PING s159 Wedges: 2024 Forum Member Review

[aguybadatgolf]

58 minutes ago, johngschulz said:

I also have 9 tomorrow after work! Unfortunately we’re not sure if the weather will be cooperative, it might be a very wet day…

Ah the joys of spring golf . It’s supposed to be 70s the next 2 days in Denver but then rainy, windy, and 50s over the weekend. 

[CudaKota66]

1 hour ago, aguybadatgolf said:

Ah the joys of spring golf . It’s supposed to be 70s the next 2 days in Denver but then rainy, windy, and 50s over the weekend. 

That beats our forecast (in Indiana): chance of snow today (so we covered the tulips AGAIN!), 50s this weekend, then 60s-70s for the days many of us work for a living! 

Congrats, testers! Yes, I'm jealous!!

I scheduled a fitting for these next week at our 'local' PING Fitter of the Year - Bunker Run Golf Shop.

The early photos & results have me drooling 

Edited April 3 by CudaKota66
add content

[aguybadatgolf]

1 hour ago, CudaKota66 said:

That beats our forecast (in Indiana): chance of snow today (so we covered the tulips AGAIN!), 50s this weekend, then 60s-70s for the days many of us work for a living! 

Congrats, testers! Yes, I'm jealous!!

I scheduled a fitting for these next week at our 'local' PING Fitter of the Year - Bunker Run Golf Shop.

The early photos & results have me drooling 

Always frustrating when it works out that way. You’ll have to share your thoughts with us! So far I only have good things to say about performance and looks. 

[bens197]

5 hours ago, aguybadatgolf said:

I’m loving the 58-T! Went to the range last night and was hitting some of the spiniest flop shots I ever have. I even had the ball spinning back a couple feet from 50 yards 2-3 times.  Very excited for my 9 tomorrow after work. 

This is why I’m super excited to put it through the process. The idea of a lob wedge with some grit is super exciting. 

[johngschulz]

So you guys…

I have a Rapsodo MLM in my garage setup and tonight I wanted to do a quick mini test comparing my current gamers vs. the PING S159 wedges. After a warm up I hit 10 shots with each of the six clubs. I threw out the highest and lowest carry distances for each club, leaving 8 shots each for comparison. I don’t get the spin numbers, but I figured it might give man an idea of how the gapping and dispersion was looking…

I’ll need to do a little editing on the screen shots, but all I can say wow… you can’t make this stuff up… Keep an eye out for my follow up here because it was kinda wild*
 

*wild for very limited data

[TJ Hall]

7 minutes ago, johngschulz said:

So you guys…

I have a Rapsodo MLM in my garage setup and tonight I wanted to do a quick mini test comparing my current gamers vs. the PING S159 wedges. After a warm up I hit 10 shots with each of the six clubs. I threw out the highest and lowest carry distances for each club, leaving 8 shots each for comparison. I don’t get the spin numbers, but I figured it might give man an idea of how the gapping and dispersion was looking…

I’ll need to do a little editing on the screen shots, but all I can say wow… you can’t make this stuff up… Keep an eye out for my follow up here because it was kinda wild*
 

*wild for very limited data

Wild good or wild unexpected?  Looking forward to seeing the results!

[johngschulz]

2 hours ago, johngschulz said:

So you guys…

I have a Rapsodo MLM in my garage setup and tonight I wanted to do a quick mini test comparing my current gamers vs. the PING S159 wedges. After a warm up I hit 10 shots with each of the six clubs. I threw out the highest and lowest carry distances for each club, leaving 8 shots each for comparison. I don’t get the spin numbers, but I figured it might give man an idea of how the gapping and dispersion was looking…

I’ll need to do a little editing on the screen shots, but all I can say wow… you can’t make this stuff up… Keep an eye out for my follow up here because it was kinda wild*
 

*wild for very limited data

First mini test…

Disclaimer: this is a very limited data set and it will take a lot more testing to confirm the results below

Okay here we go. I was fully expecting to see benefits around the green, but I wasn’t expecting to see such an impact on full swings immediately.

