i525 Are In!

[Guest RobS]

On 3/17/2022 at 1:43 AM, TiScape said:

So every other OEM has trouble bending their irons??? Not sure I want my irons to be “easier to bend”. 😂 

I wouldn't call Ping's easy to bend. The notch makes it easier to bend at a greater range since they offer -4* to +5* on lie in their standard color codes and will even go beyond that on some models.

[scall1968]

I was excited to hear my i525s arrived a Club Champions build facility a last Friday so maybe I get them next week.

[blazman11]

Good deal.  I'm liking mine more and more each day.  After league play on Tuesday I will have them bent from power spec to "normal" i525 loft in at least 4-7.  

 

 

[jamie]

11 hours ago, blazman11 said:

Good deal.  I'm liking mine more and more each day.  After league play on Tuesday I will have them bent from power spec to "normal" i525 loft in at least 4-7.  

 

 

Are they flying too far or too low?

[blazman11]

12 hours ago, jamie said:

Are they flying too far or too low?

 

Mostly flying too low.  Distance is hard to say as it's been incredibly windy every round I've played since I got these, except for today and today was a scramble.  For some reason I'm better with i525 in the wind vs i500.  Even the tiniest of headwinds with i500 I'm clubbing up.  Not entirely the case with the i525.  It also takes me a month or so to get comfortable with a new set of irons to learn the distances so I'm not terribly concerned.  

 

I ordered these Power Spec.

 

4 iron - This def needs to get bent weak.  I've hit 241 off the tee with little wind.  I could leave it as a driving iron but when it gets wetter out in the summer that 241 will turn into 215.  I could just pull hybrid to hit something 230.  If I bend this weak to 21 or 22 then I have to do at least the 5-7 as well and more than likely slight tweaks to 8 and 9.  

 

5 iron - hit it once from 230 just to see how far I could hit it.  Bit of a push cut and it settled at 210.  Visually it had the height I want my 4 iron to be.  

 

6 iron - I had 210 to a back flag with wind and flew it to very back.  Other than that I've had to hit it at some 170ish yard flags with massive headwind.  Shame because for some reason the ball flight has been perfect.

 

7 iron - haven't hit it much.  Mostly layups on par 5's.  I cannot recall hitting it into a green yet.  I recall yardages that would work I either had headwind or tailwind and pulled 5-8.  

 

8-9 I probably would have to adjust slightly weak.  160-150 giving me trouble at the moment.  I've hit 8-PW these distances and I do not like having to step on a PW but I'd rather do that then take too much off a 9.  Whatever club I choose based on the wind has been fine, I just don't like to have that doubt in my mind.  I want to say 8/9 go a hair too far but this has been the toughest to call because  of the wind I've been playing in.  

 

GW - Perfect at 125.

 

I placed the pre-order in December I think.  Everyone at the local shop knew I've been waiting on the i500 replacement for a long, long time and had marching orders to call me the second they could place the pre-order 🙂   When I got the phone call I was caught off guard so I said Power Spec them, not fully thinking it through.  I played the i500 at i200 power spec - which is now the "normal" spec for i525 (and the i525 normal spec is basically the same loft specs I've played every iron in between such as 770, 790, PXG T, PXG P and Zx5).   

[Aggielefty]

I have played the i525's for about 4 rounds now.  I find that the mid and low irons are flying really high.  I think I need to bring them down a bit.  I am having a hard time flighting them into the wind.  I have Nippon 105's in them. I might switch to a different shaft.  I don't think I want to bend them any stronger.  

 

Overall, I think the feel is fine.  Even on the range with range balls, I am not bothered by the sound (like I was with the i500's).  

 

I don't find them extremely forgiving on thin shots.  I need more time with them to know for sure because these should be pretty forgiving on the thin side.  I am a sweeper and I feel like I need to be a little steeper with these irons.  

 

So far, when hit well, they go straight, high, and fairly long.  

[animalgolfs]

46 minutes ago, Aggielefty said:

I have played the i525's for about 4 rounds now.  I find that the mid and low irons are flying really high.  I think I need to bring them down a bit.  I am having a hard time flighting them into the wind.  I have Nippon 105's in them. I might switch to a different shaft.  I don't think I want to bend them any stronger.  

 

Overall, I think the feel is fine.  Even on the range with range balls, I am not bothered by the sound (like I was with the i500's).  

 

I don't find them extremely forgiving on thin shots.  I need more time with them to know for sure because these should be pretty forgiving on the thin side.  I am a sweeper and I feel like I need to be a little steeper with these irons.  

 

So far, when hit well, they go straight, high, and fairly long.  

Change the 105...might even go 105x to start

[IdahoHacker]

My i525’s just arrived - just under 3 weeks since order placed. Pleased with the turn around.  
 

5-GW with AWT 2.0 stiff + 1/4” standard lofts, green dot lie

 

will report back when after I have hit them a while.

