Hovland signs with Ping, need to get the scoop on why iBlades in long irons and I210 in short irons

Source: https://www.golf.com/gear/2019/06/17/wall-to-wall-viktor-hovland-gary-woodland-us-open/

Wall broke the news that Hovland signed with Ping. Why is this unique for Ping? Ping typically signs college players turning pro with current experience with Ping products.. Hovland, most recently used M5 Driver and TM P750 irons and other TM gear in college. He did play Pings for a brief stint awhile back though.

That being said his bag details are as follows:

G410 LST Hzrdus Black Hot melted face to reduce spin further

iBlades 4-6

i210 7-PW apparently he found these to be lower launching and more favorable that iBlades in the short irons

Wow, that is a weird setup. Shovels in short irons and blades in long irons. I guess play whatever works and this is a good example of that. I love iBlades, but you couldn’t pay me to play i210’s.

Straight from Hovland and an article on PGA tour site.

“I’ve actually only had [the i210] irons for about a week or so. I used to have a full bag of iBlades, and last week I got the Ping i210s. I noticed that I actually got a lower ball flight because I was spinning it a little too much with the iBlades that I had… Last week at the US Open I felt like I was hitting my irons from 7-PW just a little high – they were launching a little too high and spinning a little too much for what I like to see. The greens were firm out there [at the U.S. Open] so you want them to land softly and spin, but they were just [spinning and launching] a little too much, and especially with the wind coming they were hard to control. I just happened to test out some i210s and immediately on the range I just saw them launch a little lower and they weren’t spinning as much. And they were flying in a way that’s normal to my eye. So they were in the bag immediately."

i210s are a pretty progressive set. The offset 7-pw is exactly the same as the iBlades. So it's not a crazy as it looks at first glance.

I agree the look is pretty similar in the short irons but this would drive me nuts. Haha

I remember seeing Bernhard Langer’s WITB on here a while ago and he had some really old Hogan blade long irons and cavity back short irons.

Whatever works I guess.

Hovy is not good enough for the BPs yet?

What? Definitely not one of us.... :)

> @GolfChannel said:

> Wow, that is a weird setup. Shovels in short irons and blades in long irons. I guess play whatever works and this is a good example of that. I love iBlades, but you couldn’t pay me to play i210’s.

IDK, i210s are far from shovels. I think they're pretty clean looking, just slight larger and wider soled than the iBlades and my previous set, S55s

Why not just bend the iBlade a bit strong?

> @Wesquire said:

> Why not just bend the iBlade a bit strong?

I dont think it's the loft. I cant speak to the i210s, but my i200s spun less than iBlades on Trackman, powerspec iBlade 7 iron v. standard loft i200 7 iron.

> @GolfChannel said:

> Wow, that is a weird setup. Shovels in short irons and blades in long irons. I guess play whatever works and this is a good example of that. I love iBlades, but you couldn’t pay me to play i210’s.

LOL! Ya shovels, totally shovels. You playing GolfWRX trope bingo today? If so well done.

Otherwise iBlades are not blades and i210s are not shovels. If you actually believe that, compare i210s 7-PW to iBlades (in the higher irons i210s can get a bit big), if you still believe it after that, well don't mind everyone here if they ignore your opinions on golf clubs.

> @RonSwanson said:

> i210s are a pretty progressive set. The offset 7-pw is exactly the same as the iBlades. So it's not a crazy as it looks at first glance.

> @RonSwanson said:

> i210s are a pretty progressive set. The offset 7-pw is exactly the same as the iBlades. So it's not a crazy as it looks at first glance.

This is why. The i210 get a little crazy with offset after the 6 iron. But the 7-pw I love the look of.

> @duffer987 said:

> > @GolfChannel said:

> > Wow, that is a weird setup. Shovels in short irons and blades in long irons. I guess play whatever works and this is a good example of that. I love iBlades, but you couldn’t pay me to play i210’s.

>

> LOL! Ya shovels, totally shovels. You playing GolfWRX trope bingo today? If so well done.

> Otherwise iBlades are not blades and i210s are not shovels. If you actually believe that, compare i210s 7-PW to iBlades (in the higher irons i210s can get a bit big), if you still believe it after that, well don't mind everyone here if they ignore your opinions on golf clubs.

Aren't the iblades basically distance players irons? With goop in them like PXG and the P790?

^Those are the i500s. iBlades were compact CBs with the impossible task of trying to replace the legendary S55s.

Goop is such an ugly word. The iblades have "activated elastomer". They are built off a 45* PW, hot face, so I guess they would be as you described.

> @GolfChannel said:

> Wow, that is a weird setup. Shovels in short irons and blades in long irons. I guess play whatever works and this is a good example of that. I love iBlades, but you couldn’t pay me to play i210’s.

