Ping Eye 2s, a golf oddity

[Kirasdad]

One of the single oddest experiences I have had in my golf life involves Eye 2 irons. I used a set of red dot Eye 2s that I bought new in 1983 for 13 years without EVER changing to another iron. The reason I switched was that I lost the PW and five iron in the space of about a month. I can't remember how I lost the five, the PW, I left by the side of a green and it wasn't turned in. At any rate, it was much harder to replace a missing club then with no eBay, so I thought I would go with something else just for the sake of "variety". Went with Mizuno Grads (now there is a switch) this started a descent into hodom that I only recovered from about six years ago when I got rid of most of my clubs, and seriously toned it down. I probably had gone through 40 sets of irons in that period, at least, most of them used but still it was stupid. I still tinker a bit (see SL iron thread) but nothing like before. So here's the odd part:5 or 6 years after I switched I tried to go back to Eye 2s. Could not hit them. Same clubs, red dot, zz lite, original Eye 2 model not the plus, just like my old clubs. I simply could not play them. In years since I will try one every now and then...same thing. I mean, I can get around a golf course with them, but nothing like it was back in the eighties when I played very well with those sticks in many competitions.

 

I have no reasonable explanation. They are good golf clubs, it's just really...strange.

 

I think I hear "The Twilight Zone" music in the background.

 

Anyone else experience something similar?

[gsea33]

Very interesting, I did the exact opposite. Played Mizuno T-Zoid True irons for the longest time. Playing Eye 2 red dot becu now. Still love the Mizunos but the eye 2s are a joy to play.

[BIG STU]

Now remember your body and swing has probably changed some over those years. Maybe you need different shafts. I mean I had to change to softer shafts about 2 years ago in my beloved VIPs and I can not hit the FC-4000s with the Pro-Pel shafts like I used to. We all change as we get older and sometimes we have to make equipment adjustments to match. Just this year I have went from Tour Stiff rebar graphite shafts in my woods to Regular softer tipped flex shafts and my game is a heck of a lot better off for it

[TheLarch]

Same here. Played Eye 2's for 20+ years, and now they just seem so small looking down at the 7 iron thru 3 iron. To this day I can't hit an iron unless it has an offset because the Eye 2 look is in my dna after playing them so long. One of my hole in ones came with an Eye 2 five iron so they will always have a special place in my heart. Great clubs in their day. They changed the game of golf like few clubs before or since...

[oldschoolrocker]

That would be an interesting experiment for all of us to find a set of irons we played reasonably well with back in the day and to put them in play and see how they perform.

 

[TimV]

That would be an interesting experiment for all of us to find a set of irons we played reasonably well with back in the day and to put them in play and see how they perform.

 

Well back in the day I gamed the 73-75 Wilson Staffs. Picked up another set of them a couple years back and now game them occasionally. I hit everything better back then but I get around with them almost as well as I do with anything else. ~shrug~

[jonnygrouville]

What do you mean there's another chance to show off the four iron from the blades I used at college?

 

 

 

How do I hit them now? Don't. The shafts are in some even older MacGregors.

 

Don't hit anything as well as I hit those and won't ever hit anything that well again. Was obviously playing quite a bit...

 

[Socrates]

Every once in a while, I get the occasion to hit an old Ping Eye or Eye 2 and they feel like crap. Same thing with my old FG 51's, Lynx Parallax or whatever I played 30 years ago. They all look and feel like crap and can't believe I used to play them. I'm pretty sure it isn't me. I can't believe how stiff those old ping shafts were. Good thing I was playing balata back then.

[gsea33]

Now remember your body and swing has probably changed some over those years. Maybe you need different shafts. I mean I had to change to softer shafts about 2 years ago in my beloved VIPs and I can not hit the FC-4000s with the Pro-Pel shafts like I used to. We all change as we get older and sometimes we have to make equipment adjustments to match. Just this year I have went from Tour Stiff rebar graphite shafts in my woods to Regular softer tipped flex shafts and my game is a heck of a lot better off for it

 

Definitely, It happen to me. Last year started having trouble being able to hit my driver with a stiff shaft. Just out of a fluke saw a Callaway BB 2 11 deg driver and a 4 wood both with GBB system 60 regular flex shaft at a pawn shop for $20. Bought both and never have I hit such great shots and just as long for me.

[BIG STU]

Every once in a while, I get the occasion to hit an old Ping Eye or Eye 2 and they feel like crap. Same thing with my old FG 51's, Lynx Parallax or whatever I played 30 years ago. They all look and feel like crap and can't believe I used to play them. I'm pretty sure it isn't me. I can't believe how stiff those old ping shafts were. Good thing I was playing balata back then.

