The Ping i25 is just the second adjustable fairway wood from Ping. Following on from the Anser fairway, the i25 features Ping's lightweight, adjustable hosel along with some eye-catching new racing stripes on its crown.
Like the Ping i25 driver, the goal with the fairway wood was to produce a mid-to-low handicapper fairway wood with a more forward centre of gravity that would produce less spin and produce more distance.
The i25 features the same matte-black look as recent Ping fairways. At 154cc in the 3-wood it is slightly larger than the previous i20 fairway, slightly smaller than the G25 fairway wood, and fits in line with the size of the Anser fairway woods.
The big talking point aesthetically is the new racing-stripe crown design. Whilst some companies have ventured into crown graphics in recent seasons, Ping have traditionally maintained a simple, clean look atop their metal woods. However, for the 2014 season, they thought it was time to change.
The racing stripe look is designed to matched the width of a golf ball and create a more effective alignment aid, both for address and taking the club away from the ball.
On the surface, the construction of the i25 fairway is much like its predecessors. It is made from 17-4 stainless steel and features some tungsten weighting in the sole. However, Ping have made some key tweaks to the design to produce that low-spinning, high velocity flight they wanted.
The face design is taller and thinner than before, which means more ball speed. Further still Ping have varied the thickness of the face in order to maximise both ball speed and forgiveness.
Keeping in line with the i20 fairway wood, the i25 features two high-density tungsten weights in the sole. These weight more than the steel head, meaning they add more mass on the edges of the clubhead, improving its MOI or forgiveness. According to Ping, they have increased the MOI of the i25 fairway by 7% compared to the previous i20 model.
The i25 can be fined tuned using Ping's lightweight, adjustable hosel that allows players to increase or decrease the loft by half a degree. Three different lofts of head are available at 14, 15 and 18 degrees, meaning the lofts available in the i25 fairway range from 13.5 degrees to 18.5 degrees.
Unlike some heavier, bulky adjustable hosels, Ping worked hard to produce a design that matches the size and mass of their fixed hosels so as to not sacrifice performance.
The fine-tuning doesn't end there. Ping's new PWR range of shafts have been carefully designed and chosen to offer unique weights and stiffness profiles that do not alter swingweight.
PWR refers to the Performance, Weighting and Responsiveness of the shafts. A total of nine shafts are available in four different flexes ranging from 48 to 75 grams.