Ping G400 Driver Review – Good for High Handicappers & Forgiving?

The Ping G400 combines extremely high MOI with a more workable head design. It’s great for increasing your club head speed but is it good for high handicappers? Let’s take a closer look!

The G400 Driver Family

If you aren’t interested in the Ping G400 driver, you might want to check out the Ping G400 LST driver which is designed to reduce long game spin.

There are a few different ways that you can increase your distance off the tee and one of them is reducing spin and drag on the ball. The Ping G400 LST has the same appointments as the standard Ping G400 driver but with forward-oriented weight to reduce spin rates.

The Ping G400 LST driver is definitely better for lower handicap players with faster swing speeds. That’s because there is much less emphasis on rear weighting which affects launch. If you don’t need the extra carry distance on your drives, the Ping G400 LST may be of interest to you.

Is it Good for High Handicappers?

The first thing you should know about the Ping G400 driver is that it has a 445CC head.

Your average game-improvement driver will sport an oversized 460CC head but that doesn’t mean the Ping G400 is bad for high handicappers. In fact, just the opposite. Ping made up for the smaller head by increasing MOI to a 9,000 rating.

You get incredible stability from the multi-material head design and the adjustable (not sliding) tungsten rear weight increases launch and forgiveness. This would definitely be a good buy for players in the 18-25 handicap range.

Is it Forgiving?

The Ping G400 has a forged titanium face and you can add or reduce mass to the rear weight as you need.

The forged titanium face insert was designed to increase ball speeds. While we don’t know all the science behind the material, it certainly does increase ball speed and distance. However, it’s not the most forgiving driver that Ping makes.

The head is a bit smaller than most game-improvement drivers but so long as you are moderately accurate on your swing, the forged titanium face will reward you with incredible distance. In fact, the high handicap testers in our group landed on a cumulative average drive distance of 231 yards.

Difference Between G400 and G410

Right off the bat, the Ping G410 driver is slightly larger.

The 455CC head gives the G410 driver a slightly larger footprint compared to the Ping G400. However, this didn’t do much to increase overall forgiveness. Still though, the Ping G410 driver has a sliding rear weight that can be set to draw, neutral or fade positions which is a nice improvement for sure.

Both of these drivers have the same forged titanium face insert though. The G410 is just slightly more versatile with the sliding rear weight and an adjustable hosel.

Available Shafts

PING Alta CB 55
PING Tour 65
PING Tour 75
PING Alta Distanza
Aldila X-Torsion Copper
Project X HZRDUS Yellow
Mitsubishi Kuro Kage Silver Dual-Core TiNi

Is the Ping G400 Driver Worth it?

The Ping G400 definitely deserves your consideration if you are a mid to high handicap player.

The Ping G400 offers a good combination of easy distance and workability. The smaller head will be a welcome sight to players with high teen handicaps and the fast face will please players who really need help with distance.

The great thing about this driver though is that it will serve you even as your handicap starts to fall so it’s a great investment in your game overall.

Ping G400 Driver

In 20 Words or Less

The Ping G400 driver offers incredibly stable and consistent ball flight and will increase your ball speed.

Ping G400 Driver – First Impressions

The first thing we noticed about the Ping G400 is that it looks really nice at point of address.

Looking down at this driver will make you fall in love with it. It has a clean, smooth and fast look at point of address which is really encouraging when you are grinding out a practice session at the range. And it’s not all about looks either.

Ping claims that the Ping G400’s head was designed to reduce drag and our testers found (using a launch monitor) that it did indeed increase their average swing speed by 3MPH.

The G400 Family

Aside from the Ping G400 and the G400 LST, the G400 family also includes the G400 SFT.

The Ping G400 SFT has all the same features of the standard G400 and the LST version but with the added bonus of heel-side weighting. This will help players struggling with a slice. The G400 SFT also has a slightly lower swing weight which is helps you square up to the ball at impact.

Ping G400 Driver Selling Points

Adjustable tungsten weight
Dragonfly internal ribbing
Forged titanium face
445CC head
Aerodynamic turbulators
9,000 MOI

Ping G400 – Who is it for?

The Ping G400 would work best for players in the 18-25 handicap range.

So it’s a great choice for mid to high handicappers. It’s forgiving enough to be viable for beginners and offers better players the workability they’ve come to expect. One thing we should mention though is that in order to get optimal distance with the Ping G400 driver, you will need a moderate swing speed.

As long as you have a swing speed above about 85mph, you should do very well with the Ping G400 driver. The one thing you can surely count on is better ball speed and faster club head speed – you just have to make sure that you are square to the ball and on target.

That’s not to say that people with slow swing speeds won’t enjoy the Ping G400 driver or get any use out of it; it just means that there are definitely better drivers out there for slow swing speed players to use.