PING Blueprint Irons

[Golfspy_CG2 25,108]

The long awaited release from PING.

  

     PRESS RELEASE

PING introduces Blueprint;

forged blade iron

 

PHOENIX (May 20, 2019): Focusing on the needs of highly skilled golfers who rely on pinpoint accuracy, PING introduced the Blueprint today, a forged-blade iron sized and shaped to ensure the workability and confidence required to play with score-lowering precision.

The 8620 carbon steel iron is available for pre-order and custom fitting at authorized PING golf shops around the world beginning today.

“As the name suggests, we’ve applied a Blueprint approach to the new irons,” said John K. Solheim, PING President. “Every detail is extremely precise and carefully calculated. The resulting design is spectacular in every way for the elite player -- performance, feel and looks. It’s a true shot-maker’s iron crafted with precision, and for precision.”

“With that in mind,” Solheim continued, “we know the Blueprint iron isn’t for everyone. We encourage golfers interested in the Blueprint to get fit and compare it to other PING iron designs to find the best solution for their game. To paraphrase the warning sign next to the first tee at Bethpage Black that we saw so often last week during the PGA Championship, ‘The Blueprint is an extremely difficult iron to play, which we recommend only for highly skilled golfers.’ ”

Workability, versatility

Fully forged from 8620 carbon steel, the Blueprint’s small blade design appeals to the player who puts a premium on workability and trajectory control. Shorter blade lengths, less offset and narrow sole widths optimized to perform in all conditions give elite players an iron to attack any pin with confidence. A machined tungsten toe screw increases the MOI for additional forgiveness and combines with an internal heel weight to provide precise swing-weight tuning.

“I put them in play immediately once they arrived,” said PING pro Tony Finau, the 15th–ranked player in the world. “They’re workable, incredibly versatile and feel great. There isn’t a single shot I can’t hit with them, which gives me a lot of confidence in pressure situations. The look at address is also perfect; the size and shape really fit my eye.”

Tour inspired, Tour validated

Based on requests from several PING professionals for a blade-style iron sized and shaped to deliver more control and workability, PING’s engineering team took a scientific, methodical approach to the development and design of the Blueprint iron. Through on-course observation sessions and conversations with the players about the shots they rely on to excel in competition, the engineers began the prototyping process to apply their learnings and gather additional feedback. After extensive in-house research with varying head sizes, the findings revealed the theory of “aim small, miss small” was validated by many of the highly skilled players in the test, who produced tighter stat areas when hitting the more compact head. That design was prototyped in limited quantities and released on tour nine months before the official introduction.

“When we launched it on tour, a few players put it in play immediately and it wasn’t long before we had our first win,” continued Solheim. “Based on a lot of their input, we were able to deliver exactly what they were looking for while expanding our iron offerings into a new category. We’re very pleased with the development process we went through and are looking forward to applying our learnings to future PING products.”

Four-step forging process

A four-step, multi-stage process for the one-piece forging provides very tight dimensional tolerance control within the compact design. The high-strength, 8620 carbon steel increases the iron’s durability, ensuring long-lasting performance and quality. More than 50 steps in the manufacturing process, including machining the face and grooves, are 100% inspected.

Pleasing sound and feel

The choice of 8620 carbon steel combined with a head design that concentrates mass through the impact zone delivers a pleasing sound and feel.

“The feel is amazing,” reports PING pro Louis Oosthuizen, who was the first player to put the new irons in his bag last fall and the first to win with them at the South African Open in December. “I love the feedback I get and how smoothly they go through the turf from any lie. They’re like no other iron I’ve ever hit. The Blueprint’s workability gives me the control to hit all the shots with the precision I need to win tournaments.”

Blueprint Iron Specifications

Manufacturing process: One-piece, four-step, multi-stage forging

Materials/finish: 8620 carbon steel, tungsten toe/heel weights, hydropearl 2.0 finish

Available: 2-9, PW, +- 2° lie angle

Stock grip: Golf Pride MCC Align Black/White (Std., Mid)

Optional grips: Golf Pride Tour Velvet 360 in six sizes (Blue -1/16", Red -1/32", Aqua -1/64", White Std., Gold +1/32", Orange +1/16"); Golf Pride Tour Velvet Cord (upcharge) in two sizes (White Std., Gold +1/32”)

Arccos Smart Grips: Golf Pride Tour Velvet 360 (upcharge) in two sizes (White Std., Aqua -1/64")

Stock shaft options: True Temper Dynamic Gold 120 (S300, X100), PING AWT 2.0 (R, S, X)

Aftermarket shaft options (no upcharge): True Temper Dynamic Gold 105 (R300, S300), True Temper Dynamic Gold (S300, X100), Project X LZ (5.0, 5.5, 6.0, 6.5), True Temper XP95 (R300, S300), Nippon Pro Modus Tour 105 (S, X), KBS Tour (R, S, S+, X)

U.S. MSRP: $230 per iron w/steel shaft (stock or aftermarket)

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PING and Blueprint are registered and unregistered trademarks of Karsten Manufacturing Corporation in the U.S. and other countries. All other trademarks mentioned are the property of their respective owners.