I hit 10 full stock shots into my garage net with each of my current gamer wedges against PING S159 to compare. I have the Rapsodo MLM, and I measured the shots in net mode, hitting off of my range mat. Since I have the non-pro version of the MLM I am unable to get spin numbers currently. This test would rely on the measurements for carry distance and dispersion and would give me my first comparison on how full shots felt. I dropped my longest and shortest carry for each club leaving 8 shots to compare and get an idea of my averages.

My Gamers…

After some warm up shots I started on my testing. I started with the highest loft and worked up (down?) from there. Starting with my 58* Maltby I hit 10 shots in a row and moved on to the next club continuing in that pattern. My 54* and 58* use KBS 125 wedge shafts and my GW has the Nippon Pro Modus 120 S shaft. Here are the results:

I have to say I didn’t feel like I was swinging too great, but I hit the ball well enough to get feedback knowing when I was hitting one a little toey. At this point of the year the results seem about right for not feeling “on it”. To note, I would consider the Maltby DBM GW one of my most confident clubs in the bag and it shows as far as distance dispersion relative to my other wedges in the numbers above.

Ping S159…

Same test, new clubs. 10 full stock shots into the net  throwing out the high and low carry distances. I started with the 58* again, to note the GW below is actually 50* S-12 PING S159. My test wedges came with the stock PING Z-Z115 shafts and the Dylawedge Lite grips, D4 swing weight for all of them. I felt like my swing was still about the same through this session as well, and I was having trouble finding the center of the face. However… here are the results:

The dispersion in the S159 were significantly tighter. I felt like I had a fair share of mishits with both sets of wedges. I could feel when I struck the ball poorly still on the S159. They actually *felt* kind of hot off the face when I connected, maybe that’s the foam material?

The dispersion numbers are just wild to me and the distance loss/gap is definitely acceptable since I was all over the face of the wedges.

I’m not sure how easy it will be to tell in the pictures, it does look like the ball marks are more concentrated/ consistent on my gamers, but I still saw the better results on the PINGs.

Edited April 4 by johngschulz

[GolfSpy_APH]

41 minutes ago, johngschulz said:

First mini test…

Disclaimer: this is a very limited data set and it will take a lot more testing to confirm the results below

Okay here we go. I was fully expecting to see benefits around the green, but I wasn’t expecting to see such an impact on full swings immediately.

I hit 10 full stock shots into my garage net with each of my current gamer wedges against PING S159 to compare. I have the Rapsodo MLM, and I measured the shots in net mode, hitting off of my range mat. Since I have the non-pro version of the MLM I am unable to get spin numbers currently. This test would rely on the measurements for carry distance and dispersion and would give me my first comparison on how full shots felt. I dropped my longest and shortest carry for each club leaving 8 shots to compare and get an idea of my averages.

My Gamers…

After some warm up shots I started on my testing. I started with the highest loft and worked up (down?) from there. Starting with my 58* Maltby I hit 10 shots in a row and moved on to the next club continuing in that pattern. My 54* and 58* use KBS 125 wedge shafts and my GW has the Nippon Pro Modus 120 S shaft. Here are the results:

I have to say I didn’t feel like I was swinging too great, but I hit the ball well enough to get feedback knowing when I was hitting one a little toey. At this point of the year the results seem about right for not feeling “on it”. To note, I would consider the Maltby DBM GW one of my most confident clubs in the bag and it shows as far as distance dispersion relative to my other wedges in the numbers above.

Ping S159…

Same test, new clubs. 10 full stock shots into the net  throwing out the high and low carry distances. I started with the 58* again, to note the GW below is actually 50* S-12 PING S159. My test wedges came with the stock PING Z-Z115 shafts and the Dylawedge Lite grips, D4 swing weight for all of them. I felt like my swing was still about the same through this session as well, and I was having trouble finding the center of the face. However… here are the results:

The dispersion in the S159 were significantly tighter. I felt like I had a fair share of mishits with both sets of wedges. I could feel when I struck the ball poorly still on the S159. They actually *felt* kind of hot off the face when I connected, maybe that’s the foam material?

