Whilst they lead the way in a lot of areas, Ping is also not a company to rush into things without ensuring that they deliver a benefit.
With adjustable hosels, it wasn't until 2012 that they were first introduced into the Ping Anser driver. Even then, John Solheim said they could only do it if they did not affect the performance of the club.
Fast forward to 2019 and the approach is still the same, as they add adjustable weights to the Ping G410 Plus driver for the first time, hence the Plus in the name.
As you might expect from a company focused on forgiveness and engineering, the system is clean a straightforward. A 16 gram tungsten weight can be unscrewed and moved from the central to heel or toe positions around a track in the back of the head.
Whilst the manual nature of the movement might seem low tech, it reduces the amount of infrastructure required and ensures that the weighting of the rear of the head maintains the CG properties that Ping's drivers are renowned for.
When it's in the heel or toe positions, the weight does not seem to be as embedded in the track as it is when it is in the back, but that is just a cosmetic thing.
Moving the weight from the centre to the fade or draw positions moves the CG a whopping 2.5mm (1/10th of an inch) in order to create 10 yards of correction.
This is done without affecting the MOI of the club, which is 1% higher than the previous G400 driver, although it is also 10cc bigger, so that probably helps too.
It has a slightly lighter colour too, which you only really notice when you put it next to a darker head, as otherwise it still looks pretty black.
If you need more permanent draw bias then there is an G410 SFT version of the driver that has a 16g weight fixed in the heel position.
This weight position is 50% more towards the heel than the previous G400 SFT driver, and combined with the lighter D1 swing weight than the standard driver, should reduce the effect of any fade.
The rest of the G410 Plus design is familiar to Ping driver fans, with the lighter structure of the Ti 811 titanium Dragonfly crown hidden away on the inside to save a little weight.
The face is forged from stronger Ti 9S+ titanium and then welded on. The longer whiter lines are actual grooves and when the club is at address, these stand out more to help alignment.
The crown features Turbulators that are bigger and therefore more aerodynamically efficient than before.
The aforementioned adjustable hosel is also new and offers a extra 0.5° range of movement across eight positions through +/- 1.5°.
It is a completely new hosel so you won't be able to swap in your previous Ping driver shaft unless you change the attachment.
In the past changing the loft would have quite a wide affect on the lie, but now Ping claim that on the 0, + and - settings the lie is neutral and on the F settings it is flat.
At address the head looks good and the Turbulators are supposed to act as an alignment aid and help 'frame the ball at address', but I am not sure that they do that for me.
The looks are generally quite bold with a dark grey/black head with red accents, which we have not seen from Ping for a while. It may not look as sexy as some other brands, but Ping is all about engineering and performance, so let's check that out.
The Ping G410 Plus replaces the G400 driver in the line and complements the Ping G400 Max driver as the adjustable alternative.
It sits between the two for head size as the G400 was 445cc, the G410 Plus is 455cc and the G400 Max is 460cc.
So how did it fare on GC2? With the stock Alta CB shaft, I started by adjusting the 10.5° G400 and G400 Max down to 9.5°, as my previous reviews had shown that this is the optimal setting.
As you can see from the results below, the G400 Max outperformed the standard G400 as before, with the best combination of spin and launch for my 100mph swing speed.
With the stock Alta CB that comes with the G410 Plus, I was actually getting the best results when I put the adjustable weight in the toe. This is probably due to it opening the face to de-loft it and therefore managing the spin better.
However, even though the average dispersion was good, the actual dispersion was equal numbers left and right so it was harder for me to control.
Moving the weight back to the centre and switching to one of the other stock shafts in the Mitsubishi Tensei Orange delivered the same performance with much better accuracy and feel.
Ping G410 Plus Driver Verdict
With the right shaft in, the G410 Plus feels a very stable driver and the forgiveness and sound is excellent. But you already know that about Ping drivers.
It certainly outperforms the G400 thanks to a slightly faster face and better spin profile. It is a different type of driver to the G400 Max, as the adjustability and weight distribution in the head is going to appeal to different types of players.
The G410 Plus seems to launch it lower with less spin and with the right shaft in could outperform G400 Max. However the G400 Max has it all built in and is probably one of the best drivers Ping has done. Clearly going with an open mind between these two models to a Ping fitter is the way to go, as either way you will get a quality, forgiving driver with plenty of distance.