 

 

[ejgaudette 892]

Great looking irons if only I had the game to even consider playing them but that is not the case. Interesting that the toe screw is for swing weight purposes only.

[TR1PTIK 2,626]

I'd certainly consider trying a combo set with the iBlade. You know, if I had the pockets for it.... $230 per club is definitely running a little steep, but darn those things look good!!!

[Shankster 25,564]

Price tag is dumb. Who else is selling blades for $230 a club? Looking at over 2k for a set.

PXG effect is real, and only will get worse.

[wipierce 57]

These clubs are beautiful! My pro and I had a conversation about potentially holding off on ordering the i210's for the Blueprint. After watching videos and reading reviews today I'm happy with placing the order for the i210's. Although I play well enough to probably game these, the added forgiveness with the i210's will be helpful when I only get out once per month.

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[PMookie 11,877]

Not sure I could play a piece of paper at the end of a shaft.... But they look nice, and the sound these made in Mark Crossfield’s review was incredible!


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[Sluggo42 6,033]

Everyone from high to low seems to love em, but like the Shank says.. price point is dumb. Gimme a break eh?

[yungkory 9,418]

I think the price is a by product of how much labor goes into their forging process. I think I saw that all together it's like 18 steps to build one iron?

[FrogginBullfish 1,439]

Yeah, $230 an iron is expensive. But you have to consider that Ping isn't expecting to sell many of these, and given how much effort goes into manufacturing them, I can't blame them for trying to make the product worth their while, otherwise there's no point to them even selling them to consumers.

I might be wrong, but I seem to remember Ping always being on the high side when it came to price, even 10 or so years ago when $300 seemed like too much for a driver.

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[golfertrb 1,529]

Budget Golf is taking pre-orders on the Blueprint irons - 8 irons $1,699.99 or $212.50 per club. Still quite pricey but better than $230.

I've played a lot of Ping clubs through the years and they are typically priced quite well with a few notable exceptions. I very much see the competition between Ping and PXG. PXG stole away several of their design team and they have similarities in terms of some anesthetics at address and I agree with the thoughts of others in terms of the "PXG effect." The Blueprint irons are very much a departure for Ping but they are lovely and I would enjoy a Como set myself! With all the competition it is a great time to be a golfer and to wait until the next greatest thing comes out so we can buy what will be last year's "must have" at discounted prices haha.


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[HarryC 59]

I've tried the 7 iron at my local range the other day and they look increible - granted I thought it was a childs iron at first by how small it looked!!

First shot, I managed to cream it out of the middle and thought sold! Next three shots I felt like I had broke my hands after evidently not hitting the middle!

Stunning looking clubs though!

 

[cnosil 14,644]

Next three shots I felt like I had broke my hands after evidently not hitting the middle!

My experience as well; feel great when struck in the center. Miss even a little and your hands will know.

[HarryC 59]

3 minutes ago, cnosil said:

 

My experience as well; feel great when struck in the center. Miss even a little and your hands will know.

 

Unfortunatley at my handicap my hands would be stinging all the way round an 18 

[Shankster 25,564]

Unfortunatley at my handicap my hands would be stinging all the way round an 18 

Is it your iron ball striking that makes your handicap higher?

[HarryC 59]

1 hour ago, Shankster said:

 

Is it your iron ball striking that makes your handicap higher?

 

Not really - it's mainly my course management and trying to overplay things which causes the biggest issue and I can be quite erratic with my arms from time to time. But I felt like I really had to hit the Blueprints well in order to not feel it in my hands (if that makes sense)

[RickyBobby_PR 4,846]

Had the chance to swing these last week at a ping wood fitting while I was warming up.

they look gorgeous...some of the best looking butter knives on the market.

they definitely require a good and consistent swing. Like any blade they will punish you on misses. The sound on sweet foot contact is very soft and the feel (obviously will change slightly based on shaft) is what’s expected on good and bad hits. 

[jlukes 12,761]

I hit these during my True Spec fitting. Loved them but I just kept catching everything fat with them. Extremely sharp leading edge and narrow sole 

[Rtracymog 726]

I was less than impressed with them when I hit them. They look good, but I thought they felt very harsh, especially for a “forged” club. I don’t have the game to do a full set, but for me, this wouldn’t be in my list of 3-4 blade irons that I would combo.


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[jinxianjun 6]

I hit these along with the Wilson Staff blades yesterday at my local golf shop. I wasn’t extremely impressed. Really couldn’t get a feel for the head. It didn’t feel like a forged head to me. But I was hitting from a worn mat so take this with a grain of salt. I do look forward to trying it out more.