Building on its commitment to make golf easier and more enjoyable through equipment innovation and custom fitting for golfers of all skill levels, PING has introduced
the G730 iron, a distance-delivering, high-launching design engineered with score lowering forgiveness and consistency.
“The G730 irons are engineered for golfers who can benefit from more distance and a higher level of forgiveness and consistency to shoot lower scores,” said John K. Solheim, PING CEO & President. “The new G730 brings them all that in an easy-to-hit, confidence-inspiring design. It’s the longest and most forgiving iron in our current lineup and is a great solution to help maximize the performance of a lot of golfers. We’re excited to bring them an iron that’s engineered to make the game easier and more enjoyable.”
Higher Launch, More Distance is the basis behind the new irosn. Maximizing ball speed was the primary objective in the design of the G730 iron, helping ensure
shots that launch higher and fly farther for golfers who struggle with consistent face contact. By unlocking the exceptional strength properties of hyper 17-4 stainless steel through an advanced heat treatment, our engineers thinned the larger face to increase flexing and help lower the center of gravity, leading to significant ball-speed gains and several more yards of distance with every iron in the set. The larger face expands the hitting surface, preserving ball speed and ensuring forgiveness on mishits. The PurFlex cavity badge, with multiple flex zones, helps control face bending while enhancing feel and producing a powerful sound. “The added ball speed is the real difference maker in the G730 iron,” Solheim said. “It helps get the ball in the air easier and gives golfers the distance they need to hit shorter irons into the green with a higher max height, so their shots hit and hold, improving their chances of more makeable birdie putts.”
Forgiveness, Consistency is also a big component of the new irons. The larger head and wider sole in the investment-cast design increases the MOI in both axes,
and a lower center of gravity elevates forgiveness for improved accuracy and consistency. Golfers will also notice more offset in the cavity-back design, a key contributor to getting the ball airborne easier and more consistently. The performance-enhancing hydropearl chrome 2.0 finish helps ensure consistent launch results from varying conditions. “Since my grandfather, Karsten Solheim, pioneered forgiveness 65 years ago with the invention of perimeter weighting, golfers have come to expect the highest levels of performance from PING irons,” Solheim said. “The G730 iron furthers that reputation in a way that would make Karsten proud. Our engineers have applied modern design techniques to his proven theories, bringing golfers the forgiveness and consistency they need to improve their accuracy and lower their scores by hitting more greens.”
With an eye toward increasing distance but also optimizing gaps to best fit the golfer, the standard lofts are custom engineered to ensure set configurations that maximize performance throughout the bag. The four wedges in the set feature machined faces and grooves for added control. The option of power (stronger) and retro (weaker) spec lofts allows fitters to further optimize performance.“The importance of gapping and getting the correct set makeup is a concept I’d encourage
golfers to pay more attention to,” said Solheim.
These irons, plus the full line of PING Clubs are available at authorized dealers throughout New Jersey. For more information and to set-up a fitting, contact Jeff Israel at (908)769-3672.
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Golf’s values are family values. It’s no wonder that many families have generations working in the golf business, and so many more families have taken up the game of golf since the pandemic began. Watching the children, along with their parents or even grandparents, at the recent Drive, Chip and Putt finals at Augusta National, shows you just how strong those bonds are that golf helps to create and foster throughout one’s lifetime.
A few of the core values that we all love and aspire to, including fairness, honesty, politeness, perseverance and friendship, make the game that we love so popular and such a great game for families to play together.
“ I can't say enough about my father’s (Chuck Rice) influence,” said Hamilton Trails Golf Club veteran LPGA professional Cheri Rice-Cottelli. “It is very hard to put the lessons that he has taught me on the golf course into a couple sentences. I would have to say that the biggest lesson that he has taught me is to not give up. There were times in the middle of the round that I just wanted to go home because I was playing badly, but he wouldn't let me. He would find a simple way to motivate me, such as a shot challenge to beat him for an ice cream.”
“He now encourages our 11-year old son to play and we are instilling the same values. We know that if he learns the game now, he will have it forever. Through the heat and bad shots, we continue to encourage our son to not give up. We know that the hard work will pay off and he will enjoy the game for a lifetime.”
