From Real Blades to Ping i500

[2over]

I recently tried a set of Ping i500s. I'm a middle-aged, single digit hc, driver ss around 98-101 on Trackman. I've been playing Mizuno forged blades for years, but I dabble with other clubs, but mostly with other blades (Titleist 718 MB and Cally 2018 MB have been favorites). I'm at that age when distance is not what it used to be and while a high ball hitter, a little more height and stopping power on the greens is always welcome...

 

I'd read the raves about the Ping i500 and so grabbed a set with the standard DG 105 stiff shafts--after hitting on a monitor and getting astonishing numbers: 15-20 yard increases club to club(!). I really liked the looks, but when I hit outside on the range and played with them, I realized these things are huge and not in a way that inspired confidence for me--very long heel to toe and very tall faces. The 4 iron is simply massive (to say "shovel" would be much too harsh, as the Pings are very sleek, with minimal offset, but while they might fool you into thinking "forged blades" from a distance, in the bag, at address, behind the ball, where it counts, thoughts of Garden Implements dance in your head), and while the short irons 8-pw are reasonably sized, the soles are so much fatter than I'm used to. My biggest problem with them was the feel and the trajectory. They certainly live up to the "Ping" name. Instead of a muted "thwack" you get a very loud, metallic "ping/tink" that was not pleasing to the ear and the feel was not sweet in the hands either. The face may be forged, but it is very difficult to tell where you've hit it on the face which led to more struggles for me. I simply didn't realize how much I depend on the feel of a shot telling me exactly where I've hit it to maintain decent ball striking.

 

But the trajectory window just really messed with me. These things hit the ball really, really, really high. I like high. But the Ping got there in a way that was disconcerting: shots with all the clubs long iron to wedges shoot up like a NASA rocket launch, closely approaching the vertical it seems sometimes, quickly flatten out (which is nice), sail a good long ways, and then drop like a rock. Stopping power ends up being quite decent this way, but playing in the wind was just more than my skills could adjust to--and stopping with trajectory alone instead of spin is a big change if you're a fairly high spin iron player and used to stopping the ball that way on the greens, as I am. The hurt into the wind was massive--as was help downwind; but turning a 1 club wind into 2.5 or 3 was not good for me--too much math! Possibly a lower launching shaft would help. I'm a Project X loyalist, and I think that shaft or a good old 130 gram Dynamic Gold in the i500 would make a world of difference for better players.

 

Last of all, I found these were less forgiving than my forged blades. I know--weird! I struggled more than I ever do with my blades to get consistent clean strikes. I'm a rather extreme "picker" with a very shallow angle of attack with the irons and these i500's have more than twice the degree of bounce iron to iron than my Mizuno blades ( 8* bounce on the 6 iron and 13* bounce on the PW!)--so that might have been the trouble for me. The long blade lengths had me spraying shots left and right (mostly right) more than with my blades--closing the large face was not as easy or intuitive as with small headed butter knives for me, and, when I thought about it, I tended to overdo it seeing some impressive hooks. I've heard others say i500s are impossible to "work" but I was working them both ways, just not in a way that was intentional or easily controlled for me.

 

I saw an article by Mr. Miura the elder on how small headed forged blades really are game improvement clubs for all ranges of handicaps. His reasoning was that it's easier to close the face, there's less club to get hung up in the grass or uneven lies, and the shot feedback quickly makes you self-correct your swing intuitively. I think Mr. Miura is onto something!

 

In summary, I will say that solid strikes with the i500 led to high soaring bombs. Still; control, feel, shot-feedback, and consistency of strike all suffered too much for me. While i500s weren't for me, I think they'd be good clubs for a wide range of players. If you have a steep angle of attack, are used to cast cavity backs, appreciate a large striking area, and are struggling for height on your irons, these are definitely worth a look. Hollow headed irons are a brilliant idea and will help lots of players and would make good long iron replacements for a wide range of players. But small headed forged blades still have a place in the game today for a wide range of skill levels too...

