Ping G440 Max Driver Review

Ping are the latest brand to launch their new range for 2025, and we’ve got our hands on the new G440 Max Driver.

Both the G430 Max and G430 Max 10K have been hugely successful over the past couple of years. Can Ping still find room for improvement with their latest driver?

Who Is It Aimed At?

The Max is the most forgiving model in the range which will cater for the majority of golfers. There’s also a low spin (LST) model and anti-slice (SFT) model available for those golfers who need them.

The G430 range was all about forgiveness, whereas G440 focuses more on ball speed. As with all Ping drivers though, you’re still going to get good levels of reliability and stability.

The Tech

The Max is the most forgiving in the G440 range, offered in 9, 10.5 and 12 degrees.

New this year to the drivers is Free-Hosel Technology. This sees weight removed from a section of the hosel. It’s then repositioned to push mass lower in the head, providing the lowest CG that Ping have ever offered in a driver.

Ping also say it aligns closer to the ‘force line’, improving ball speed, spin and launch. The result is said to be longer and straighter drives – sounds good on paper!

Lowering the face height is said to make the face thinner and hotter, for more ball speed and consistency across the club face, including high in the heel which is typically a weak spot.

The total weight has been reduced by 10 grams, whilst the standard shaft is 1/4″ longer than the G430 range. This has been done to help golfers swing faster and generate more speed, without sacrificing dispersion.

Across all three driver heads is the CarbonFly Wrap crown. This saves weight which is reallocated to lower the CG. It also improves forgiveness and provides a more muted sound at impact.

The Max head features a 29 gram back weight, which can be adjusted into draw, fade or neutral position to fine-tune ball flight and shot shape.

Ping G440 Max Driver Review

Looks and Feel

The G440 range features a black and blue colour scheme this time around. Straight away this reminded me of the old G30 range that I used back in the day. I much preferred it to the lime green of the G430, which wasn’t really to my taste.

Ping drivers can sometimes be a little big and bulky but I liked the look at address. It seemed a bit smaller than the G430 Max 10K, and the head was less drawn out, which I liked.

The driver is not super soft off the face, it is quite thuddy especially with strikes low on the face. When you hit it from the centre it did feel great. On off-centre hits, there was a more feedback than you usually get from a Ping driver. Perhaps that’s due to the efforts they have made to produce more ball speed?

Ping say that they have worked on acoustics but I still found quite a loud sound at impact. However this didn’t really bother me, and I think it’s to be expected from a forgiving driver like this.

Performance

I tested the new driver on-course at the fantastic West Cliffs Resort, and used the Foresight GCQuad to collect data on the club’s performance.

First things first, the numbers. I was impressed with the ball speed at nearly 136mph. This is a couple of miles an hour higher than usual, but my carry distance was a little lower at 216 yards.

This shows there is potential for distance. I probably didn’t hit it as well as I could have during the testing. I think if I was swinging at my best I may have seen a little more carry.

On the course, the performance was pretty good overall. I did find that I was getting a few low strikes from the bottom of the face. These tended to leak out to the right, which is not something I am not used to seeing.

Compared to the G430 Max I definitely felt like the ball speeds were up, with a bit more pop off the face. When I hit it well, it felt good and produced a nice strong flight.

Ping G440 Max Driver Verdict

I was impressed by the ball speeds Ping have been able to produce in the G440 range. Whilst they are usually known for stability and forgiveness, they promised more ball speed and they delivered.

Compared to the G430 Max 10K I did notice a drop off in forgiveness levels. Having said that, this isn’t a 10K driver, so that is probably to be expected!

The G430 Max 10K was so good that it was always going to be a hard act to follow, and I still think that driver comes out on top even despite those ball speed gains.

If you’re in the market for a new driver though, and you’re looking for more speed, this is definitely one to test.

Would I Use It?

I would still use the Max 10K because I am looking for forgiveness and stability. If you’re looking for more ball speed and more distance, it may be worth a try though.