YOUR GEAR | REVIEWED
here is no better shot in golf than the one down the middle.
Sure it is fun to “Bubba” cut the ball around a tree but the easiest
shot to control and score well with is the steady, straight one. If your
irons hit really square, you eliminate questions about what is going
to happen or where the ball will end up, all you need to do is dial
in the distance. The new Ping i-irons just want to hit the ball straight.
The straight ball is often the mantra of a “game-improvement” iron,
players irons are often billed as workable. Sure it sounds great,
but really I want players-irons looks that go straight like gameimprovement irons, to me workable usually means crooked. I’ve
got game enough to play blades, but why not play something that
is easier to hit and more forgiving when you miss-hit it. The Ping
i-irons offer a “players iron” with many game improvement qualities.
The history of the i-irons have always been the middle iron for
Ping. G-series was game improvement, S-series was “bladeish” and
I-series was something in between. These new irons follow that
pattern. These are just the next evolution of the i-series and like
each set before, these got better too. The forgiveness went up and
the looks remained similar, compact without being too blade like.
Danny Poulter has been a PGA professional for over 20 years,
whether on Tour (European Challenge Tour and South African
PGA Sunshine Tour), coaching and custom-fitting European
Tour golfers and amateurs alike, or as a Director of Golf – most
recently at Windmill Hill GC in Milton Keynes, before arriving at
iPlayGolfUK as part of the launch team in spring 2015.
30 | YOURCADDY MAG - ISSUE 05
I had my Ping i-irons built with DG S300 shafts in
the blue dot heads and stock id8 grips. Take note
that they changed their dot system, blue is now
the stock lie in these irons. They did swing weight
right at D2 across the board. I went with a 4-iron
-- U-wedge and paired those with the 54* and 58*
Ping Glide wedges. The combo covered every gap
between putter and hybrid perfectly. I really like
how the yardage gapping works out with these
irons. They aren’t juiced up for extra distance, they
hit just the yardage I want and consistently do the
same thing. If you compare irons brand to brand or
even look at different Ping irons you see different
lofts for different numbered irons, these worked out
really well.
The off-set progression is what the i-series Ping
irons are known for with some off-set in the long
irons down to very little in the short irons. This is
really good for what I like to see. Like I said above, I
could play a whole set of blades with no off-set, but
that extra boost it gives to the long irons helps and
not having it in the short irons makes them more
accurate.
The new Ping i-irons did 2 things that really has me
loving these irons. 1st, they just go straight. I have
a half dozen rounds in with this irons and no matter
my swing or the course, I hit these irons straight.
Seriously these might be the straightest irons I hit.
My first round blew me away on numerous shots
that certainly didn’t feel like a good swing, yet
yielded good results as the ball just went straight
at the target.
2nd, the improved feel of these cast heads is not
to be overlooked. While the firmer feel of cast has
always been the knock on a Ping iron, they really
have worked hard on the tuning port over the years
to get better feel out of their irons with each new
version. The different 431 steel now used along
with the tuning bar, have these getting as close
as you can get to a forged feel. Add the Tungsten
out on the toe and you have a fully balanced great
feeling cavity-back. I am impressed