There are a lot of solid new golf clubs out on the market this month. And I’ve had the opportunity to test out many of them – except for the one I’m looking most forward to. It’s Ping’s new G430 iron.

I’ve had this history with Ping irons – having owned two sets in my lifetime. Not sure what it is, but when I play them my game seems to instantly improve. My distances are reliably solid, accuracy gets even tighter, and I just tend to hit more greens. The irons give me visual confidence, too. I just find something inspiring about their look as I’m standing over the ball.

And I know that the company doesn’t go by a set timetable, to debut products. That is, they introduce clubs to the market when the clubs are ready and not because it’s just a new year or because the annual PGA Merchandise Show is coming up. Company officials operate on Ping time, which I admire. As it turns out in 2023, Ping time and real time meshed – as the company officially unveiled all of its G430 clubs this week – just at the same time as all of the competing companies did. The G430 drivers, fairway woods and hybrids look good on paper, and I’m sure they will please a lot of golfers. But it’s the irons I’m most keen to try.

Billed as Ping’s longest-ever iron, they combine multiple materials – tungsten toe and shaft tip weights with a lightweight carbon composite in the back of the club that provides excellent stability and forgiveness. These all work together to produce distance gains of roughly 7-to-10 yards throughout the set, promises the company. Which is a lot of distance and frankly more than other manufacturers suggest when they come to market with new irons. Regardless, Ping’s distance gain is the result of a lower center of gravity, strong lofts and a thin clubface that delivers up to 2 mph of extra ball speed without skimping on forgiveness, according to Ping officials. A key contributor to the extra distance is the PurFlex cavity badge and its seven flex zones that allow more free bending to boost ball speed across the face at impact. The badge also contributes to the solid feel and sound. And the irons aim to be spot-on accurate. Among refinements to the overall shape is a shorter hosel that creates a more compact, clean look and helps lower the CG, aligning it closer to the force line to increase ball speed and ensure solid impact, especially from shots struck low on the face. A slight progressive bounce angle increase throughout the set helps smooth turf interaction, as well. And the hydropearl 2.0 chrome finish looks amazing.

“Our ability to make this iron so much longer while maintaining all the other important attributes golfers need from their irons like forgiveness, stopping power and gapping alternatives is one of the most impressive engineering stories throughout the entire G430 line,” says John K. Solheim, CEO and President. “We know golfers want more distance from their irons, but distance without control doesn’t lead to lower scores. That’s why we put so much emphasis on designing an iron that not only goes a very long way, but it flies higher, straighter and lands softer.”

I’m very happy with my current irons. But it never hurts to shop around.