[Golf64]

Preferred the i210s vs i500s. 500s look and feel great, but the softer feel, more spin gave the 210s the edge for me. ;)

[Nessism]

That's one hell of a post describing every which way you didn't like the clubs. Just move along and try something different. Ping doesn't profess for them to fit everyone's needs and desires.

[MCR]

When I did my outdoor fitting for i500’s there was a huge difference for me with various shafts. You may just be better off with blades. I didn’t hit the lighter shafts well at all, but loved the KBS Tour. So interesting to read everyone’s opinions. No way for ME that blades are more forgiving than the i500’s. This is why everyone needs to try clubs for themselves because in the end other people’s experience may be way different. Hope you find what you like.

[Hehateme]

Very long post to say I don't need the extra 15-20 yards and more height. My father in law hates the back up camera in his Grand Cherokee as well, "I have mirrors, why do I need that camera"?

[WarEagleGolf]

Hold on a second. They aren't real forged blades?

 

But the back of the club says forged????

 

Ping feel, even for these is always different than true blades. Blades you are looking for that perfect feel of a center struck shot. Ive always found pings to feel like you hit nothing when you pure them, and a little click when you don't but you can feel the miss. To each their own I suppose. I'm a huge fan, coming from smaller S55. And the long irons are much easier to hit and I want the extra yardage. Closes the gap to 4wd and removes the hybrid. Win win. For me at least.

[MPG]

Would love to understand what shafts are in your blades? Are you using 105 weighted shafts in your current set?

 

Anytime i go to a shaft below 115 gram my shot dispersion goes crazy. I have no control nor can i hit the sweet spot consistently. Anytime i can have a 123-127 weighted shafts and my consistency is totally different and i am hitting much better shots all the way around.

[MCR]

Steelers... that has exactly been my experience as well.

[CTJ]

This thread illustrates the old saying “different strokes for different folks” could not be more true with respect to golf equipment (like the pun?). A very traditional blade player may well not like the i500. Some players need a heavier shaft. I am coming into 58 years old and the i500 fits my needs perfectly. Paired with a high end, 95 gram shaft (again, a lighter shaft), I am hitting as many greens as ever and have gained some of my distance lost through age and a desk job. The irons have been fine in the wind and they sit right down next to the ball mark. They are as consistent as my swing makes them. Case in point... Played 9 holes last night, hitting my i500s 6 times on approaches. I had three very good birdie opportunities on these 6 shots. Two of the others were simply poor swings. My handicap is as low as it has been in a couple years and the hollow, players distance-type iron is a big part of it for me. I know if I began hitting a blade, my scoring would suffer. I came to the game later in life an never have gamed a set of true blades, so I am sure my view of what looks good is completely diffferent.

[Emerich]

Thank you to the OP for a well thought out post with lots of good info in it.

[Bubb]

I tried the i500's on several occasions and didn't see the extra distance or height that I read about. The feel and sound were't nearly as good as my Taylormade PSI's either. I really wanted to like them because they're the best looking game improvement iron I've ever seen.

[Fairways_and_Greens]

That's one hell of a post describing every which way you didn't like the clubs. Just move along and try something different. Ping doesn't profess for them to fit everyone's needs and desires.

 

This is a golf forum to talk about golf equipment, is it not? I thought it was a great well thought out post. Nothing was viscous.

[cardoustie]

I want to love the i500's as well but I agree with the OP. They do look a bit clunky

 

I like the feel of my s55's way better and I like their thinner sole and IMO the s55 are way more forgiving on toe misses (big for me)

 

Missed shots w the i500 are funny feeling and sounding to my ear anyways

 

NB I was also not a fan of the iblade set I had and sold them within 6 weeks of owning them (as many did)

 

I've gone to 6 or 7 shafts in the i500 six iron bought and I think I finally found a winner in the PX HB-6 7.0 97g (a hybrid shaft). I was looking for the 6i to be a blend between my 5h and my "blade" short irons, and a tester before unloading cash for a full 6-PW set

 

I tried, Modus 105x, Nippon 1150, DG120, S400, X200, Aldila NV105 x, Steelfiber 110x, etc

 

I think the 370 tip in the PX helps with the feel as there is no beads or shims needed. (I've seen that info posted in other threads for other irons before on Wrx)

 

More to report on after a 2nd round with it this aft

[JonnyKrasnodar]

That's one hell of a post describing every which way you didn't like the clubs. Just move along and try something different. Ping doesn't profess for them to fit everyone's needs and desires.

