Viktor Hovland had to force himself to finally retire his longtime Ping G425 LST gamer.
When Hovland made the trip up to Canada for the RBC Canadian Open after three weeks off, he did so with just one driver: a new G440 LST with a Fujikura Ventus TR Black 6-X VeloCore+ shaft.
“That’s one way to switch,” Ping Tour Rep Kenton Oates told GOLF. “Leave your security blanket in Oklahoma and call it a day.”
Hovland had been working on the switch with Ping reps since the beginning of May and it paid off big time three weeks later at the Travelers Championship, where Hovland led the field in SG: OTT and ended up winning in a playoff over Scottie Scheffler.
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The G440 driver family (MAX, LST, SFT) is optimized to deliver more ball speed through multiple advancements, including PING’s deepest CG in a driver to date and a shallower, thinner face, while continuing to ensure the game-changing forgiveness expected from a PING driver. The G440 LST (Low Spin) design appeals to players with faster swing speeds, providing lower spin and more control in 9° and 10.5° lofts with the three-position back weight.
HIGHLY FORGIVING
Lighter head weight allows for heavier back weight.
FASTER FACE
Shallow, thinner, face increases ball speed for more distance, higher launch.
SOUND DESIGN
New shaping, carbon crown and internal ribs produce muted impact experience.
FREE-HOSEL DESIGN
Saves weight to lower CG, increase forgiveness. Allows for more heel-side face flexing for consistent ball speed across face.
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ALSO AVAILABLE AT: PGA TOUR Superstore
Specs
Ping G440 LST 9.0
Actual loft: 7.4
Ping Trajectory 2.0 setting: Flat Dot
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus TR Black w/ Velocore+ 6-X
Tipping: 1″
Length: 45.75″ EOG
Swingweight: D5+
Grip: Golf Pride MCC Black/Blue 60R (+1 wrap)
U.S. Open (June 18-21): Bryson DeChambeau’s TaylorMade Qi4D prototype
Two prototype TaylorMade Qi4D driver heads that popped up on the USGA conforming list Monday of U.S. Open week turned out to be for none other than golf’s mad scientist, Bryson DeChambeau.
But this wasn’t something that TaylorMade started working on just because DeChambeau approached them earlier this year. Developing a product for extreme 200+ mph ball speeds was something TaylorMade was already working on, said Brian Bazzel, TaylorMade’s VP of product creation.
“Independent of the conversations we were having with Bryson, we were going down this path of prototyping drivers to, you know, as we always try to stay ahead of things for players of that immense speed that we’re seeing emerge in golf,” Bazzel told GOLF. “The stars aligned a bit as we were going down this path of exploration on sort of a concept car prototype, and then he started inquiring, getting a little bit more serious.”
DeChambeau’s first tee shot with the Qi4D Proto 200+ went a staggering 427 yards, but DeChambeau faded on Friday to miss his third straight major cut. The driver certainly wasn’t the issue as he led the field in SG: OTT the first two rounds.
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SHAPED FOR SPEED
The re-engineered head profile increases ball speed thanks to improved aerodynamics developed through advanced simulations.
FACE FOR DISTANCE
60x Carbon Twist Face™ is a technological cornerstone that provides weight savings, incredible ball speed and more consistency vs. a titanium face.
ADJUSTABLE PERFORMANCE
4° loft sleeve can be used to adjust loft, lie and face angle for optimized flight.
TOUR PROVEN TECHNOLOGIES
New and improved cut-through Speed Pocket™ protects ball speed and reduces spin on low-face strikes.
Advanced CAD modeling creates a design with a clean and powerful sound, a foundation of TaylorMade driver performance.
Multi-Material Construction allows engineers to strategically place mass in areas of the head where it maximizes performance, speed, and stability.
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ALSO AVAILABLE AT: PGA TOUR Superstore, TaylorMade
Travelers Championship (June 25-29): Jordan Spieth’s putter change that never was
The Travelers practice green turned into putter testing week.