The dispersion numbers are just wild to me and the distance loss/gap is definitely acceptable since I was all over the face of the wedges.

I’m not sure how easy it will be to tell in the pictures, it does look like the ball marks are more concentrated/ consistent on my gamers, but I still saw the better results on the PINGs.

Love seeing the gapping hit the right marks!

[bens197]

3 hours ago, johngschulz said:

First mini test…

Disclaimer: this is a very limited data set and it will take a lot more testing to confirm the results below

Okay here we go. I was fully expecting to see benefits around the green, but I wasn’t expecting to see such an impact on full swings immediately.

I hit 10 full stock shots into my garage net with each of my current gamer wedges against PING S159 to compare. I have the Rapsodo MLM, and I measured the shots in net mode, hitting off of my range mat. Since I have the non-pro version of the MLM I am unable to get spin numbers currently. This test would rely on the measurements for carry distance and dispersion and would give me my first comparison on how full shots felt. I dropped my longest and shortest carry for each club leaving 8 shots to compare and get an idea of my averages.

My Gamers…

After some warm up shots I started on my testing. I started with the highest loft and worked up (down?) from there. Starting with my 58* Maltby I hit 10 shots in a row and moved on to the next club continuing in that pattern. My 54* and 58* use KBS 125 wedge shafts and my GW has the Nippon Pro Modus 120 S shaft. Here are the results:

I have to say I didn’t feel like I was swinging too great, but I hit the ball well enough to get feedback knowing when I was hitting one a little toey. At this point of the year the results seem about right for not feeling “on it”. To note, I would consider the Maltby DBM GW one of my most confident clubs in the bag and it shows as far as distance dispersion relative to my other wedges in the numbers above.

Ping S159…

Same test, new clubs. 10 full stock shots into the net  throwing out the high and low carry distances. I started with the 58* again, to note the GW below is actually 50* S-12 PING S159. My test wedges came with the stock PING Z-Z115 shafts and the Dylawedge Lite grips, D4 swing weight for all of them. I felt like my swing was still about the same through this session as well, and I was having trouble finding the center of the face. However… here are the results:

The dispersion in the S159 were significantly tighter. I felt like I had a fair share of mishits with both sets of wedges. I could feel when I struck the ball poorly still on the S159. They actually *felt* kind of hot off the face when I connected, maybe that’s the foam material?

The dispersion numbers are just wild to me and the distance loss/gap is definitely acceptable since I was all over the face of the wedges.

I’m not sure how easy it will be to tell in the pictures, it does look like the ball marks are more concentrated/ consistent on my gamers, but I still saw the better results on the PINGs.

Thats a nice data set!

[Josh Parker]

7 hours ago, johngschulz said:

First mini test…

Disclaimer: this is a very limited data set and it will take a lot more testing to confirm the results below

Okay here we go. I was fully expecting to see benefits around the green, but I wasn’t expecting to see such an impact on full swings immediately.

I hit 10 full stock shots into my garage net with each of my current gamer wedges against PING S159 to compare. I have the Rapsodo MLM, and I measured the shots in net mode, hitting off of my range mat. Since I have the non-pro version of the MLM I am unable to get spin numbers currently. This test would rely on the measurements for carry distance and dispersion and would give me my first comparison on how full shots felt. I dropped my longest and shortest carry for each club leaving 8 shots to compare and get an idea of my averages.

