Leaderboard

Did I say one? Meant to say 2. Yes, 2. First things first, a special thanks goes out to the 33 applicants we received for the open moderator position. It really says something positive about the community that this many people were willing to invest their time and effort. Many of these applications obviously took a lot of effort to pull together so we're also grateful of how serious the position was taken. Through 2 rounds of selections, two gentlemen separated themselves. We looked at the criteria from all different angles trying to nitpick our way to give one the advantage over the other but we just came up with differences, not advantages. Not only that, they complimented each other in a perfect Yin and Yang. Why not Zoidberg? I mean, why not both? After re-evaluating the workload, we decided there's definitely enough work to share if we want to truly bring this forum to where we want to be in style. This new platform has a lot of untapped potential that we'll continue to explore. If we're gonna do it, We're gonna do it right. We're going to do everything we can to make the user experience for YOU the best on the web so please keep the feedback and suggestions coming. Without further ado, please give a warm welcome to our new staffers. Formerly known as strokerAce and mpatrickriley, I'd like to introduce you to: GolfSpy Stroker and GolfSpy MPR Be sure to give them a follow on Twitter and Instagram as well. Social Media will be a big focus for MGS moving forward. 2019 is going to be a BIG YEAR

It is truly an honor and privilege to be selected for the role. Hard to describe how flattered I am that I made the cut. Looking forward to a very bright and exciting 2019! Feel free to reach out to me at anytime via DM or on twitter at https://twitter.com/Golfspy_Stroker or on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/golfspy_stroker/. As Michael Breed likes to say... Let's Do This!

It is a great privilege to be chosen to be moderator here at MyGolfSpy. I've been an active member here for just over a year now, and am convinced that this is the world's best golf forum. Most of the time, the moderators here are regulated to Maytag repair duty, at least as it relates to moderating conversations, simply because we have such a great community. But that frees us up to plan ideas to continue to improve and expand the forum. So I'm glad to be at your service! My current Twitter account is @mpatrickriley. I've also reserved @GolfSpyMPR, which I'll use exclusively for golf-related stuff (if you're not interested in theology and my kids).

First hole in One ever today. 173 yard Par 3 Forth at Ko’olina Golf Course in Hawaii. Slightly up hill so I pulled a 5 iron. The ball was on the flag from the time it left my club. I thought it would be close but was amazed as it dropped in the cup. Sent from my iPad using MyGolfSpy

Periodically, I post here about my son Kirke. I thought I'd start a thread in which I can bring all those posts together, so that those interested can read them, and those not interested aren't seeing posts about him scattered all over the forums Kirke started swinging a club roughly when he could stand up. For whatever reason, he took to the game immediately, both in interest and in skill. Here's a YouTube playlist of videos of him swinging, starting when he's two up to the present: Here's a quick catalog of some of the other things I've already posted here: Top of the list: Kirke's first hole in one. A post about the SuperSpeed sticks I just built for him. A handful of posts about him in this thread. Just a word, then, about my approach with him. Kirke will turn six this weekend. The fact that he's ahead of the game for his age means very, very little for his ultimate peak. Might he play college golf? Yep, maybe. Or not. And that's OK. Does he want to tee it up with Rickie some day? You better believe he does. We'll see. In the meantime, we're going to have fun. He plays soccer, and he's hoping to play baseball this year. I have no intention of paying multiple thousands of dollars a year for a big-name coach and travel golf. I also will not refer to Kirke's play as "we are doing this." He's not a proxy for me to live out my golf ambitions. He's my son. And this summer, we're going to walk a bunch of rounds and build our relationship and make memories. And he'll enter Drive, Chip, and Putt for the first time. And this weekend, he's going to open a set of clubs that he's been pining for since he first laid eyes on them: And I'll post about it here in this thread, because this is the best place to talk about golf. In a few years, maybe Kirke will have his own account here

Moving back to the mainland where I can find long stretches of smooth roads through small southern towns. That’s happiness to me. Oh yeah and retirement isn’t so bad either. Sent from my iPhone using MyGolfSpy

