PICTURES AND TRIP DETAILS ADDED!!! PMookie goes to Ping Proving Grounds

[PMookie]

I am STOKED! I’m being sponsored for a trip to Ping HQ in order to go through a FULL BAG fitting! I fly out there Wednesday for “work”, then Thursday I go to Ping HQ for a 10AM tour, and the fitting is from 1pm-4pm. I’m signing a NDA, so I’m hoping I get to hit the “new stuff”. I’m most excited about their putter fitting because from what I’ve heard, it’s pretty legit! I probably won’t be able to take many pics of anything other than what’s in the tour, but I’ll try to get data and fitting info to post here.  I can’t wait!!!!

[sirchunksalot]

4 minutes ago, PMookie said:

I am STOKED! I’m being sponsored for a trip to Ping HQ in order to go through a FULL BAG fitting! I fly out there Wednesday for “work”, then Thursday I go to Ping HQ for a 10AM tour, and the fitting is from 1pm-4pm. I’m signing a NDA, so I’m hoping I get to hit the “new stuff”. I’m most excited about their putter fitting because from what I’ve heard, it’s pretty legit! I probably won’t be able to take many pics of anything other than what’s in the tour, but I’ll try to get data and fitting info to post here.  I can’t wait!!!!

That's awesome Paul! That sounds like one of those once in a lifetime opportunities. It'll be interesting to hear about Ping's fitting process and maybe hear about the improvements they can give you. 

[Golfspy_CG2]

Good stuff.  It’s an incredible tour and even more incredible fitting process.  Enjoy. 

[GolfSpy_APH]

Exciting opportunity! Should be a lot of fun and a good having experience. 

[Caddie1966]

Wow!  I’m jealous.  What a great opportunity.  I’m sure you will have just what you need when they fix you up.  Looking forward to the after visit readout.

[fixyurdivot]

17 hours ago, PMookie said:

I am STOKED! I’m being sponsored for a trip to Ping HQ in order to go through a FULL BAG fitting! I fly out there Wednesday for “work”, then Thursday I go to Ping HQ for a 10AM tour, and the fitting is from 1pm-4pm. I’m signing a NDA, so I’m hoping I get to hit the “new stuff”. I’m most excited about their putter fitting because from what I’ve heard, it’s pretty legit! I probably won’t be able to take many pics of anything other than what’s in the tour, but I’ll try to get data and fitting info to post here.  I can’t wait!!!!

Wow, that sounds great.  If you don't mind me asking, how does someone "being sponsored" come about?  Have fun.

[bens197]

PING HQ is awesome…I hope you have the best time Paul!

[Golfspy_CG2]

8 hours ago, fixyurdivot said:

Wow, that sounds great.  If you don't mind me asking, how does someone "being sponsored" come about?  Have fun.

Typically, it’s through a PING rep in your area. They get a couple invites a year they can extend to a loyal account or customer of an account. 

[PMookie]

3 hours ago, Golfspy_CG2 said:

Typically, it’s through a PING rep in your area. They get a couple invites a year they can extend to a loyal account or customer of an accou

11 hours ago, fixyurdivot said:

Wow, that sounds great.  If you don't mind me asking, how does someone "being sponsored" come about?  Have fun.

My rep here sponsored me.

[PMookie]

Adding pics of the info they sent me for my fitting. Putter will be the most intriguing part of the fitting, followed by the ballnamic recommendation. I’ve done a million driver, iron and wedge fittings, so other than the excitement of trying the new releases, putter and ball are where my game can get the quickest help. I changed my stance, grip, hand position, and putter length a little more than a year ago and my average putts per round is up, so this fitting is important!!!

 

[PMookie]

A quick taste!!!!

[Shapotomous]

[Golfspy_CG2]

On 10/27/2022 at 3:28 PM, PMookie said:

A quick taste!!!!

I’m sure that was one of Tigers US AM putters…

[fixyurdivot]

We're all living a PING fantasy vicariously through Paul. Word has it that just standing in that putter vault lowers your handicap by at least 2 strokes... just repeating what I've heard mind you. 

[PMookie]

On 10/29/2022 at 2:30 PM, Golfspy_CG2 said:

I’m sure that was one of Tigers US AM putters…

One was Jack’s, and one was Seve’s

23 hours ago, fixyurdivot said:

We're all living a PING fantasy vicariously through Paul. Word has it that just standing in that putter vault lowers your handicap by at least 2 strokes... just repeating what I've heard mind you. 

Promptly shot 86 yesterday, 11 strokes over my hcp!!!

[jayjay0808]

Looks and sounds like and absolutely brilliant trip! Hopefully that Putter Vault trip rubs off on your next round and beat your handicap!

