Ping-Liked the iron, disliked the durability (MERGED)

[Tom 48]

20 hours ago, tannyhoban said:

No further info from OP

Thanks for the response. Please see my response to circaflex

[Nixhex524]

Ok, well, you may be right about 5 shafts in 5 years.  It does seem excessive, but what can be done about it at this point?  You can contact and bring them to a reputable Ping dealer and see if they can help, have them all reshafted, or bite the bullet and get new irons.  It's possible you got a bad batch or there has to be some other contributing factor which is very hard to know from here, but it does seem like you may be out of luck on getting them all replaced.  

[Circaflex]

1 hour ago, Tom 48 said:

First of all, I apologize for not being able to easily use the site. This is my first post and clumsily posted twice.I am still trying to determine how to respond quickly to either individual posts or in general.Wow was I surprised how many responses I received.

 

Hopefully this will address many of the comments. I have been playing golf for 50 years and have never had a shaft problem. I think 5 broken shafts is unusual. I purchased the clubs new 5 1/2 years ago and have been playing with them ever since. I am retired and play or practice about three times each week.

 

I broke my first shaft after I had the clubs two years. Ping replaced the shaft no questions asked no charge.

My eight iron and nine iron broke this summer. Ping charged me to replace both shafts. My lob wedge and six iron currently have cracks in them but I still use them. I haven’t noticed a decrease in performance.

 

I’d like to think that I am a pretty average golfer. I try to hit down on the ball but the Divots are not violent or huge. My average clubhead speed with my driver is 104 mph and that is not going to scare any of the big hitters down here in Sarasota Florida during the winter or up in Buffalo New York in the summer. My clubs pretty much live in my SUV, They are not stored in a humidity controled locker room. Club heads are cleaned with a wet rag either by the cart guy at the end of the round or by me.

 

Please bear with me while I become more familiar with the site.

All good Tom, no harm no foul. We all start off somewhere. Apologies if many of us came across as harsh, hope you stick around.

[MattM97]

10 hours ago, dbelles1 said:

Bryson and Ancer play graphite on tour and they will only out the best in play. And when was the last time you’ve seen a steel driver or fairway shaft on tour?

 

 Get with the times.

 

Jimmy Walker at 2020 Charles Schwab Challenge, shot 70-76 

 

https://golf.com/gear/drivers/jimmy-walker-steel-shaft-driver-at-colonial-titleist/ 

 

He went back to graphite the next event. 

[cgasucks]

1 hour ago, Tom 48 said:

My clubs pretty much live in my SUV, They are not stored in a humidity controlled locker room.

That explains everything.  You should keep your graphite shafted clubs in a controlled environment (preferably at room temperature) as such extreme heat and cold in the truck of your car will degrade the epoxy between the layers of graphite on those shafts which will cause shaft breakage.  It is not the fault of Ping but yourself.

Edited January 18, 2021 by cgasucks

[setter02]

1 hour ago, cgasucks said:

That explains everything.  You should keep your graphite shafted clubs in a controlled environment (preferably at room temperature) as such extreme heat and cold in the truck of your car will degrade the epoxy between the layers of graphite on those shafts which will cause shaft breakage.  It is not the fault of Ping but yourself.

 

Disagree as you don't see club failures at alarming rates of all those drivers, fairways and hybrids with graphite shafts.  When I played more, my clubs rarely left my car/trunk and never had an issue.  I'm sure some extremes where it gets stupid hot in the summer are an exception, but that isn't most places as you would also see more material failures from within those cars/trucks than clubs are left in if temps really do get that hot.

Edited January 18, 2021 by setter02

[eugkim]

From the original post, I inferred that the first episode was simply a club head separation that Ping repaired. I wouldn't think that they would replace the shaft in this situation. The OP subsequently said that the first repair was a shaft replacement. Is this the case?

 

I don't see how the manufacturer can be expected to warranty graphite shafts for an extended period of time. Instead of looking at the failures at a similar time as unusual, one could speculate that, with consistent use over time, the shafts are approaching their fatigue failure threshold. 

 

I have used Ping since 1990. I've only had one failure, an 8 iron with a KTM shaft that broke at the hosel. It was probably 7 years old. They didn't cover the repair, and had no direct replacement shaft available, so I ended up sending the other clubs back to get reshafted. Didn't think it was unreasonable, as I had hit a lot of balls during with that club. 

 

My guess is that, if there were a true manufacturing defect (as opposed to at least some attrition factor), Ping would have come through.

[cgasucks]

4 minutes ago, gwelfgulfer said:

 

Disagree as you don't see club failures at alarming rates of all those drivers, fairways and hybrids with graphite shafts.  When I played more, my clubs rarely left my car/trunk and never had an issue.  I'm sure some extremes where it gets stupid hot in the summer are an exception, but that isn't most places as you would also see more material failures from within those cars/trucks that clubs are left in if temps really do get that hot.