Chosen from a group of about 2500 applicants. I am honored. I want to give a big thank you to MyGolfSpy, its members, and of course Ping. Being well established with quality products in the golfing world, Ping needs no introduction. A leader in iron innovation since the 60’s. The name speaks volumes. And MyGolfSpy... they are the authoritative source for all information about the golf goodies that we drool about and want. Again, thank you so much for picking me and putting your trust in a new person for this review. I hope to exceed your expectations. And of course, a big congratulations to the other eight that were chosen. A fine group that I am excited to be a part of during this review. I love this disorder…. When I got home to tell my wife the news, this is how the conversation went. “I have to go to Calgary to get tested for a new set of golf clubs” “Why? You don’t need a new set? Why would you…. Pause (Then she remembered…) did you win that contest?” A teaser A little bit about myself. My name is Hari. I am 54 years old. I grew up in a small town called Fort Qu’ Appelle in Saskatchewan, Canada (2000 people). As with most young boys growing up in Saskatchewan, I started playing hockey. For you non-hockey buffs, Saskatchewan is home to many legends, Gordie Howe, Wendel Clark, Bryan Trottier, to name a few. I don’t know why, but I started playing left-handed and have continued playing left handed (golf) even though I am right-handed. I was very athletic growing up. I was always 6’ 2’ but just went from 50 lbs to 175 lbs. Hockey, soccer, track & field, volleyball, karate, jogging, and physical fitness. I am a Mechanical Engineer having worked in power generation, oil and gas, and now in the manufacturing sector. I currently head both the engineering and maintenance department in our plant. Me with my 2 little ones (a few years back)…less grey hair I always thought of golf along with curling as 2 boring sports. I used to say, how can golf be fun? Hit the ball, walk to it, hit the ball, walk to it, hit the ball……. Okay, now move ahead to 1996 and my first golf experience. Our company golf outing. And the rest is history. Fell in love with golf (despite being hit by a golf ball...in the back of the knee). Thank god for the alcohol. I met my wife who hails from Ontario and decided for a change of scenery. Thus, in 1999 I moved to Ontario and spent the next 12 years there. In 2012, an opportunity arose to move back to Alberta and I pursued this and my loving wife agreed to leave her home province. When I drove back, I decided to make it a golfing trip, and drove through the states. Went through Michigan, Chicago (Chicago is a golf mecca…so many courses and great ones at that), up to Wisconsin, Minnesota, and finally across to N. Dakota. That was an awesome 2 week trip. I used to play about 30 rounds a summer, then after we met, it dropped to about 10-15, then when the little ones came into our lives, about 5-10 rounds. Now that my oldest boy is 14 and my little girl is 11, they are self-sufficient and don’t need us around them all the time. Hence, practicing and playing more. My clubs. I currently am sporting Mizuno MP-25’s. I just purchased these in 2016 after using MX-15’s since 2003. My previous set, which is my first set is the Wilson Aggressor Pro. I have a goal to break 90 consistently. I have had scores in the high 80’s but very infrequent (and what is funny is that it is always at an away course, never at home). Otherwise, I normally shot in the low 90’s. Handicap Chart Here is my handicap chart for the last 3 years prior to this testing. I’ll continue this chart in stage 2. (Note that the date goes from right to left) So, after making a conscious effort to achieve this goal, I set about 2 things that I need to work on for this to happen. First, change my clubs from the MX-15’s and second, continue with more lessons. Why then Mizuno and the MP-25’s? First, I felt that in order to progress, I really wanted to hit a club that provided feedback so I could learn from it. Thus, along with Mizuno, I had considered Titleist (AP1 or AP2) as well. I went out to a demo day and could not for the life of me hit either of the Titleist clubs. I then went to a local fitter and tried both the JPX900 and the MP-25. I loved them both. After about an hour or so of going back and forth between the 2 and with different shafts each time, I decided on the MP-25. I noticed it felt better and that in itself told me I am ready for these clubs. Also, I love small sized clubs. My preference is small with thin toplines. This summer, I continued with lessons and practicing. Learning to feel what the impact position feels like. Since then, I have played less and focused more on practicing to get this position ingrained into my full swing. The results have been phenomenal. My shots crisper and further. Also, for the first time in my golfing life, I am rolling over my lead foot as opposed to it rotating to the target. But in order to do this, I need to remember to make my stance a little narrower. And again, it’s the feeling of unfamiliarity that needs to be ingrained so that it then becomes the feeling of familiarity. Another battle I have had my whole golf life is tempo. I have always struggled to have a nice smooth transition from the backswing to the downswing and hence many poor shots. I also had a very short backswing stopping at the arms being parallel to horizontal. Thus, I decide to change this by doing the following: First, increase my flexibility and strength through exercising. I started rigorously exercising in November focusing on stretching and strength exercises related to the golf swing. Second, I have made a conscious effort to pause at the top of my backswing to ensure that I have gone all the way back and hence, completed my backswing. There are times I will quickly jerk the club, but these are getting less and less. Now, I am working on reducing that pause so that there is a continuous fluid motion. It’s a work in progress. One of the things that has happened with a lesson I have is that because my hips are moving faster, I sometimes struggle with squaring the face at impact. Irons are infrequent, but the woods are more frequently slicing. The Ping i500’s These are beautiful clubs. The new i500 irons are being touted as pure distance. Ping’s first entry into the Players Distance category. Clubs in this category have the looks of a players iron and the distance of a game improvement club. How is the distance achieved? Through a hollow body which allows for the face to flex. It is the face flexing, which like in drivers gives more speed and hence, more distance. Tony Covey of MyGolfSpy has written up an article on these irons and has done a bang up job and I highly recommend reading his article dated July 16th. The chart below shows where the i500 lines up in terms of forgiveness and distance with respect to Ping’s other offerings. Now my Mizuno also has face flexing, but this is accomplished with the use of micro-slots. Injecting Boron into the steel mix allowed for the face to be made thinner and hence, be able to flex. Note that the MP-25 series is the first in the MP line to get Boron after the highly successful trial run of the JPX850 iron. The Fitting I would like to give a big thanks to Warren at Ted and Dave Custom Golf (tdcustomgolf.com) at