 

This is a golf forum to talk about golf equipment, is it not? I thought it was a great well thought out post. Nothing was viscous.

 

Don't worry someone else dug me up for discussing a Tour player. Who knew it wasn't allowed on a golf discussion forum.

[Jordan Speeth]

I just switched to the i500 from a Bridgestone J15MB >>>Bridgestone TourB X-CB and I found them to be very easy to look at behind the ball. For what they are, they're in an amazing small and classic looking package. They're definitely not garden shovels by any stretch. What, are you playing 1950's blades that these would seem so huge to you, or are the the only club other than a blade that you've ever seen behind the ball? I don't get where you're coming from...

[SwingMan]

I would not expect a blade player to enjoy the Ping i500. Just ... too... different.

 

Different strokes for diffrent folks.

[golfjam]

I've played blades for 15yrs, from MP-33 to MP-18, and switched to i500's. It took some time to get used to, mostly due to shafts. Used to play X100 and tried PX LZ. Honestly I hated, gave a 2nd shot with Modus 105X and so far so good. I agree it flies very high but some of it it's because it's just too long, easily 10~15yds from 6 and up. Also very forgiving and workable. Unless you shank it it will fly 90% on your missed shots. Does it mean my scores got better? Absolutely not, instead of front bunker my miss is on the side LOL. But overall it's been fun getting some distance again. Not sure how long I'll keep them, really miss playing blades, specially on chipping and punch shots, but after 10 rounds I don't regret.

[North Butte]

I recently tried a set of Ping i500s. I'm a middle-aged, single digit hc, driver ss around 98-101 on Trackman. I've been playing Mizuno forged blades for years, but I dabble with other clubs, but mostly with other blades (Titleist 718 MB and Cally 2018 MB have been favorites). I'm at that age when distance is not what it used to be and while a high ball hitter, a little more height and stopping power on the greens is always welcome...

 

I'd read the raves about the Ping i500 and so grabbed a set with the standard DG 105 stiff shafts--after hitting on a monitor and getting astonishing numbers: 15-20 yard increases club to club(!). I really liked the looks, but when I hit outside on the range and played with them, I realized these things are huge and not in a way that inspired confidence for me--very long heel to toe and very tall faces. The 4 iron is simply massive (to say "shovel" would be much too harsh, as the Pings are very sleek, with minimal offset, but while they might fool you into thinking "forged blades" from a distance, in the bag, at address, behind the ball, where it counts, thoughts of Garden Implements dance in your head), and while the short irons 8-pw are reasonably sized, the soles are so much fatter than I'm used to. My biggest problem with them was the feel and the trajectory. They certainly live up to the "Ping" name. Instead of a muted "thwack" you get a very loud, metallic "ping/tink" that was not pleasing to the ear and the feel was not sweet in the hands either. The face may be forged, but it is very difficult to tell where you've hit it on the face which led to more struggles for me. I simply didn't realize how much I depend on the feel of a shot telling me exactly where I've hit it to maintain decent ball striking.

 

But the trajectory window just really messed with me. These things hit the ball really, really, really high. I like high. But the Ping got there in a way that was disconcerting: shots with all the clubs long iron to wedges shoot up like a NASA rocket launch, closely approaching the vertical it seems sometimes, quickly flatten out (which is nice), sail a good long ways, and then drop like a rock. Stopping power ends up being quite decent this way, but playing in the wind was just more than my skills could adjust to--and stopping with trajectory alone instead of spin is a big change if you're a fairly high spin iron player and used to stopping the ball that way on the greens, as I am. The hurt into the wind was massive--as was help downwind; but turning a 1 club wind into 2.5 or 3 was not good for me--too much math! Possibly a lower launching shaft would help. I'm a Project X loyalist, and I think that shaft or a good old 130 gram Dynamic Gold in the i500 would make a world of difference for better players.