Shafts both steel and graphite have came a long ways since then. I bet if you changed to a more modern shaft comparible to your swing and game now it would really wake those old puppies up. And yes absolutely the old steel shafts were heavier and stiffer in those days one reason because the walls of the shafts were thicker

[scomac2002]

This doesn't surprise me. I've got a set of Nickent hybrids; 20°, 23°, 26°. I used to be rock solid with those clubs not that long ago either. I can't hit them at all. The 26° isn't too bad, but the stronger lofted ones all I can manage is a low block with them. Something has happened to my swing since I switched to upright irons. I'm guessing that things of this nature happen all the time when a golfer makes a fundamental switch in club specifications.

[birly-shirly]

Surely this is just what happens. You grow up in a small town, or a neighbourhood of a larger town. You have a crush on someone at school or in the neighbourhood. If you're lucky, you date them. If you're really lucky, you spend a few years with them and all is good. And then you move away, maybe with work, maybe to college. And in the wider world you discover, what? That elegant heiress from Albany - who stirs you from afar, but you're not sure is really in reach. Or the demanding intellectual from Fort Worth - stimulating, but could be hard work to be around. There's even the thrill of the exotic - Japanese, maybe.

 

Hell, Kirasdad, you just broadened your circle - or should that be circled some broads - and moved on from your childhood sweetheart. Maybe you should have stayed home and made it work, but one bite of the apple is often enough...

[ScooterMcTavish]

LOL at B-S.

 

I'm sure that post is somehow inappropriate.

 

Odd you reported as you did K-D, as I'm finding the opposite as I'm aging. It seems I have loosened my swing adequately enough that I can swing any club with some skill after having a few swings to figure it out. As long as I stay away from the really heavy clubs, I seem to do OK with them.

 

That remind me....I need to spend a little more time with the goose necks this year.

[Davewn]

I have had pretty much the exact opposite experience of Kirasdad, but would classify my experience with irons as more or less serial monogamy over the course of the last 30 (??!!) years. Played Spalding XL4s for about 10 years following college and shot some great rounds (for me) with them. Small cavity back heads, regular steel shaft and absolutely zero offset. Moved on to Merit Fusions (think cleaner looking version of the original Hogan Edge without offset and a thinner top line) for 20+ years, first with DG S300, then reshafted them with Dynamic Lite S, and finally with DG R400. Hit them poorly with the R400s until I put ribbed grips back on them. Sometimes it's the little things, lol... A couple of years ago, out of boredom, I grabbed a cheap set of TaylorMade 320s, largely because I liked Rifle shafts back in the day and wanted to see what I'd been missing with game improvement irons. The progressive offset in the long and mid irons took some getting used to for me. It just looks so different at address... During one of my customary slumps, I broke out the Fusions for a round or two and hit them pretty darned well- just so familiar, particularly with the ribbed grips.

 

A couple of weeks back, I was at the range with my son. Since he's no longer playing baseball, he's experimenting with golf with my old XL4s. I was demonstrating the importance of turning rather than swaying at his hitting station when I grabbed the XL4 6 iron from his bag and absolutely flushed one down range. I hadn't swung that club in 25 years, but something about the setup and old ribbed Tour Wrap...

 

The original Eye 2s were groundbreaking clubs in many respects and were arguably responsible for turning Ping into the equipment juggernaut we see today. They were, however, designed very unconventionally for their day. Ping has moved on from some of those inherent design philosophies, it would seem: the ZZ Lite shaft, while light in weight, was available only in X flex- maybe Ping soft stepped them, but I regripped many a set of them, and even ladies' Eye2s had green marker on the shaft butt (X). Headweights were really light as well as most Eye2s swingweight in the "high C" range. The huge offset was consistent throughout the set as well, even the wedges. I can see why a player who is used to swinging traditional clubs would struggle to go back to Eye2s.

[NRJyzr]

I've had my own entertainment with the Eye2+, over the past 5 years or so.

 

The oddity for me is using them doesn't seem to make much difference....

 

Got my first set of Eye2+ in September, 2011. I did so because they gave me significantly lower spin than I was seeing with my Mizuno blades at the time, which was a problem at the time. I committed to using the Eye2+ exclusively from that point forward, for up to a year, to see what I'd get.

 

I had been playing almost nothing but blades, beginning with the 2001 season. Was a huge adjustment for me, the Eye2+ look enormous in comparison, and there is the obvious offset difference. For the first month or two I used them, I found myself hitting the ball towards the toe, a miss I've almost never had, because I was compensating for the enormous size by standing farther away from the ball at address. I also hit the ball absurdly high with them for a while, almost cartoonishly so. Eventually I adjusted on both fronts. :)

 

My scores were roughly the same as the previous season, index stayed fairly static until just before I switched back to blades, when it started dropping a stroke.