the Golf Canada Centre in Calgary for seeing me on short notice and doing a bang up job. Thanks Warren. The fitting started out with some questions about distance, flight, and current irons. Warren looked at my irons, and in particular the shafts. Project X stiff. He was surprised that I was using them. He discussed the weight of these shafts and gave me an i500 club with one of the ping shafts. WOW, what a weight difference. Like lifting a balloon. Hmmm. This can get interesting. After warming up, I proceeded to hit some shots with my 7 iron to get the baseline data. Then I moved on to the Ping 7i. I went through the fitting process with different shafts. With different shaft, also came different trajectories. I noticed that he had a recoil shaft. I asked about trying this and he mentioned it was graphite and then asked me if I would like to try a graphite shaft. Let’s throw preconceived notions out the window and open up the eyes. We started off with the Alta CB stiff which weighed 84 grams (as opposed to my project X 5.5 stiff which came in at 115 grams). That was all the testing I needed. See the results below. Fitting Summary Below is the summary of the 7i with differing shafts. The bottom starts off with my own 7i and ends up with the Alta CB at the top of the chart. Smash Factor. Smash Factor relates to the amount of energy transferred from the club head to the golf ball. Smash Factor – The ratio between the Ball Speed and the Club Speed The higher the smash factor the better the energy transfer. My smash factor went from 1.34 up to 1.43 max with the Alta CB shaft. And the following shows how much the shot dispersion tightened up. The 7i with the Alta CB are the blue dots. My Mizuno shots are the pink dots. Comparison of club specs I went with the standard lofts on the Ping irons. Also available are 2 other loft options – Power and Retro. Power lofts are less to give a more penetrating flight whereas the Retro lofts being 2 degrees more than the standard will give a higher trajectory.Loft Comparison As you can see, there is a 3 degree difference in the lofts and this gap narrows at the 9i and the PW. The Test The big reason I want to test these clubs is that the Cobra Connect Challenge really opened up my eyes. In that challenge were 5 testers, ranging in HDCP from 7 to 19, and using clubs that, according to Cobra are for HDCP ranges of 5 to 25. Each one of these testers saw considerable gains and hence reductions in their handicaps. So, this got me thinking. Can I get more out of a club than what I am currently playing? With my exercising, lessons, better ball striking, I feel that I should be getting more. More in terms of distance, more in terms of consistent ball striking, and I’ll emphasize this last point, with less effort. Clubs getting settled in their new home. And here is profile pic of the 6 iron comparing the Ping to the Mizuno Topline comparison But, the clubs I got had imperfections. The finish on the face side was very blotchy which was noticed as I was taking pics for this review. Also noticed, several clubs had scratches. Even though they came with the neoprene covers, it was disappointing to see this lack of quality control. Now, don’t get me wrong, I realize that clubs will get marked up and dinged over time, but with the Hydropearl Chrome 2 finish being blotchy right from the start and the scratches, I am wondering how the finish will age with time and use. The Review During this review process, I want to get a lot answered. Distance, forging, feel, quality? Will the Pings out distance my Mizunos? The fitting process revealed that, but there are also other variables in play and that was only the 7 iron. The shaft, shaft length, the lower lofts, being hyped up while trying the new clubs. As well, the fitter was questioning why I had a midsize grip with an extra wrap and a half. He gave me a club with a midsize grip without the extra wraps and asked how it felt. It didn’t feel unusual and said you will probably get better results because it won’t be so tight in your hand. Will I switch? Will I blend the sets, or not? Will the forged face of the Ping perform as well as a true forged club as Mizuno clubs? The rest of the Ping club is cast. Will this play into the performance? The sound? The distance? Now, I wouldn’t be able to make a comparison to a true forging in a Mizuno as I have read that because Mizuno injected Boron into the MP-25, it has muted the feel somewhat and is not a true feeling as the other forged clubs they offer. So, my review will be a comparison to the MP-25 only. So, I currently play Mizuno MP-25 and love these clubs. Small, great looking club with a thin topline. These are not the iron equivalent of a driver that is a “volkswagon on the end of a stick”. Even though I am a high handicapper, it is due to my driver and tempo, but otherwise when I am in the groove, the irons are awesome. I love hitting these. Along with the questions above, I am also going to ask the following: 1. Will I get more distance in all the clubs? Will the long irons require less effort? 2. Feedback is important to me to constantly improve. With Mizuno’s I know exactly where I mishit it and I know when I flushed it. That is one thing I love about the Mizuno clubs. And even when I am listening to music, I know when I have flushed a shot. Will Ping give me the same feedback? 3. The Mizuno clubs are awesome when hitting in the primary or secondary cut of the fairways. I love how they slice through the grass with little resistance. I have had no problems getting the ball out of cabbage. A sharp descending blow and out comes the ball like a rocket. Will the Pings handle the rough in the same manner? 4. One of my favorite shots to get me out of trouble is a 160 yard runner with a 5i (low launching shot keeping it about 3-5 feet of the ground). Great for when you’re in the trees and need to keep it low and get back on the fairway. My course has a lot of trees and this is a game saver. Will I be able to finesse Ping’s 5i the same way? 5. Will I, as a 19 handicapper who will improve (confidence man, confidence) want to have these clubs in the bag as my handicap trends south. 6. How is working the ball with these clubs? I don’t work the ball very much. I find that nerves get in the way of this on the course and hence I don’t try it much. I do practice them quite a bit on the range, so I’ll do comparisons on this at the range. I can fade easier than draw, 7. Will the clubs stand up to my abuse. I do not baby clubs. If you look at my Mizunos, you will see lots of marks, cuts and gouges. I consider these battle wounds that I am proud to show off. Will the Pings stand up to these battles? 8. Will the new HydroPearl chrome finish stand up? According to research I’ve done, this finish is to repel water off the face so that there will be few fliers and more consistency. I’m trying to figure this statement out and how does this happen? I hope in this review process, that I will provide you with the same high level of service that you are accustomed to by the many great reviews that have already been done on this site. And if I am not, I welcome the feedback so that I can learn and grow through this process. To my fellow MyGolfSpy members, I leave you with this. Thank you all for reading my stage 1 and i'll see you in stage 2

