Was the Ping Eye2 clubs really that good? Judge for yourself.

[jjfcpa]

I found this a very interesting video that compares the 39 year old Ping Eye2 clubs with the current G425's.  

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a3AUxTwoRmo

[MtlJeff]

I still own 1986 Ping Eye2's and i bust them out every now and then. One thing i will say is that i much prefer the feel of the newer irons. 

 

But yeah, i mean, they still perform pretty well!

[mat562]

Every man and his dog had a Ping long iron in the bag when I was growing up, including me, and Eye 2 wedges were ubiquitous at every level of the game. You also saw umpteen players with a bagful of the things. I played beryllium Eye 2s for a few years, and I still have an updated, Gorge version of the Eye 2 L wedge in my bag now, that's a modern version of the old brown one I carried for more than a decade.

 

Modern materials, ball technology and face design have rendered the Eye 2 long iron obsolete, but I'd still happily stack up the Eye 2 wedge designs against any modern equivalent. The 'cup' sole design was magical from sand, and the overall design philosophy has been copied by several major OEMs. Callaway and Taylor Made are still selling truckloads of wedges that are essentially Eye 2s with a different stamp on them. As we close in on the design being 40 years old, the Eye 2, along with the Ping Anser, is surely the closest thing there is to being the B-52 of golf.

 

 

Edited February 4, 2021 by mat562

[elwhippy]

Got to agree. If you put a set of Eye 2+ in the bag, with fresh shafts and grips there would little difference in performance for a skilled player. The B-52 comparison is valid. 

[cgasucks]

The Ping Eye2s are the AK-47s of golf.  Timeless design, played and won at the highest levels of golf, and durable as hell.

[gators78]

Used my dad's set when I growing up for probably 5 years. They were built to last, the design was brilliant and miles ahead of its time, and just 100% function in every part of the club. 

 

I found this weird phenomenon throughout my stint with a set, they somehow felt extremely workable like a blade, but wildly forgiving, at the same time, and the shape just somehow made sense. People that didn't play Eye2s hated the look, but if you used them for a while, they looked totally natural, and that's from Tour up to high handicaps. 

 

Either way, they are on the Mt. Rushmore of club designs. 

[pseudoswede]

If mine (plus-no-plus model 2-PW) hadn't been stolen out of my garage 14 years ago (they were probably 14 years old at the time), I'd still probably be playing them.

Edited February 4, 2021 by pseudoswede

[dn0614]

I’m going to be the odd man out, but I absolutely hated the eye 2’s. This was back before I knew anything about club building and I couldn’t hit this D0 swing weights for the life of me. 

[Skaffa77]

The Ping Eye 2 will always be a revered classic by most people.  Personally, they were a little chunky for me, but they got the job done. 

 

About 3 years ago, I bought a set for a friend who was starting to get into golf.  We went out and I hit a couple of the irons...to my surprise, those irons still hit the ball as one would expect.  Sometimes when something works...it just works.  He liked the irons and hated his woods, he commissioned me to find him a 2 iron and a 1 iron.  As much as I tried to talk him out of it, I found a 1 and 2 iron and bought them for him.  He still leaves his 3w and 5w out of the bag.

[lefthack]

Hey, I still love my Zing 2's, but love my Vapor Pro Combos more. I bought the Pings because of the shape, I loved the hard toe line.

[bear87]

Just had my Ping Eye 2 BeCu irons refinished and reshafted.  Now they look too good to use.  To me, they're icons. 

Edited February 4, 2021 by bear87

[Pulledabill]

Played Eye2s for years up until 3 years ago.Had 2 sets but sold 1. Part of me wants to reshaft them to my current specs and try them out. Msybe if I get the time, I will reshaft 1 and see what I think. 

[JAM01]

Watched the Crossfield video yesterday, figured there’d be a decent yardage gain. But the dispersion on the 9 iron was impressive and take away a few outliers on the 7 and 5 and that’s impressive also. 
 

Image the sales to us “experienced” golfers if they packaged some modern tech, somehow, in that actual style (heck with a 2 iron included!) Ping Eye 22? 

[GLF4EVR]

Have 2 different iron sets.  However, each set has a Eye 2 two iron in it.  