 

Last of all, I found these were less forgiving than my forged blades. I know--weird! I struggled more than I ever do with my blades to get consistent clean strikes. I'm a rather extreme "picker" with a very shallow angle of attack with the irons and these i500's have more than twice the degree of bounce iron to iron than my Mizuno blades ( 8* bounce on the 6 iron and 13* bounce on the PW!)--so that might have been the trouble for me. The long blade lengths had me spraying shots left and right (mostly right) more than with my blades--closing the large face was not as easy or intuitive as with small headed butter knives for me, and, when I thought about it, I tended to overdo it seeing some impressive hooks. I've heard others say i500s are impossible to "work" but I was working them both ways, just not in a way that was intentional or easily controlled for me.

 

I saw an article by Mr. Miura the elder on how small headed forged blades really are game improvement clubs for all ranges of handicaps. His reasoning was that it's easier to close the face, there's less club to get hung up in the grass or uneven lies, and the shot feedback quickly makes you self-correct your swing intuitively. I think Mr. Miura is onto something!

 

In summary, I will say that solid strikes with the i500 led to high soaring bombs. Still; control, feel, shot-feedback, and consistency of strike all suffered too much for me. While i500s weren't for me, I think they'd be good clubs for a wide range of players. If you have a steep angle of attack, are used to cast cavity backs, appreciate a large striking area, and are struggling for height on your irons, these are definitely worth a look. Hollow headed irons are a brilliant idea and will help lots of players and would make good long iron replacements for a wide range of players. But small headed forged blades still have a place in the game today for a wide range of skill levels too...

 

Pair them with a Titleist AVX ball and the wind will *not* be an issue. And as you noticed, the descent angle will produce plenty of stopping power.

[gbartko]

What else would you expect Miura to say given the irons they SELL?

[Jordan Speeth]

Maybe I like the sound and feel of my "hollow" i500s more than most because mine are not actually hollow. Each club is virtually full of some sort of sticky rat glue or something. The six iron might have a very small amount of room left for more goo but the rest of them are plum full. They also told me that D7 was the best they could do given that I requested a +3/4" length with the DG 105. They told me that I was fortunate and that the weight "on paper" should have been D9! I wonder if the actual hollow ones are more prone to the failed welds than the ones that are weighted with goo.

[Kingcat990]

That's one hell of a post describing every which way you didn't like the clubs. Just move along and try something different. Ping doesn't profess for them to fit everyone's needs and desires.

 

LOL

[bladehunter]

Maybe I like the sound and feel of my "hollow" i500s more than most because mine are not actually hollow. Each club is virtually full of some sort of sticky rat glue or something. The six iron might have a very small amount of room left for more goo but the rest of them are plum full. They also told me that D7 was the best they could do given that I requested a +3/4" length with the DG 105. They told me that I was fortunate and that the weight "on paper" should have been D9! I wonder if the actual hollow ones are more prone to the failed welds than the ones that are weighted with goo.

 

Lol. Agree. Mine are full of hotmelt too. And feel great.

 

It’s funny. I almost hate to admit this. But I’ve practiced with these side by side of my titleist 681 set with same shafts , grips , swingweight and length for 2 weeks. Every day. And I simply adore the short irons in the i500. The 4-5-6 are quite easy too. Although in a perfect world they would’ve scaled them down a hair. But I’m an iron snob from way back. And these , once dialed in are performers.

 

They aren’t juiced ( mine are retro lofts ) like the 790. I don’t hit huge fliers. Or 2 clubs longer. But I can drop a 7 iron into a pretty tight circle on my home range from 175. That’s pretty valuable.

