hckymeyer Posted October 8, 2018 Share Posted October 8, 2018 Official Forum Member Review - PING i500 Irons GC70 Stage 1 Stage 2 Har in the Hat Stage 1 Stage 2 Kanoito Stage 1 Stage 2 Mr_Theoo Stage 1 Stage 2 Quote Driver: SLDR w/ Fujikura Ventus Black 3w: '16 M2 hl w/ Diamana D+ 82 5w: Launcher HB w/ HZRDUS Yellow Hybrid: 22 deg. Launcher HB w/ HZRDUS Black Irons: 5i - gap Launcher CBX w/ Nippon Modus 3 125 Wedges: 54 CBX & 58 Zipcore w/ Nippon Modus 3 125 Putter: Red 7s Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GC70 Posted October 8, 2018 Share Posted October 8, 2018 First off I’d like too thank Rob, MyGolfSpy, Ping, and Matt the customer service dude at Ping! Here’s a little background on me and my game. I’ve been playing golf for about 24 years, I was late to the game. I’m self taught and never had a lesson. I got down to a 5 hcp about 5 years ago and now I’m hovering over 10. I’ve been to the Nike Oven and 2 years ago I went to the TM Kingdom and was fit. A couple times a year I’ll go see James at 2nd Swing to get fit and some new goodies. I’m a true club ho. The clubs have to be real game changers to stay in my bag. My home course in Minnesota is a Links style with long heavy rough. Before I was picked to test the i500’s I was gaming the Srixon 565’s 4-PW. I’ve played just about everything so don’t hesitate to ask if I could compare the two. My driver swing speed is at 92-100 depending on my back. I have a pretty fast tempo and very aggressive swing. My iron play is probably the worst part of my game. My miss is left of my target and and off the toe. My 150 club is 7 or 8 iron once again depending on my old beat up body. Short game has always been my money maker. I picked the i500’s for some more distance I’ve lost over the years and hoping for the same forgiveness , great Forged feeling and shot shaping I’m so use too. Plus they look so damn sexy. This time around I didn’t go get fit, I did the Ping fitting on line, I can’t wait see how it works out. I have three rounds in already and two trips to the chiropractor this week. I’m on my way to Arizona as I’m typing this so sorry if this isn’t making any sense. MaxEntropy, fixyurdivot, russtopherb and 5 others 8 Quote Atmos Blue 6S Atmos Red 7S Atmos Blue 8S Apex CF19 4-AW C-Taper Lite S SM7's RAW 50F - 54S - 58M - 62M Nike 006 Paul Casey Proto (Oven) Nike 006 Rory Proto (Oven) Pro V1 / Z-Star Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GC70 Posted October 8, 2018 Share Posted October 8, 2018 Stage Two First off I'd like to apologize to Ping, MGS, and all the members. I'm sorry I haven't been participating in this review like I should have been, but unfortunately I was unable to with some family issues.. I played 5 rounds on my home course in 60-70 weather and 5 rounds out in Arizona in 100+ degree weather. Looks (9 out of 10) I don't believe that any club is a 10 in the look department, you can always find something that could be better or left off the iron all together. The look and shape are beautiful. With that being said I still can't get over the notch that all Ping irons have on the hosel. The back of the club is out standing nice and clean. No bling is a big winner for me. in Just the 10 times I had the irons out, everyone noticed them and everyone had the same response. Wow what a great looking iron! Sound and Feel (7 out of 10) Sound and feel is so subjective, everyone has a different taste for feel and sound. For a forged iron It just didn't screem FORGED FEEL! It felt like all other cast Ping irons. Which isn't bad, it's just not the Forged feeling I was looking for. The sound was clicky (like hitting rocks or top flight balls) on off center hits. flushed hits felt and sounded much better like they should. Range Performance (20 out of 20) The only time I had for the range was warming up for my 10 rounds that I got in. So I gave them a 20, because all I was doing is warming up and wanted to see what the ball was doing. Its so hard to really evaluate a club on the range with range balls. On-Course Performance (25 out of 40) Accuracy was really good, not any better or worse that any other iron in this category. Trajectory was high, but I had no problems hitting it lower. Forgiveness wasn't what I was expecting. I thought these would be a lot more forgiving. I would easily loose 10 yards on toe shots and shots higher on the face. Workability was a little harder for me. I could really hook it if had to. hitting a fade was a little easier than a controlling the draw. Raw distance I was really disappointed with. It wasn't any longer than any new iron out today and was at least a club shorter than the CF16's, Ap1's Ap3's, and 565's. Workability Was not the best, but I'm sure someone with better paying ability would think different. Distance control was really hard for me with these. The gaping between some off the clubs was not good. 20 yards between the 9 iron and PW. Under pressure with these I really struggled. Maybe I just didn't trust these or what it was. it seemed like Par 3's I'd over draw it or come up short. Laying up was really off too. All I know is when ever I needed to really hit my target, I didn't. Play it or Trade it? Over the 10 rounds I played with the i500's not once did I play to my ability or HCP. As of right now there is no way I'd play these irons anymore in money games, match play, or the CC. I defiantly think these irons are for lower HCP or a mid HCP with great iron play. No disrespect to Ping! These are great looking clubs that need better feel and sound for me. Gaping and distance control was a problem for me. So I'd have to Trade them, but I won't! I'm going to give them another try in the spring. Final Score (61 out of 100) BNewton51, Nunfa0, MattF and 5 others 8 Quote Atmos Blue 6S Atmos Red 7S Atmos Blue 8S Apex CF19 4-AW C-Taper Lite S SM7's RAW 50F - 54S - 58M - 62M Nike 006 Paul Casey Proto (Oven) Nike 006 Rory Proto (Oven) Pro V1 / Z-Star Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Har in the Hat Posted October 8, 2018 Popular Post Share Posted October 8, 2018 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 GB13, GolfSpy MPR, JohnSmalls and 13 others 16 Quote What's in my Mizuno BR-D2 bag OFFICIAL TESTER FOR THE PING i500 CLUBS. Currently playing Ping i500 w/ Alta CB graphite shafts MP 25 - fitted w/ Project X shafts - stiff 60 / 56 52 910 D2 driver - 9.5 degree -fitted13 F 3 wood 13.5 deg CPR 3 hybrid Method mallet Dexterity: I shoot left-handed so no one can ask me "Hey, can I try that club?" Twitter @GolfingHat Instagram @Mizunostixgolfnut Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Har in the Hat Posted October 8, 2018 Share Posted October 8, 2018 Stage Two - The Review {October 09,2018} Ping i500 Irons – Official MGS Forum Review by Hari Intro Again, thank you MGS and Ping for this opportunity. This review was very difficult. Not in terms of the commitment required to test (which was a blast), but using the clubs caused a lot of frustration for me. I would say that confusion reigned supreme for me during this period. Nothing was clear cut and it was a roller coaster of ups and downs until October 20 when I spent about 3 hours at the driving range to come to a definitive answer. The next day at the golf course validated what I wanted to do with these clubs. Read on. Looks (6 out of 10 points) The i500 is a beautiful club. There is nothing flashy to draw attention to these. Only 2 words stamped on the club. I500 and forged. It suits the person seeking the minimalist look. The clubs looked a lot bigger and bulkier than my MP-25’s and I needed to do some measurements to verify this. I am glad that I did because the measurements proved me wrong. Below are the measurements of both the 6 irons. Visually, due to the shape and geometry, they seem bigger. You can see that overall, they are the same dimensions. The top club is the Ping. I initially thought that the edges were sharp and abrupt. Not like the MP-25 which were more rounded. I thought of this as to be an unfinished or unrefined look, missing a step in the machining process as opposed to the rounded edges of my MP-25 which takes an extra machining step. As I am writing this and looking at the clubs, I am changing my tune and stating, this is fine. Nothing wrong with it. You choose what style appeals to you. In my stage 1 post, a couple of clubs came with blotches and scratches, and I also wanted to see how the hydropearl finish would fair? I looked at the clubs with the scratches and marks on the hitting surface and found that there was no change. They stayed the same. On Ping’s website, a person named Andrew Kopka posted a review with pics showing the same scratches /markings on his clubs as mine. As well, he has stated some welds have started to fail on his clubs. Bear in mind that this is an online review and could be false or inaccurate. The pics are there though showing the marks. What I did notice is that on the rest of the club surfaces where the hydropearl finish was, that there were scratches exposing the shiny metal surface beneath. With the Mizuno, there is no protective finish / coating (that I am aware of) that will diminish with time. The surface finish is still the same as when I first bought them in 2016. I suspect the finish on the Ping will be slowly erode away with time and use. I am giving a score of 6 on these. The initial markings and scratching’s were not something I was worried about and I would have given it a score of 8 as they will face worse battle marks down the road. What is not really impressing me is that with use, marks