[Gsea]

IMO nothing is more accurate or forgiving to date. Was impressed with the distance he hits the eye2s. Got an extra set of eye 2 heads Im def getting shafted this spring. Meanwhile these will do

 

[Thrummyfox]

2 hours ago, Skaffa77 said:

The Ping Eye 2 will always be a revered classic by most people.  Personally, they were a little chunky for me, but they got the job done. 

 

About 3 years ago, I bought a set for a friend who was starting to get into golf.  We went out and I hit a couple of the irons...to my surprise, those irons still hit the ball as one would expect.  Sometimes when something works...it just works.  He liked the irons and hated his woods, he commissioned me to find him a 2 iron and a 1 iron.  As much as I tried to talk him out of it, I found a 1 and 2 iron and bought them for him.  He still leaves his 3w and 5w out of the bag.

Loved them! Played Driver, 1-LW, Anser or B60 for years! 

[NRJyzr]

7 minutes ago, Gsea said:

Was impressed with the distance he hits the eye2s

 

When I played Eye2+ for a year, I gained distance on most clubs.  For me, it was related to hitting them higher, with less spin.  In spite of my already normal higher trajectory.

 

[BIG STU]

I will say this and I am a confirmed blade man--- IMHO they are a timeless design. They still hold their value on the used club market today. Yes I have a Eye2 and Zing SW that I sneak into the bag from time to time depending on the course. I also have a couple of Eye2 1 irons that I sneak in especially if the wind is way up and the course is dry. Back in the day playing competitive golf I carried a Eye2 or Karsten 1 One iron in my bag. That Karsten 1 replaced a 985 Tommy Armour Macgregor Custom 1 iron in my bag that is how good they were. Now I will say other than the long irons they are not the distance getters of today. I never did like the short irons except the Sand Wedges do I would have played them. I would say today with more modern shafts that they would hit as good as any modern CB

MY .02 FWIW

[Celebros]

I can't get them out of my dad's bag.  He's had his Eye2s since before I was born (and I'm 35, lol).

 

Still breaks 80 with them though.

Edited February 4, 2021 by Celebros

[Gsea]

8 minutes ago, BIG STU said:

I will say this and I am a confirmed blade man--- IMHO they are a timeless design. They still hold their value on the used club market today. Yes I have a Eye2 and Zing SW that I sneak into the bag from time to time depending on the course. I also have a couple of Eye2 1 irons that I sneak in especially if the wind is way up and the course is dry. Back in the day playing competitive golf I carried a Eye2 or Karsten 1 One iron in my bag. That Karsten 1 replaced a 985 Tommy Armour Macgregor Custom 1 iron in my bag that is how good they were. Now I will say other than the long irons they are not the distance getters of today. I never did like the short irons except the Sand Wedges do I would have played them. I would say today with more modern shafts that they would hit as good as any modern CB

MY .02 FWIW

Stu,

Like I said I'm going to re-shaft a set of ss eye2s heads with your experience what's a decent shaft to look at considering the light weight of these heads?

Thanks

[BIG STU]

2 minutes ago, Gsea said:

Stu,

Like I said I'm going to re-shaft a set of ss eye2s heads with your experience what's a decent shaft to look at considering the light weight of these heads?

Thanks

Well how old are you and what is your Swing Speed? And are you talking steel or graphite?

[Gsea]

53, driver 90-100, steel. Im pretty solid player, mid/high 70s. Not a big hitter obviously but I can get the ball around.

[chsneggs]

Perfect timing, I am in the same boat, 11 hdcp hit the 7 ... 138 yards ...had these sticks since 1986 and have replaced 4,5,8 all rusty inside. Practise club is a slazenger 5 Hogan 1970 w a Hogan apex 4 shaft that I thought was a regular shaft but was told by golf shop just yesterday they are stiff .

The golf shop suggested  new ping regular shafts at $ 50 per plus grip/install cdn ...

Need direction as well ..

Thanks in advance ...

[ChipNRun]

Ping Eye2 was a watershed club in terms of both folklore and technology.

 

This was the first refinement of the perimeter-weighted iron concept, and the model with slight tweaks went on for about a decade.