My Gamers…

After some warm up shots I started on my testing. I started with the highest loft and worked up (down?) from there. Starting with my 58* Maltby I hit 10 shots in a row and moved on to the next club continuing in that pattern. My 54* and 58* use KBS 125 wedge shafts and my GW has the Nippon Pro Modus 120 S shaft. Here are the results:

I have to say I didn’t feel like I was swinging too great, but I hit the ball well enough to get feedback knowing when I was hitting one a little toey. At this point of the year the results seem about right for not feeling “on it”. To note, I would consider the Maltby DBM GW one of my most confident clubs in the bag and it shows as far as distance dispersion relative to my other wedges in the numbers above.

Ping S159…

Same test, new clubs. 10 full stock shots into the net  throwing out the high and low carry distances. I started with the 58* again, to note the GW below is actually 50* S-12 PING S159. My test wedges came with the stock PING Z-Z115 shafts and the Dylawedge Lite grips, D4 swing weight for all of them. I felt like my swing was still about the same through this session as well, and I was having trouble finding the center of the face. However… here are the results:

The dispersion in the S159 were significantly tighter. I felt like I had a fair share of mishits with both sets of wedges. I could feel when I struck the ball poorly still on the S159. They actually *felt* kind of hot off the face when I connected, maybe that’s the foam material?

The dispersion numbers are just wild to me and the distance loss/gap is definitely acceptable since I was all over the face of the wedges.

I’m not sure how easy it will be to tell in the pictures, it does look like the ball marks are more concentrated/ consistent on my gamers, but I still saw the better results on the PINGs.

Nice data and gapping. 

[TJ Hall]

7 hours ago, johngschulz said:

First mini test…

Disclaimer: this is a very limited data set and it will take a lot more testing to confirm the results below

Okay here we go. I was fully expecting to see benefits around the green, but I wasn’t expecting to see such an impact on full swings immediately.

I hit 10 full stock shots into my garage net with each of my current gamer wedges against PING S159 to compare. I have the Rapsodo MLM, and I measured the shots in net mode, hitting off of my range mat. Since I have the non-pro version of the MLM I am unable to get spin numbers currently. This test would rely on the measurements for carry distance and dispersion and would give me my first comparison on how full shots felt. I dropped my longest and shortest carry for each club leaving 8 shots to compare and get an idea of my averages.

My Gamers…

After some warm up shots I started on my testing. I started with the highest loft and worked up (down?) from there. Starting with my 58* Maltby I hit 10 shots in a row and moved on to the next club continuing in that pattern. My 54* and 58* use KBS 125 wedge shafts and my GW has the Nippon Pro Modus 120 S shaft. Here are the results:

I have to say I didn’t feel like I was swinging too great, but I hit the ball well enough to get feedback knowing when I was hitting one a little toey. At this point of the year the results seem about right for not feeling “on it”. To note, I would consider the Maltby DBM GW one of my most confident clubs in the bag and it shows as far as distance dispersion relative to my other wedges in the numbers above.

Ping S159…

Same test, new clubs. 10 full stock shots into the net  throwing out the high and low carry distances. I started with the 58* again, to note the GW below is actually 50* S-12 PING S159. My test wedges came with the stock PING Z-Z115 shafts and the Dylawedge Lite grips, D4 swing weight for all of them. I felt like my swing was still about the same through this session as well, and I was having trouble finding the center of the face. However… here are the results:

The dispersion in the S159 were significantly tighter. I felt like I had a fair share of mishits with both sets of wedges. I could feel when I struck the ball poorly still on the S159. They actually *felt* kind of hot off the face when I connected, maybe that’s the foam material?

The dispersion numbers are just wild to me and the distance loss/gap is definitely acceptable since I was all over the face of the wedges.

I’m not sure how easy it will be to tell in the pictures, it does look like the ball marks are more concentrated/ consistent on my gamers, but I still saw the better results on the PINGs.

Nice data and review so far!

[William P]

Great gapping results @johngschulz.

[Willie T]

8 hours ago, johngschulz said:

First mini test…

Disclaimer: this is a very limited data set and it will take a lot more testing to confirm the results below

Okay here we go. I was fully expecting to see benefits around the green, but I wasn’t expecting to see such an impact on full swings immediately.