and scratches are revealing the true metallic shine underneath indicating the Hydropearl finish can easily be removed by scratches. It appears to be a surface coat finish only with no penetration. Sound & Feel (7 out of 10 points) I knew what to expect and the question I had was could I get accustomed to it? Ping is known for the click sound and this club lived up to that clicking. At first when I was at the range trying these, they seemed really loud to me and I was subconscious of this thinking if people were looking at me. I practice with music and earbuds on and I could hear the clicking over the music. So I went to work and got a sound meter. I hit some shots with the clubs and recorded the data. Then wouldn’t you know it. I could not download the data. I’ll spare the details. I have to rely on memory, but looking at the meter and the max levels recorded, the Pings were louder at about 76 dB as compared to Mizuno which I remember being in the mid 60’s. Hitting a flush shot flush had a distinctive crisp sounding click as compared to more of a thwack sound on mishits. I would have to say that the feel on the MP-25’s is definitely better on both flushed shots and slight mishits compared to the i500. On flushed shots with the Mizuno, it just feels great. With the i500, a flushed shot comes with hearing the sharp crisp click. There was no great feeling that I got from the club that made me say “wow”. With the Mizuno, I feel there are 2 distinct categories of mishits. Slight mishits, and out to lunch mishits. A slight mishit on the MP-25 is a muted feeling that tells you “No, you did not flush it. You were close but still, you must pay a price and that price is the appropriate loss of distance” and this is something you notice as soon as the ball leaves the clubface. An out to lunch mishit tells you ”Go home. What are you doing embarrassing me? Your penalty is 40 yards over there in the bush. Have fun looking for your ball.” It is felt in the hands. With the Ping, I found no difference in the feeling between slight mishits and flushed shots. The only indication I got was the difference in sound. A slight mishit is a muted dull click. Tester Kotaino complained after the fitting process of toe hits, so I went out to the driving range and purposely hit shots to see the effect. Ouch. It hurt. I have never experienced this type of feeling with the MP-25. Now remind you, I have graphite shafts and this could play into this, I’m not sure. I Asked Kataino if he experienced the same feeling and he stated that he did not. So, I am giving a score of 7. The feeling is not like Mizuno, and the forged face only club makes me think that yes, it does not compare to a truly forged club. The flushed feeling with Ping comes from the sound, not the feel (in my opinion). Range Performance (15 out of 20 points) The first week was a struggle getting used to these clubs. I think it was partly due to the extra ¼” length in the shaft. Distance. Below is an example of the trackman results on the 8. Draws and fades I must confess that I struggled with working the ball. No matter what I tried, the shots still end up going straight. That was until I caught a video of Phil teaching how to do this. And it immediately hit me what I was doing wrong. I aligned the body to the starting ball path, aligned the clubface to the target and then hit the ball. Ball goes straight as usual. Then I saw what I was doing wrong. I was aligning the clubface to the target while I had the club gripped in my hand instead of ..pay attention here to you guys wanting to learn this… align the clubface and then set your hands on the grip. Bingo. So now I was doing fades and actually it was beautiful to see the ball curve. Wow. Okay. Now to compare the two. Driving range session on fades and draws. I had a flag 150 yards out and behind me (left handed). Used this as my target for draws. The clubface ended up being closed only about 1-2 degrees. The 7i ping proved to be more of a challenge to draw the ball. The Mizuno 7 was easier and ended up being closer to the flag. There was no difference in the trajectory. Next was a fade. Being left handed I had a fence as the target and again, only needed to open up the clubface about 2 degrees. The fence was about 20 yards to my left. The Ping 7 iron curved a lot more ended up for a total of about 40 yards past the fence. The Mizuno curved 25 yards. I found it easier to work the ball with the Mizunos than the Pings. On-Course Performance (25 out of 40 points) The on-course time proved to be both exhilarating and at the same time frustrating. First, to start with, I decided to put away the woods, move up a tee box and play just the irons. For informational purposes, I do not have a GPS device, so I rely on my rangefinder solely. Of course, getting distances on tee shots and second / third shots on par 5’s requires pacing off the distance. And that was what I did on all shots except on the approach shots where I could shoot the pin. Luckily that I have been doing it for so long that I have become quite good at it and if I am off, I always end up being short. I usually pace off distances once in a while on approach shots to see how much I am off when I check against the rangefinder. During this testing period, my handicap reduced. From 22 to 19.5 On-Course Distances Here are the tracked distances for all the clubs used. I had difficulty using the 4 iron at the driving range and never played it. Now looking at the data above, there is a couple of big issues that I need to think about. Look at the distance gaps between clubs. Second, there is now a 24-30 yard gap between the PW and my 52 degree wedge. I think the distance spread for each club is too varied. Take for example the 9 iron. I hit it anyway from 120 to 143 yards. This distance spread created some big frustrations on the course and I found myself at times not knowing which club to pick. On a par 3 with the flag set at 137 yards from the tee block, I pulled out the 9i (which would have been my choice with the Mizuno) and ended up flushing it over the green and going 143 yards. Next time I played this hole and again, pulled out the 9 and took 3 shots each going 128 -130 yards. Hit the Mizuno 9i 127 yards. I don’t experience such a discrepancy in distances on the Mizunos. Also, I struggled with the PW and ended up being short so many times on approach shots. I think nerves got to me. In regards to feel, the Mizunos felt better. On the short irons, more nimble, a better feeling of control. The Pings felt clunky and I am wondering if it is due to the graphite shafts and the fact that I can feel the weight of the heads. The distances on the 7-5 irons were an exception. I used the 6 iron off the tee and on second shots on par 5’s. Surprisingly it is easy to hit and it flies. This surpassed my Mizuno 5 iron by miles. Out of the Cabbage One thing that I do not like is that these clubs are hard to hit and are punishing out of the rough. Take a look at the pic below. Notice the grass displacement of the Mizuno on the right compared to the Ping on the left. On this shot, the Mizuno 8 iron went 136 yards while the Ping 8 only travelled 105 yards. Punch shots My course has a lot of trees and one shot I like to do is the 150 -160 yard punch shot with the 5i. This is a very low running shot only reaching a height of about 4- 6 feet. The Ping 5 iron actually performed better than expected and required less effort. Play it or Trade it? (14 out of 20 points) As of October 20, I was still undecided about the clubs. Would I play or trade them? I went to the range on that day with the determination of resolving this. My scores were dropping and my shot striking was better. Was it because of the clubs or me? After 3 hours at the range, I came away with an answer. Now to the course for the final validation. I played 18 holes the next day with the Mizuno’s (PW, 9,8) and the Ping (7,6,5) irons. I played the best round of my life. I shot a 41 on the back nine and got away with a 47 on the front for a total score of 88. I had 3 birdies and 4 pars. 7 GIR’s. Hole #4 was a 151 yard Par 3. The flag was up front and read 138 yards uphill and into the wind. I pulled out the 8 iron and wanted to hit this high and have the wind knock it down. I executed this perfectly. Landed it right side of the pin ~4-5 yards. Had a 128 yard approach shot. Pulled out my 9 iron and hit to within 2-3 yards of the pin. And on it went. Hit a 6 iron drive 228 yards. Hit another one 210. Using the Pings have taught me that yes, there is better technology for distance, but when it comes to feel, finesse, or workability, then Mizunos flat out perform better than Ping. I love the Mizuno PW-8 irons and feel they are better performers. The Ping 7 and 5 irons won’t replace mine, but will complement them until I figure the distance, workability, and hitting out of the rough issues. I am definitely keeping the Ping 6 iron. Thus my score for this category is 14 points. Even though they caused significant frustration and I am only keeping half the clubs, they did lower my score and help off the tee,. Conclusions The Ping i500 irons were both exhilarating and frustrating. 