[braincramp52]

On 3/18/2022 at 6:57 PM, Hawkeye77 said:

It wasn’t pured!

 

KIDDING!

 

I tested some of these against T200 today, and current iron, knowing I really wanted T200. Also hit a couple Mizuno and newest Tour Edge equivalent. 
 

I now have i525 on order! Haven’t been in Ping since the i3+ “blades”.

What was it about the Pings that you picked them over the T200's Hawk?

[Hawkeye77]

43 minutes ago, braincramp52 said:

What was it about the Pings that you picked them over the T200's Hawk?

I'll share my chart!  Current self-fitted gamers (not the zx7s) are the short and left, best set with the T200 is orange and the two sets with the i525 are the next two groups.  The fitting was indoors, but apples to apples in the sense he made sure all the lofts on the 6 irons were the same and the shafts were same length as mine.  My clubs were shocking to me in their inadequacy, lol.  To be fair I hit them first, but I hit a few later and with a different shaft just to see if hitting for an hour changed anything and those shots weren't worth saving, haha.  All my numbers (mine of course) were better with the i525.  Another set with the T200 isn't shown - it was marginally better in distance, but dispersion was worse.  I'd hit the T200 in a different town where  I was a couple days before and outside on turf and the numbers inside were better, but the other place didn't have much for shaft options, and they were higher and spun more than mine but I wasn't seeing the significant distance or dispersion differences.  So when hitting the T200 first indoors a couple days later I was pretty happy because those were what I wanted and I thought they felt great and to me, looked great.  The fitter suggested the i525 and I found them similar in feel, not quite as "soft" but again, indoors so maybe it was sound, but they felt miles better than my beloved Legacy Blacks which I put down to shaft.  I'd gone a little heavier and stayed in stiff with a soft step in the MMT 105s.  I also had an 8 iron with a Legacy Black head with the Recoil 95 F4 I'd used for years and that wasn't any better on the monitor.  He slipped in a Recoil 95 in F3 ("regular") after a bit and those results are what show on the chart.  So - I'm an "R" and it made a big difference and who knew!  Old and stubborn I guess.  If the T200s had been equal in the numbers I'd have bought those over the i525, so I guess there's that, but the i525 to me really don't look that much different at address and I think look stunning overall -- been a long time since I played Ping, but always liked them when I had them.  I put my loss in distance last season to COVID recovery, and wasn't getting performance out of the zx7s either and a lot of that was true and maybe it's still a thing until I get into better shape this year, but the numbers suggest getting a little more fit, etc. would only make the i525 just better than what I'm seeing.  And, last season whatever club I picked up I was using a shaft I needed to get out of.  Anxious to hit them outdoors, hope to have them in three weeks, that's the ETA I received from the fitter yesterday.  Happy to answer any other questions.

 

 

Edited March 31, 2022 by Hawkeye77

[braincramp52]

16 minutes ago, Hawkeye77 said:

I'll share my chart!  Current self-fitted gamers (not the zx7s) are the short and left, best set with the T200 is orange and the two sets with the i525 are the next two groups.  The fitting was indoors, but apples to apples in the sense he made sure all the lofts on the 6 irons were the same and the shafts were same length as mine.  My clubs were shocking to me in their inadequacy, lol.  To be fair I hit them first, but I hit a few later and with a different shaft just to see if hitting for an hour changed anything and those shots weren't worth saving, haha.  All my numbers (mine of course) were better with the i525.  Another set with the T200 isn't shown - it was marginally better in distance, but dispersion was worse.  I'd hit the T200 in a different town where  I was a couple days before and outside on turf and the numbers inside were better, but the other place didn't have much for shaft options, and they were higher and spun more than mine but I wasn't seeing the significant distance or dispersion differences.  So when hitting the T200 first indoors a couple days later I was pretty happy because those were what I wanted and I thought they felt great and to me, looked great.  The fitter suggested the i525 and I found them similar in feel, not quite as "soft" but again, indoors so maybe it was sound, but they felt miles better than my beloved Legacy Blacks which I put down to shaft.  I'd gone a little heavier and stayed in stiff with a soft step in the MMT 105s.  I also had an 8 iron with a Legacy Black head with the Recoil 95 F4 I'd used for years and that wasn't any better on the monitor.  He slipped in a Recoil 95 in F3 ("regular") after a bit and those results are what show on the chart.  So - I'm an "R" and it made a big difference and who knew!  Old and stubborn I guess.  If the T200s had been equal in the numbers I'd have bought those over the i525, so I guess there's that, but the i525 to me really don't look that much different at address and I think look stunning overall -- been a long time since I played Ping, but always liked them when I had them.  I put my loss in distance last season to COVID recovery, and wasn't getting performance out of the zx7s either and a lot of that was true and maybe it's still a thing until I get into better shape this year, but the numbers suggest getting a little more fit, etc. would only make the i525 just better than what I'm seeing.  And, last season whatever club I picked up I was using a shaft I needed to get out of.  Anxious to hit them outdoors, hope to have them in three weeks, that's the ETA I received from the fitter yesterday.  Happy to answer any other questions.

