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The new Ping irons...I have a question.

• deadRED 29 Posts

  Tue, Apr 14 2009 2:11 PM

  I see that the new irons have alot more spin. What will this do for me?

  Will the ball actually back up, or will it simply stop even quicker than the tour starters.

  If someone who is playing these could give me some feedback i would appreciate it. Are they worth paying for to upgrade over the tour starters?

  Thanks.

• nivlac 2,188 Posts

  Tue, Apr 14 2009 4:12 PM

  Assuming you land on a flat surface these irons/wedges still won't back up, but they will stop a lot quicker than before.

  If the swing meter speed doesn't bother you then I would lean towards yes, but it might be worth holding out for other options.

• mrboo 211 Posts

  Tue, Apr 14 2009 7:04 PM

  Doesn't the faster swing meter just outweigh the precision/forgiveness factor? I mean ...I dunno, just seems a little backwards to me. It's kinda like paying for 5 more yards all in all when you weigh it out. Eh, whatever. So when's the Cobra clubs coming? ?? ???? ???? HMMMM????????

• drivnchaos 286 Posts

  Tue, Apr 14 2009 7:04 PM

  Been kinda wondering that myself.

  Just got the tour starters about a week ago.

  Think I'll wait for the next set.

  Thanks

  Mike

• ncviz 527 Posts

  Wed, Apr 15 2009 5:47 AM

  Ok a have a few questions for you guys (wgt)...

  Looking at the parameters for all the clubs, the differences are in precision and forgiveness. One thing is confusing me.

  Starters are 1/2 precision, 3 forgiveness

  Tour starters are 1 precision, 3 1/2 forgiveness

  Ping clubs are 2 precision, 2 1/2 forgiveness

  From the normal progression from starter to tour starter why wouldn't the ping clubs be more precise, like 4? Doesn't seem logical to me. Was this your intention? Better clubs to me equal more precision AND more forgiveness. Some may look at that as you holding them up for ransom to buy new clubs. My view on that is tough. You want to play with the big boys or girls in my case ;), then you need to pony up some to get there. There are very affordable, and honestly can't believe people complain about that.

  And like one of the previous guys have said, doesn't the higher meter speed make for a harder hitting club? I can tell ya from htting it a few days now that it is in fact harder to hit the center mark. I love the extra distance, but sacrificing the forgiveness is very tough to swallow.

  Thanks for all your help!

   

• tibbets 1,043 Posts

  Wed, Apr 15 2009 6:03 AM

  Those are the natural trade offs with real clubs too.  Any club that is sold as 'more forgiving' or  'larger sweet spot' comes at the expense of pinpoint accuracy, instead giving a more average overall result for those who dont hit perfectly very often  With the Pings, its the other way around.  You hit the sweet spot, you'll be closer to where you actually aimed, but at the expense of not having a very forgiving blade.  Miss, and you'll really miss.

  Pro clubs with extra stiff shafts would be near impossible for most of us golfers to play with here.  Since most amateur golfers rarely hit it perfect, we'd be spraying shots all over the place, and I think that is what you are finding with the Pings.   Now, these Pings aren't really top of the line clubs either, but you get the idea.  Just look at the forgiveness zone of the Ping driver vs. the Taylormade Burner.  It's tiny by comparison.

  So really, the trade off is right where it should be.  I bet the TaylorMade irons that come out will be like the burner...not quite as accurate as the Pings but more forgiving.

• ncviz 527 Posts

  Wed, Apr 15 2009 6:19 AM

  Sorry Tibbets I don't buy that...

  If I went a golf shop and bought some new clubs I expect them to be better across the board. When I go to hit them and they were worse on my mishits than my walmart clubs I would take them back and ask for a refund. The reason most of us are incapable of hitting pro clubs is alot are not physical capable of swinging at that speed for a given shaft flex.

  This is game, not real life, I understand that. And there is certainly enough people shooting near perfect scores right now in the present. This may be a dilemma WGT has before them. Sort of if they give out better clubs how many more people will be shooting absurd scores.

  The solution to that is not inaccurate clubs though. Make the putting tougher, have the lower lofted clubs act that they should, ie less accurate than a pw. There's a whole list of things I could go thru before I would get to tweaking the whole club set in general.

• tibbets 1,043 Posts

  Wed, Apr 15 2009 7:11 AM

  Sorry ncviz, your reasoning is flawed by simple rule of mass.  The more condensed mass a club has, the more any errant shot will fly off target, which is why you'll never be as far off with a 9 iron as you will be with a driver on a ball struck imperfectly.  Unless a club is specifically designed to have a forgiving core, it penalizes mishits greatly. 

  Less forgiving clubs generally aren't useable by the majority of golfers.  They will do as you said, spray all over the place, and you'll be wondering why you paid all that money for clubs that don't play as well for you.  That has everything to do with fundamental swing flaws in the average golfer, not the flawed nature of the club.  The clubs are great, the golfer just isn't up to the task of using them properly.   The forgiving clubs cover up alot of those fundamental flaws, so once the forgiveness is removed, the results seen are more true to what is actually going on with the swing of the golfer.

  I think what you are taking issue is the lack of workability in the Pings.  Usually clubs that aren't as forgiving are described as having more workability, meaning you can shape the shot the way you want to with better results when hit perfectly.  That's the trade-off with more forgiving clubs:  You can't really work the shot the way as much as you might want to because the core of the club is specifically designed to correct off-center strikes and feed them back toward the middle.  Purposeful fades or draws won't be as noticeable with forgiving clubs.   These Pings don't thave any greater workability than the other clubs, so we're not seeing the advantage of a smaller sweet spot.  They only add condensed mass, resulting in 5 extra yards.

  I guess we'll have to wait and see what other clubs come out, and find whatever ones fit our individual game.

• ncviz 527 Posts

  Wed, Apr 15 2009 7:48 AM

  What you trying to compare them to are more like forged versions of these clubs. Sure those would act similar to what you're talking about or what currently is in the WGT specs.

  But what I'm talking about comparing is a "generic" iron set to a "brand" mainstream iron set, usually of some sort of cavity back design. And mainstream is exactly what these G10s are. This is a direct description of them...

  "Constructed of 17-4 stainless steel with extreme tow weighting and a high MOI consistent iron performance, even on off-center hits."

  Now my comparsion may be totally off. But G10s aren't for low handicappers only. Ping forged (if there is such a thing) and Rapture are more towards that line. And probably the next logically set for WGT to present.

  All I'm saying is no way a generic brand iron set hits better on off center hits than name brand iron set.

• HAMMER4 5 Posts

  Wed, Apr 15 2009 8:31 AM

  ncviz,

  You are exactly correct regarding generic verses the Pings. It is not like I broke the bank to buy the Pings.

   I guess I was expecting more and all I got was 5 more yards.