200 yard average with the 6 iron. Creating divots the size of RI with the PW (was this due to the extra ¼” shaft length?). Two club length distance gaps on some clubs. I now know that as a result of this test, Mizunos sound better, feel better, and are better clubs. But if you cannot hit it pure, the long irons are dead. As I stated in my review, Mizunos are more nimble. If you are thinking about the i500 clubs, you need to think about your handicap, what you want out of a set of irons, and what you are willing to sacrifice. Or do as I am going to do: Blend the set while I do more testing. Use the PW-7 from my Mp-25 set and use the Ping 5&6. Use my 6 iron for the distance gap between the Ping 6 and 7 Final Score: (Add up all categories and present a total score out of 100) 67 out of 100 GB13, STUDque, sirchunksalot and 6 others 9 Quote What's in my Mizuno BR-D2 bag OFFICIAL TESTER FOR THE PING i500 CLUBS. Currently playing Ping i500 w/ Alta CB graphite shafts MP 25 - fitted w/ Project X shafts - stiff 60 / 56 52 910 D2 driver - 9.5 degree -fitted13 F 3 wood 13.5 deg CPR 3 hybrid Method mallet Dexterity: I shoot left-handed so no one can ask me "Hey, can I try that club?" Twitter @GolfingHat Instagram @Mizunostixgolfnut Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Kanoito Posted October 8, 2018 Popular Post Share Posted October 8, 2018 Stage 1 - Introducing the PING i500 irons -10/8/2018 Hello again MGS community! It’s that time of the year again, where we put all that OEM marketing mumbo jumbo up for testing and scrutiny by real players like you and me! You think their claims are bullshit? We’ll let you know for sure! As always, a huge thanks to MGS and PING, who make these great opportunities possible! I’ve done a few reviews for MGS, so I’ll keep the background info short (more details can be found in my signature). Wait a minute... the new forums don't have a signature anymore!? Oh well, then here we go: I’m Steven, currently residing in Hamburg, Germany and have been playing golf for about 7-ish years. I picked-up the game kind of late, but believe there is still some potential to flirt with single digits someday. I started this season as a 14 HCP (by EGA so not sure how that translates to USGA system) and have climbed all the way up to a 16. Did I mention I started playing at the same time as my wife and she’s now a 11 HCP? Yeah, I know… shame on me. We are now proud parents of 2, which gives me even less time to practice. My rounds are limited to 36 holes every weekend and an after-work 9 hole competitive round once in a while. My swing is fugly, so to avoid scaring you guys... I opted for a finish photo instead of a video! And I only found this one, because GolfSpy STUDeque failed to snap a selfie during his visit! I am competitive by nature; my wife and I have to bet on something every time we play: let it be a purse, dinner, shoes, you name it. I can enjoy a round with any type of golfer (ability-wise), doesn’t matter to me, as long as we can finish in a decent amount of time (personally, 4 hours is my limit, would prefer 3.5). Once the round goes beyond 4.5 hours, I get cranky, impatient and my game goes to s***. One of the reasons I like to keep rounds short is because I want to spend the afternoon with my kids. I guess once they are old enough to play with me, I won’t be in that much of a hurry. Consistency is my nemesis. I can shoot 39 on the front and blow a 55 on the back. My biggest issue this season? My driver. I used to fight a slice and now I’m fighting a snap hook. That’s the worst feeling, not knowing which side you are going to miss. Also, I realized I’m flipping a bit through impact with my irons. Even though I focus on shifting my weight forward and turning, I can’t seem to fix the problem. So I just booked 12 lessons with my teaching pro and see where that takes me next season. Putting is a little bit more decent. Since my tee shots usually leave me in trouble, I end up scrambling a lot, leaving a lot of short 1-putts. I've been playing video games for much longer than golf and I swear they give you a better sense of space and depth. You know those grids you see on the green in video games? That’s how I picture them in real life! Somewhere between my putting and driving, you can find my iron and wedge game. My short game used to be almost as bad as my driving, but it has greatly improved since I got the SM7 (link here). WITB Bag: Sun Mountain H2NO tired of putting the plastic cover over your bag when it rains? Get a waterproof bag and problem solved! Driver: Callaway Epic won at the Kings of Distance event last year, where we met Matteo Manassero, Joe Miller and Sandra Carlborg. I was fitted for the driver, but since it was a Callaway event, there were obviously no other OEM’s to compare with. Fairway Woods: got a X2Hot 3W with Aldila Tour Green. Bought this one off the rack to keep my ball flight down and as an option when my driver is misbehaving. Surprisingly, it was a good fit for me. Instead of playing a hybrid, I opted for a 5W JetSpeed - also OTR - but I rarely use it, usually good for those 200-210 yard shots. Wedges: got the SM7 a couple of months ago, fitted of course and they were truly eye-opening. These are now my favorite clubs in the whole bag. I don’t even mind practicing my short game anymore. Love them! Putter: I still prefer blade style putters. They give me more distance control than mallets. With all the hype around EVNROLL, I had to try them! And they’ve helped me tremendously. My wife got the same putter, but she’s not so happy… that just shows how different our strokes are. Irons: our protagonist for this review. More details below. I started playing irons OTR: Cobra SS Oversize, Rapture V2, Slingshots, R9. Then moved on to a fitted set of MP59, which lasted about 4 years before I switched to my current gamers the Apex CF16. Yes, 4 years feel almost as long as dog years. In between, I tested a lot of PING’s offerings, from the G15, G20, i20, K15, G25… and just couldn’t get along them with. They never felt as good as the Rapture V2 and they didn’t outperform what I already had. Ending up with the CF16 was a surprise, since I had never been a fan of Callaway, but I decided to trust the fitter and bought them with the PX 5.5 trying to lower the flight a little. I know this is more of a swing flaw, but if the equipment helps, why not? I’m not a long hitter by any means (7i for 165 yards or so) so any extra distance is welcome. I think the CF16 did a pretty good job in the player’s distance category. Initially, they looked bulky (of course, I was used to Mizuno MP irons) but with time, I started to grow into them. You’ll see a lot of players complaining about hitting flyers with these. 2 seasons later, I still haven’t noticed any, nor anything unusual. Other people complained about not being able to stop the balls on the green, not me! First Impressions As soon as I read the MGS official announcement, I called my pro shop and booked a fitting. I always prefer outdoor fittings to observe ball flight, but it was full, so to avoid causing any delays to the other testers, I settled for an indoor session. Let me tell you, it was a tough call between the i210 and the i500. The i500 certainly look better, but I was afraid they would be too explosive and I would end up with a big gap between PW and my SM7. On the other hand, the i210 seem less forgiving than my current gamers. In the end, I searched a little bit on the interwebz to see which one was more forgiving and apparently, they are very similar. So I went with the looks of the i500. Here comes the first (pleasant) surprise: Rob submitted the order on Monday and by Friday I had them in my hands… are you freaking kidding me??? Thumbs up to PING for providing lightning-fast delivery from their UK HQ. Seriously, I’ve only read good things about PING’s service, this is my first experience with them and I’m truly in awe. But I gotta say, the box presentation could be improved. Clubs came with a protective neoprene headcover, but all tied together with a rubber band in a plastic wrap. That's enough to protect them, but takes away a little of the premium feel. My specs: PX LZ 5.5 in code green (2 up), Tour Velvet grips white code PING claims their forged face combined with stainless steel body will give you so much power, you’ll feel as if you were swinging a metal wood. Your ball speed, trajectory and stopping power will increase as a total package. These are the usual claims found in SGI irons, but PING managed to wrap it up in a clean blade-style design that appeals better players. Here you can see the topline of the 4i, 7i and PW. And here the soles I am entering this review with a preconceived notion: I don’t get along with PING equipment, as a matter of fact, you could say I dislike PING equipment. Why? They never performed for me and this guy I am not fond of plays a full PING bag. Yeah, stupid and childish reason, I know. But like they say, golf is 90% mental, so you have to play whatever makes you happy! But hey! I wasn’t a fan of Callaway either, and look at me now with 9 out of 14 slots filled with Callaway gear. So I’ll let the numbers do the talking and see if PING can improve my game. One thing I already like about the i500 is the HydroPearl Chrome 2.0 finish. After playing the CF16, I don’t think I’ll ever be able to play a chrome finish iron again. Personally, I feel matte irons have a more premium air to it and the reduced glare is just extra bonus. The chromed numbers on the sole all had a protective film to avoid scratches. What to expect from Stage 2 Without hitting them, PING has already scored positively in the looks and customer service department. I wonder how they will perform? Up next, we’ll be trying to figure out whether: -I am capable of getting along with PING equipment -The i500 are as long and forgiving (for a blade design) as PING claims -They perform better than my current Apex CF16 without leaving a huge gap between PW