Jordan Spieth spent Tuesday and most of Wednesday working with a L.A.B. Golf VZN.1i and a Scotty Cameron Phantom 5 prototype after saying earlier this month he’d been fit for L.A.B. putters over the offseason.
He… pic.twitter.com/pehFGtmxFz
— Jack Hirsh (@JR_HIRSHey) June 27, 2026
The practice green was littered with guys testing new putters at the Travelers Championship, and a good chunk of them belonged to Jordan Spieth.
Spieth set Twitter ablaze before the tournament by spending all day Tuesday testing a L.A.B. Golf VZN.1i and eventually several other center-shafted mallets. He even went as far as to game the L.A.B. during Wednesday’s pro-am, but by the end of the day Wednesday, he was back with his T.P. Mills Trad Forged II gamer.
This week at the John Deere, Spieth said any struggles he was having on the green were mental and he wasn’t planning on changing putters.
“I feel like I’ve been hitting my lines a lot, and especially the last month I just haven’t seen them go in,” Spieth said. “I’ve actually been hitting my lines well, and I was just, like, well, maybe if I just grab one off the shelf and it goes in on a practice green — you know, so much of putting is mental.
“My plan this week is just to stay with where I’m at. I made some putts on Sunday, and I plan on taking that momentum into this week.”
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Bonus: Wyndham Clark signs putter-only deal with Ping
While Clark switched to his current Ping Scottsdale TEC Ally Blue Onset CB gamer back in April, he and Ping executed one of the most well-timed sponsorship agreements ever, announcing the deal on the eve of his U.S. Open win.
“I credit the new putter for helping me get back in the winner’s circle,” Clark said in a release. “The white finish first got my attention, and when I started rolling putts with it, it set up easily and gave me immediate confidence. I’d never used a putter with onset before, so it was a new look for me that really matches my eye. The onset combined with the top-rail dot simplifies alignment and my consistency has improved. I’m sinking more long putts than ever.”
Clark ended up winning at Shinnecock, highlighting the dramatic turnaround in his play on the greens.
He finished 4th in the field at the U.S. Open in SG: Putting and has risen from 155th on the PGA Tour in the stat, where he was losing .725 strokes a round, to 43rd, gaining .239 strokes. He’s also 5th in putting average at 1.702.
“I played some ugly golf the last two days, but my putter and short game kind of kept me in it,” Clark told NBC’s Mike Tirico Sunday after hoisting the U.S. Open trophy.
Read more here
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ALSO AVAILABLE AT: PGA TOUR Superstore
Specs
Ping Scottsdale TEC Ally Blue Onset CB
Loft: 3 degrees
Lie: 70 degrees
Length: 38″
Headweight: 400g (17g tip weight + 13g lead tape)
Insert: PEBAX
Grip: SuperStroke Tour 3.0 17″
Check this out
This section is dedicated to cool photos we’ve snapped recently on Tour, but haven’t had a reason to share yet. This week, check out Scotty Cameron Circle T prototype Phantom 5.5 putter with a Teryllium insert.
;)
Jack Hirsh/GOLF
Odds and Ends
Some other gear changes and notes we’re tracking this week.
Rickie Fowler switched putters again, this time to a new Scotty Cameron Phantom 12 mallet … Daniel Berger switched from a TaylorMade Qi4D to a Titleist GTS4 … Berger (Tour X DB), Luke List (Tour V CS) and Travis Crowe (Tour X L-neck) all switched to Spiders this week.
3 things you should read/watch
A selection of GOLF content from the past week that may interest you.
Why Viktor Hovland finally retired his longtime driver for something new – Viktor Hovland got his first victory since switching away from the Ping G425 LST driver he used for almost six years.
I thought I knew what irons were for my game. I was wrong | Fully Fit 2026 – In the latest entry for GOLF’s Fully Fit, Fairway Jockey’s president explains his journey from playing cavity-back irons, to shifting to player’s distance clubs this season.
Is this the secret to Viktor Hovland’s driver switch? – Viktor Hovland’s new driver also featured a new shaft, the Fujikura Ventus TR Black with VeloCore+. Could this new option be a fit for you?