Wwelcome to Full Fit 2026the new GOLF platform to give you real-golfer insight into which 2026 gears might best suit your game. So far, we’ve brought together six GOLF content creators of varying abilities and sent them through a six-pack full-size golf bag (driver to putter!) at six major club manufacturers in Phoenix and Carlsbad, Calif. We hope that you may see the shadows of your game in one of our editors and learn something and inspiration from their relevant experience.
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The sky was blue, the air was dry and hope was high as our Fully Fit panel was ready to put on No. 1 of our fair OEM bonanza at Ping’s Proving Grounds in Phoenix.
Our Fully Fit panel of myself (Jack Hirsh), Johnny Wunder, Jake Morrow, Maddi MacClurg and Wadeh Maroun – Sean Zak didn’t arrive until the next day of the tour – was ready to start our new WITB journey.
Ping Proving Grounds is the only OEM facility we visited that is not in Southern California. The driving range is in the middle of an industrial park, which belongs to Ping’s parent company, Karsten Manufacturing Corporation – none of which detracts from the first-class experience of getting fit there.
FULLY FIT: The Fully Fit hub page | That’s why we’re ‘testing’ golf clubs in a different way this year | Within 6 days of installation and testing | Browse 2026 drivers | Browse 2026 instruments
Ping’s pride as an engineering company is reflected in both its golf clubs and the advanced Ping Co-Pilot application to fill bags, a unique experience that only myself, Johnny Wunder and Wadeh Maroun have had before.
This time, there was a surprising contender at the top of everyone’s wallet: the new Ping G440 K driver.
No one had seen the G440 K before this tour, and most of us probably thought it would be a high spin-max-forgiving driver perfect for slower players. We were wrong.
Johnny came in and wanted to work for him no matter what the driver said, but it turned out that he didn’t have much work left.
“You have your preconceived notions of what that driver should be,” he said. “Actually, I was surprised.
“Normally a driver like that for me is something that I’m always worried about turning too much or something I don’t need, and this driver was the best I’ve ever hit.”
Jake, Johnny and I all left Ping feeling like we could finally play that driver – but we still had a lot of installation stuff left to do.
PING G440 K Custom Driver
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ALSO AVAILABLE AT: The PGA TOUR Superstore
Further under the hood, Wadeh came in thinking he would qualify for the Ping players, but ended up in their new (still unreleased) empty-netters. Meanwhile, Maddi dug deep into her bag to make sure she didn’t have any clubs too close.