[PMookie]

When I pulled-in I wasn’t sure I was at the right location because the front of the building is so unassuming and there’s no huge “PING” signage anywhere!!! So when I parked, and started walking to the front, I wasn’t exactly sure I was in the right place. I was relieved to finally see the Ping name behind the receptionist as I came through the front door. There’s no grand foyer, no statues or trophies, just a small waiting room and a front desk receptionist. Unassuming Ping, just as I should’ve expected! 

I signed-in, signed the NDA, and then started the tour of the facility, guided by Brian Botha, and Julyen Cass. Good gracious. Impressive. Again, simple and unassuming, but when folks say Ping is an “engineering company, not a marketing company”, it’s legit. Most all of the machines in the place were designed by Ping engineers. The way that club components go from the “warehouse” at one end, through one of 7 production lines, and finish at shipping on the far end is unreal. Bar codes, “birth certificate” guiding ALL of the steps in the process of building clubs. So cool to watch it all go from one end to the other. A couple notes here, folks only work at their station for 3 hours at-a-time before rotating to another station. The plastic pieces that go into the  construction of the clubs and bags are made ON-CAMPUS by Ping! That little dampener that goes into the back of the i230 now? Yep, saw it made, and touched it as it came out of the machine! The little tiny plastic cover that goes over the tip of the club before going into the head? Yep. Made at Ping HQ. The plastic top and base to the Hoofer? Yep, those too! Unreal. Anyway, I watched sets of clubs be built, got to see bags made, watched the plastics production, even got to see the milling in-process for putters. So. Stinking. Cool. All along the way I was taught the history of Ping, of Karsten and his beginnings at GE and his development of rabbit ears for tvs, how he made putters on the side at the start, his wife’s contribution to it all, and how it became Ping of today! Cool tidbit… “Karsten would not be happy with the appearance of our clubs now. He wanted them as ugly as possible to show the engineering, the thought that went into them!” Remember how Ping irons never had ferrules until recently? Karsten didn’t want them because HE knew how to construct a machine to get the shaft into the hosel perfectly without the need for ferrules! He did it to show others it COULD be done. He’d be upset that Ping uses ferrules now! Ha! So, I got to see it all. 50 acres, many buildings, and many employees I met who’d been there 20+ years, one over FORTY years! I drank the Ping Kool Aid… A lot of it! So impressive. Where did we finish the tour? Yep, the VAULT! Un. REAL! I saw the very first gold plated putter, saw any putter I wanted to see from any player that had won, and I even got to hit a putt inside the Vault with the gold plated Ping One putter, Karsten’s first, the one that made the “ping” noise that gave the company their name. I asked to see Tiger’s putter from the Ams, Jack’s stuff, Seve’s, Hovland’s, Freddie’s, etc. Too many to choose from. I even saw the “kids” putter that a pro won with as well! Unreal to stand in there, look around, AND to hit a putt!!!! So cool. Brian Botha, and Julyen Cass were GREAT hosts! I thoroughly enjoyed my time with them, and felt like family due to their attention and personalities. Great guys!!!

After my tour I ran down the street to grab a bite to eat (Double-double meal and shake from In-N-Out) and then came back to start my fitting process that started at 1pm. Pat Abshire was my fitter for the day and I was taken into the special fitting lounge/locker area. Pretty cool because this is where their whole PGA/LPGA/LIV staff come to use a locker, grab a snack and a drink, AND gloves and hats! Yep. Boxes of gloves, and all kinds of hats separated by fitted/adjustable/color in cubbies. I put my valuable in a locker (wooden like a country club), grabbed a Ping glove, and headed to the Putter Lab. I had heard about the Putter Lab… The granite “table”, the cameras, etc. Here I was, 45’ long elevated putting surface made from 2 pieces of granite, that was made level to 1/1000th of an inch. It weighed over 17 tons, and sits atop a support that goes 5 feet into the ground so that the level-“ness” of the table isn’t affected by OUTSIDE TRAFFIC ON THE STREET OVER TIME! Seriously!

