G-MEN UNITE

[Shane Cavitt]

I played Ping Eye 2s for 30+ years. Granted there was a 15 year period where I didn't touch any clubs at all. I came back to the game a couple of years ago and ended up selling off the Eye 2s (which I now regret) and have gone through some Clevelands, Titleist 300s and currently gaming PXG Gen 6 0311 XPs. I have hit the 425s, 430s, 730s, i230s and i530s extensively at local PGASS, GG and 2nd Swing. Have fully intended on getting a set of all of them at one point or another.

 

After reading this and some other threads, I found a good deal on a set of G25s. Had never hit them as they came out during my hiatus from the game. Man, I am in love. Definitely the best feeling Ping irons I have ever hit. Was not expecting it. They feel just as good to me as the XPs and the performance is as good if not better when comparing loft to loft. I am going to keep them in the bag for now.

 

Now I am contemplating possibly upgrading the shafts. Maybe Recoils or MMTs. Anyone playing newer shafts in their G25s? Also, might send them off to Ping for refinishing based on some of the posts I have seen here and elsewhere of how great they look after Ping does their thing.

 

Can definitely count me as a member of the G Men club!

[hook_or_slice]

7 hours ago, Shane Cavitt said:

.....

 

After reading this and some other threads, I found a good deal on a set of G25s. Had never hit them as they came out during my hiatus from the game. Man, I am in love. Definitely the best feeling Ping irons I have ever hit. Was not expecting it. They feel just as good to me as the XPs and the performance is as good ........

 

Now I am contemplating possibly upgrading the shafts......

 

Do not "upgrade" the shafts.

[ShortSticks]

Welcome to the club Shane Cavitt! 

[Nessism]

3 hours ago, hook_or_slice said:

 

Do not "upgrade" the shafts.

There is a lot to "if it ain't broke, don't fix it".  That said, I put Recoils in my G30's, and love those clubs.  It's doable, but not trivial.  More specifically, adding weight to the heads.  Tip weights in graphite shafts have serious limitations, so you have to be inventive...

[mtp]

Like @Shane Cavitt I just picked up a set of G25’s after reading so much about them here. I used them twice this weekend and loved them. They don’t go as far as my ‘23 T200’s (about 2 degree loft difference per iron) but they were so much fun to play. Good feel and easy to hit. Now I’m trying to decide if I can give up the distance in exchange for the fun factor. Thanks to all who have recommended the G25’s. 

[Shane Cavitt]

11 hours ago, hook_or_slice said:

 

Do not "upgrade" the shafts.

Even as I typed that out I realized that was such a WRX thing to do. Talk about how good they feel and how much I enjoyed them, but already looking at how I can change them. What is wrong with us? 🤔🤷🏻‍♂️

[willie991]

On 10/27/2024 at 1:21 AM, philly2kuk said:

Don’t forget the dead feel so you can’t tell where it is on the face and that they make your swing worse because they’re so forgiving 🤣

Benched my Eye 2 SST's and Eye 2+ BeCu's.  No bag chatter marks.  No flange scratches from hitting out of fairway bunkers.  Even though a couple hundred rounds on both, no one wants me to join their group.  They look at the Pings and how clean they are and assume I just took up the game and will slow them down! :>)  Those darn Pings!  If Karsten was still around, I'd have told him to make them forged so they show dings and nicks after the first round or two!  Yep!  No idea how Ping is still around!! :>)

[GolfTurkey]

I’m really happy with my combo set at the moment that I’ve been using for about a year.

 

Glide wedges, i230 7i-9i and G430 5i-7i as my 4i-6i (I end up with 2 clubs stamped “7” but the loft and distance progression works perfectly).

 

This scenario is another argument for iron covers, the G430 7i gets the “6” head cover!

Edited October 29, 2024 by GolfTurkey

[therev]

As I've already mentioned, I love the G 2016 irons.  I recently picked up a set of Alta CB AWT graphite shafts that were new pulls from g425's.  Because of my age now, 66, I need the graphite shafts to help with pain in my joints. Question, does anyone play that graphite shaft in your ping irons?  How do you like it?

[hook_or_slice]

11 hours ago, therev said:

As I've already mentioned, I love the G 2016 irons.  I recently picked up a set of Alta CB AWT graphite shafts that were new pulls from g425's.  Because of my age now, 66, I need the graphite shafts to help with pain in my joints. Question, does anyone play that graphite shaft in your ping irons?  How do you like it?

 

I have G425s with the Alta CB Slate shafts.

Without actually changing shafts between clubs it is hard to tell how much is shaft and how much clubhead. 