and GW If the above prove to be true then… well then they are definitely going in my bag! Alright, folks! Enough theorycrafting, so let’s get our hands dirty! I already played 1 round with them and WOW! So stay tuned for Stage 2 and all the details MaxEntropy, Golfspy_CG2, JAGolfore and 7 others 10 Quote SpeedZone 9* w/ Aldila Rogue Silver 60 S X2 Hot 3 Deep 14.5* w/ Aldila Tour Green 75 S JetSpeed 5W 19* w/ Matrix Velox T 69 S OR Super LS 3H 19* w/ Kuro Kage Black 80 S JPX919 Forged 4-PW w/ Modus3 105 S Vokey SM7 50/08F, 54/14F & 58/08M w/ Modus3 115 Wedge ER1 34" w/ SuperStroke Fatso 2.0 Pro / H2NO Lite Cart Bag / 3.0 / NX7 Pro LRF My reviews: MLA Putter // Titleist SM7 // PING i500 // PuttOUT Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Kanoito Posted October 8, 2018 Popular Post Share Posted October 8, 2018 Stage Two - Reviewing the PING i500 irons 10/22/2018 To be able to compare apples with apples, I decided to rent a Trackman at a local driving range. Spent about 2 hours smacking balls with both the i500 and my gamers to get the baseline data as well as 18 full rounds for the real-life results. Looks (9 out of 10 points) Calling them pretty is an understatement. The matte finish is so sleek and timeless, makes me want to cover it in chocolate and lick it. These clubs feature a clean look with only “i500” and “FORGED” stamped on the back of the club. I really liked the fact that PING didn’t include any futuristic laser-beam extravaganza like the Epic or M3. Simple is good! If you usually don’t follow technology trends in golf, you would probably think these are your standard muscleback irons, but take a closer look and you’ll see the weight screw toe-side which should clue you in about the hollow construction. I’m no engineer, but wouldn’t it be possible to have the weight placed inside the toe before soldering the forged face to the body? Concealing the weight would have given the i500 that little push (and perfect score) to a true blade style design. PING did a great job in the looks department. Even though they have a simplistic look, they certainly don’t go unnoticed. I never had a flight partner ask about the CF16, I guess they were just too mainstream. But with the i500 I’ve gotten tons of compliments and they all ask if they can take a couple of swings. I’ve had the clubs in my bag for about 7 weeks, played about 25 rounds with them, 1 Trackman session and 500 range balls. Because the back of the club is so clean and smooth, you notice scratches, bag chatter and debris easily. I clean my clubs after every shot and even though you get the dirt off with one wipe, you’ll still have water marks on it. This is a double-edge sword, great to look at (at first), but hard to maintain pristine. The face of the club, on the other hand, did show good durability and not too many scratches. You can see the watermarks here. I wasn’t bothered by this, but I’m pretty sure someone with OCD will go nuts about it Sound & Feel (7 out of 10 points) The i500 sound better than other PING offerings I’ve tried before, but unfortunately not as good as my CF16. I’m guessing this is probably due to the lack of substance behind the club face (hollow-body) to achieve the extra distance? I wonder if the sound could have been improved with some kind of foam the same way TaylorMade does? I tried capturing the sound while hitting in an enclosed bay, here you have the sounds clips for the 7i i500 and CF16 for comparison. I recorded using my phone, so you probably won’t be able to tell the difference, but when you are the one hitting it, you can definitely tell how the i500 sounds a little higher-pitched and clickier. This applies to the 4i up to the PW. i500 7i CF16 7i The 3i on the other hand was much louder… more like a deafening THWACK, which was not of my liking. I guess the best way to describe it would be sounding almost like a hybrid. Or smacking a rolled-up newspaper on the table, if that makes sense. Unfortunately, my phone mic wasn’t able to capture the essence of it. i500 3i After playing Mizuno MP irons for 4 years, I’ve gotten used to using that as the standard. You want full points? Then you better sound and feel like Mizuno. I’m not an acoustics engineer of any sort, so not sure if that’s achievable with a hollow construction? Except the 3i, all other clubs were smooth feeling (or sound, depending who you asking), definitely a great step forward for PING, compared to their older offerings, but not quite Mizuno level. If you mishit the ball, you’ll not only feel the sting, but hear it as well. Range Performance (15 out of 20 points) Before having any numbers to crunch, I went to the range to hit balls and get acquainted with the new sticks. You can work the ball easily, left, right, high and low. The i500 does offer pretty decent workability. Now, they were ordered to the exact same specs as my CF16 with 2* up and standard length. The only variables were the loft and the shaft (PX LZ 5.5 vs my gamers PX 5.5). After getting the new clubs, I went back to the pro shop and had them measure the lie angles again, perfect match. But for some reason, I really struggled with toe hits with the i500. I thought maybe it was my swing, but as soon as I switched to my CF16, flush after flush. Here the i500 toe hit after toe hit The same amount of shots with my CF16 was hitting the middle of the face I even asked experienced spies for help in this Suggestions from fellow spies included: -Checking the SW by balancing clubs on a chair, both had the same balance point -Flattening the swing -Shifting more weight to the heels -Try to hit the ball off the heel I tried them all and the toe hits improved, but were still present. Same swing, incompatible hardware? I’ll touch this subject again with the on-course performance. When clubs allow you to shape shots easily, you’ll usually take a hit in the forgiveness department. The aforementioned toe hits were still forgiving enough, lost maybe half to one club of distance. Obviously, my accuracy and control suffered a bit as all my toe hits were landing right of the target. For distance and trajectory, take a look at my LM numbers below. As a good spy, it goes without saying that all claims should be backed-up by data. I did my fitting on a FlightScope GC2 and after getting the clubs, tested on a Trackman with following results (outliers removed and average of 5 shots): On paper, the i500 4i is 0.5* stronger than the CF16, but when I got them measured on a Mitchell machine, they were both the same at 21*. So the i500 was on average 5-6 yards longer than the CF16 and not due to jacked-up lofts. The same difference of 0.5* applies to the 7i and both clubs were measured spot on to their specs. Interestingly enough, you can see the average distance for both clubs is almost the same, while the carry distance of the i500 is 7 yards longer. I’ve seen some videos mention the i500 having less spin, but a steeper descent angle, allowing more stopping power. I can only assume that’s the explanation here. As I mentioned in Stage 1, I never had any problems holding the greens with my CF16, so I was baffled to see these numbers. Both PW are manufactured at 45* and the loft was also verified by the loft and lie machine. I was expecting to see the i500 being longer or at least the same as the CF16. But certainly didn’t expect my CF16 to be longer both in average and carry distance. Initially, I was afraid that the i500 PW would be too hot, thus creating a huge gap to my 50* wedge. Now I have the opposite problem: too little gap between the PW and my 50* SM7. The range session just made things more confusing for me. On one hand, the i500 is the winner for the 4i and 7i (if I prioritize carry numbers), but on the PW front the edge goes to the CF16. What do you do in such cases? You get on the course! On-Course Performance (34 out of 40 points) Remember the wow-effect from Stage 1 after I played the first round? I shot an 80 creating a new personal best. To be fair, the i500 were only a part of the equation. I have recently changed my driver swing and it allowed me to hit 13/14 fairways. Plus, I was able to attack greens 200-210 yards out with the 3i without hesitation. A pretty idiotic mistake cost me what could have been a 79. My playing partner was looking at the irons and didn’t put them back in the correct slot, so when arrived at a 155 yard par 3, I grabbed the PW instead of the 8i and ended up bogeying the hole. Reader: But but but… you were struggling with toe hits you say… Me: Yes, I was and I still am. Reader: So how the hell did you manage to shoot your best round ever??? Impossible! Me: Wait… not only did I shoot my personal best, I also shot my 2nd personal best of 82 (twice!) Reader: This doesn’t make any f****** sense!? Me: I know!!! *shrugs* Sorry I am unable to provide ShotScope screenshots, the battery died twice on me in the middle of the round so I got frustrated and just recorded everything on my scorecard. With my CF16, I was averaging about 33% of GIR. With the i500 it went down to about 20% and all misses to the right of the green. However, my fairways hit went up from 31% to about 69% (remember new driver swing and lessons) and my scrambling from 44% to 67%. So despite the toe hits with the irons, I managed to improve 2 other aspects of my game, which clearly had an impact on my score. This motivates me, knowing I have a lot of room for improvement should the irons suddenly work out someday and shows that this game can be played in so many different ways. Even though I didn’t like the sound of the 3i, I must praise