Well I am honestly in unbelievable shock right now. Cobra really surprised me with the clubs!!!! I really wanted to try one length and that is what I did with the Cobra fitter. It was the best fitting I have ever had and I have had quite a few fittings. The fitter and I discussed my weak points including my limited practice time, my hectic Navy schedule, and my curiosity with One Length clubs. I literally hit every shaft that was available and wouldn't you know it...the Cobra Forged Tech One Length were absolutely perfect for me. In general I am looking for consistency, proper gapping between clubs, simplifying my golf swings, improving my accuracy, and hitting my approach shots closer to the hole. I have no doubt that these clubs will do it. The technology in these clubs is unreal!!!! I didn't think that Cobra was sending these...honestly the F8 one length just didn't work even though I wanted them to...so I was truly expecting variable length F8s but some companies go the extra mile for even the average golfer...and the company at the top of that list is Cobra Golf!!!!!! It took me three hours to finally take the plastic off...these things are sexy...the clubs are built perfectly to my specifications and even the shaft logos are lined up perfectly...attention to detail is important and Cobra delivers. Don't be surprised if my entire bag is Cobra before the end of the year. Top quality professionally fitted equipment belongs in every golfers bag and if you want the best then take a hard look at Cobra Golf!!!! I am freaking pumped up!!!!

