PING i525 Fail- Going back to Apex

[Honeybadger]

I got a set of PING i525’s with AWT shafts at the beginning of this season. I’m 30 rounds in with them and I think I’m going to give up on trying to make them work. I can’t always tell when I’ve hit them clean and I have trouble finding the sweet spot. I feel like I really need to hit down on them to hit them clean and when I do that I get a too high trajectory and loss of distance. I really thought the increased bounce would be good since I’m steep and play in wet conditions. I came from Callaway Apex 19 combos and I feel like I hit them cleaner. Unfortunately, I sold the Apex 19’s So now I’m looking at the Apex 21’s at CPO. Anyone with any insights on the 19’s v the 21’s and or if anyone also had trouble with the i525’s and went to something similar to the Apex’s??? Thoughts? 
Thanks. 

[BlkNGld]

I own 19s.   Tried 525s, and found no reason to change.  Hit the 19s better.

 

A friend got 21s, tried them.  Nice, but not worth the change.

 

With that, I found the 530s to be much improved.   I'll compare those to the ai200s when they come out.

[CanFred]

Used to game the 21s - good set of irons but preferred the overall feel of my Cobras. CPO should be a great place to find a set.  
 

Curious, did you have AWTs in your Apex’s as well? 

[ldh692002]

I’ve owned a number of ping iron sets and i525 was probably my least favorite. Never was confident with yardages with them, either too hot, too high could never really get the hang of them. 

[J_Tizzle]

8 minutes ago, ldh692002 said:

I’ve owned a number of ping iron sets and i525 was probably my least favorite. Never was confident with yardages with them, either too hot, too high could never really get the hang of them. 

 

This is so interesting to me, because I find them wildly consistent across the face as someone who's played them for a couple of years.  I've seen others try the i500s and they hit super hot shots with them and could never get comfortable, but as a +0.7 handicap, I think players distance irons are some of the most wildly underrated irons for people in the group of "dads that play maybe 1x a week and might hit the range 3x a month but are still pretty solid golfers".  Of course, to each is own, but players distance irons get such a bad rap in my opinion because I think they're the greatest advancement in iron technology in decades.  

[ldh692002]

3 minutes ago, J_Tizzle said:

 

This is so interesting to me, because I find them wildly consistent across the face as someone who's played them for a couple of years.  I've seen others try the i500s and they hit super hot shots with them and could never get comfortable, but as a +0.7 handicap, I think players distance irons are some of the most wildly underrated irons for people in the group of "dads that play maybe 1x a week and might hit the range 3x a month but are still pretty solid golfers".  Of course, to each is own, but players distance irons get such a bad rap in my opinion because I think they're the greatest advancement in iron technology in decades.  

Play down to a 6, they were just not a good irons for me never liked the feel never was consistent. I did shoot my lowest round ever with them! I switched up to the Wilson staff cb 21 and absolutely love them. Just like the feel and and flight of these so much better no flyers no hot shots. To each their own just like you say, hit em straight and best of luck

[Binson]

They have a pretty high CG and work better with swings that have a healthy amount of shaft lean at impact.  They feel pretty harsh if you hit them lower on the face and present similar or higher loft than static at impact. 

[mikedejong33]

12 hours ago, J_Tizzle said:

 

This is so interesting to me, because I find them wildly consistent across the face as someone who's played them for a couple of years.  I've seen others try the i500s and they hit super hot shots with them and could never get comfortable, but as a +0.7 handicap, I think players distance irons are some of the most wildly underrated irons for people in the group of "dads that play maybe 1x a week and might hit the range 3x a month but are still pretty solid golfers".  Of course, to each is own, but players distance irons get such a bad rap in my opinion because I think they're the greatest advancement in iron technology in decades.  

I pretty much agree with this 100%. I have had the same experience, I am a decent player, but I was losing some distance. The I525's seem perfect for me. I love the look, not much offset, and very clean looking. And I can get some extra distance when needed, which really helps me. I don't get the hot shots that some have complained about, the odd time out of the rough, I do get flyers.. but that happens with any club. I do agree with the shaft lean/hitting down on them comment, as I get my best results when I really concentrate on hitting down and through. Then they just come out perfect, I love them. I was interested in trying the 530's, but really, I am not sure why I would change, these have been so good for me. 

[J_Tizzle]

7 hours ago, mikedejong33 said:

I pretty much agree with this 100%. I have had the same experience, I am a decent player, but I was losing some distance. The I525's seem perfect for me. I love the look, not much offset, and very clean looking. And I can get some extra distance when needed, which really helps me. I don't get the hot shots that some have complained about, the odd time out of the rough, I do get flyers.. but that happens with any club. I do agree with the shaft lean/hitting down on them comment, as I get my best results when I really concentrate on hitting down and through. Then they just come out perfect, I love them. I was interested in trying the 530's, but really, I am not sure why I would change, these have been so good for me. 

 

Exactly.  I have my bag set up about perfectly for the yardages I get from the i525s where I can carry 5 wedges and still cover the 200-240 gaps about perfectly (of course for me, those are more "don't get it in trouble or hit it around the green vs hit the green").  I do hit them farther than I hit the i230s I tried, but the the 230s were terrible on my misses (slightly low and/or heel) and just fell out of the air 25 yards short, while the i525s are 5 yards short.  It was an easy choice for me.  