Anyone hating the feel of these should seriously order them as heavy as ping will let you , or have a reputable builder shave down the toe screw weights and add the weight back In hot melt. It’s marshmallow soft in the center after that. And I’ve played Vega and Miura lately. Vega being the softest iron made by humans.

[Jordan Speeth]

To further address my surprise at the OP's assertion that the i500 is a borderline "garden tool", here is a side-by-side comparison with my J15MB 8-iron. The Bridgestone club, while not a Miura Baby blade, is still quite a compact club. I'm not sure what the problem is. I mean, given the arguable advantages of the i500, I'd say that an almost imperceptible size difference would be the LEAST of my issues. We're talking about an almost full-on GI distance iron next to a forged blade. While there's "no free lunch", this is about as close as it gets IMO. Granted, there is more of a difference in the longer irons but they still look great and, for most players, won't be an issue.

 

 

[gdb99]

I looked at these at the store last week.

I thought they looked too small compared to my 712 AP1's.

Not sure if I could hit them!

[gbartko]

To further address my surprise at the OP's assertion that the i500 is a borderline "garden tool", here is a side-by-side comparison with my J15MB 8-iron. The Bridgestone club, while not a Miura Baby blade, is still quite a compact club. I'm not sure what the problem is. I mean, given the arguable advantages of the i500, I'd say that an almost imperceptible size difference would be the LEAST of my issues. We're talking about an almost full-on GI distance iron next to a forged blade. While there's "no free lunch", this is about as close as it gets IMO. Granted, there is more of a difference in the longer irons but they still look great and, for most players, won't be an issue.

 

 

 

Look away! It's hideous!!!!

[bladehunter]

To further address my surprise at the OP's assertion that the i500 is a borderline "garden tool", here is a side-by-side comparison with my J15MB 8-iron. The Bridgestone club, while not a Miura Baby blade, is still quite a compact club. I'm not sure what the problem is. I mean, given the arguable advantages of the i500, I'd say that an almost imperceptible size difference would be the LEAST of my issues. We're talking about an almost full-on GI distance iron next to a forged blade. While there's "no free lunch", this is about as close as it gets IMO. Granted, there is more of a difference in the longer irons but they still look great and, for most players, won't be an issue.

 

 

 

Absolutely. I’ve gotten nothing but shocked comments from people In person. They are all shocked at the lack of offset and size. Very much comparable to ap2 except much less offset.

[ajdaddy]

Not sure where the complaints about the size of the irons came from. I've had several sessions hitting demos and ordered a set. Very compact and easy to look at from the topline. Amazing to get that amount of help from such a moderately sized iron. Seems like the original reviewer has a Ping story in their mind to start off with.

[animalgolfs]

a Ping story in their mind to start off with.

 

There is quite a lot of these going around presently

[sdandrea]

It might be my geezer-ness, but I'm starting to think that iron design is being "over-thought". Are the OEM's adding "technology" just so they have a new design? Are these new tweaks adding so many categories of iron design that players are struggling to figure out which one fits them? PING's lineup used to be the S and G models. I think at one time, it was just the Eye 2. Now we have hollow blades, foam-filled blades, blade blades, cast players CB, distance-irons, GI, SGI, and so-on. Players picked a brand and formed their game around the model available. Do we actually have too many choices?

[bladehunter]

It might be my geezer-ness, but I'm starting to think that iron design is being "over-thought". Are the OEM's adding "technology" just so they have a new design? Are these new tweaks adding so many categories of iron design that players are struggling to figure out which one fits them? PING's lineup used to be the S and G models. I think at one time, it was just the Eye 2. Now we have hollow blades, foam-filled blades, blade blades, cast players CB, distance-irons, GI, SGI, and so-on. Players picked a brand and formed their game around the model available. Do we actually have too many choices?

 

Maybe so

 

But I love it if for no other reason than it makes the Ping only boys heads spin. Ping is doing a great job of taking the market share and leading the way for new idea. Just like always. Just funny to see it full circle where the old ping guard is now mad that they are staying ahead of the curve and that curve now doesn’t suit the nostalgic ping guys.