Local 2018 Club Championship is over and done. Shot 75 both days to win by 3 shots. In the bag Driver: Callaway Rogue Subzero 9.5 Stiff flex 3 wood: Callaway Rogue Subzero 15 degree Hybrids: 17 degree titleist 816 h2 Irons: Ben Hogan Ptx 22-46 degree (4-pw)stiff flex standard lie Wedges: Callaway Mac Daddy 4 50,54,58 degrees Putter: Odyssey EXO seven Gig’em Aggies!

New setup from Driver to LW. I'm kinda excited. Driver: Srixon Z785 9.5°, Mitsubishi Tensi CK Pro Orange Stiff FW: Srixon Z785 13.5°, Mitsubishi Tensi CK Pro Orange Stiff UT: Srixon ZU85 #2 & #4, Aerotech Steelfiber 110i CW Irons: Srixon Z785 5-Pw, TTDG TI S400 Wedges: Cleveland RTX4 Raw 50°, 54°, 58° TTDG TI S400

Just picked it up today!!! Sent from my iPhone using MyGolfSpy

On a personal side I have been offered a moderator position for the Ft Benning Army support groups. Helping Moms and Dads through a frightening and and uncertain journey, as their young soldiers go through basic and beyond, will be very rewarding. Being a past soldier, I know all the military "talk" so my skills will help those who don't have a clue. I look forward to this opportunity and will do my very best to supply folks with needed info and throw in occasional "ole grayism"in to lift their spirits. The cool thing is the Ft Benning support groups seem to love the occasional "off topic" crazy crap I throw out there.... You all have a great Thanksgiving with your families and say a prayer for our troops who are not able to be home! Go Georgia Bulldogs and I'm looking forward to watching them in the National Championship game!!!

Dear Cobra Golf, I want to thank you for choosing to put your clubs up for an official review here on My Golf Spy. You chose some excellent testers, they gave knowledgeable reviews and were excellent brand ambassadors. So much so, that I went out today and bought a set of your F8 irons. I demoed several sets and you almost lost it to another brand. Performance was very, very close. I had to try three different shafts before settling on the xp90. But, do you know what gave you the edge? The rave reviews here on this forum. I'm looking forward to improving my game with Cobra Golf and Arccos. Thank you. Sincerely, Jason Bentley Sent from my SM-G955U using MyGolfSpy mobile app

Here’s what a First Place Cobra golfer looks like......Thanks Puma/Cobra for the outfit(cap, shirt, shorts & shoes) Sent from my iPhone using MyGolfSpy

