spin.
A thin forged T9S+ face is thinner in the G440 range. It has a dual-roll radius, designed to optimise spin and add ball speed.
The G440 K features Ping’s largest profile front to back, maximising forgiveness. On the crown, the turbulators are there to improve aerodynamics.
Ping have also worked to improve sound in the G440 range, thanks to a a composite crown bridge and sole ribs attached to the crown and sole. These offer a more ‘muted and solid’ sound at impact.
Ping G440 K Driver Review
Looks
Although unsurprisingly very similar to the G440 overall, this is a great looking golf club. To say that its ultimate goal is maximum forgiveness, Ping have done a great job of making it look mean at address.
The combination of turbulators (nope – they ain’t going anywhere just yet!) and addition of the carbonfly wrap helps here, they seem to do a great job of streamlining what is a huge footprint by the ball.
I tested the G430 Max 10K and although it flew straight for me it just looked crazy-big at address and I couldn’t bring myself to get on with it. The G440 K, although it still has the 460cc head, somehow looks a little more streamlined to my eye – which I liked.
The matte black finish is coupled with the same flashes of blue seen in 2025s Max head, helping to add a subtle pop. The main difference here is the adage of more carbon on the sole, which has a glossy finish and makes it easy to tell the K apart from the standard Max model.
I’m not sure it improves the sole aesthetic from last year, but it certainly makes you feel like you’re getting more bang for your buck. It’ll get the golf gear geeks going no doubt.
Feel
Feel is a strange thing to talk about in the case of a 10K driver, because essentially the more stable you make the driver head, the more feel you’re taking from the golfer’s hands.
I’d say the G440 K felt very stable, but that’s obvious right? This is Ping and 10,000 MOI we’re talking about – it felt solid as a rock, despite what inconsistencies I delivered the clubface to the ball with.
For me though, as single-figure handicapped golfer, although this stability is welcome a lot of the time, I found the size of the club to just feel a little slow when swinging it. Despite the supposed aerodynamic benefits of the turbulators, I just didn’t feel like I could give it the rip I wanted to.
Having said that, it felt nice off the face and sounded great too, not nearly as high pitched as you’d expect from a Ping driver. The overall ‘tinny-ness’ of Ping drivers has been toned down somewhat since the hugely successful yet loud-mouthed G425.
My final thought on the feel was that at impact, I knew straight away I was generating quite a lot of spin – you could look at this a couple of ways: positive in the feedback department despite the amount forgiveness, negative in that there’s probably going to be distance short-fallings because of it.
Performance
I tested this driver indoor at Clubhouse Golf using Foresight GCQuad and Titleist Pro V1 balls. Before I delved into the data, I started by trying to find some fairways. I set up to the par 4 first hole at Valderrama (IYKYK) and hit my first three shots trying to find the fairway. To my adulation, all three balls flew bang smack into the middle of the fairway. Good start Ping.
Looking at the data, put proof behind what I was feeling when hitting the G440 K. My spin was averaging at 3037 rpm, which is higher than I’d like to see it, meaning that overall carry numbers were down too, averaging at 245 yards, with a total of 265 yards.
Another thing that wasn’t helping the drop in carry was a relatively low ball speed average of 149 mph, this coupled with 95 feet peak height meant that unfortunately the ball just wasn’t travelling that far in the air. To put that in context I recently tested the Mizuno JPX One Driver and managed to generate ball speeds of up to 158 mph, which shows there’s gains to be made across different driver heads.
Having said that, this driver isn’t aimed at me. I look for mid-spin and low launch with the driver and essentially the G440 K is trying to achieve the opposite.
Impressively though, the dispersion was very good – it was so consistent! An average of 9 yards offline right is unheard of as of late with for me with driver.
Ping G440 K Driver Verdict
If you’re looking for the latest in super-high MOI driver tech – look no further. The G440 K launches high, straight and a decent distance when caught out of the screws.
It comes at price though unfortunately. As ping have added more and more carbon to the heads of the drivers over the last five years to aid with weight distribution, the prices have inflated a lot. The G440 Max had an RRP of £575 at launch, whereas the G440 K is priced at £630 which is significant jump, considering how forgiving the G440 Max is.
That being said, golfers will pay a lot of money to find the short stuff and if it’s fairways that you’re looking for, Ping have found yet another answer.
Would I Use It?
No. This driver clearly has some great benefits, but not in areas I’m looking for.