I hit 10 full stock shots into my garage net with each of my current gamer wedges against PING S159 to compare. I have the Rapsodo MLM, and I measured the shots in net mode, hitting off of my range mat. Since I have the non-pro version of the MLM I am unable to get spin numbers currently. This test would rely on the measurements for carry distance and dispersion and would give me my first comparison on how full shots felt. I dropped my longest and shortest carry for each club leaving 8 shots to compare and get an idea of my averages.

My Gamers…

After some warm up shots I started on my testing. I started with the highest loft and worked up (down?) from there. Starting with my 58* Maltby I hit 10 shots in a row and moved on to the next club continuing in that pattern. My 54* and 58* use KBS 125 wedge shafts and my GW has the Nippon Pro Modus 120 S shaft. Here are the results:

I have to say I didn’t feel like I was swinging too great, but I hit the ball well enough to get feedback knowing when I was hitting one a little toey. At this point of the year the results seem about right for not feeling “on it”. To note, I would consider the Maltby DBM GW one of my most confident clubs in the bag and it shows as far as distance dispersion relative to my other wedges in the numbers above.

Ping S159…

Same test, new clubs. 10 full stock shots into the net  throwing out the high and low carry distances. I started with the 58* again, to note the GW below is actually 50* S-12 PING S159. My test wedges came with the stock PING Z-Z115 shafts and the Dylawedge Lite grips, D4 swing weight for all of them. I felt like my swing was still about the same through this session as well, and I was having trouble finding the center of the face. However… here are the results:

The dispersion in the S159 were significantly tighter. I felt like I had a fair share of mishits with both sets of wedges. I could feel when I struck the ball poorly still on the S159. They actually *felt* kind of hot off the face when I connected, maybe that’s the foam material?

The dispersion numbers are just wild to me and the distance loss/gap is definitely acceptable since I was all over the face of the wedges.

I’m not sure how easy it will be to tell in the pictures, it does look like the ball marks are more concentrated/ consistent on my gamers, but I still saw the better results on the PINGs.

As others have noted awesome data here…I really liked how “forgiving” the Ping’s look to be based on the ball marks on the faces - looking forward reading more on these wedges.  

[GolfSpy_KFT]

9 hours ago, johngschulz said:

First mini test…

Disclaimer: this is a very limited data set and it will take a lot more testing to confirm the results below

Okay here we go. I was fully expecting to see benefits around the green, but I wasn’t expecting to see such an impact on full swings immediately.

I hit 10 full stock shots into my garage net with each of my current gamer wedges against PING S159 to compare. I have the Rapsodo MLM, and I measured the shots in net mode, hitting off of my range mat. Since I have the non-pro version of the MLM I am unable to get spin numbers currently. This test would rely on the measurements for carry distance and dispersion and would give me my first comparison on how full shots felt. I dropped my longest and shortest carry for each club leaving 8 shots to compare and get an idea of my averages.

My Gamers…

After some warm up shots I started on my testing. I started with the highest loft and worked up (down?) from there. Starting with my 58* Maltby I hit 10 shots in a row and moved on to the next club continuing in that pattern. My 54* and 58* use KBS 125 wedge shafts and my GW has the Nippon Pro Modus 120 S shaft. Here are the results:

I have to say I didn’t feel like I was swinging too great, but I hit the ball well enough to get feedback knowing when I was hitting one a little toey. At this point of the year the results seem about right for not feeling “on it”. To note, I would consider the Maltby DBM GW one of my most confident clubs in the bag and it shows as far as distance dispersion relative to my other wedges in the numbers above.