the versatility of this club. I took out both my 3W and 5W out of the bag and used the 3i instead. Off the tee, it was just as long as my 5W, good for 215-220 yards. On par 5’s, it forced me to play smart, lay up and go for the green on 3 instead of attempting stupid s*** with my 3W. The 3i also came in very handy punching under the trees and ¾ swings into the wind. Ball flight and impact characteristics were pretty consistent with my range results: Accuracy and control wasn’t that good, but at least I always knew where I was going to miss it, so I was mentally prepared to scramble. Trajectory wasn’t overly high as some YouTube reviews suggest, I would say similar to my CF16, but that’s also because I tend to flip at impact. Forgiveness was pretty good, like I said before, half to one club lost in distance, still long enough to be around the green. Workability was actually an eye-opening experience. I felt I could minimize toe hits by hooking or slicing the ball on purpose. In the end, I gave up aiming towards the green and it became a fun exercise! I also had to do a slight work-around for distance. Theoretically, the i500 should be about half a club longer than my CF16, but since I was hitting on the toe most of the time, the extra distance was offset by the mishit, so I ended using the same numbered club. I’m on the fence about the performance of the i500. On one hand, they allowed me to shoot my best personal rounds. Of course, some of that credit belongs to my new driver swing and improved wedge game. But on the other hand, constantly hitting them on the toe is driving me nuts. As you know, golf is 90% mental, so if you are not confident playing X clubs, but still shoot decent scores, would you bag them? Even though the i500 didn’t provide me with the performance I was expecting, I must admit, my impression of PING improved greatly. I went from “no way will I ever bag a PING club” to “PING has top-notch customer service, the clubs look badass and if they suited me 100%, I would definitely put them in my bag” A couple of things I would suggest (from my non-engineering point of view): -Remove or conceal the toe weight for a cleaner blade look -Improve the acoustics (especially the 3i), think Mizuno soft -And for me personally, I would like to see the standard PX shaft as a stock offering as well Play it or Trade it? (15 out of 20 points) So yeah, tough decision... I went back to my gamers for a couple of rounds and was unable to break 85. So the i500 still yielded my lowest scores. My experience with the i500 highlighted once more the importance of getting properly fit. I mean, I went to a certified PING fitter and I still couldn’t achieve the best results. The irons offer plenty of forgiveness so that I can still shoot an acceptable score. I’m 75% in favor of keeping them in the bag while putting a lot of extra hours at the range and lessons to find the culprit for the toe hits. Give it a few more months to see if the situation improves. Conclusion (Final 80 out of 100 points) If you didn’t have time to read through all 9 reviews, here’s the TL;DR version: The i500 are easy to play and will satisfy the eyes of players who dislike swinging shovels. In the looks department, they are almost flawless, but the sound and feel could be improved a little bit (think Mizuno). I personally struggled with toe hits. After checking the issue with a couple of experienced players, they also think that the PX LZ is not a good fit for me compared to the standard PX, but it was the best option out of the stock offerings. Har in the Hat, Nunfa0, BNewton51 and 9 others 12 Quote SpeedZone 9* w/ Aldila Rogue Silver 60 S X2 Hot 3 Deep 14.5* w/ Aldila Tour Green 75 S JetSpeed 5W 19* w/ Matrix Velox T 69 S OR Super LS 3H 19* w/ Kuro Kage Black 80 S JPX919 Forged 4-PW w/ Modus3 105 S Vokey SM7 50/08F, 54/14F & 58/08M w/ Modus3 115 Wedge ER1 34" w/ SuperStroke Fatso 2.0 Pro / H2NO Lite Cart Bag / 3.0 / NX7 Pro LRF My reviews: MLA Putter // Titleist SM7 // PING i500 // PuttOUT Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Mr_Theoo Posted October 8, 2018 Popular Post Share Posted October 8, 2018 I was introduced to golf when I was very young after my dad came back from Korea. At that time golf and I did not get along very well minus the driving range where I tried to hit it as far as I could. I took up the game seriously about 6 years ago when a friend of mine was trying to learn because his boss suggested it would be good for business. After our first trip to the range with our Walmart box specials, we were hooked. In my second season, I started taking lessons at GolfTEC. I’ve been there since and have seen my game transform each year. I mostly play in Ohio but have made some trips to California, Tennessee, Texas, and Florida to play golf with a few other spys. I currently play off a 23 handicap but I would say my ability to strike the ball is much better than a 23. Whenever someone asks my handicap they’re shocked because of how well I hit the ball. Notice I said hit, not play LOL. As I've played and gotten better over the years I've developed my play style. I’m not really a bomber but I can move the ball out there pretty well. I hit my irons decently for a 23. My stock shot is a draw with a block to the right being my go to miss. The snap hook is my bad miss. I like to hit the ball high since I tend to be a lower spin player I use height and a steeper descent angle to get my ball to stop on the greens. My 150 club used to be about an 8 or 9 iron depending on how I was swinging and making contact that day. But lately, it can be anywhere from a 7 to a 9i mainly because I’ve worked hard a developing more touch into my swing. My short game has really come along well this year. And putting is a bright spot, while I don't hole a lot of longer putts I rarely 3 putt. I would call myself a calm golfer. Things that seem to anger a majority of golfers like slow play don’t get to me. I feel it shows in my game as well as I don’t hang onto bad shots very long. Although I would say this year has been more challenging to let bad play slide off my back. I think it is because I started practicing more so I expected to see some improvement and when I haven't I got too frustrated. Now that we’ve reached the offseason I hope to expand and improve not only my practice routine but also find a way to transfer that onto the course. I think the i500s might be a big role in this because of the added technology and forgiveness they pack but into a more players profile. Enough about myself let’s get to the clubs which everyone is really here for. Currently, I have in my bag a Callaway Epic, Cobra Baffler 4w, Nike wedges, and Taylormade irons. My irons are the 2011 TP MC with TT S400s. I bought them after I had a falling out with my Hogan Ptx ( I snapped the 6i after playing really bad one day). What I like about these irons is they offer forgiveness while still not being very large or have lots offset. I’m very excited for the i500 because I have been missing the shot height that I used to have when I had my 2014 TP MC. The Hogans were ok on height but not as high as I really wanted. I could have moved to a different iron like an apex or something in that mid-GI line but I really prefer the thinner soles of the players' irons because I tend to be a little shallow with my angle of attack. The hollow body of the i500 really has me intrigued as well. The long irons in my Hogans were also hallowed and while they didn't feel like it you could definitely tell by the sound that they were hollow. I wonder if the i500 will have those same characteristics. I ordered my i500s 3-P with project LZ 6.5s. I chose the 6.5s because that was one of the shafts I was fitted into back in March. I like the feel of them and they remind me a lot of my PX flighted I had in my 2014 MCs. I plan to get as much data as you guys would like for my testing. I know I want to compare height and spin because of the category these irons fall into and many people saying that they spin to low and can't be trusted to hit into greens. Because I can get access to launch monitors whenever I need them thanks to Golftec I should be able to get any and all data necessary. But I also want you guys to tell me what you want to see from a higher handicap testing a players distance iron. Thanks MGS and ping for this great opportunity. And thank you all for reading. Hope i can do yall proud and test these bad boys well GC70, Nunfa0, Golfspy_CG2 and 9 others 12 Quote Driver: Epic 10.5 set to 9.5 w/ Tour AD-DI 44.5 FW: F6 baffler set at 16º Hybrid: NONEIrons: 3i 2014 TP CB 4-PW 2011 TP MC w/ TT S400 Wedges: 52º 56º 60 º w/ KBS C-Taper XS Soft-stepped Putter: Sigma G Tyne 34 inches Gold dot Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr_Theoo Posted October 8, 2018 Share Posted October 8, 2018 Ping i500 – Official MGS Forum Review by Mr_Theoo Intro I mainly did my testing at the range and LM because the weather changed for the worse when I received by my irons. I did get out for 1 really solid 9 holes after getting used to them which was very helpful in determining my thoughts and review of these irons. Looks Right out of the box I loved the looks of these irons. The very minimal and clean looks won me over. I've been enjoying the direction Ping has been going with their irons and wedges as of late. The more traditional look and hiding the technology. The blade lengths are a bit longer. To me, this isn't a good or bad thing just something I noticed when I compared them to my MCs (10 out of 10 points) Sound & Feel The sound and feel of