 

 

Cool! Great post! Thanks Hawk

[Hawkeye77]

34 minutes ago, braincramp52 said:

Cool! Great post! Thanks Hawk

Thanks!

 

It's a reminder to me as much as I tell people to get fit, lol, I really haven't done a proper iron fitting for a long time and was making assumptions about shaft, etc.  Dumb. I bought those zx7s after an inadequate LM session and now I'm sure it was a shaft issue AND I need a little more forgiveness these days.  It was interesting looking up the Legacy Blacks on the Maltby thing (yes, it has limitations) how little "help" those really have so as much as I've loved them since 2016, the love affair is over! The duplicate set just got traded (trading in 3 old sets of irons to save $$$ including the zx7s - gone!), so more room in the garage and makes the new irons seem a lot more affordable.  Keeping the LBs with the Recoils just in case mine are unreasonably delayed and the course opens in the meantime and for sentimental reasons I don't see those going unless . . . this shaft change prompts me to think I need a driver fitting, lol.

Edited March 31, 2022 by Hawkeye77

[m_w]

Can someone of the Ping-Insider gang tell me if Modus 120 shafts are in stock?

 

thanks!

[blazman11]

So I had the 4-9 irons bent weak yesterday going from Power Spec to "Normal" spec.  Going off memory.......

 

4 iron was at 19.  Fitter got a little nervous going to 22 so we settled at 21.  Not a big deal.

6 iron was already at normal spec.

7 iron was a degree stronger than 7 iron power spec.

9 iron was almost at 8 iron power spec loft.  Which explained my issues from 150-160.  

 

I didn't bring the PW and GW as I saw no issues there.  Moral of the story, get the lofts checked.  I don't like to check the lofts before I play with them because I like to figure all that out for myself.  I prefer to play for a few weeks and then chart out what I want each iron to be loft wise and go from there.  

[hammergolf]

4 hours ago, m_w said:

Can someone of the Ping-Insider gang tell me if Modus 120 shafts are in stock?

 

thanks!

Call customer service and they will let you know what shafts are in stock.

[m_w]

1 hour ago, blazman11 said:

So I had the 4-9 irons bent weak yesterday going from Power Spec to "Normal" spec.  Going off memory.......

 

4 iron was at 19.  Fitter got a little nervous going to 22 so we settled at 21.  Not a big deal.

6 iron was already at normal spec.

7 iron was a degree stronger than 7 iron power spec.

9 iron was almost at 8 iron power spec loft.  Which explained my issues from 150-160.  

 

I didn't bring the PW and GW as I saw no issues there.  Moral of the story, get the lofts checked.  I don't like to check the lofts before I play with them because I like to figure all that out for myself.  I prefer to play for a few weeks and then chart out what I want each iron to be loft wise and go from there.  

Thats very unusual for Ping to be that far off

[m_w]

14 minutes ago, hammergolf said:

Call customer service and they will let you know what shafts are in stock.

They no longer carry the Modus 120 nor the Modus 130. Only 105. The rep suggested either a KBS Tour-V S as a replacement or the AWT 2.0 X-Flex soft-stepped

[hammergolf]

5 minutes ago, m_w said:

They no longer carry the Modus 120 nor the Modus 130. Only 105. The rep suggested either a KBS Tour-V S as a replacement or the AWT 2.0 X-Flex soft-stepped

Well that sucks. Stay away from KBS if you want clubs anytime soon. I’m hearing 6-8 month lead times for some of their shafts. I’m a big fan of AWT 2.0. It’s made by Nippon for Ping so I would think that’s gonna be pretty close.

[m_w]

7 minutes ago, hammergolf said:

Well that sucks. Stay away from KBS if you want clubs anytime soon. I’m hearing 6-8 month lead times for some of their shafts. I’m a big fan of AWT 2.0. It’s made by Nippon for Ping so I would think that’s gonna be pretty close.

Tour V are in stock according to the rep

[blazman11]

1 hour ago, m_w said:

They no longer carry the Modus 120 nor the Modus 130. Only 105. The rep suggested either a KBS Tour-V S as a replacement or the AWT 2.0 X-Flex soft-stepped

 

I know I couldn't get the Modus wedge shafts either for a Pro Glide order.  I forget if Ping uses 120 or 130 shafts.  I could swear PXG uses one weight and Ping uses the other.  

[Landy]

So it seems the i525s have a leg up on the T200s and the ZX5s.

I thought the 525s would be more demanding to play…

[Htk084]

5 minutes ago, Landy said:

So it seems the i525s have a leg up on the T200s and the ZX5s.