Ping S159…

Same test, new clubs. 10 full stock shots into the net  throwing out the high and low carry distances. I started with the 58* again, to note the GW below is actually 50* S-12 PING S159. My test wedges came with the stock PING Z-Z115 shafts and the Dylawedge Lite grips, D4 swing weight for all of them. I felt like my swing was still about the same through this session as well, and I was having trouble finding the center of the face. However… here are the results:

The dispersion in the S159 were significantly tighter. I felt like I had a fair share of mishits with both sets of wedges. I could feel when I struck the ball poorly still on the S159. They actually *felt* kind of hot off the face when I connected, maybe that’s the foam material?

The dispersion numbers are just wild to me and the distance loss/gap is definitely acceptable since I was all over the face of the wedges.

I’m not sure how easy it will be to tell in the pictures, it does look like the ball marks are more concentrated/ consistent on my gamers, but I still saw the better results on the PINGs.

Great stuff @johngschulz! 

[Rob Person]

Just getting caught up on this, and have to say the testers feedback so far are impressive .  Great job

[Shrek74]

12 hours ago, johngschulz said:

Damn, that's some seriously tight dispersion!! Nicely done.

[Northern Monkey]

That’s great figures for the Pings. The dispersion is really good!

[jbern]

14 hours ago, johngschulz said:

First mini test…

Disclaimer: this is a very limited data set and it will take a lot more testing to confirm the results below

Okay here we go. I was fully expecting to see benefits around the green, but I wasn’t expecting to see such an impact on full swings immediately.

I hit 10 full stock shots into my garage net with each of my current gamer wedges against PING S159 to compare. I have the Rapsodo MLM, and I measured the shots in net mode, hitting off of my range mat. Since I have the non-pro version of the MLM I am unable to get spin numbers currently. This test would rely on the measurements for carry distance and dispersion and would give me my first comparison on how full shots felt. I dropped my longest and shortest carry for each club leaving 8 shots to compare and get an idea of my averages.

My Gamers…

After some warm up shots I started on my testing. I started with the highest loft and worked up (down?) from there. Starting with my 58* Maltby I hit 10 shots in a row and moved on to the next club continuing in that pattern. My 54* and 58* use KBS 125 wedge shafts and my GW has the Nippon Pro Modus 120 S shaft. Here are the results:

I have to say I didn’t feel like I was swinging too great, but I hit the ball well enough to get feedback knowing when I was hitting one a little toey. At this point of the year the results seem about right for not feeling “on it”. To note, I would consider the Maltby DBM GW one of my most confident clubs in the bag and it shows as far as distance dispersion relative to my other wedges in the numbers above.

Ping S159…

Same test, new clubs. 10 full stock shots into the net  throwing out the high and low carry distances. I started with the 58* again, to note the GW below is actually 50* S-12 PING S159. My test wedges came with the stock PING Z-Z115 shafts and the Dylawedge Lite grips, D4 swing weight for all of them. I felt like my swing was still about the same through this session as well, and I was having trouble finding the center of the face. However… here are the results:

The dispersion in the S159 were significantly tighter. I felt like I had a fair share of mishits with both sets of wedges. I could feel when I struck the ball poorly still on the S159. They actually *felt* kind of hot off the face when I connected, maybe that’s the foam material?

The dispersion numbers are just wild to me and the distance loss/gap is definitely acceptable since I was all over the face of the wedges.

I’m not sure how easy it will be to tell in the pictures, it does look like the ball marks are more concentrated/ consistent on my gamers, but I still saw the better results on the PINGs.

The gamer results aren't atrocious, but the PING S159 results are great! Cool to see all the charts and comparison to pro percentages! Great initial data set and comparison!

[bens197]

One thing I’d like to discuss is the dyla grip. This isn’t a new offering from PING, it’s been around for decades in different textures and forms. As I get more time hitting shots what I’m realizing is that the dyla may not work for my 50*. A lot of my approaches end up becoming a negotiation between my 46 & 50. Having the same grip on the 50 is likely going to yield better results. I haven’t brought out the knife quite yet but if there was one thing thus far that is not working it’s the dyla grip. 