 

I also found it affected my driver trajectory. I'd been playing drivers as low as 7° or 8°, but after playing the Eye2+ for a season, and the resulting trajectory adjustments I'd made, I found myself needing a couple extra degrees of loft on my driver. Normal people lofts became available to me. LOL

 

A couple weeks ago, I decided to play my Eye2+ again, largely on a lark, though the ZZ Lite shafts are a bit softer than what I've been playing this year, and I have a theory that I've lost enough in the swing that I should consider dropping down a flex. And the Eye2+ are treating me fairly well. My hdcp had bled up 2-3 shots last year, and I've been able to drop it 2 shots in the last five weeks. I'm hitting the ball a bit farther (stronger lofts), as well as higher, and haven't had any accuracy issues.

 

Amusingly, my scores with the Pings have been no different than my scores with my Rams, almost same exact score avg for the last five weeks, equal number of rounds with each. That said, after having double bogeyed the last two holes yesterday to lose a chance at equaling or even bettering my personal best, and shooting a 79 in the rain in the first round after the switch on a lark, I haven't wanted to go back to my Rams or Mizunos for fear of wrecking a good thing. For those of you who have seen the movie Bull Durham, I am respecting the streak, in spite of it appearing to be unrelated to my choice of irons. LOL

 

The only downside, I seem to hit the PW shorter than I'd expect, giving me a bit of a gap between the 9 iron and PW. I'm thinking it's me, but I should see if I can have it measured. Or perhaps the shaft is bent (as the 3 iron shaft is)....

 

Sorry, rambling all over the place with this post :)

[BIG STU]

LOL at B-S.

 

I'm sure that post is somehow inappropriate.

 

Odd you reported as you did K-D, as I'm finding the opposite as I'm aging. It seems I have loosened my swing adequately enough that I can swing any club with some skill after having a few swings to figure it out. As long as I stay away from the really heavy clubs, I seem to do OK with them.

 

That remind me....I need to spend a little more time with the goose necks this year.

Hello Scott good to hear from you again was wondering about you the other day because your bag tag hangs prominately in my shop.

 

Now as you have gotten older you may be like me age and weight slowed my swing down some and also I was always very handsy. I had to revamp some things as I got older and I am making a good shoulder turn and my SS has slowed down and due to that I have a lot smoother swing than I used to. I still play heavy heads but lighter shafts with a little more kick at the bottom.

[BIG STU]

That would be an interesting experiment for all of us to find a set of irons we played reasonably well with back in the day and to put them in play and see how they perform.

Well I can answer that honestly. You remember I play the old FC-4000s in my vintage stuff. They have been in the family since 1962 so I have played them on and off all my golfing life. Now they have the same heavy stiff Pro-Pel 2 shafts in them that came in them. I can still jump on them and hit them but I noticed I would swing so hard after 10 holes or so I was getting tired and when I got home that night I would be tired and hurting Remember 2 years ago I switched the shafts in my VIPs from the stock Brunswick 7.0s to S-300 high launch. Remember I had played those VIPs on and off since 90.

 

Those Muirfields I recently acquired the day I got them I went out on the range and was flushing them. Played 6 holes and could feel myself pushing the issue so to speak. On the 6th hole I was so tired I blocked the 8 iron bad. My buddy Bo Bear and the Miura dealer know their golf and both said 'you are getting tired aren't you? Yep I was. The Miura dealer was not playing just rode out to see how I was hitting them. He went back to my truck and got the VIPs and I sat out 1 hole and then I was ok but sore as heck that night and the next morning. He ran a frequency check on those shafts (they did not have any shaft bands) we knew by the steps they were TTs They checked out on the numbers to right at a X-100. Like I said about the Eye 2s in the beginning get a more modern shaft that fits your swing and game now and it will wake them up

[scruffynick]

Interesting thread and I would say the eye 2s were probably the best iron ever made as they covered all levels from pro to 28 handicap.......truely ground breaking. However, since I found a lovely set of karsten 3 rails last year, I actually prefer the karsten pings to the eye 2s. But what strikes me is my K3s are from 1979 and I hit and play them as good as anything modern that's for sure and a further thought that we can all agree on.....karsten solhiem was one hell of an engineer

[scruffynick]

Went wondering into town this afternoon and popped into a second hand shop as they usually have golf clubs in. Mainly they're a bit naff but sometimes you can come across a gem.....and today I came across a gem! Ping eye 2s 3-pw, needed some scrubbing and clearing up but I think I've done a decent job thus far. I'm actually very pleased with myself as in the end I just can't help myself with older classic pings!

[yaquigrande]

are those the ping eye 2 plus versions. The sole on that wedge looks neat, almost ground off. I bet you can do some nice lob shots with that sole.

[scruffynick]

are those the ping eye 2 plus versions. The sole on that wedge looks neat, almost ground off. I bet you can do some nice lob shots with that sole.

