New Ping eye2's

[ballhawk]

Just a wondering out loud...... If Ping was to re-produce the eye 2 irons with so-called modern stronger lofts, would you be enticed to give them a try.........Myself, yes!!   

[BeeGee]

Having a set back in the late 80's while in college ... I loved those clubs!  I carried a 2-iron thru Lob wedge and can remember hitting the long irons extremely well and even holed a 2-iron from 250 yards out in North Carolina and hit one off a tee just over 300 at Prestwick in Scotland (really firm ground).  I could hit all kinds of shots with the lob wedge and the mid to low irons would spin the you know what out of those Tour Edition balls!

[jolter1]

Having still have my original Eye 2's, 2-SW, I would surely be tempted to at least demo them. As old as they are, I will still pull them down from the racks and at least take them to the range on occasion.

[RickyBobby_PR]

They would basically be the g430 irons and no i wouldn’t try them with stronger lofts. The i20, i210 and i230 are as good if not better than the eye2 and i5xx line is just as good.

 

[RoverRick]

I played in a tournament this weekend, and one of my opponents was carrying a Ping Eye 2 BeCu 2 iron. As it happened, on hole 2 there is a 90° dogleg 150 yards from the tee and the end of the fairway is 180 yards. With no wind, I normally hit a 6 or 7 iron depending on the course conditions. Saturday, it was cart path only on this hole because of wetness, and directly into a 37 mph wind. 

I smoked a Ping G425 4H low draw that curved around and was a perfect shot. About 170 that left me 124 yards to a front flag. He pulls out the 2 iron that didn’t fly to the corner and got caught up just past the trees, but short of the fairway, and he had to deal with the trees on the second shot. 

Moral of the story, I have no idea. I had the Eye 2’s. I now have the i525’s. Everything about the i525’s is superior to the Eye 2’s as far as irons go. The Eye 2 Sand Wedge 57.5° with 14° bounce with the curved sole was great, but way too much offset for my tastes now. 

[ballhawk]

21 hours ago, RickyBobby_PR said:

They would basically be the g430 irons and no i wouldn’t try them with stronger lofts. The i20, i210 and i230 are as good if not better than the eye2 and i5xx line is just as good.

 

So as you said revamped eye2's would be as good as today's G430. Interesting perspective.......So in your estimation, are the 430's better than the i models mentioned? 

The main reason I asked the question in the first place was because there seemingly is a following of eye 2 folks that are refurbishing these clubs with new modern shafts and bending the heads to 2 or 3 degrees stronger lofts, which I was unaware that they could be bent that much. Some of us just like the eye 2's for their design factor and adding more modern play ability only ads to the personal enjoyment of playing with them.  

[warrenator8]

On 4/26/2024 at 11:14 AM, ballhawk said:

Just a wondering out loud...... If Ping was to re-produce the eye 2 irons with so-called modern stronger lofts, would you be enticed to give them a try.........Myself, yes!!   

Considering I still have an old set and was using the Sand Wedge until late last year, yes I think I would use them (for the right price).

[RickyBobby_PR]

46 minutes ago, ballhawk said:

So as you said revamped eye2's would be as good as today's G430. Interesting perspective.......So in your estimation, are the 430's better than the i models mentioned? 

The main reason I asked the question in the first place was because there seemingly is a following of eye 2 folks that are refurbishing these clubs with new modern shafts and bending the heads to 2 or 3 degrees stronger lofts, which I was unaware that they could be bent that much. Some of us just like the eye 2's for their design factor and adding more modern play ability only ads to the personal enjoyment of playing with them.  

There are no bad clubs just bad fits. Not everyone including high handicaps need GI or SGI clubs and in some cases based on swing they are worse fits than a players distance or even something a little smaller.

vcog is pretty important and something like the i20/210/230 can be a bad fit for a sweeper because of where the vcog is.

then there is the launch and spin aspect of the design and the lower spin with higher launch can be an issue for some as the spin ends up too low.

the clubs can definitely be bent that much. Some shops or club builders won’t bend them that much or at all for the fear of breaking them, but they can definitely be bent up to 4° either way. If I were to ever have my Ping irons bent I would send them to Ping to have them bent. Ping will change the color code on them as well as update everything in their database as to the new specs.

im guessing they are adjusting lofts to get the ball in their preferred launch window

[AverageSizedDog]

I think this would be a great idea for how people appreciate retro things. Millennials would love to play the clubs their grandparents played grandparents would love to play them if they have positive memories with them. 

[Hook DeLoft]

I have a set of BeCu Eye 2's that I had reshafted with graphite and the lofts bent 2 degrees stronger so they are about a club shorter than my current gamers.  I love them.  I think the sole in particular just works for my swing.  I don't see the G430's as comparable because of their wide soles.  Maybe the i210's would be close.  One interesting thing I see with the Eye 2's is I hit them pretty high (by my standards) despite the thin soles.  The lofts are weaker than modern irons, but I still hit them higher when the lofts are the same.  For example, I hit the 34 degree Eye 2 7 iron higher than my 35 degree 8 iron Mizuno.  It may be the shafts.  It may be the offset in the Eye 2's.  l don't know.  I just know they work.

[RetiredBoomer]

I mentioned in another post that I can remember playing in foursomes where I was the ONLY one not playing Eye Twos.

They were excellent golf clubs, I had to assume, but two things kept me from them.

One, even at my physical strongest, and I wasn't a particularly small guy, I preferred regular flex shafts.  I couldn't feel the clubhead with stiff shafts, and at that time, Ping offered NO shaft options, despite their generous selection of color coded lie angle options.

Second, the offset on the one-iron and the lob wedge was the same.  I knew that I couldn't get used to that look. 

One thing confuses me, though.  I though that they offered all the lie angle options because they couldn't be bent, but you mention bending the lofts stronger.  

As for me, I'd be thrilled if somebody other than the hickory replica makers made new clubs with the old weak lofts, but being apparently the only player on earth who wants them, I'm not holding my breath!

Edited May 17 by RetiredBoomer

[Hook DeLoft]

On 5/17/2024 at 9:43 AM, RetiredBoomer said:

I mentioned in another post that I can remember playing in foursomes where I was the ONLY one not playing Eye Twos.

They were excellent golf clubs, I had to assume, but two things kept me from them.

One, even at my physical strongest, and I wasn't a particularly small guy, I preferred regular flex shafts.  I couldn't feel the clubhead with stiff shafts, and at that time, Ping offered NO shaft options, despite their generous selection of color coded lie angle options.

Second, the offset on the one-iron and the lob wedge was the same.  I knew that I couldn't get used to that look. 

One thing confuses me, though.  I though that they offered all the lie angle options because they couldn't be bent, but you mention bending the lofts stronger.  

As for me, I'd be thrilled if somebody other than the hickory replica makers made new clubs with the old weak lofts, but being apparently the only player on earth who wants them, I'm not holding my breath!

Turns out they can be bent. There is some risk involved as they can be broken when bending.  @Popeye64 did mine and they turned out great.  I don’t know if the BeCu alloy is softer than 17-4 stainless.