these are unique, when hitting them you can barely tell they're hollow but when you're riding or walking you can tell from the bag chatter. Indoors they do make a much louder sound at impact than outdoors. When hitting them you can tell if you mishit it but unless its a shank or thin it's hard to know exactly where on the face you missed. (7 out of 10 points) Range Performance On the range, these left me puzzled and worried. When I’d go hit balls after work I kept having problems hitting good shots. I blamed it on work at first, but after a few sessions, I realized I hadn't gotten used to the change in shafts from my MCs. During my lessons, I had no problems hitting these well so that took a lot of the worry that I may have chosen the wrong specs. But because we use foresight during them I could see how little I was spinning the ball. That did bring some worry because I was afraid I wouldn't be able to hold greens, especially with the mid irons. Being able to hit all my shots when striking it well was fairly easy with the i500s even though they are quite forgiving. I was able to hit my punchout cut and keep it low for when I'm in trouble. But I was also able to hit it high especially the 4 & 5 irons. I also had a launch monitor session with my 7-pw. (I'll be updating this with the 4-6 as well) The numbers I got were great distance wise but somethings had me worried and a bit confused. My spin and descent angle were both lower than I was accustomed to seeing so I got worried I wouldn't be able to keep the ball on a green. (13 out of 20 points) On-Course Performance I was only able to get out on the course once before the weather got cold here so my I had to get creative for my course testing. I played but also went to TopGolf and the simulator to put myself in situations that required me to hit targets and shots instead of just smashing balls into the range. On the sim I had no problems hitting quality golf shots, even when I was 200+ out I felt confident in hitting a 5i into a green which is something I’ve never been able to do. Usually, when I'm that far out I club down and lay up. At TopGolf I challenged myself to hit targets that were further than my usual distances with my MCs as well as ones that weren't just straight in front of me so I could test being able to work the ball and control the flight. During my time there I found myself really hitting the 9i well to about the 150yd target. And finally on to the course where I got to hit on real grass. The two main things that worried me the most from my launch monitor testing was the gapping of my “scoring clubs”, which for me is 7-pw, and how low my descent angle was with these clubs. I was worried that I might just bounce balls off the greens because they were coming in too flat. It was a pretty cool day about 55 degrees out and very little wind which was nice. The greens were punched and pretty soft so I might see different results come spring time. I played 9 with them and hit about 3 balls per hole trying different shots and such. I made sure to hit plenty of 4i off the tee as I tend to use long irons, specifically my 3i on shorter par 4s to get into good position but it has yet to arrive so I went to the 4i. The extra distance I get out of these was very nice but it was even better to see that I could still stop balls without too much roll out. For me, it's no good to be able to hit 180 yard 7i into a green if it doesn't set me up for a shot at birdie or par. I hope I see the same results in warmer conditions. Overall I would say the i500 is almost a Jekyll and Hyde type of iron for me. Off the mats, I struggled much more than I ever have but once I got to the grass I found them easy to hit far and accurately as I hoped. (32 out of 40 points) Play it or Trade it? Right now the i500 are a play it for me. I think I need more time getting used to them but the flashes of how good these clubs are have shown me enough that they deserve to stick around for the winter while I continue to work on my game. Maybe I'll change the shafts if I find myself not getting along with them but I don't see them going anywhere just yet. Of course, if something new and shiny comes along or I find a set of 2014 MC heads then who knows what may happen TL;DR The i500 is a nice addition to the players' distance iron. It packs plenty of punch while keeping the look very clean and classic. The feel is ok, but still plenty of room for improvement. I would stress getting fitted for these irons more than others I've tried. Mainly because of the chance at bad gapping issues. If you can hit them off grass I would go that route first because mats seem to hide how these perform thru the turf. I can't wait to see how the industry keeps pushing forward with these kinds of irons because I think we are just scratching the surface of them. Final Score: (82 out of 100 points) *Now I know my total score doesn't add up to what I gave each section, but I gave these 7 extra for potential. Because I wasn't able to play in warmer temps but have seen flashes of how these could possibly be a great set for me I wanted to give them a better score than what my testing has shown so far. * MaxEntropy, GolfSpy_BNG, PING Apologist #9 and 5 others 8 Quote Driver: Epic 10.5 set to 9.5 w/ Tour AD-DI 44.5 FW: F6 baffler set at 16º Hybrid: NONEIrons: 3i 2014 TP CB 4-PW 2011 TP MC w/ TT S400 Wedges: 52º 56º 60 º w/ KBS C-Taper XS Soft-stepped Putter: Sigma G Tyne 34 inches Gold dot Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post STUDque Posted October 8, 2018 Popular Post Share Posted October 8, 2018 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. 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 fixyurdivot, PING Apologist #9, GC70 and 10 others 13 Quote In my Pisa, riding on a 3.5+ G410+ EXS 5W King F7 Hy i500 5-GW Equalizer 56/60 Heppler Ketsch Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
STUDque Posted October 8, 2018 Share Posted October 8, 2018 Stage 2: Official MGS Forum Review for the Ping i500 Irons – 7 January 2019 Intro As I write this, I’m on an airplane. That should be a decent indication of just how busy I’ve been lately. BUT, I’m a man who does what he says he will so here you go with a Stage 2, albeit much later than normal. In case you missed it, I’ve splashed a few mini-updates along the way to fill the gap between Stage 1 and a proper Stage 2. Here’s the links: Why the mixed reviews? Irons-Only Experiment Laser Beam Skipping Rocks The Gap Wedge Basic Characteristics To this point, I’ve taken these beautiful i500s out to the course for a mixture of 9 and 18 hole rounds. In total, I’ve played 17 times with them over amounting to 359 Arccos-tracked shots over the course of 3 weather seasons. I played in hot, cold, calm, windy, rainy, and sometimes a combination of all 5. Up front, I started out with irons-only rounds to build the data and give them a flex in all situations. Since then, I’ve resumed normal play with the full bag. As a reminder from Stage 1 for my general playstyle, I have length but not necessarily accuracy or consistency. Almost all of my scores land between 82-85 but I get there many different ways. Ready for scores? Let’s begin. Looks Let’s just say, mission accomplished. There is no debate that these are some beautiful clubs. Ping has managed to make a game improvement club look like a MB. I’d venture to say most players who play MB do it more for the looks than anything else. The i500 comes in a sleek build that accentuates the bag marvelously. Verdict: Perfect score because there’s no issues whatsoever with the look (10 out of 10 points) Sound & Feel Usually looks is a category most folks can agree on. Sound and Feel is the ultimate objective category. These aspects shape the way we experience a club but the sensation is oh, so personal. For me, I’m a fan of both with some hesitations. Sound – Breaking sound into 2 bits, chatter and contact. For chatter, the clubs have a clickity clackity cheapish sort of sound to them. Must be the hollow body. For contact, there’s a satisfying SMACK on contact. Well struck or not, you know it’s a Ping i500. On occasions where it’s hit near a line of trees, the player can experience a beautiful echo that reverberates through your soul. Feel – These are just…not...forged. The face may be forged, but I have a hard time accepting them into the forged family. My old irons were forged and I played them for nearly 8 years. THOSE had a forged feel. Does the club feel good on a solid struck shot? Yes. Does it feel good on a mishit? Better than expected. Does it feel like a forged iron? NO. Verdict: Taking 1 point off for Sound and 3 for Feel due to reasons cited. (6 out of 10 points) Basic Characteristics As stated in my previews, these irons deliver a beautifully high flight with plenty of stopping power. Not everyone will experience these successful results because the i500s require a certain strike to get the most out of them. I feel, I’m getting the most out of them. Although these produce a high flight, the wind has little to no effect on them. I have noticed that cold weather has a heavier effect than my previous irons. I’m assuming that the temperature is limiting the flexing in the face which reduces the explosive launch. One of my favorite benefits to the irons is how natural partial shots come. I can step up to a partial shot with reasonable confidence and know the irons will perform as long as I do my part. Workability wise, I’m back to playing my favorite left-to-right ball. Gone are the days where that can turn into an extreme double-cross