(Pat on the left. Taken from a video online)

Pat took my static measurements, explained the Ping fitting app, the cradle, etc. I was then told about the various putters from which I could choose, and then we talked a bit about head-shape influence from my time in Eden fittings. I started with the 2022 Prime Tyne 4 at 36” and I chose based solely on looks per his direction. What did I want to see at address. I then got on the “table” (so cool) and placed a ball directly under a laser that was overhead, placing the laser dot on the center of the top of the ball. I then stroked 5 putts to a putting disk 15’ away. Quick note, the table “stimp” runs at 12-13, pretty dang fast for a public course golfer here!!!! Sheesh! Once my 5th putt was finished we looked at the readings from the app that were displayed on a screen, and then looked at the pics that were taken from down-the-line, face-on, and of the putter head IMMEDIATELY as it passed through the laser. The Tyne was not for me… I miss putts to the right, and the Tyne did that as well due to not enough toe-hang, so I went to pick a second putter. This time I chose the PLD Milled Anser! Black head, no markings, ooooooooooooo so pretty! We saw from the pics that 36” was the perfect length as my eyes were directly over the ball, so we stayed at that length. Fiver more putts, evaluate. Yep, this was the putter. My “putting handicap” moved from 0.8, to +1.8 by just changing to the Anser, keeping the same length. So cool. I was in-love with the putter from the first moment it hit the ball. The feel, sound, distance, and I was dead-center of the putting disk 4/5 times (one bad stroke). Fitting result: PLD Anser Milled matte black, 36”, std loft and lie (3* loft, 20*/70* lie), black graphite shaft, PP58 black midsize blackout grip.  

(Hovland in the SAME SPOT)

Now, out to the range to start the full-swing portion. The one thing I’ll say here at the beginning is we didn’t waste time. I didn’t hit 200 balls! I was working with “stock options” for the most part anyway, so we took 4-5 swings and made changes or moved-on! I was SO worried I’d be exhausted and not have enough juice for the whole bag, but I had plenty because Pat has been doing this for 25+ years and is SO efficient and experienced. Also, outside of the newly announced i230, I was not allowed to hit any of the G430 stuff. Even though there were two Pros right next to me fitting for them, I couldn’t grab them, look at them up-close, nor hit them, so just G425 stuff. The only bummer of the day…

Irons first. Pat asked me right away, “What do you see yourself in? I525, i59, i230…?” I said 230. He handed me i525 to start and off we went. After about 8 shots he handed me i59. 525 were too long, spin too low, but otherwise pretty good. I59 were pretty good too, but a few misses, and spin too high, larger dispersion circle. After about 8 shots I’m in the i230. Loved the look right away, and Pat asked this about EVERY club I hit. Again, you need to like what you’re seeing at address, one can’t overcome that so it HAS to look good. Two swings in the feel and ball flight had me. He moved me to a KBS Tour 125 (?) x flex shaft and it felt pretty good. We had been hitting DG x100 in everything up to this point. I asked for the x100 back in these and it was what I really liked, also used-to over the years. He talked about how I was needing Green color code, but was going to go Blue and make a couple tweaks to get me where I needed to be. Blue head put on the x100 and we were there except for a little too much launch… Easy fix: power spec. So many think power spec is JUST for more distance. Here, Pat was using it for me to bring down my launch numbers a tad. Distance wasn’t going to be a ton longer, so it wasn’t a concern. I talked about fear of needing 5 wedges and he took that fear away. Specs: i230 power spec, +1’, 4-UW, Blue color code, DGx100, midsize grip +2 wraps. D6 swing weight. 

Driver. We started with LST and the stock Rogue shaft in X, but I told him after hitting it all over the place, but LONG, I have the same head at home and just can’t control it. Left once, right another. I explain to him my gamer is my Honma at 45”, heavy head, 80 stiff RIP Alpha shaft. Short and heavy. I asked could I hit the Max head if he thought we could get the spin in a decent window. Sure. Grabbed the Max head and put it on the Rogue. Good, but not great. Just felt too LONG in my hands and through the swing. Numbers were decent. He then switches to the Ping Tour 75 X shaft at 45.25”. Oooo. REALLY close, just need to bring launch and spin down a tad. So, what did he do? What was his adjustment to the head or shaft, or both????……………………………………………….. He takes the club, goes and makes a change and hands it to me. Bingo. Hosel change? Nope. Shaft change? Nope. All he did was add a strip of lead tape to the sole near the face to simulate 5g of hot melt inside, near the face. Reduced launch, reduced spin. Bam. Note to you all, and myself for future reference! Lead tape/goo can be the slight change you need! Driver done. G425 Max, Ping Tour 75X 45.25”, 5g hot melt toward the face, and same midsize grip +2. D5+ swing weight.