I'd play the 410's if Ping sent me a check every now and then.

Must be > @farmer said:

> Goop is such an ugly word. The iblades have "activated elastomer". They are built off a 45* PW, hot face, so I guess they would be as you described.

If iBlade is ordered with power spec option then yes the PW is 45 degrees.

> @GolfChannel said:

> Wow, that is a weird setup. Shovels in short irons and blades in long irons. I guess play whatever works and this is a good example of that. I love iBlades, **but you couldn’t pay me to play i210’s.**

True. They're paying Hovland to play them. You're off the list now.

> @Krt22 said:

> > @duffer987 said:

> > > @GolfChannel said:

> > > Wow, that is a weird setup. Shovels in short irons and blades in long irons. I guess play whatever works and this is a good example of that. I love iBlades, but you couldn’t pay me to play i210’s.

> >

> > LOL! Ya shovels, totally shovels. You playing GolfWRX trope bingo today? If so well done.

> > Otherwise iBlades are not blades and i210s are not shovels. If you actually believe that, compare i210s 7-PW to iBlades (in the higher irons i210s can get a bit big), if you still believe it after that, well don't mind everyone here if they ignore your opinions on golf clubs.

>

> Aren't the iblades basically distance players irons? With goop in them like PXG and the P790?

No, but if you get them “power spec” they could be. I played with both traditional and power spec before making my purchase of the traditional set. After 3 months I have been testing new shafts and in that process realized I was experiencing no loss of height/dispersion and gaining additional distance per club (on avg 10 yards) with stronger lofted clubs so I only recently made the change to “power spec” myself since Ping does club work for ridiculously cheap if you’re willing to mail your clubs to them. After two rounds I can attest the LM experience has matched the on course performance.

On the i210’s, I extensively tested them after how well I got on with the i200’s, but while they are supposed to be a minor upgrade over the previous model they aren’t. Sorry you paid so much for an inferior product. I had considered them in a blended set, but the iBlades were ridiculously easy to hit through the set and even more forgiving. Feel is subjective anyways. My feels aren’t your feels.

That said, Hovland would probably succeed with actual shovels and this is a case of play what works. I just wish him luck in his impossible task. It’s not easy to get your card through sponsors exemptions. I can only think of Rahm and Niemann pulling it off in recent memory and only 1 of those 2 is still playing well.

> @GolfChannel said:

> > @Krt22 said:

> > > @duffer987 said:

> > > > @GolfChannel said:

> > > > Wow, that is a weird setup. Shovels in short irons and blades in long irons. I guess play whatever works and this is a good example of that. I love iBlades, but you couldn’t pay me to play i210’s.

> > >

> > > LOL! Ya shovels, totally shovels. You playing GolfWRX trope bingo today? If so well done.

> > > Otherwise iBlades are not blades and i210s are not shovels. If you actually believe that, compare i210s 7-PW to iBlades (in the higher irons i210s can get a bit big), if you still believe it after that, well don't mind everyone here if they ignore your opinions on golf clubs.

> >

> > Aren't the iblades basically distance players irons? With goop in them like PXG and the P790?

>

> No, but if you get them “power spec” they could be. I played with both traditional and power spec before making my purchase of the traditional set. After 3 months I have been testing new shafts and in that process realized I was experiencing no loss of height/dispersion and gaining additional distance per club (on avg 10 yards) with stronger lofted clubs so I only recently made the change to “power spec” myself since Ping does club work for ridiculously cheap if you’re willing to mail your clubs to them. After two rounds I can attest the LM experience has matched the on course performance.

>

> On the i210’s, I extensively tested them after how well I got on with the i200’s, but while they are supposed to be a minor upgrade over the previous model they aren’t. Sorry you paid so much for an inferior product. I had considered them in a blended set, but the iBlades were ridiculously easy to hit through the set and even more forgiving. Feel is subjective anyways. My feels aren’t your feels.

>

> That said, Hovland would probably succeed with actual shovels and this is a case of play what works. I just wish him luck in his impossible task. It’s not easy to get your card through sponsors exemptions. I can only think of Rahm and Niemann pulling it off in recent memory and only 1 of those 2 is still playing well.

Inferior is golfer dependent and personal opinions. I and several guys I know who play only ping didn’t like the i200 and most didn’t like the i25 and a few play the ie1 as their choice after upgrading from the i20.

I think the i210 are an upgrade from the i25, ie1, i200 and two of the guys I know switched to i210.