[TJ Hall]

8 minutes ago, bens197 said:

One thing I’d like to discuss is the dyla grip. This isn’t a new offering from PING, it’s been around for decades in different textures and forms. As I get more time hitting shots what I’m realizing is that the dyla may not work for my 50*. A lot of my approaches end up becoming a negotiation between my 46 & 50. Having the same grip on the 50 is likely going to yield better results. I haven’t brought out the knife quite yet but if there was one thing thus far that is not working it’s the dyla grip. 

Did you have a choice of what grips came with the Ping wedges, or were these just the standard off the rack?

[bens197]

7 minutes ago, TJ Hall said:

Did you have a choice of what grips came with the Ping wedges, or were these just the standard off the rack?

We did. I chose the dyla grip explicitly because of the non-taper. I don’t foresee it being a huge issue for the SW & LW as I don’t use them frequently for full swings. 

Feel is a big deal and I’m not really feeling it. I hate to sound picky but I also want to be fair and honest. 

[TJ Hall]

11 minutes ago, bens197 said:

We did. I chose the dyla grip explicitly because of the non-taper. I don’t foresee it being a huge issue for the SW & LW as I don’t use them frequently for full swings. 

Feel is a big deal and I’m not really feeling it. I hate to sound picky but I also want to be fair and honest. 

Understood.  The grip is a big piece of the feel.  It will be interesting to see if you get different feel and results from a grip that matches the rest of your set.

[Rob Person]

34 minutes ago, bens197 said:

One thing I’d like to discuss is the dyla grip. This isn’t a new offering from PING, it’s been around for decades in different textures and forms. As I get more time hitting shots what I’m realizing is that the dyla may not work for my 50*. A lot of my approaches end up becoming a negotiation between my 46 & 50. Having the same grip on the 50 is likely going to yield better results. I haven’t brought out the knife quite yet but if there was one thing thus far that is not working it’s the dyla grip. 

Do you think the lack of taper is the issue?

[bens197]

4 minutes ago, Rob Person said:

Do you think the lack of taper is the issue?

It’s not that. The Sonar is a reduced taper so I was hoping to mimic the feel. 
 

It’s a +1/32 with two added wraps. Stretching it a little isn’t really giving me what I’m looking for. 

[HikingMike]

On 4/3/2024 at 10:09 PM, johngschulz said:

First mini test…

Disclaimer: this is a very limited data set and it will take a lot more testing to confirm the results below

Okay here we go. I was fully expecting to see benefits around the green, but I wasn’t expecting to see such an impact on full swings immediately.

I hit 10 full stock shots into my garage net with each of my current gamer wedges against PING S159 to compare. I have the Rapsodo MLM, and I measured the shots in net mode, hitting off of my range mat. Since I have the non-pro version of the MLM I am unable to get spin numbers currently. This test would rely on the measurements for carry distance and dispersion and would give me my first comparison on how full shots felt. I dropped my longest and shortest carry for each club leaving 8 shots to compare and get an idea of my averages.

My Gamers…

After some warm up shots I started on my testing. I started with the highest loft and worked up (down?) from there. Starting with my 58* Maltby I hit 10 shots in a row and moved on to the next club continuing in that pattern. My 54* and 58* use KBS 125 wedge shafts and my GW has the Nippon Pro Modus 120 S shaft. Here are the results:

I have to say I didn’t feel like I was swinging too great, but I hit the ball well enough to get feedback knowing when I was hitting one a little toey. At this point of the year the results seem about right for not feeling “on it”. To note, I would consider the Maltby DBM GW one of my most confident clubs in the bag and it shows as far as distance dispersion relative to my other wedges in the numbers above.