Fairway and hybrid. Gapping came-up now and we looked at their proprietary program for it. He entered my driver and 7 iron numbers and the program kicked-out the carry and total yardages for each club to give us where we needed to be with fairway and hybrid numbers. So we were looking for a SPECIFIC carry and total number from these next 2 clubs and we’d make adjustments to achieve those numbers. Huh… Not just distance? Not just dispersion? Nope, hit a gap!!! First time ever in a fitting, and HOW REFRESHING! We talked here about how I play the Cobra King Tec hybrids in my fairway spot (17* turned down to 16), and hybrid spot. I told him that the LST I had with the Rogue shaft just didn’t work for me, and I’d been hooking all fairway woods especially the LST, and these Cobra heads were the first in years to go dead straight. He took what he learned from driver and applied it to fairway and hybrid: shorter and heavier. Honestly, I think I may have hit 15 total balls to get these two fitted because of the gapping focus. LST and hybrid both with Ping Tour 75/85 X shafts and adjustments made on loft to get us right where they needed to be. And guess what was added to the sole? Yep. Same lead tape. Five grams of goo was going in both the fairway and hybrid. Fairway wood is the 3 turned-down 1, 75X shaft, and the hybrid was the 19* turned-UP 1.5* 85X shaft, both -1/2” in length, same grips. Both D3 swing weight.

(My gapping chart) 

Lastly, wedges. We only hit the Glide 4 and this was based-on the fact that I wanted forgiveness. We talked about lofts of my three wedges, what shaft was in them, what brand, etc. He handed me a 54* Green color code. I hit ONE shot. Nope. I turned to Pat, “This is toe-up. Can’t stand the look, no way I can hit it.” LOOKS FIRST. Don’t play what doesn’t look right!!! He asked about my wedge lofts and I explained how I play them flatter than my irons. He smiled. He plays his the same way and understood what I was seeing with the Green color code. Goes and get me Black. Bingo. Now, the issue with the wedge fitting was they didn’t have X100 shafts for wedges, which seemed odd especially after seeing a warehouse full of shafts, but it was what it was. He was going to put me in x100 anyway, we just needed to get the lie angles and lofts figured out. Again, I hit MAYBE ten balls total. He knew what to do, so we went over to the practice green and traps that were between us and the HQ building. We talked about my chipping yips and he watched me chip some. He shared with me about the grinds he’d suggest based-on playing conditions where I play, and what I face with the shaved areas around our greens. After chipping to three holes I hit bunker shots to three holes, the last just barely over the lip. He told me how to use each wedge for each of the shots, and showed me how to get close to that pin that was RIGHT THERE! Wedge fitting: 54* Glide 4 bent to 53*, Black color code, standard sole, 12* of bounce, X100 +1”, D9 swing weight, same grips. 58* Glide 4 was same color, shaft, length, 10* bounce, E0 swing weight. 

After that, we went back to the range to do my Ballnamic fitting. The program used a mix of my actual ball data, and then selections based-on my answers to questions. Some of the questions were confusing as to what they really meant and how they’d affect the results, but I went with it. In the end, it said my Z Star was only met 81% of my needs, but the best ball was the new AVX at 95%, and the B RX right after it… Yeah, not liking either of those so I ended-up paying for Ballnamic when I got home and entered my info. Z Star was still so low, with CSX and MTB-X being tops for me. We’ll see. 

We went back inside to get my things out of the locker and Pat says to me, “Go ahead and grab a couple of hats! My treat.” YES! One white/red, white/navy fitted Tour cam each, L/XL snagged! I’d have grabbed a box of gloves too, but he handed me just one of those, which was great! Got my stuff, he walked me to the front, we shook hands and I thanked him for his time, expertise, and guidance and I headed back to the hotel.

I’ll tell y’all this: I was THOROUGHLY impressed by EVERYTHING. I am a Ping “homer” now, I drank a LOT of the Kool Aid. The tour guides, the employees all along the tour, the history, the fitting, etc, it was all fantastic and I can’t recommend it highly enough if you get a chance! An amazing day, and I’m so thankful to have been sponsored to go. Really, really cool, and I’ll never forget it!

[sirchunksalot]

Paul, I think it's awesome you got to go to the Proving Grounds! Thanks for the thorough work and like others, I'm living the experience vicariously through you. 

It's really cool you got to see the manufacturing process and share with us how they use their own engineering to make even the smallest parts of their clubs and bags.

The fitting sounds like it went wonderfully and I'm glad they found the clubs and settings that work for your swing. Plus, it's awesome your fitter figured out that the extra 5 grams of hot melt was needed to get you to optimal performance.

The vault looks just freaking amazing!

Thanks for sharing your experience with us.

[Golf2Much]

What an experience!  As a big Ping fan, I'm jealous!  I really enjoyed the review.  Ping's engineering approach to everything is not a surprise given their roots.  

Thanks for sharing!

[PMookie]

1 hour ago, Golf2Much said:

What an experience!  As a big Ping fan, I'm jealous!  I really enjoyed the review.  Ping's engineering approach to everything is not a surprise given their roots.  

Thanks for sharing!

Thanks, it was awesome!