 Still adjusting to them, but so far not my favorite shaft. The way I will describe it is the shaft feels stiffer than it is. Makes me want to go after it , but when I do I tend to hook it. I prefer the Alta CB Black in the G430.

 

But everyone loads shafts differently. 

[Flyers99]

On 10/27/2024 at 10:51 PM, Shane Cavitt said:

I played Ping Eye 2s for 30+ years. Granted there was a 15 year period where I didn't touch any clubs at all. I came back to the game a couple of years ago and ended up selling off the Eye 2s (which I now regret) and have gone through some Clevelands, Titleist 300s and currently gaming PXG Gen 6 0311 XPs. I have hit the 425s, 430s, 730s, i230s and i530s extensively at local PGASS, GG and 2nd Swing. Have fully intended on getting a set of all of them at one point or another.

 

After reading this and some other threads, I found a good deal on a set of G25s. Had never hit them as they came out during my hiatus from the game. Man, I am in love. Definitely the best feeling Ping irons I have ever hit. Was not expecting it. They feel just as good to me as the XPs and the performance is as good if not better when comparing loft to loft. I am going to keep them in the bag for now.

 

Now I am contemplating possibly upgrading the shafts. Maybe Recoils or MMTs. Anyone playing newer shafts in their G25s? Also, might send them off to Ping for refinishing based on some of the posts I have seen here and elsewhere of how great they look after Ping does their thing.

 

Can definitely count me as a member of the G Men club!

After much debate I realized my G30’s aren’t going anywhere and I just had Steelfibers i95R installed.  I am by no means a scratch golfer but put them in and really like them.  Played with them in my 6 iron all year and decided to make the switch to a little lighter shaft and graphite to assist in them being more gentle on the body (now that I am in my 50’s).  I don’t know about swing weight and all that but it took only a range session to adjust.  I am coming off the stock CFS shafts.  

[ChaosTheory]

I'm looking at a set of G400's, just to get the heads. 

 

Are they lacking in any substantial way compared to the 425/30?

How bendable are they?  I have bent Eye2's and even the earlier Eyes, and the 400s can't be as tough as those, can they?

[Taylormadegack]

Currently playing Maltby TS2 irons (KBS Tour 125 S+) and looking to try something else. My main concern is turf interaction. I am fairly steep and take a pretty good divot and feel my current irons dont flow through the turf very clean at times when I get a smidge fat or lazier swing late in the round. Miss is slightly fat or toe side. 
 

driver SS is avg 120 and 8 iron avg is around 85-88.  I'm not looking for more distance but turf interaction, forgiveness and spin is my focus. Score avg 80-85 with a couple rounds on the 70s but ball striking is improving with my irons. Driver and putting is my weakness. 
 

I am a little confused on sole width. Would the wider sole of the G irons help? Or would going to a narrower v sole such as Srixon be better?   I210s? 
 

If G irons are the answer I would be looking at G25, G30, G400 or G410 for reference.   Thank you for your feedback!  

Edited October 31, 2024 by Taylormadegack

[Nessism]

On 10/31/2024 at 11:45 AM, Taylormadegack said:

Currently playing Maltby TS2 irons (KBS Tour 125 S+) and looking to try something else. My main concern is turf interaction. I am fairly steep and take a pretty good divot and feel my current irons dont flow through the turf very clean at times when I get a smidge fat or lazier swing late in the round. Miss is slightly fat or toe side. 
 

driver SS is avg 120 and 8 iron avg is around 85-88.  I'm not looking for more distance but turf interaction, forgiveness and spin is my focus. Score avg 80-85 with a couple rounds on the 70s but ball striking is improving with my irons. Driver and putting is my weakness. 
 

I am a little confused on sole width. Would the wider sole of the G irons help? Or would going to a narrower v sole such as Srixon be better?   I210s? 
 

If G irons are the answer I would be looking at G25, G30, G400 or G410 for reference.   Thank you for your feedback!  

 

Nobody can tell you what "the answer" is.  What I can say is that Ping irons, all of them, are top of their class in "anti-digging".  If you like a large shovel type iron, then get G's.  For smaller, i-series, etc.  

[StillPlayingHoganApex99]

Woah bit of a strange thing happening with me now. So when I started playing golf years ago, I was all about the blades. Hogans, mizuno etc, never played Pings etc. I didn't like the look behind the ball but did think they looked great in the bag. Anyway, for some reason, 2 or 3 years ago, I got the urge to pick up a set of eye 2's and suddenly the shape, the offset etc didn't bother me at all. Got a set of eye 2 BeCus, some Zings, Zing 2, ISI before finally setting on some Ping G series as my gamers.