Ping S159…

Same test, new clubs. 10 full stock shots into the net  throwing out the high and low carry distances. I started with the 58* again, to note the GW below is actually 50* S-12 PING S159. My test wedges came with the stock PING Z-Z115 shafts and the Dylawedge Lite grips, D4 swing weight for all of them. I felt like my swing was still about the same through this session as well, and I was having trouble finding the center of the face. However… here are the results:

The dispersion in the S159 were significantly tighter. I felt like I had a fair share of mishits with both sets of wedges. I could feel when I struck the ball poorly still on the S159. They actually *felt* kind of hot off the face when I connected, maybe that’s the foam material?

The dispersion numbers are just wild to me and the distance loss/gap is definitely acceptable since I was all over the face of the wedges.

I’m not sure how easy it will be to tell in the pictures, it does look like the ball marks are more concentrated/ consistent on my gamers, but I still saw the better results on the PINGs.

Wow you were right teasing this earlier. That dispersion difference is nuts! 

I haven’t done this myself, so I don’t have a good frame of reference, but both seem decent to me, so it’s quite something that the Pings had such tighter dispersion, and even like you said with possibly more hits spread around the face.

It’s almost hard to believe it. These are just wedges, with most of them just being plain solid metal. Looks like the Ping S159s have little cavities, so I wonder if that has anything to do with it. We’ll see if this plays out with more data, as it’s exciting stuff.

Have any other ideas what could be behind that?

[bens197]

Good morning everyone…headed to the range today with my best golfing partner (my 6yo daughter) for some distance control work.  I’ve made the appropriate updates to my Top Tracer app so I’ll try my best to have some good data to share head to head v the Vokeys!

[aguybadatgolf]

6 minutes ago, bens197 said:

Good morning everyone…headed to the range today with my best golfing partner (my 6yo daughter) for some distance control work.  I’ve made the appropriate updates to my Top Tracer app so I’ll try my best to have some good data to share head to head v the Vokeys!

Enjoy! I played 9 after work on Thursday and had a great time with the S159 wedges. Have 18 booked for tomorrow morning. Wanted to get a few rounds in before I comment on the on course experience. So far I’ll just say that I observationally get a lot more consistent spin from different lies.

Edited April 6 by aguybadatgolf

[bens197]

1 hour ago, aguybadatgolf said:

Enjoy! I played 9 after work on Thursday and had a great time with the S159 wedges. Have 18 booked for tomorrow morning. Wanted to get a few rounds in before I comment on the on course experience. So far I’ll just say that I observationally get a lot more consistent spin from different lies.

I love to hear it…consensus seems to be a lot better spin and control.  I’m desperately hoping for some better weather so I can hit the practice green at the local course and get some better video.  So far all I can really offer is feel and first impressions which is OK.  I’m really excited for more tangible results and data

 

[bens197]

Ok…ready for a data dump…

I spent today at the range with my daughter who btw…was just crushing it.  I am so proud of her progress but that’s for another thread on another day

I broke my data points into 5 segments.  

Full swings:

50* S159 & SM8  

Full swings:

59* S159 & 60* SM9

50% pitch swings with S159 50*

 

 

 

Side by side, the distances are about where I expect to be.  I don’t hit my irons and wedges very far.  I get more control out of my 50* which is why it gets most the work inside 100 yards.  

These are early season range balls and I don’t believe they’re telling the complete story on distance but it’s close.  I am typically 105-115 with a 50* wedge.  I’m about 75-85 yards with a lob wedge so also, within margins.

 

My biggest takeaway…dispersion on the 50* Vokey right now is clearly better.  The odd thing is, I feel more confident standing over the new S159’s.  As I get more and more reps, I will want to compare this data and look for some improvements.  

The Lob wedge numbers are super close which was nice to see.  

The 50 is definitely a surprise to me and not the results I expected.

Edited April 6 by bens197

[bens197]

I never paid much attention to launch angle numbers on irons or wedges. Seeing first hand these launches well above the optimal 30* is really eye opening. I knew I lost distance on my irons and have a history of releasing earlier than I should. This validates that thought. 
 

Regardless.  Without this opportunity I may have looked beyond the numbers for my wedge play.
 

This is a convenient solution to another problem. .