 

One thing about the perimeter-weighting. It did launch the ball high, but in doing so came up a few yards short of its contemporary blade irons. So, the Ping guys strengthened the lofts about 2* so that the Eye2 model didn't lose distance to competitors. Then, the marketing guys got ahold of the idea, and we know the rest of the story.

[dekez]

I'm not saying this is the optimal modern shaft, but I put in a set of Ping AWT 2.0 in an Eye 2+no+ refurb in 2018.  They played fine.  A club shorter than modern stuff for obvious reasons.  Overall fairway grass length is much shorter today than it was in the early 90s.  So if Ping reintroduced them, I think they'd have to add bounce.

[TheDeanAbides]

I've never hit them because I'm sure that the offset would do nothing at all for my game, but as an icon they're a landmark club. Damn, now I'm getting gas for trying a set anyway...

[Aviador Naval]

37 minutes ago, TheDeanAbides said:

I've never hit them because I'm sure that the offset would do nothing at all for my game, but as an icon they're a landmark club. Damn, now I'm getting gas for trying a set anyway...

This is where I am at.  I bought a set, brand new, in 1988 without even hitting them because they were all the rage.  A WRXer before Al Gore invented the internet...

 

They lasted about two months.  I simply could not get past the offset and the fact the short irons looked more like garden implements than golf clubs.  I listed them for sale on the golf course corkboard and sold them in three days for more than I paid for them because at the time they were flying off shelves and hard to come by.

 

A few years later, the i3+ Blade was released.  It was basically the Eye2 with far less offset and a small weight port behind the sweetspot.  To date they are the clubs that lasted longest in my bag and I still have them.

 

The Eye2 wasn’t my thing but there is no doubt they are truly iconic and atop Mt Olympus next to the Anser as the biggest impact in golf equipment history.

[Fellaheen51]

Reshafting E2's has been a common question in FB Ping group that I play in.  The most common shaft in E2's were mostly likely ZZ-Lites.  Weight of 115g, tip stiff, high bend point, and stiff flex.  Contemporary shafts that matches this metric (or at least similar) would be TTDG 120 (119g in stiff) or TTDG 105 (103g in stiff) if one was to go to lighter weight.  At least that the weight range and bend profiles (absent comparing slopes) are similar to the Lites.  Otherwise, whatever shaft you find suitable and playable in other irons.  Keeping in mind you'll may have to finesse the swing weights depending on the weight category selected. 

 

No doubt, E2's are an iconic iron.  Likely there will not be another iron design that was so universally accepted across such a broad range of players.  Still very playable 30+ years further on.  Durability is outstanding, one can still find good condition implements.  And with a retumble, can be made to look practically new.  However, I've found them to be a bit ponderous for my tastes.  For OSP (Old School Ping) irons, rather play BeNi ISI's.  Which I do, with regularity.  Still trying to figure out what "modern" irons will do for my game that these don't.  Ball goes straight, the required distance.  What am I missing?

 

[No_Catchy_Nickname]

Just to add to the voices saying these are iconic (Eye-conic??) irons. I've never played a full set of these, but knew so many good players who did.

 

I was given a BeCu L-wedge back in the day, but couldn't get over the offset. After getting back into golf about 10 years ago, I rediscovered the L-wedge back home and took it out for a spin. While I still don't like it off tight lies, it's amazing from the rough and bunkers. So much so, that I recently bought an updated SW.

I quite like the idea of getting an EYE2 1i or 2i to try as well. 

 

B-52s indeed.

[NRJyzr]

4 hours ago, ChipNRun said:

Ping Eye2 was a watershed club in terms of both folklore and technology.

 

This was the first refinement of the perimeter-weighted iron concept, and the model with slight tweaks went on for about a decade.

 

One thing about the perimeter-weighting. It did launch the ball high, but in doing so came up a few yards short of its contemporary blade irons. So, the Ping guys strengthened the lofts about 2* so that the Eye2 model didn't lose distance to competitors. Then, the marketing guys got ahold of the idea, and we know the rest of the story.

 

It was the higher launch that spawned the loft change, not distance, or so it was discussed in the early days of golf forums...