Lydia Ko Ping’s driver played an important role in her winning the gold medal
Lydia Ko’s equipment setup consists of nine Ping clubs, including a G430 Max 10K driver.
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With water lurking around every curve at Le Golf National, letting your guard down is not an option. Accuracy off the tee goes a long way in an effort to keep big numbers off the card. Winning an Olympic medal doesn’t have to be a cake walk.
Last week, Scottie Scheffler raised his game and erased a four-shot deficit during the final round to win the gold. On Saturday, Lydia Ko was able to write her own fate with a similarly impressive final round that earned her a gold medal and a place in the LPGA hall of fame.
When Scheffler won the gold, TaylorMade sent out a “win ad” congratulating him on his accomplishment. Ko did not receive the same treatment after his victory. This has nothing to do with prioritizing a male gold medalist over a female gold medalist. Unlike Scheffler, who is linked to TaylorMade, Ko is a free agent who sports Ping and Titleist gear without compensation.
Of the two products represented in his portfolio, Ping has the largest presence with nine clubs, including the 9-degree G430 Max 10K driver Ko added earlier this season. On a layout where the fairways hit the extreme driving distance, Ko’s driver played an important role in supporting while defending the competition.
“One of the things [Lydia’s] the focus is on lowering the standard,” said Ping’s LPGA Tour representative Jack UIrich. “He tried 10K at the beginning of the year but ended up going to LST to get the spin rate he wanted. Then he asked to check 10K again [Mizuho Americas Open] and it stuck. He always plays drivers with low loft. His current 10K is set at 8.5 degrees on the Flat Minus setting. There’s a little weight going forward (a few grams) to put it in the window they like to see.”
No one confuses the 10K with the LST, but one of the things Ulrich noticed during head-to-head testing between the two drivers was the constant rotation rate of the 10K across the face. When the pressure rises on a Sunday afternoon, not sweating the visible dip in driver performance in the mishits can be a godsend.
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“The 10K turns slower than the LST, but not as much as the standard Max,” Ulrich said. “It just smells so bad. If players are willing to give up a little distance – because the LST is the fastest of the models we have – they get a ton of stability across the face. The spin rates are very stable, too. The LST justifies itself, but with a few other options, players like the sound of that. “
During testing with Ko at Mizuho, Ulrich saw him generate 2,300 RPMs on mid-face strikes, with the highest spin rate coming in at 2,700 RPMs.
“It was amazing,” Ulrich said. “When he’s swinging really well, those spin levels stay strong, even when he misses a lot. The flight of the ball is straight, and from one of our last conversations, I remember him saying that erring on the side of high spin – and it’s not the same as crazy high – seems to help. His ball flight was usually left to the right, and the LST was probably turning a little while the 10K stayed really straight. Sacrificing a little distance for accuracy was part of it for Lydia who runs the 10K. “
Jonathan Wall/GOLF
Ko’s experience with the 10K parallels what the GOLF.com gear team saw during robot testing. When you look at the numbers, the G430 Max 10K got top marks for toe strikes with a 2.5-yard carry distance, due in large part to strong spin deltas. Low-level strikes saw a similar reduction in distance, to the tune of 3.1 yards with a 10.5-degree head.
The deltas of the tight bearing range give the 10K products a slight edge over their Max counterparts, but there is an even more impressive feature that needs to be discussed.
At the geometric center strike, the 10.5-degree G430 Max 10K produced 12 degrees of launch and 2,700 RPM of rotation. With most drivers we’ve tested, moving the impact half an inch lower on the face usually slows startup and increases revs by anywhere from 200-400 RPMs.
But that was not the case at 10K where the impact area was reduced. Launch dropped to 9.4 degrees, but spin remained constant at 2,700 RPM.
The goal is to make the launch and spin deltas hard on the mishits to mimic the numbers you would see on an average strike, which is exactly what the robot sees with Ping’s 10K contribution on a normal mishit.
It’s the kind of winning machine formula that has allowed Ko to focus on the job at hand and realize the dream in France.
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