Renowned golf course architect, Dana Fry, whose claim to fame includes golf courses like Erin Hills (site of the 2017 US Open), Calusa Pines, Naples National Golf Club and the redesign at the Union League National in Swainton, NJ, says the game of golf is a great way for families and their children to get to bond together and become close.
“Golf teaches so many things that are useful to a person as they grow up,” said Fry. “It teaches honesty, responsibility, discipline, showing up on time, integrity, maintaining focus, patience, respect, communication and that, just like in life, you never stop learning.”
Golf is, besides a terrific and rewarding career for Fry, a family affair with him and his stepson, Noah, one of America’s most prominent junior golfers traveling across the country and around the world.
“Golf has given me so much in my life including everything I mentioned above at an early age, but it then led to my career in golf course design,”said Fry. “From there I got to work on high profile projects, meet very powerful and influential people and travel the world. All of that from the game of golf. My relationship with my stepson Noah is very close. I first met Noah, now 16, when he was eight and Cameryn, his sister, when she was six. I have three children of my own in their late 20's & 30's and I can honestly say I love all of them equally. It was obvious that Noah had serious golf skills from a young age and it has been great to watch him grow up from being a young boy into a young man. He has grown up playing great clubs around the world meeting and playing with people that have spent their lives embedded in the game of golf. This process has made him become a very mature person for his age. I have no idea how far Noah will go in the game of golf, but the life lessons he has learned in playing the game will help him the rest of his life. To me this is why golf is the greatest game.”
Pine Barrens Golf Club’s PGA Director of Golf Bryan DeMarco remembers his father, longtime PGA professional Robert “Bobby” DeMarco, and the life lessons he learned growing up in the game, like respecting others and doing the best you can.
“Dad instilled in me a deep respect for the game at an early age,” said DeMarco, whose father was a PGA member for nearly fifty years. “He told me never to break, or throw a club. He always said, golf’s bigger than you. You’re not bigger than golf.”
“I loved learning from, and even competing against, my dad. One of my favorite, and earliest memories is trying to drive a golf ball over this creek at the course that he worked at, where he tried to hit his drive. I remember when I finally beat him for the first time. I think he was happier for me than I was. I’m a PGA professional today because of my Dad.” Bryan is quite the role model himself, having been awarded the 2021 PGA of America's Deacon Palmer Award for "outstanding integrity, character and leadership in the effort to overcome a major obstacle of their life." Bryan has successful fought cancer several times in his life, going back to the age of 21. Never missing a beat, he has been involved with several charities, including a popular annual Pro-Member fundraiser for the NJ Golf Foundation at Pine Barrens.
Rick Jones is the owner and operator of two par 3 courses and driving ranges, one in New Jersey(Cape May) and another in Delaware(Dover). He grew up playing and working at the courses that his father, Walter, a Delaware State Golf Hall of Famer, built and ran from the 1960s to the 1980s.
“I had a golf club in my hand since about the age of 2 at Dad’s driving range,” said Jones. “I grew up on the golf course working with my old man.
“I was eight years old when Dad built Old Landing. I spent all my free time and my summers there. Golf is a great game with great values. I learned those values from my Dad. The lessons that golf and my dad taught me are the values I teach my own children and know that they will teach their own children someday. Golf is a great family business.”
Golf is a family business for past PGA President(1991-1992), and current Valleybrook Golf Club PGA Professional, Dick Smith. The first family of the PGA Philadelphia Section also includes Dick’s brother Tom, his son Dick Jr. and PGA apprentice grandson, Zak.
“We’re three generations in the business,” boasted Smith, proudly. “We all love the game and we all love playing together. Some of my favorite times are from golfing with my brother Tom, my son, and now my grandson. Golf is a family game with great family values. It helps bring families together. I can’t think of a better game that promotes the kinds of things like camaraderie and fair play better than the game of Golf.”
As we start the new season, if you’re a golfer and have someone in your family who might want to start playing, take this season to show them the game we all love.