hook. This is lovely. If I want to aim at the left side of the green, I know that’s the furthest left the ball will go. Height wise, I’m comfortable hitting it high (as expected) but can have issues bringing it down for punch shots. For the most part, these escape punches are getting through the trouble thanks to some extreme heat, but they’re missing the window I aimed for flying too high. Forgiveness is, as expected, fantastic. I went into detail on this in one of my preview posts but here’s the tl;dr: toe, heel, thin, fat shots all product an acceptable outcome. In many cases, the distance and direction remains the same as the intended shot just with a lower ball flight. Off mixed lies, these irons have mixed results. Obviously, they play best off a perfect lie. Due to my length, I play a number of irons from the tee regardless of the course so I’m pleased with my ability to be aggressive even with an iron in hand. From the rough, there can be issues elevating the ball. I think this comes from the head size not being a true blade. The body shape encourages the iron to glance upwards and out of the rough making it very difficult to 1) get to a ball that’s sitting down and 2) elevate it to a height that will stop. Mixed, patchy, muddy, or stringy lies all play well. I’ve hit some of my best shots off of the questionable ones. 10/10 would rather hit from pine straw than lush rough. Regarding durability, these irons are very strong. I’ve almost gone out of my way clang them around and there’s very little wear to be seen. The 359 Arccos-tracked shots amount to about 45 each plus a ton for the gap wedge. The gap wedge has by far seen the most work and, as such, is the most worn. Aside from the white reminder line fading (I think this has more to do with my brushing technique than anything else), the “U” is no worse for wear. For demonstration, any picture in this Stage 2 is of the irons AFTER all the playing I’ve done. Verdict: Deducting 3 points for poor performance in the rough but feel positive about all other attributes (17 out of 20 points) On-Course Performance Needless to say, I’m playing my best golf right now. The i500s make the game much easier for me and that’s something I NEEDED. As work and life competes for my time, I find myself heading straight the first tee more and more and spending less time practicing. I need an iron that will help me play my best given my limited practice time. Not saying that I want to cut corners, but I am saying that I need help as my swing continues to be inconsistent. This was another summer of my best golf ever. All we can hope to do is to continually improve and these irons are certainly delivering. I’ll address this because the other testers noted these issues, but I didn’t notice any problems with distance control whatsoever. I didn’t have extreme flyers and I didn’t have balls fall out of the sky. I can’t speak to the cause of their issues regarding anything else besides fit. As you’ll notice, my Arccos gapping has slimmed down to some pretty beautiful numbers. All areas are covered and I’ve got at least 2 clubs to execute any given shot. At this point, I can say with a fair level of confidence that the gap has more to do with the elements than it does the clubs themselves. All that said, the yardages settled to my status quo. There wasn’t the remarkable gain in distance advertised. The remarkable attribute was the height. Sometimes I wish I could ditch the woods and play irons all the time. It was a very fun experiment but also an excellent lesson in course management. None of that would’ve been possible if I had a bum set of irons that I couldn’t keep on the planet. Creativity is possible if your brush paints the picture your mind envisions. If mind and body doesn’t link up, you better like stick figures. I have yet to put these to a competitive test (received after league season ended missing playoffs) but that’s the last remaining question in my mind. Consider this the last update I owe the readers once I’m able to put pressure on myself to hit a demanding shot to win a hole or match. Verdict: Deducting 3 points simply because this is a tough category to get perfect. It’s not a magic club but it’s pretty darn close (27 out of 30 points) Miscellaneous Funny how executing your own template helps you evaluate products in a totally new way. Miscellaneous is for the areas not manufactured. The shipping time, packaging, special notes, etc go here. You’ll start seeing this pop up more in the reviews because the intangibles should be captured as well. On the extras, Ping delivered beautifully. We all had our irons in hand the same week the orders were placed. Blew. My. Mind. I was astounded when I found a driver box sitting on my porch. “No way” I thought “that they fit a set of irons in there.” Indeed they did. Full set of irons carefully packed with neoprene covers. Under the covers, there was a plastic wrap over each iron. Under each plastic wrap, there was a protective film over each club number stamp individually cut to the shape of the number. Talk about going the extra mile. Needless to say, the irons were delivered in pristine condition no matter what the delivery guy decides to do. I love this, controlling what you can control so no outside forces can ruin your efforts. PS, the neoprene covers have been saved and will be used when I travel with the clubs. Talk about dual purpose. Since I’m behind the curtain, I saw a few other testers have issues with their shipments. Ping rectified these issues promptly and demonstrated firmly why they’re the class of the industry. This experience has solidified my full confidence in Ping as a company. Verdict: Perfectly fantastically amazingly awesome experience (10 out of 10 points) Play it or Trade it? Easy answer here. I am my best golfer with these irons in the bag. Once I can bump up my practice schedule, I’ll continue this downward handicap trend to being unstoppable. Muahahaha. Thanks to the i500s, I’ve broken the 10HC line (baseline was 15HC) and have increased my GIR by nearly 10%. All I did was get new irons and practice less. If only everything was this easy! The i500s will certainly come with me into any competitive endeavors. I’m no club ho so I’ve already sold my old TM MCs and have no plans of looking back. Onwards and downwards to lower scores for this guy. Verdict: Famous last words “This may be the last set of irons I’ll ever need” (20 out of 20 points) Conclusion The Ping i500s are a fantastic offering in the players distance category but aren’t without faults. Fit is paramount when making the purchasing decision. They will not perform equally well for all golfers but will perform exceptional for a specific segment of the market. I highly recommend a fitting before putting these in your bag. For those looking for more height and consistency, they are a great place to begin your search regardless of swing speed. Final Score: (90 out of 100 points) See testers? This is how you stay below 2,000 words GolfSpy MPR, GolfSpy_APH, GB13 and 3 others 6 Quote In my Pisa, riding on a 3.5+ G410+ EXS 5W King F7 Hy i500 5-GW Equalizer 56/60 Heppler Ketsch Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GolfSpy MPR Posted October 8, 2018 Share Posted October 8, 2018 They look like the G700s stopped being John Daly, just living off their natural talent, and hit the gym, got a haircut and bought a new suit, and started climbing the ladder.I'm not giving up my G700s, but I'll be honest: assuming these results are what I expect they'll be, the look of these make me a little jealous.Looking forward to the reviews, all! Golfspy_CG2, MaxEntropy, JohnSmalls and 2 others 5 Quote TS3 9.5°, Tensei Blue CBX T3 15°, Project X HZRDUS Black Epic Super Hybrid 18°, Aerotech Steel Fiber FC HYB S C722 21°, Ventus Blue 8S CBX Iron-Wood 25°, Project X HZRDUS Black 6.0 639 CB, Aldila NV 95 Graphite, 6–PW CBX 48° T22 54° and 60° EAS 4.0, Garsen G-Pro grip TP5x and Tour Response Full WITB with pictures Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kanoito Posted October 8, 2018 Share Posted October 8, 2018 I think I'm gonna get stoned, once my Stage 2 comes out... drumroll... Quote SpeedZone 9* w/ Aldila Rogue Silver 60 S X2 Hot 3 Deep 14.5* w/ Aldila Tour Green 75 S JetSpeed 5W 19* w/ Matrix Velox T 69 S OR Super LS 3H 19* w/ Kuro Kage Black 80 S JPX919 Forged 4-PW w/ Modus3 105 S Vokey SM7 50/08F, 54/14F & 58/08M w/ Modus3 115 Wedge ER1 34" w/ SuperStroke Fatso 2.0 Pro / H2NO Lite Cart Bag / 3.0 / NX7 Pro LRF My reviews: MLA Putter // Titleist SM7 // PING i500 // PuttOUT Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Keyser Posted October 8, 2018 Share Posted October 8, 2018 Very well stated review and I love your attention to detail, well done sir and good luck with Stage 2! Quote Driver: - Titelist 917D - 9.5* - Rogue Max X-Stiff 3W: - Titelist - 917F - Rogue Max Stiff Hybrid - Titelist - H1 3H - Stiff Irons: Mizuno MP54 4-PW True Temper Dynamic Gold Wedges: Cleveland 588 RTX 50.10, 54.8, 58.12 True Temper Dynamic Gold Putter: Scotty Cameron Monterey California 1.5 - 34in Ball: Taylor Made Tp5x Loc: USA/OR, Handicap: 12 RH, Irons 1 degree flat Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Har in the Hat Posted October 8, 2018 Share Posted October 8, 2018 stage 1 posted Quote What's in my Mizuno BR-D2 bag OFFICIAL TESTER FOR THE PING i500 CLUBS. Currently playing Ping i500 w/ Alta CB graphite shafts MP 25 - fitted w/ Project X shafts - stiff 60 / 56 52 910 D2 driver - 9.5 degree -fitted13 F 3 wood 13.5 deg CPR 3 hybrid Method mallet Dexterity: I shoot left-handed so no one can ask me "Hey, can I try that club?" Twitter @GolfingHat Instagram @Mizunostixgolfnut Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Har in the Hat Posted October 8, 2018 Share Posted October 8, 2018 2 hours ago, Tomkeyser said: Very well stated review and I love your attention to detail, well done sir and good luck with Stage 2! Thanks Tom. Quote What's in my Mizuno BR-D2 bag OFFICIAL TESTER FOR THE PING i500 CLUBS. Currently playing Ping i500 w/ Alta CB graphite shafts MP 25 - fitted w/ Project X shafts - stiff 60 / 56 52 910 D2 driver - 9.5 degree -fitted13 F 3 wood 13.5 deg CPR 3 hybrid Method mallet Dexterity: I shoot left-handed so no one can ask me "Hey, can I try that club?" Twitter @GolfingHat Instagram @Mizunostixgolfnut Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Har in the Hat Posted October 8, 2018 Share Posted October 8, 2018 3 hours ago, Kanoito said: I think I'm gonna get stoned, once my Stage 2 comes out... drumroll... Quote What's in my Mizuno BR-D2 bag OFFICIAL TESTER FOR THE PING i500 CLUBS. Currently playing Ping i500 w/ Alta CB graphite shafts MP 25 - fitted w/ Project X shafts - stiff 60 / 56 52 910 D2 driver - 9.5 degree -fitted13 F 3 wood 13.5 deg CPR 3 hybrid Method mallet Dexterity: I shoot left-handed so no one can ask me "Hey, can I try that club?" Twitter @GolfingHat Instagram @Mizunostixgolfnut Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
