Viktor Hovland brought 1 driver to Canada. It wasn’t his gamer

Welcome to Fully Equipped’s weekly Tour equipment report. Every Friday of PGA Tour weeks (plus other times, if news warrants), GOLF equipment editor Jack Hirsh runs you through some of the biggest news surrounding golf clubs on Tour, including changes, tweaks and launches.

Viktor Hovland showed up to this week’s RBC Canadian Open with one driver. Normally, that wouldn’t be much of a story, but the driver Hovland brought wasn’t the same one he used in his last start at the PGA Championship or for the last six years.

“That’s one way to switch,” Ping Tour Rep Kenton Oates told GOLF. “Leave your security blanket in Oklahoma and call it a day.”

Oates was not on site at TPC Toronto this week. The Canadian Open is typically a quiet week in gear on the PGA Tour, as the Tour trucks that typically service players don’t make the trip north of the border for logistical reasons. That also means companies send a much more limited Tour staff.

This week, Ping sent Spencer Rothluebber, who texted Oates earlier this week to tell him that Hovland did not even bring his longtime Ping G425 LST gamer to Canada.

The only driver he had was a Ping G440 LST, a driver Hovland has been working toward getting in the bag for much of the past two seasons.

Hovland has worked with Ping’s team every few months recently in testing the G440 LST and newer G440 K drivers. He even has gamed both the new models at different points, with the LST seeing the bag at last year’s Masters and the K going in play at this year’s WM Phoenix Open. But he keeps reverting back to his safety net of the G425 that he’s captured all but one of his seven PGA Tour victories with.

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PING G440 LST Custom Driver

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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Oates said the 440s outperform the 425 in every category in testing. The hold-up was peak height.

“I tried out the new 440 last year because it is faster,” Hovland said earlier this year in Phoenix. “The spin consistency off the face is a joke. If I hit it off the heel or the toe with a 425, the spin discrepancy is very large. Like if I hit it off the toe, I can spin it under 2000. If I hit it off the heel, I can maybe get up to 3000. Versus the 440, it’s very tight. It goes from maybe 2000 to 2600, so a huge gap.

“However, the problem is it launches a little bit higher for me. And for some reason, just with the setup that I’ve tested with, it tends to go a bit more to the right. Right now with my golf swing, when I get stuck, my miss is already a high right miss. If I hit this driver, it’s just getting exenuated.”

When Hovland last tested at the Truist Championship and PGA Championship, Oates initially thought the 440 K would have the edge, but as they went on, the LST had a clear advantage in start line, just a touch more right than the K.

Hovland finally became comfortable at home in his three weeks off between the PGA and this week. A big factor was a shift to the Fujikura Ventus TR Black+ 6-X shaft, which has a stiffer mid-section, more like the Speeder 757 shaft he plays in his 425.

“As he tightened his swing up a little bit, to me it felt like it was just coming out of the proper start line every time,” Oates said. “TR Black Plus was a home run on paper right away because it should have dropped his spin, and it should give him a better feel.”

With the new build, Oates said Hovland could finally take advantage of the 3-4 mph of extra ball speed he got from the 440 head.

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)

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 2024 Canadian Open winner Robert MacIntyre’s highly customized Scotty Cameron Phantom 9.5R putter.

Odds and Ends

Some other gear changes and notes we’re tracking this week.

Alex Noren returned to the Quantum Max D after a brief stint back in the Paradym Ai-Smoke Max D … Nick Taylor and Taylor Moore joined Hovland in moving to the 440 LST … Wyndham Clark went back to his Ping G440 Max 3-wood and went from 10.5˚ to 9.0˚ loft on his Qi4D driver … Hovland also added a new TaylorMade Qi4D 3-wood … Harry Hall, after using Callaway Rouge ST for his past two starts, is back in a GTS3 driver … Tom Kim re-added his Titleist 20˚ GT1 hybrid alongside his GTS3 5-wood, opting for a three-wedge setup … Kensei Hirata added the new TaylorMade Spider Tour V Torched … Michael Thorbjornsen added a TaylorMade Qi4D 5-wood.

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