Ping

What it does: Ping’s hybrids have always been reliable and efficient – a worthy replacement for the long iron in your bag that doesn’t work anymore. The G425 is still those things but with new heat. A high-strength maraging-steel face wraps around the sole and crown. This allows the top and bottom of the face to be thinner and more flexible to increase distance. There’s also less curvature low on the face to combat excessive spin. A three-dot alignment aid on the top of the crown offers ample guidance at address.   

Why we like it: Distance is like a trusty fastball in baseball: it doesn’t matter how hard you can throw if you can’t throw hard consistently. Luckily the G425 brings the heat every time, even on off-centre hits. The key is a tungsten back weight that creates a low and deep centre of gravity to tighten that distance window. That CG is tuned to each loft to better match with the type of player expected to use it. Better players gravitate towards the lowest lofts, so those have a neutral bias. Less-skilled players use the higher lofts, so those have more anti-slice bias. An adjustable hosel and a 7-hybrid increase the overall loft range from the mid-teens to the mid-30s.  

Lofts 17, 19, 22, 26, 30, 34; adjustable