Yeah, the plus version and I've been chipping up and down the living room (see picture background) all evening! Driving me Mrs nuts as she's trying to watch house all the way through....she's on series 3 now!

[rex235]

Kiras-

 

My friend was playing PING Eye 2 gold a few years back, and on the 10 th hole, the head of the 6 iron flew off into a marshy area.

 

He just told the PING rep what the Reg number was, and in 2 weeks, he had a replacement.

 

Don't understand why PING wouldn't replace the irons in question for you, if you gave them the Reg number from the hosel.

[Oldplayer]

I agree it's the shafts. Those ZZ lite were well suited to those heads but talk about a stiff tip. If you're anything like me after playing reg nippons or graphite for a while I can't get those stiff shafts to load anymore.

[NRJyzr]

I agree it's the shafts. Those ZZ lite were well suited to those heads but talk about a stiff tip. If you're anything like me after playing reg nippons or graphite for a while I can't get those stiff shafts to load anymore.

 

 

That may well be a portion of my success with the Eye2+. I tend to like stiff tip shafts. :)

[BIG STU]

I agree it's the shafts. Those ZZ lite were well suited to those heads but talk about a stiff tip. If you're anything like me after playing reg nippons or graphite for a while I can't get those stiff shafts to load anymore.

You really have to have some speed at the bottom to load those shafts. A friend of mine who is a Ping nut purchased a pristine set of Eye 2s with that shaft. Now then I had a fairly good SS and I had to add about 10 grams to the 5 iron to get it to kick for me. I ended up putting him a set of FST 90s in them and soft tipped them about a 1/2 flex for him. Now he is in his 70s and he hit them great and gets them high loves them.

[BIG STU]

I agree it's the shafts. Those ZZ lite were well suited to those heads but talk about a stiff tip. If you're anything like me after playing reg nippons or graphite for a while I can't get those stiff shafts to load anymore.

 

 

That may well be a portion of my success with the Eye2+. I tend to like stiff tip shafts. :)

I used to like stiff tipped shafts when I had enough lead in my pencil to swing them. Now my buddy the Miura dealer turned me on to soft tipping and made a convert out of me. Back in the day I had a Ping Karsten 1-- 1 iron I could flat cook with a X-100 in it also had a Eye2 1 iron head with a stiff tipped S-400 in it that I could hit too. I still have both of those heads minus the rebar shafts

[scruffynick]

I agree it's the shafts. Those ZZ lite were well suited to those heads but talk about a stiff tip. If you're anything like me after playing reg nippons or graphite for a while I can't get those stiff shafts to load anymore.

You really have to have some speed at the bottom to load those shafts. A friend of mine who is a Ping nut purchased a pristine set of Eye 2s with that shaft. Now then I had a fairly good SS and I had to add about 10 grams to the 5 iron to get it to kick for me. I ended up putting him a set of FST 90s in them and soft tipped them about a 1/2 flex for him. Now he is in his 70s and he hit them great and gets them high loves them.

Interesting on the zz lite shafts as I have the karsten 3s with zz lite and at first they felt great. But now I've compared the 2 ping sets with different shafts, I've found the jz firm in the eye 2s miles better. They nicely kick through and the softer flex really helps now I'm getting a little older...I certainly don't hit and swing anywhere near as fast as I once did!

[Nessism]

Those old Ping shafts aren't that stiff. I think that rumor is an urban legend. Most people don't load shafts, any shaft, enough to generate dynamic loft at impact anyway.

[BIG STU]

Those old Ping shafts aren't that stiff. I think that rumor is an urban legend. Most people don't load shafts, any shaft, enough to generate dynamic loft at impact anyway.

Here is some food for thought look at any eye2 you will notice the hosel length it is longer than most and that can lead to a stiffer tip

[BIG STU]

I agree it's the shafts. Those ZZ lite were well suited to those heads but talk about a stiff tip. If you're anything like me after playing reg nippons or graphite for a while I can't get those stiff shafts to load anymore.

You really have to have some speed at the bottom to load those shafts. A friend of mine who is a Ping nut purchased a pristine set of Eye 2s with that shaft. Now then I had a fairly good SS and I had to add about 10 grams to the 5 iron to get it to kick for me. I ended up putting him a set of FST 90s in them and soft tipped them about a 1/2 flex for him. Now he is in his 70s and he hit them great and gets them high loves them.

Interesting on the zz lite shafts as I have the karsten 3s with zz lite and at first they felt great. But now I've compared the 2 ping sets with different shafts, I've found the jz firm in the eye 2s miles better. They nicely kick through and the softer flex really helps now I'm getting a little older...I certainly don't hit and swing anywhere near as fast as I once did!

ME either Scruffy