Ping Anser Driver Review – The Ping Anser driver sees Ping move into the world of adjustable drivers and they have taken their own approach to doing this. John Solheim said to the designers that they could do it provided they did not change the head weight. This required some serious pen chewing, but the boffins came up with an adjustable hosel design that weighs the same as the previous hosel.
Ping Anser Driver Review
However the slimline hosel can only move 0.5 degrees up or down which is the smallest increment on the market.This can have a big effect though as we found out on the launch monitor when delofting the club by 0.5 degrees opened the face and we lost distance with a slight fade on our drives. The manufacturing tolerances are +/- 0.5 degrees so with the adjustable hosel you should have every loft covered. As with all adjustable drivers, they should be viewed as having a built in tour truck for a one time custom fitting and the Ping Anser driver comes into this category.
The aim is to ‘tune’ the club to the golfer rather than ‘adjust’ it and the combination of loft and 4 standard shaft options does make performance differences you can see, so a proper custom fitting is essential.The 460cc titanium Anser head has a fractionally bigger footprint and face than the Ping i20 driver, but is smaller and less forgiving than the Ping G20 driver.
The Anser driver delivers a lower spinning flight than the i20, but launches the ball higher so, in theory, you should get more distance. This is because the construction features a stiffer sole than the other Ping drivers – a welcome side benefit of the adjustable design.On the range the Anser driver was a joy to hit and the tuning options for shaft and loft did make a difference.
The sound and feel was everything you would expect from a Ping driver and combined with the menacing dark looks the Anser driver will be worth the premium price for better players looking for a quality adjustable driver.
Reviewed by Martin Hopley – Golfalot.com
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