Edited August 9, 2024 by J_Tizzle

[discover-it]

On 8/7/2024 at 2:52 PM, Honeybadger said:

I got a set of PING i525’s with AWT shafts at the beginning of this season. I’m 30 rounds in with them and I think I’m going to give up on trying to make them work. I can’t always tell when I’ve hit them clean and I have trouble finding the sweet spot. I feel like I really need to hit down on them to hit them clean and when I do that I get a too high trajectory and loss of distance. I really thought the increased bounce would be good since I’m steep and play in wet conditions. I came from Callaway Apex 19 combos and I feel like I hit them cleaner. Unfortunately, I sold the Apex 19’s So now I’m looking at the Apex 21’s at CPO. Anyone with any insights on the 19’s v the 21’s and or if anyone also had trouble with the i525’s and went to something similar to the Apex’s??? Thoughts? 
Thanks. 

AWT shafts are pretty different from most others. Maybe that is the problem you're having? 

[iNeedMoreGolf]

Yes i had the p790 23'... was a terrible experience. I thought id get forgiving and more yards. What i got was super high uncontrollable ball flight, terrible feel off the face, no touch or confidence. I went back to my cbs and mbs... and went right back to good golf. I think the players distance category works for certain people but not me for whatever reason. Wasnt a shaft issue either. I just think different heads do different things for different people. Didnt match up well. Cbs and blades just fit me best.

[Hawkeye77]

Made the mistake of getting some, went to Apex and they were great, but now into Mizuno JPX 923 forged and best performing and feeling irons I've had in years.  i525s never felt good, turf interaction was harsh, and shaft wasn't right for me.  Got a good price in trade from Callaway.

[Honeybadger]

On 8/8/2024 at 8:58 PM, ChrisATL said:

Used to game the 21s - good set of irons but preferred the overall feel of my Cobras. CPO should be a great place to find a set.  
 

Curious, did you have AWTs in your Apex’s as well? 

TT Elevate 95 S

[Honeybadger]

On 8/9/2024 at 10:04 AM, mikedejong33 said:

I pretty much agree with this 100%. I have had the same experience, I am a decent player, but I was losing some distance. The I525's seem perfect for me. I love the look, not much offset, and very clean looking. And I can get some extra distance when needed, which really helps me. I don't get the hot shots that some have complained about, the odd time out of the rough, I do get flyers.. but that happens with any club. I do agree with the shaft lean/hitting down on them comment, as I get my best results when I really concentrate on hitting down and through. Then they just come out perfect, I love them. I was interested in trying the 530's, but really, I am not sure why I would change, these have been so good for me. 

When I concentrated on hitting down they came out great- but my problem is that it wasn’t a natural feeling. Out off the rough or off the tee, I had no problems, but from the fairway I hit a ton of thin shots (unless I really tried to hit down, which also caused some ballooning). 
 

[Honeybadger]

Thanks for the feedback everyone. I sold them- got a good price and used it to get the Apex 19’s off CPO. That’s the nice thing about PING’s- great re-sale. It may have also been the shafts as many theorized. I had success with the TT Elevate 95’s in the 19’s… so I have that going for me, which is nice. They arrive Wednesday- I’ll report back. 

[bladehunter]

On 8/7/2024 at 2:52 PM, Honeybadger said:

I got a set of PING i525’s with AWT shafts at the beginning of this season. I’m 30 rounds in with them and I think I’m going to give up on trying to make them work. I can’t always tell when I’ve hit them clean and I have trouble finding the sweet spot. I feel like I really need to hit down on them to hit them clean and when I do that I get a too high trajectory and loss of distance. I really thought the increased bounce would be good since I’m steep and play in wet conditions. I came from Callaway Apex 19 combos and I feel like I hit them cleaner. Unfortunately, I sold the Apex 19’s So now I’m looking at the Apex 21’s at CPO. Anyone with any insights on the 19’s v the 21’s and or if anyone also had trouble with the i525’s and went to something similar to the Apex’s??? Thoughts? 
Thanks. 

Try the i530 first if you have a chance. Totally different vertical center of gravity and feel than the i525 or i500.   I played and disliked the i500 and love the i530. The 525 was just a rebadged i500 for the most part. I think with the 3rd iteration they got the center of gravity right.  

[Honeybadger]

9 minutes ago, bladehunter said:

Try the i530 first if you have a chance. Totally different vertical center of gravity and feel than the i525 or i500.   I played and disliked the i500 and love the i530. The 525 was just a rebadged i500 for the most part. I think with the 3rd iteration they got the center of gravity right.  

I was looking at the 2021 Titleist T200. The T200 has everything I loved about the i525’s in terms of forgiveness and a much lower VCOG. (I like buying previous year models to save $). 

[bladehunter]

24 minutes ago, Honeybadger said:

I was looking at the 2021 Titleist T200. The T200 has everything I loved about the i525’s in terms of forgiveness and a much lower VCOG. (I like buying previous year models to save $). 

Try them first. To me they don’t have any of the benefits you’d expect over the t100 .  And a much worse feel.  They feel dead. To me. I’d much rather go back to t100 .  Played those for almost 20 months.  But everyone is different.  Which is why I say try them first. 

[Honeybadger]

Got the Apex 21’s off CPO. With the i525, I would struggle to get into the 140’s smash factor off mats. This is what I did with my 7 iron (pretty consistently):

I’m playing tomorrow, so I’ll see what they feel like off the turf. 

[Honeybadger]

Apex’s felt great on the course. Definitely hit the sweet spot more and I have to say I missed the feel of a clean hit with the Callaways. The 21’s felt just as good as the 19’s did, but with more forgiveness.