That's fine.  You're entitled to your opinion but most people should not keep their clubs in their vehicles all the time not only because of the extreme temperatures they are subject to but I've heard one too many a story of cars broken in to and their clubs stolen.

[Rob G 89]

2 hours ago, Tom 48 said:

Do they have the same graphite shaft?

No sorry steal ping shafts.

[setter02]

1 hour ago, cgasucks said:

That's fine.  You're entitled to your opinion but most people should not keep their clubs in their vehicles all the time not only because of the extreme temperatures they are subject to but I've heard one too many a story of cars broken in to and their clubs stolen.

 

Opinion sure, but of the millions and millions of times clubs are left in vehicles for prolonged times over the past 20+ years the amount of failures would be microscopic.  Theft is far and away more likely than failure due to exposure.

[mootrail]

My first graphite set suffered the same fate.  First one broke, then another and another.  Do what I did and go back to steel.

 

As far as your rejected warranty claim; get over it.  Just don't buy their products if you think they're inferior or defective.

 

[snakesnot]

I think Ping should take care of him. If it's like he said then something is wrong with this set and if it's one in a million then Ping should just show some good will, no harm to Ping and they get a satisfied customer.

Edited January 19, 2021 by snakesnot

[mkuether]

I don't know if this is a Ping thing or simply a graphite iron thing, but I have a very similar issue with my Ping G15 irons (purchased new way back in 2010). I'd had them less than a year when I noticed that the shafts had developed some cracks near the hosel, causing them to splinter/delaminate slightly. First it was just the 5-iron, which I sent to Ping and they replaced no charge. I think had it happen with a second club which Ping also replaced no charge. In fact, the second time Ping offered to reshaft the entire set in steel for free if I wanted it, but I (perhaps foolishly) declined since I was happy with the feel of the club.

 

Fast forward a year or two and I noticed additional cracks on several shafts, all the same pattern has before. The clubs were obviously out of warranty at that point and my wife was about to birth to our first child (which I knew was going to result in a hiatus from golf) so I never bothered to send them in for repair. I was able to start playing again in 2016 and decided that I'd simply play the irons until they broke and get a new set then. Well, it's now 2021 and I'm still playing the same irons, nothing has broken on me and honestly doesn't even seem to be be getting any worse (nor do I see that performance is obviously affected).

 

I'm not clear on what happened to the shafts in the first place as I don't have any overly steep swing and I don't practice off of rock hard mats or anything like that. This is my first (and only) set of graphite shafted irons so I can't say if this is typical or a real issue with Ping. I actually thought maybe it was just me, but this experience does seem similar (except that my clubs still work fine even with the cracks). Ping definitely took good care of me during (and even slightly after) the warranty period and I have hundreds of rounds on the clubs I don't think I can really complain.

 

All in all, I still like Ping a lot and will likely buy their latest irons whenever my G15s do give out (but perhaps with steel shafts this time, I haven't decided).

[Tom 48]

An update. I received an email yesterday from Ping:

 

"Mr. ...........,

I am writing in regards to a review you left for your G30 irons. Management has approved reshafting the irons that have not been reshafted so that all of the irons will have new shafts. This would be done at no charge to you. There is one stipulation that we ask of you. We would like for you to have the lie angle(the dot) checked by a PING fitter in your area. If the lie angle is incorrect, it can put undue strain on the shaft which can cause graphite shafts to break. Once you have this checked and confirmed, I will set up a repair order to have your entire set returned to PING. We will reshaft the ones that need to be reshafted and adjust/check the lie angle to be sure it is correct."

 

I appreciate Ping's concern and will be following through on the process. I believe I was fitted correctly but no harm in a double check. 

 

[Gsea]

8 minutes ago, Tom 48 said:

An update. I received an email yesterday from Ping:

 

"Mr. ...........,

I am writing in regards to a review you left for your G30 irons. Management has approved reshafting the irons that have not been reshafted so that all of the irons will have new shafts. This would be done at no charge to you. There is one stipulation that we ask of you. We would like for you to have the lie angle(the dot) checked by a PING fitter in your area. If the lie angle is incorrect, it can put undue strain on the shaft which can cause graphite shafts to break. Once you have this checked and confirmed, I will set up a repair order to have your entire set returned to PING. We will reshaft the ones that need to be reshafted and adjust/check the lie angle to be sure it is correct."

 

I appreciate Ping's concern and will be following through on the process. I believe I was fitted correctly but no harm in a double check. 

 

Squeaky wheel gets the grease. You should worship Ping till the day u die.

[14max]

24 minutes ago, Gsea said:

You should worship Ping till the day u die.

No kidding...

[Nessism]

Glad to read Ping is stepping up and trying to make this right.  They are a truly stand up company.

 

5.5 years old and being hit 3x per week means that set has 800+ sessions on them.  I'd say you got your money's worth.  Personally, next time there is a problem, and there will be a next time, I'd retire the clubs.  Those graphite shafts are not the highest grade.  Also, it gets crazy hot inside a car during summer which is not good for the clubs.