null Posted October 8, 2018 Share Posted October 8, 2018 Great stuff so far, gets. @Har in the Hat I can't believe those clubs made it out of Ping QC. Definitely curious to how they will wear. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
perseveringgolfer Posted October 8, 2018 Share Posted October 8, 2018 Nice stage 1 there Har, the blotches look like oil marks and tool slips on the face. I'm sure it wont affect performance but it's nice to see pristine clubs straight out the wrapper. p.s As an aside I've noticed 3 leftys so far in the Ping i210 and i500 reviews. Nice to see some lefty love around here. /for the avoidance of doubt I'm a righty! GolfSpy_APH 1 Quote Driver Awaiting NEW Driver (after 10 yrs) 4 Wood Callaway Big Bertha Steelhead plus 4+ Callaway shaft in 'Firm' flex Hybrid Titleist 910H 19* Diamana ahina 'flower' shaft in 'S' Irons Mizuno MP18SC 4-PW N.S Pro Modus3 Tour 105 in 'S' Wedges Callaway Mack Daddy forged in black 50* and 54* KBS Tour in 'R' Putter 'YES' Tracy 11 C groove 34.5" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kanoito Posted October 8, 2018 Share Posted October 8, 2018 Stage 1 is up, folks! And unlike Har, my clubs were in pristine condition when they arrived Quote SpeedZone 9* w/ Aldila Rogue Silver 60 S X2 Hot 3 Deep 14.5* w/ Aldila Tour Green 75 S JetSpeed 5W 19* w/ Matrix Velox T 69 S OR Super LS 3H 19* w/ Kuro Kage Black 80 S JPX919 Forged 4-PW w/ Modus3 105 S Vokey SM7 50/08F, 54/14F & 58/08M w/ Modus3 115 Wedge ER1 34" w/ SuperStroke Fatso 2.0 Pro / H2NO Lite Cart Bag / 3.0 / NX7 Pro LRF My reviews: MLA Putter // Titleist SM7 // PING i500 // PuttOUT Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Har in the Hat Posted October 8, 2018 Share Posted October 8, 2018 2 hours ago, perseveringgolfer said: Nice stage 1 there Har, the blotches look like oil marks and tool slips on the face. I'm sure it wont affect performance but it's nice to see pristine clubs straight out the wrapper. p.s As an aside I've noticed 3 leftys so far in the Ping i210 and i500 reviews. Nice to see some lefty love around here. /for the avoidance of doubt I'm a righty! thanks. I'm not worried about them as ( you stated) they won't affect the performance. perseveringgolfer 1 Quote What's in my Mizuno BR-D2 bag OFFICIAL TESTER FOR THE PING i500 CLUBS. Currently playing Ping i500 w/ Alta CB graphite shafts MP 25 - fitted w/ Project X shafts - stiff 60 / 56 52 910 D2 driver - 9.5 degree -fitted13 F 3 wood 13.5 deg CPR 3 hybrid Method mallet Dexterity: I shoot left-handed so no one can ask me "Hey, can I try that club?" Twitter @GolfingHat Instagram @Mizunostixgolfnut Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Har in the Hat Posted October 8, 2018 Share Posted October 8, 2018 2 hours ago, jlukes said: Great stuff so far, gets. @Har in the Hat I can't believe those clubs made it out of Ping QC. Definitely curious to how they will wear. thanks JL. I'm keeping an eye on that for sure Quote What's in my Mizuno BR-D2 bag OFFICIAL TESTER FOR THE PING i500 CLUBS. Currently playing Ping i500 w/ Alta CB graphite shafts MP 25 - fitted w/ Project X shafts - stiff 60 / 56 52 910 D2 driver - 9.5 degree -fitted13 F 3 wood 13.5 deg CPR 3 hybrid Method mallet Dexterity: I shoot left-handed so no one can ask me "Hey, can I try that club?" Twitter @GolfingHat Instagram @Mizunostixgolfnut Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GC70 Posted October 8, 2018 Share Posted October 8, 2018 Sorry for the delay guys! My stage 1 is up. Sent from my iPhone using MyGolfSpy Quote Atmos Blue 6S Atmos Red 7S Atmos Blue 8S Apex CF19 4-AW C-Taper Lite S SM7's RAW 50F - 54S - 58M - 62M Nike 006 Paul Casey Proto (Oven) Nike 006 Rory Proto (Oven) Pro V1 / Z-Star Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sirchunksalot Posted October 8, 2018 Share Posted October 8, 2018 Har, Kanoito, excellent stage ones. These clubs are beautiful and I'm sure you guys will have fun with them and I'm looking forward to reading about it. Har, I hate that you didn't receive your clubs in excellent condition, I know Ping had this problem with the G700's. Like you said, it doesn't affect playability but these clubs scream premium.Kanoito, I hope you have finally found a set of Pings that you can fall in love with. Great job guys, enjoy your clubs.Sent from my SM-G955U using MyGolfSpy mobile app Kanoito 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GB13 Posted October 9, 2018 Share Posted October 9, 2018 8 minutes ago, GC70 said: Sorry for the delay guys! My stage 1 is up. Sent from my iPhone using MyGolfSpy What course is that? Looks nice. GC70 1 Quote Wilson Staff C300 9.0* Fujikura Pro 58 stiff Callaway Rogue 3W Mitsubishi Diamana D+ LTD 80 stiff Mizuno MP-18 MMC FLI-HI 2 iron UST Mamiya Recoil 95 stiff Ping I200's 4-W Aerotech Steelfiber I110 CW stiff Ping Glide 52* and 58* stiff Bettinardi Studio Stock #38 Armlock Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GC70 Posted October 9, 2018 Share Posted October 9, 2018 What course is that? Looks nice. The Links at Northfork. That’s are 3 hole practice loop. 2 par 4’s and a par 3. It’s great for testing clubs, balls, warming up before a round. It’s set up and taken care of just like the course. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Quote Atmos Blue 6S Atmos Red 7S Atmos Blue 8S Apex CF19 4-AW C-Taper Lite S SM7's RAW 50F - 54S - 58M - 62M Nike 006 Paul Casey Proto (Oven) Nike 006 Rory Proto (Oven) Pro V1 / Z-Star Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GB13 Posted October 9, 2018 Share Posted October 9, 2018 3 minutes ago, GC70 said: The Links at Northfork. That’s are 3 hole practice loop. 2 par 4’s and a par 3. It’s great for testing clubs, balls, warming up before a round. It’s set up and taken care of just like the course. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Thanks, I'll have to check it out sometime. Quote Wilson Staff C300 9.0* Fujikura Pro 58 stiff Callaway Rogue 3W Mitsubishi Diamana D+ LTD 80 stiff Mizuno MP-18 MMC FLI-HI 2 iron UST Mamiya Recoil 95 stiff Ping I200's 4-W Aerotech Steelfiber I110 CW stiff Ping Glide 52* and 58* stiff Bettinardi Studio Stock #38 Armlock Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GolfSpy_BNG Posted October 9, 2018 Share Posted October 9, 2018 Great stuff so far fellas! I can't wait for stage 2's. I am really curious how the forgiveness is for an iron that looks so much like a blade? GC70 1 Quote What is in my Sun Mountain C-130 bag or Jones MyGolfSpy bag Driver: Dark speed LS 8* set to -1.5* with an Attas Daaas 4x shaft @ 45” Fairway: F85 3 wood with a XPhplexx Agera X @ 42.5” F85 5 wood with a UST Elements Chrome 7F5 @ 41.5" Driving Iron: Rapture 2-Iron Irons: SMS Pros 4-PW with Steelfiber I95s Wedges: SMS 50* T grind with Steelfiber i110s Glide 4.0 46* zz wedge shaft Glide 4.0 E grind 54* zz wedge shaft Putters: Mezz.1 34” 69* lie EV5.1 black 33.5” 69* lie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr_Theoo Posted October 9, 2018 Share Posted October 9, 2018 https://forum.mygolfspy.com/topic/25888-official-forum-member-review-ping-i500-irons/ My stage 1 is up! hope you enjoy it GolfSpy_BNG and GB13 2 Quote Driver: Epic 10.5 set to 9.5 w/ Tour AD-DI 44.5 FW: F6 baffler set at 16º Hybrid: NONEIrons: 3i 2014 TP CB 4-PW 2011 TP MC w/ TT S400 Wedges: 52º 56º 60 º w/ KBS C-Taper XS Soft-stepped Putter: Sigma G Tyne 34 inches Gold dot Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GB13 Posted October 9, 2018 Share Posted October 9, 2018 4 minutes ago, Mr_Theoo said: https://forum.mygolfspy.com/topic/25888-official-forum-member-review-ping-i500-irons/ My stage 1 is up! hope you enjoy it Great stage 1! I must say, your swing has improved A LOT with those lessons. I would exepct to see the handicap dropping. Mr_Theoo 1 Quote Wilson Staff C300 9.0* Fujikura Pro 58 stiff Callaway Rogue 3W Mitsubishi Diamana D+ LTD 80 stiff Mizuno MP-18 MMC FLI-HI 2 iron UST Mamiya Recoil 95 stiff Ping I200's 4-W Aerotech Steelfiber I110 CW stiff Ping Glide 52* and 58* stiff Bettinardi Studio Stock #38 Armlock Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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