I thought the 525s would be more demanding to play…

Are they more forgiving than the other 2 you mentioned?

[Landy]

Haven’t played the T200 or the i525…

[SaVo_]

27 minutes ago, Htk084 said:

Are they more forgiving than the other 2 you mentioned?

 

33 minutes ago, Landy said:

So it seems the i525s have a leg up on the T200s and the ZX5s.

I thought the 525s would be more demanding to play…

In my opinion, Yes. as a 16 handicap I was worried about getting the ping's as the topline of them was a little worrisome to what I was used to, same with the 200's and zx5, pretty thin toplines. But took less than a round for the ping's forgiveness to showcase now I have no second thoughts swinging them. What particularly stood out to me is my miss currently is a thin and there was 3 holes I thinned the heck out of it and normally I looked away thinking I'm going to be on somebody's tee box over the green, each ball was no more than 10 feet past the pin and stopped on a dime somehow, granted the greens were a bit soft after some rain the night before but even my Apex DCB's from last year couldn't do that and weren't this forgiving, those are in my opinion the best game improvement clubs out there or at least top 3. I bought the Ping's because I love how they look, I didn't think I'd be more confident playing these than any GI iron as well, so I take that as a cherry on top. 

200's and zx5's for me particularly on thin shots were nowhere near as forgiving and honestly felt more sting in the hands. Also didn't go as far for me as the Ping's did. 

I hope this answer helps!

[Landy]

2 minutes ago, SaVo_ said:

 

In my opinion, Yes. as a 16 handicap I was worried about getting the ping's as the topline of them was a little worrisome to what I was used to, same with the 200's and zx5, pretty thin toplines. But took less than a round for the ping's forgiveness to showcase now I have no second thoughts swinging them. What particularly stood out to me is my miss currently is a thin and there was 3 holes I thinned the heck out of it and normally I looked away thinking I'm going to be on somebody's tee box over the green, each ball was no more than 10 feet past the pin and stopped on a dime somehow, granted the greens were a bit soft after some rain the night before but even my Apex DCB's from last year couldn't do that and weren't this forgiving, those are in my opinion the best game improvement clubs out there or at least top 3. I bought the Ping's because I love how they look, I didn't think I'd be more confident playing these than any GI iron as well, so I take that as a cherry on top. 

200's and zx5's for me particularly on thin shots were nowhere near as forgiving and honestly felt more sting in the hands. Also didn't go as far for me as the Ping's did. 

I hope this answer helps!

Amazing feedback thank you 

[SaVo_]

43 minutes ago, Landy said:

Amazing feedback thank you 

No problem! if you have any more questions let me know and I'll try to answer them the best I can. Good Luck!

[Htk084]

2 hours ago, SaVo_ said:

No problem! if you have any more questions let me know and I'll try to answer them the best I can. Good Luck!

Really enjoyed that review too. Question, do they look pointy at address in person?  It can be sorta hard to tell sometimes on picture.  A pointy toe I mean 

[SaVo_]

9 hours ago, Htk084 said:

Really enjoyed that review too. Question, do they look pointy at address in person?  It can be sorta hard to tell sometimes on picture.  A pointy toe I mean 

I wouldn’t say it’s pointy it was odd to look down at the first few times but what makes it look a little different is the right edge, the middle is a little elongated out, it sticks out more than the toe and the bottom so it may say look more pointy than typical tear drop shaped/ more rounded clubs. Best way i guess i can try and explain it Is it’s like a teardrop on the middle but more sharp on the top and bottom which is something different. But after playing with it a round or two i don’t pay it no mind. 

[Htk084]

15 minutes ago, SaVo_ said:

I wouldn’t say it’s pointy it was odd to look down at the first few times but what makes it look a little different is the right edge, the middle is a little elongated out, it sticks out more than the toe and the bottom so it may say look more pointy than typical tear drop shaped/ more rounded clubs. Best way i guess i can try and explain it Is it’s like a teardrop on the middle but more sharp on the top and bottom which is something different. But after playing with it a round or two i don’t pay it no mind. 

Ohh I see exactly what you’re talking about.  Thank you, for the explanation.  I can’t tell what I think of them, little different than what I’m used to but I think I might like it 

Edited April 3, 2022 by Htk084

[SaVo_]

39 minutes ago, Htk084 said:

Ohh I see exactly what you’re talking about.  Thank you, for the explanation.  I can’t tell what I think of them, little different than what I’m used to but I think I might like it 

the easiest answer I can give you is go to a local retailer and check out the heads yourself. But if that's unavailable try and watch as much footage as you can on them or look at images until you feel confident. I love the overall look of the irons so much that address didnt become a issue. I played CBX zipcore wedges and even though they are probably the most rounded teardrop shape, personally it doesn't throw me off switching between clubs