In this thread I am going to log all of my tournament rounds. It’s going to be an exciting year and I am looking forward to it. A little bit about who I am. I grew up in western Pennsylvania playing a shorter course in the small town of Kane (Kane Country Club). This is a shorter (6000 yds) course but very tight and small greens. It was a great place to learn the game and grow up. I was lucky enough to play good golf in high school and earned a scholarship to play at St. Bonaventure University. I went on to have a very nice carrier there ( https://gobonnies.sbu.edu/sports/m-golf/2016-17/files/Golf_Career_Scoring.pdf ). I still hold the records for most wins (5) and lowest year scoring average at 73.0. From there I failed horribly at trying to play professional golf. I went out on my own didn't have a support team, slept in my car and never made a cut. I went back home with my tail between my legs and started over. I didn't play events for a few years as I was trying to find the fun in the game again and with help from my wife (she plays too) it has become a lot of fun again. I know I will never play on tour, but it is fun to try and play in these events. I can still compete and score. If you followed along here last summer on by Ping G700 iron review, I shot a 60 to tie our course record. This is my 2nd course record as the other is at the course I grew up playing in Pennsylvania. A fun note, I have 2 course records (60 at Urbana CC tie with Steve Stricker and Dylan Meyer & 61 at Kane Country Club) but I do not have any hole in ones. This summer I hope to be 100% healthy again and I am looking forward to playing in a lot of events. Feel free to ask any questions and once we get rolling this spring these events will be updated below. If live scoring is available I will post a link next to that event. Thanks to MGS for letting me post here and I hope everyone enjoys the 2019 golf season. 2019 Tournament Schedule May 6th - CDGA Mid-Amateur Qualifying, Kankakee Elks Country Club - 81 (+9) DNQ* May 13 - US Open Qualifying, Illini Country Club - 82 (+11) DNQ June 5 - CDGA Amateur Qualifier, Pontiac Elks Club - 73 (+1) 6th Qualified June 8-9 - Naughtin Open, Lake of the Woods GC* - 71 - 77 - 148 (+4) 3rd place June 15-16 U of I Open, University of Illinois Orange Course - 72 - 69 - 141 (-3) T-4th place June 19 - Illinois State Amateur Qualifying, Hickory Point Golf Course 75 (+3) T-10 DNQ June 24-27 - 100th CDGA Amateur Championship, Glen View Club 77 - 70 (+3) T-22 Did not make Match Play July 24 - Illinois State Mid-Amateur Qualifying, Ironhorse Golf Club 71 (-1) T-2 Qualified July 27-28 - Twin City Championship, Urbana CC and Champaign CC 74 - 71 - 73 (+4) 218 1st Aug 10-11 - Club Championship, Urbana CC*** 72 - 70 (-2) 142 1st Aug 13 - US Mid Amateur Qualifying, Omni Interlocken Golf Club Broomfield, CO 76 (+4) DNQ Aug 20-21 - 27th Illinois State Mid- Amateur Championship, Stonebridge Country Club 72 - 76 - 74 (+6) 222 T-22 Aug 25 - UCC Couples Club Championship, Urbana, IL* 73 1st As of right now if I play well I will have just over 20 tournament rounds in 2019. The * are events I have won in the past. There are more events that might be added and some might get removed, work gets in the way sometimes. Bold events I am officially entered in. *Did Not Qualify. Sent from my iPhone using MyGolfSpy

One day, a major OEM is going to run this ad: "Our clubs stayed in Rob's bag for 3 months. Enough said."

If we wanted the Tester badge to match the official Donor badge, here's an attempt:

I've posted about losing my son to suicide back in 2014. Gregory was his name, and his favorite word/phrase to everything that he liked was "SWAG". After his death shook me to my core, I started playing golf again. Somewhere in the last year or so I found MGS, and only recently started posting regularly. But when I signed up I incorporated his initial "G" with his trademark word "SWAG". In fact, if you see me driving around Tallahassee, my license plate is "4 G SWAG" in memory of my son. I miss him dearly.

