Ping Eye 2+ sand wedges - sole shape mystery

ColinKelvin · March 21, 2018

Hi all - I was wondering if there are any Ping experts out there who can solve a small mystery for me. I have had an Eye 2+ becu SW for a long while, and often have it in the bag for fun. Recently I got a bargain on a 2-SW set of becu Eye2+s, and I compared the two sand wedges. The soles look quite different, as my original one (left/bottom in the pics) has a wide sole, and the new/old one has a narrower sole (as you'd see in the new Glide ES soles). The edge going through the 'S' on one, and wide of it on the other, is the easiest way to spot the difference.

I am therefore wondering - has one of them been ground/customised, or did the sole shape change over time?

Shambles · March 21, 2018

They are clearly different to my eyes but back then Ping made different models of the same SW. The flange looks slightly heftier on the one on the right. Doesn't matter much unless they feel and swing differently for you. I've seen plenty of them in the past, they also come in different sizes.

Pick the one you like and keep playing.

Shambles

birly-shirly · March 21, 2018

The narrower sole is what I'm used to seeing in the Eye2+. I have one SW where the grooves are about worn off the face, but I don't think the sole is flat as your worn one, so unless you can see a ton of groove wear, I'd guess that the flatter sole has been ground.

bellview17 · March 21, 2018

I think the one on the left is older. My older ones had flat bottom sole and the newer version had the thinner sole on the right.

Could check serial numbers for the date made from ping.

ColinKelvin · March 22, 2018

Thanks all. I noticed that the right hand one (with what I would say has the modern 'ES' sole) has a serial around the hosel, while the left hand one has the serial up and down. I think I'll contact Ping for dates and info. Although the two wedges are quite far from mint, as the pics show, the grooves on each are still pretty good. Guess I just need to take them both out onto the course and see what difference there is in performance.

As a Ping collector over the years (mainly of putters), I was aware of the different Eye 2 iterations (original, plus no plus, plus, etc) - but I had no idea that the shapes changed even over the Eye 2+ years.

NRJyzr · March 22, 2018

It's quite possible one of them is a Ping WRX grind, someone ordered the club with that customization. You don't hear about Ping WRX much anymore, but go back 15 years or more and it was quite the topic.

ColinKelvin · March 23, 2018

It's quite possible one of them is a Ping WRX grind, someone ordered the club with that customization. You don't hear about Ping WRX much anymore, but go back 15 years or more and it was quite the topic.

Could well be the case. Usually Ping WRX is mentioned these days in the context of weights and customisation on putters but yeah, you are right that they used to do grinds (before lots of options were avaiable directly via retail).