I have same set up but i200 not i210. Tour dept said I was the only player to order like that last summer. I flight the i200 lower than iblade

> @300_yard_drives said:

> I have same set up but i200 not i210. Tour dept said I was the only player to order like that last summer. I flight the i200 lower than iblade

Same with me. In fact, I can "flight" my i200s even more easily than I can my S55s w/Recoil 110s. I moved to FL last December and play frequently in windy conditions as we're not far from the ocean. As a naturally high ball hitter I love that I can control trajectory with these. Shafts are Nippon Modus 105x.

> @GolfChannel said:

> > @Krt22 said:

> > > @duffer987 said:

> > > > @GolfChannel said:

> > > > Wow, that is a weird setup. Shovels in short irons and blades in long irons. I guess play whatever works and this is a good example of that. I love iBlades, but you couldn’t pay me to play i210’s.

> > >

> > > LOL! Ya shovels, totally shovels. You playing GolfWRX trope bingo today? If so well done.

> > > Otherwise iBlades are not blades and i210s are not shovels. If you actually believe that, compare i210s 7-PW to iBlades (in the higher irons i210s can get a bit big), if you still believe it after that, well don't mind everyone here if they ignore your opinions on golf clubs.

> >

> > Aren't the iblades basically distance players irons? With goop in them like PXG and the P790?

>

>** No, but if you get them “power spec” they could be.** I played with both traditional and power spec before making my purchase of the traditional set. After 3 months I have been testing new shafts and in that process realized I was experiencing no loss of height/dispersion and gaining additional distance per club (on avg 10 yards) with stronger lofted clubs so I only recently made the change to “power spec” myself since Ping does club work for ridiculously cheap if you’re willing to mail your clubs to them. After two rounds I can attest the LM experience has matched the on course performance.

>

> On the i210’s, I extensively tested them after how well I got on with the i200’s, but while they are supposed to be a minor upgrade over the previous model they aren’t. Sorry you paid so much for an inferior product. I had considered them in a blended set, but the iBlades were ridiculously easy to hit through the set and even more forgiving. Feel is subjective anyways. My feels aren’t your feels.

>

> That said, Hovland would probably succeed with actual shovels and this is a case of play what works. I just wish him luck in his impossible task. It’s not easy to get your card through sponsors exemptions. I can only think of Rahm and Niemann pulling it off in recent memory and only 1 of those 2 is still playing well.

hermmm. Does not look like standard blade construction to me, but players irons or distance players irons depending on the loft.



> @dpb5031 said:

> > @300_yard_drives said:

> > I have same set up but i200 not i210. Tour dept said I was the only player to order like that last summer. I flight the i200 lower than iblade

>

> Same with me. In fact, I can "flight" my i200s even more easily than I can my S55s w/Recoil 110s. I moved to FL last December and play frequently in windy conditions as we're not far from the ocean. As a naturally high ball hitter I love that I can control trajectory with these. Shafts are Nippon Modus 105x.

I have never been able to dial in the 105’s despite being a Modus fanboy. 120 or 130 depending on the launch characteristics of the iron head. Anything lighter than that and things literally start to go sideways.

> @GolfChannel said:

> Wow, that is a weird setup. Shovels in short irons and blades in long irons. I guess play whatever works and this is a good example of that. I love iBlades, but you couldn’t pay me to play i210’s.

Don't worry.

The 210s are cannons. Costis will be like “Victor is going to send PW from 165. Wow these kids can hit it.”

Two comments:

1) Are the blueprints intended to replace the iblades?

2) What Hovland needs to explain is his pants. Love the kid, but they were terrible yesterday. Looked like he just got off the soccer pitch and forgot his golf pants.

> @"Sonja Henie" said:

> Two comments:

> 1) Are the blueprints intended to replace the iblades?

> 2) What Hovland needs to explain is his pants. Love the kid, but they were terrible yesterday. Looked like he just got off the soccer pitch and forgot his golf pants.

1. No, entirely different beast. iBlades 2.0 are coming soon.

2. The only requirement for me from pants is that they not crush my balls during the swing. Judging by his play yesterday they may have been too tight. He played well today, so we’ll see if it was a product of his game or choice of trousers.

> @GolfChannel said:

> > @"Sonja Henie" said:

> > Two comments:

> > 1) Are the blueprints intended to replace the iblades?

> > 2) What Hovland needs to explain is his pants. Love the kid, but they were terrible yesterday. Looked like he just got off the soccer pitch and forgot his golf pants.

>

> 1. No, entirely different beast. iBlades 2.0 are coming soon.

> 2. The only requirement for me from pants is that they not crush my balls during the swing. Judging by his play yesterday they may have been too tight. He played well today, so we’ll see if it was a product of his game or choice of trousers.

Might I suggest the Lulu ABC pants (Anti Ball Crushing). Best pants I’ve ever purchased.