PING’s new TEC Putter shines on feel, alignment; its G440K driver is a rocket
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
PING has introduced a flurry of new equipment options for golfers for 2026 and the company sent a couple items to The Charlotte Observer for a test run:
Read more Search continues for ‘dangerous’ man accused of shooting at deputy, NC sheriff says
The driver builds on PING’s successful G440 model that has consistently ranked among the top drivers of 2025 by many golf media publications. The putter is (sort of) PING’s answer to the new craze in the sport: zero torque.
Zero torque basically means that the putter is built so it resists twisting or rotating during your stroke. And if you’re like me, you can really roll your hands when taking the putter back, or coming through, knocking the ball everywhere except the line you intended.
Zero torque aims to correct all of that. Or some of that.
So to test out these new clubs, I took them out for two months, playing with my good friend, Bruce Bellamy, a former Charlotte police major and a member of the Ballantyne Country Club. Bruce golfs a lot. I’m just getting back into it after a 10-ish year (mostly) hiatus brought on by coaching too much travel basketball with my kids.
Introduced in late March, the TEC putter line comes in three models and retails for $435. Each model is white with a black shaft and a black alignment aid. If you remember when white drivers were a thing, you’ll get how these stand out. And it’s in a good way.
The new PINGS are pretty, and have a very soft feel, perhaps softer than your favorite Odyssey model. I had trouble getting the ball to the hole at first when I started using it.
PING invested heavily into something it’s calling “Eye Q,” which used special computer tech to help design better alignment aids for golfers. The black dot and black line on the white head makes these amazing simple to line up. I’m not kidding when I say these are really point and shoot putters that deliver a very nice even roll almost every time.
The TEC line has the shaft near the center of the putter face, like almost all of the zero torque models, but PING said it did this to give golfers a better view at address. Each putter also has its center of gravity positioned right behind the shaft axis to help eliminate twisting.
What all that did for me was make it very easy to line the ball up and created a pleasing feel at contact with the soft face insert.
My only negative really was head size. I thought it was a bit too small. For folks who have used blades and want to transition to mallets — like PGA pro Tony Finau who switched to the TEC family in January — this could provide the forgiveness you want but not burden you with a large putter you don’t like to look down on.
My rating: 4 out of 5.
What Bruce said: “Very nice soft feel of the ball coming off the putter face. The alignment aid sticks out to the eye, which was a pleasant surprise seeing that the putter head is white and I was playing with a white ball. I like the center shaft. I would give it a solid 4. It was the softest putter I’ve used in a while.”
About 22 years ago, PING started its G driver series with the G2. The drivers were known for accuracy and forgiveness on mishits. In 2023, it introduced one of its most popular versions ever, the G430, and in January 2024, it dropped perhaps its best-ever driver to date, the G430K.
Read more Beloved barbecue joint closes Charlotte-area restaurant after nearly a decade
The G430K had the highest “moment of interia,” or MOI, in any driver PING had made, including the successful G430 that preceded it.
It was the G430 on steroids.
MOI, in golf parlance, measures how much the club will resist twisting when you don’t hit in the center. And since most of us are not Rory McIlroy, Tiger Woods or Nelly Korda, we need a little MOI.
So after PING dropped the G440, the successor to the G430, people speculated if the company would make another K model.
And earlier this year, the G440K came out with the highest MOI that company had ever delivered. It made the club lighter and added an adjustable weight in the back to allow golfers to adjust to their ball flight.
Hitting it too far right, drop the weight to the back. Hooking it? Put weight up top.
PING also made this club sound better when hit, a knock it had received on some earlier drivers. And there are models for slower swing speeds (the G440K HL) and plenty of loft and shaft options.
For me, this club — longer front to back than its G440 brother — has the distance of many of its competitors, and distance was something you might’ve sacrificed in the past when playing a club with this much forgiveness.
Instead, this PING is as long, and sometimes longer, than ones I’ve tried from TaylorMade, Titleist and Callaway in golf simulators and on the course, although I had minimal swings with those.
This G440K is so forgiving it’s hard to really move sometimes, if you want to try to fade or draw it. It really just kind of wants to go straight. The only negative? Some people don’t like the “turbulators” PING puts on the top of its drivers — raised ridges to help with aerodynamics — that you clearly see when you look down at them.
But for me, turbulators or not, the G440K is one of the best things going. It’s almost like a good electric car. If you don’t want to spend the money — in this case $650 before any custom shafts — don’t give this one a try.
My rating? 5 out of 5 stars.
What Bruce said: “The ball holds the line really well, making the dispersion pattern tight. The ball doesn’t move too much if you are trying to work it right or left but you can still move the ball. I’m not too big of a fan of the driver sound (thud sound) or the alignment aids on the driver head. They blend in with the finish of the club and I found myself at times being distracted by them. I still put a nice swing on the ball and drove the ball with some distance.
Read more Mental illness delays Charlotte light rail stabbing charges in federal court
Bruce’s ratings: Performance: 5; Distance: 4.5; Sound: 3; Looks: 3