 

Now, I took my irons into my local pro shop yesterday to get new grips on and planned on taking my Zing 2's for a quick 9 holes. Had a flat tyre and was pushed for time so I went in my wife's car and yep, left the back up set in my car DOH.

 

Told the pro what had happened and he offered to loan me a set of irons and putter that had just been traded in.

 

The putter was an old Wilson blade, no idea on the model, the irons were Wilson launch pad, the first version with the big black backs although most of the paint was chipped off.

 

So off I went, 4 - SW and a blade putter.

 

These irons looked awful in the bag but behind the ball I quite liked the look......I liked the performance even better.

 

I generally shoot around 3 to 5 over for 18 holes.

 

I shot 2 under on the front 9 under using only these irons.

 

It just seemed so easy. I thought the G's were easy.

 

I think I have a decision to make but I still want to be a G man.

 

Edit: my 4 iron gamer is a Ping G Max but man is the Wilson launch pad 4 iron waaaaay easier to hit than the max, if you can believe that.

Edited November 2, 2024 by StillPlayingHoganApex99

[MikeW2]

On 11/2/2024 at 4:07 AM, StillPlayingHoganApex99 said:

Woah bit of a strange thing happening with me now. So when I started playing golf years ago, I was all about the blades. Hogans, mizuno etc, never played Pings etc. I didn't like the look behind the ball but did think they looked great in the bag. Anyway, for some reason, 2 or 3 years ago, I got the urge to pick up a set of eye 2's and suddenly the shape, the offset etc didn't bother me at all. Got a set of eye 2 BeCus, some Zings, Zing 2, ISI before finally setting on some Ping G series as my gamers.

 

Now, I took my irons into my local pro shop yesterday to get new grips on and planned on taking my Zing 2's for a quick 9 holes. Had a flat tyre and was pushed for time so I went in my wife's car and yep, left the back up set in my car DOH.

 

Told the pro what had happened and he offered to loan me a set of irons and putter that had just been traded in.

 

The putter was an old Wilson blade, no idea on the model, the irons were Wilson launch pad, the first version with the big black backs although most of the paint was chipped off.

 

So off I went, 4 - SW and a blade putter.

 

These irons looked awful in the bag but behind the ball I quite liked the look......I liked the performance even better.

 

I generally shoot around 3 to 5 over for 18 holes.

 

I shot 2 under on the front 9 under using only these irons.

 

It just seemed so easy. I thought the G's were easy.

 

I think I have a decision to make but I still want to be a G man.

 

Edit: my 4 iron gamer is a Ping G Max but man is the Wilson launch pad 4 iron waaaaay easier to hit than the max, if you can believe that.

Not really strange, different clubs sometimes just work for different golfers. Play what works best for you because that is what will make the game the most fun.

[9ClubberLang]

My double G-Man status has gone! I've sold on the Raptures. I had bought a half-set for winter use but I am loving the G30's I bought so much I'm a bit scared of trying to adapt back to them after the winter. The Raptures have considerable offset where I find the G30's just right. I play a lot of half-set bags and so the G30 odds will cover me for the winter and the evens for the summer.

[bifftaco]

14 hours ago, 9ClubberLang said:

My double G-Man status has gone! I've sold on the Raptures. I had bought a half-set for winter use but I am loving the G30's I bought so much I'm a bit scared of trying to adapt back to them after the winter. The Raptures have considerable offset where I find the G30's just right. I play a lot of half-set bags and so the G30 odds will cover me for the winter and the evens for the summer.

Once upon a time I ordered a set of G30's. The 2016 G's had come out, so I was getting the G30's at a super low discount price from a local shop. Someone messed up and I got the 2016 G's instead, but at the same price so I was quite pleased at the time.

 

I like the G's a lot and still have them, but with as much love as the 25's/30's have received in recent years I feel like I missed out on something. If a set pops up at the right time and price I still may scratch that itch for funsies.

[9ClubberLang]

Yes my understanding is the tech changed quite a bit with the G's/G400's before changing again with the G410's. I had the G400's and sadly they are the least favourite club I've ever owned.

 

I have seen reviews and the G's were very highly rate too. I believe the G25's were slightly lower bounce than the G30's but that they felt quite similar. I love the way the G30's look at address and I really love the feel. Keep us updated if you ever do give the G25's or G30's a go.

[willie991]

About 3 weeks into my G425's.  Know some folks weren't thrilled with them.  Every day these seem to grow a little more on me.  Took a while getting used to the jacked lofts.  And, if I don't be a little cautious they can go to "hook city" in a heartbeat.  But, these past few days, I've had more birdie putts than in a long time.  