Stage One – Tester Introduction {11 October 2018} The Background This is my second review for MGS since joining the site last June. I talked at length about my background, history, and playstyle in the O-Works review but I’ll give you the quick hits. I’m a former pro baseball player (pitcher) that took up golf and have been playing for 9-ish years now. I have a wife, 2 kids, a dog, and a day job so I typically spend more time practicing on my lunch breaks than actually playing golf. What’s new since my last review? I joined the MGS staff! I’m no expert so I was hesitant to apply. I am, however, organized and creative so I applied to see where it went. After a lengthy review process, I was notified of the good news. I knew this job would be a lot of work…. but it’s the FUN kind of work. Luckily for me, I’m able to stay in my swim lane and leave the experting to the experts. My biggest accomplishments so far have been the heavy lifting for #SpyStaffSlam and the #CobraCONNECT Challenge as well as revising the review templates you all have been reading this season. The Golf I play in Maryland on a peninsula surrounded by rivers which lets us experience all four seasons. No matter the temperature, there is constant humidity but we experience droughts during the summer months that harden the fairways for increased roll. We’ve been in our wet season for a bit now resulting in Florida-like rollout. The courses I play hang out around 6500 yards but switch up the tee boxes from time-to-time for a different look. My current irons (TM Tour Preferred MC) are 7 years old and have served me beautifully. They still look great for their age with a personal touch. I got them before I was good enough to play them and practiced my way into using them to their potential. I play a fade but taught myself a draw this spring to add shots to the bag. The only problem is, if I’m not constantly on the course, I can’t be sure which direction the ball will turn over. This leads to a lot of missed greens which puts pressure on my putter. I think we spend so much time trying to determine if we can, we never stop to think about whether we should. Smart Yardage Ranges: Since Arccos tracks to the final position (not carry), I think the smart yardage shows a better picture of my gapping since wind is often a factor. I’m currently only hitting 34% of greens so that really needs to come up if I’m serious about getting into single digits. The Fitting I didn’t get fit for my last review and, quite frankly, regretted it. I had to move heaven and earth to do it but I managed to get a fitting done for these irons. The closest qualified fitter is just shy of a 2-hour drive from me. They say you should play prior to getting a fitting to evaluate the clubs with a fatigued swing so I squeezed in 9 holes with Rob, RickyBobbyPR, and Rob’s friend before getting started. The experience was top notch (shout out to Brandon at Night Hawk in Crofton, MD) and I learned a lot about my swing. We conducted the fitting outdoors with a Trackman hooked up to a MS Surface. I’ll spare you the step-by-step details to say this: I would’ve done a terrible job choosing my specs had I not gone to a qualified fitter. Add me to the camp that believes in fitting. The difference is noticeable and appreciable and should not be foregone if you have a knowledgeable person within reach. Head: As a bonus tester, I’m in the unique position of having a choice between the i210 and the i500. My previous clubs launched the ball too low with too much spin; this resulted in a very large shot area. The i210 produced more of the same for me and it didn’t take long to realize the i500 was a match made in heaven. The ball flew straight and HIGH reaching its apex down range to land as softly as a hummingbird with broken legs. It feels weird hitting a straight ball but I think I’ll manage. [emoji6] Shaft: My SS is on the higher end hovering between 93-95 mph with a 7-iron. Left to my own devices, I would’ve started with the stout and heavy options and picked from there. Turns out my tempo prefers a softer and lighter option. To the naked eye, my swing looks slow but trust me that the head is really moving. I can’t explain the why but, I can explain the what that the NS Modus3 Pro 105 - S allowed me to put the sweet spot of the head on the ball more often. DG Tour 105 came in a close second. I barely saw launch monitor numbers but I took his word that they were perfect since my eyes confirmed. Final numbers were 185y carry, 100ft peak height, and 6900 spin. Lie Angle: We did the line-on-ball test that landed between 1* and 2* upright. Ended up going with 1* up (blue dot) based on my preferred ball flight. I want a stock shot fade without losing it right. Can confirm the desired result has carried to the course. Grip: Measured my total hand and my fingers. My hand size warrants a mid but my fingers warrant a std. Went with standard + 2 wraps to find a happy medium. Due to slippage issues with the humidity, I went with the corded GP grips. Length: Didn’t fool around since ½” long was just right. Made me feel good that I would’ve at least gotten ONE spec correct. First Impressions Per Ping, the sleek design and rounded topline hides the forgiving body features from top to bottom of the set. The heads lengthen from heel to toe as the clubs get longer yet the girth remains the same. The forged face is in place to increase fee resulting in a trampoline effect from the hollow body design aiming to increase ball speed, reduce spin, and maximize height. These are some beautiful clubs in photos but will knock your socks off in person. So far, I’d say they’re delivering on these promises. Although the i500s are billed as a lower spinning set, there is a key distinction to make: the spin rate is just right to maintain stopping power while minimizing sideways movement. I don’t care about gaining distance but I do care about accuracy; so if the ball flight that allows me to be more accurate also goes further, so be it. The distance will simply require adjustment at the top and bottom of my bag to ensure proper gapping but won’t play much of a factor in the quality of club for my review. The Next Step I won’t have LM data so Arccos is coming along for the ride for data back-up. My baseline is built up enough to quantify any gains or losses I may experience. To increase reps significantly, I’ll be playing a few rounds using irons only (+putter). They’ll get the full workout from top to bottom and be used in many different scenarios. Then, I’ll put the full bag back together to see how they play in “normal” conditions. These irons have the same hydropearl finish that the G700 testers noted durability issues with. I’ll be careful, but not too careful handling them to see if the same holds true. I won’t go back to my old clubs so I’ll do my best to identify the right type of golfer for these irons and highlight the aspects that’ll differentiate them from other clubs in the same segment. Since the shaft is part of the standard offerings, I’ll evaluate that as well from the perspective of how the club fits together as a unit. Until next time, I leave you with this. Keeping with first impressions, here’s my swing and ball flight with the new i500s: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O9Dn7vXkTnc&feature=youtu.be