Vague new product discussions

sandy · May 13, 2006

Nike and Ping

Some buzz from around the industry drawn from meetings with various companies and material suppliers. Ping is experimenting with new metal(s) for irons. This is a change from the 17-4 ph stainless they have used for years (ignoring the BeCu and BeNi ventures). One can only wonder what it might be. Remember their very first clubs were machined forgings (doubt this however). Nike is said to be reworking their entire iron line up for next year particularly the combo sets. Hopefully they will improve the appearance and get rid of the rivets and dual finish look.

sergizmo · May 13, 2006

Thanks for the info Sandy. :crazy:

Hopefully Ping will move to something a little softer. Ideally they would offer an iron set & wedges in raw cast 1018 or 1020 with machined grooves. They would feel like butter and spin the ball a ton. It would rust but who cares, tools not jewels. I know it's not gonna happen, be we can dream.

I just bought a set of BeCu Eye 2's, which are pretty rare lefty. Tried them only in a sim and they are soooft. I just have to chew on the shaft instead of the clubhead when I hit a bad shot. :)

The Nikes in an all around dull satin would be nice. No rivets etc also.

I wish OEM's would experiment a little bit more with materials, especially with putters. It seems every putter is 303/304 stainless or 6061 T6 aluminum. How many brass or copper putters are available today? Very few, and these materials are soooo soft. Copper is gummy to machine, but with solid machines with carbides flooding coolant, this wouldn't be a problem.