 

After the first couple rounds I switched the OEM grips for Golf Pride Midsize Tour Velvet.  Have played midsize grips for years and just could not adapt to the standard size.  

 

Thought I'd have more trouble adapting to the steel AWT shafts.  That transition has been relatively smooth.  Guess the Eye 2's and Eye 2+'s will have to get used to looking at each other in the basement shop.

[pmang]

I’ve been keeping an eye on EBay for a nice set of G30 irons for a winter redo project.

 

BINGO! Some came up as just heads only in great shape and I jumped on them! 4 - UW. Too bad the weather is turning…

[9ClubberLang]

Woohoo great work @pmang! I've only had the G30's a couple of months but love them.

[BiggErn]

I joined the G club this week. Going from P790 to G425. Haven’t got out the course yet but hoping to in the next couple days. Recently dealt with some health issues and lost a lot of pop off the bat so just looking for something a bit easier until I get back to where I was but who knows, I may stick with them. 

[willie991]

7 hours ago, BiggErn said:

I joined the G club this week. Going from P790 to G425. Haven’t got out the course yet but hoping to in the next couple days. Recently dealt with some health issues and lost a lot of pop off the bat so just looking for something a bit easier until I get back to where I was but who knows, I may stick with them. 

About 30 rounds on my G425's.  I got them with the AWT steel shafts.  5-UW.  I've not been at my best, but can't blame it on the G425's.  They've been pretty stellar.  Only issue I've had is they've been a little "hooky".  As long as I take nice easy swings, they are great.  If the brain moves from 'swing' to 'swing outta my shoes' things go bonkers.  That's not the fault of the irons.  They're keepers for me!  

[9ClubberLang]

I'm still loving the G30's I bought back in September. It's ridiculous how good these are for the price I paid, although I appreciate they are ten years young now. I have recently found a G30 5 Wood and 4 Hybrid in good condition and couldn't resist seeing if I love them as much as the irons. 

 

The fairway wood is a bit shallower than I normally like, but the matte finish on them is incredible. I've barely ever hit a Ping fairway wood, which strikes me as odd given how much I have loved their irons over the years.

 

My course is shut at the moment due to bad weather so I'm going to need to be patient to wait to see how these feel. Excited!

[Jraallen]

I bought a used set of 410’s when I started playing consistently again after college, around 2018 or so. I was hitting the ping zings I bought used on eBay freshman year of highschool like absolute trash, and probably would have quit if it wasn’t for how awesome that first year with the 410’s was.

 

I've since moved on to i230’s but have taken the 410’s out here and there since for a round or two. I think I’m shelving them for good this up coming season but very grateful I got them when I did. (Although quitting back then would have saved me a lot of money over the last few years..but we won’t think about that).

 

My wife ended up getting fitted into a set of gle3’s back in March, funny how things work out.

[braincramp52]

Sending my G25's in to Ping and getting them refinished. Gonna have basically new irons for under $200. I'll post before and after pics when they come back. 

[philly2kuk]

I moved away from ping G irons in Feb after 14 years and one thing I miss is the durability. All my irons looked great even after several years of use with no iron headcovers. My g410s were four years old and looked great.

 

Contrast to now and after less than a year my p790s need iron headcovers as they just mark up. It’s a terrible satin finish they have on them, I don’t get how Taylormade let through QC during development. I know they’re tools before jewels but I’m considering switching back to pings so they’re at least worth something in 4-5 years time 🤣

[3rutu5]

1 hour ago, philly2kuk said:

I moved away from ping G irons in Feb after 14 years and one thing I miss is the durability. All my irons looked great even after several years of use with no iron headcovers. My g410s were four years old and looked great.

 

Contrast to now and after less than a year my p790s need iron headcovers as they just mark up. It’s a terrible satin finish they have on them, I don’t get how Taylormade let through QC during development. I know they’re tools before jewels but I’m considering switching back to pings so they’re at least worth something in 4-5 years time 🤣

I just sourced some onoff forged irons and yet to play a game, but time to put my G20s for a well deserved rest. I will say it is hard to get use to most clubs when you have some G's as the heads are a bit bigger than most 

[braincramp52]

4 hours ago, 3rutu5 said:

I just sourced some onoff forged irons and yet to play a game, but time to put my G20s for a well deserved rest. I will say it is hard to get use to most clubs when you have some G's as the heads are a bit bigger than most 

Keep the G20's around. I might not play my G25's for a lot more years but I'm keeping them this time. That's why I'm getting them refinished. At age 72 I can hit the G25 4 iron as well as I hit hybrids and I've never gotten that out of another iron set. Also, my misses with the 4 iron are not as bad as my misses with a hybrid.