Ping i230 vs Cobra King Tour

[DiscoStu35]

I recently got fit for the first time and these were my two finalists. I am a low flight and low spin player so those were the two main areas of concern and both of these irons helped dramatically. The i230 won out simply because the dispersion was better than the Cobra's, but not by much. I have ordered both in my specs from a local shop to hit again but that won't be for a couple weeks. 

 

I'm currently gaming Apex 19 (non-pro) in TT Elevate 95g (shockingly got fit in to the same shaft) and one of my main concerns is missing the forged feeling that I've come to love in the Apex's. 

I was hoping to get people's opinions who have hit both of them. Currently a 12 HC with irons as the strongest part of my game.

 

Any and all thoughts are appreciated!

[hammergolf]

Both are great irons with really good feel. You couldn’t go wrong with either.

[DiscoStu35]

Just now, hammergolf said:

Both are great irons with really good feel. You couldn’t go wrong with either.

Overall I feel like both will get the job done but I just can't stop overthinking. Thanks for your input!

[hammergolf]

Just now, DiscoStu35 said:

Overall I feel like both will get the job done but I just can't stop overthinking. Thanks for your input!

I230 might be a touch more forgiving but the King Tours are one of the best irons on the market.

[thigos]

I've had both and much prefer the Cobras.  The 230 is just a bit too high bounce and wide soled for my liking.  Also the micro max grooves on the i230 are a bit annoying to keep clear of debris.  On feel and looks, the cobras are the nicer iron.  There are probably others who have just as strong a preference for the Pings. 

 

Good on you for ordering both!

 

[DiscoStu35]

13 minutes ago, hammergolf said:

I230 might be a touch more forgiving but the King Tours are one of the best irons on the market.

I'm so glad my fitter had me try the Cobra's. I think they're under the radar for most people. I usually miss on the toe side and I agree that the i230 were slightly more forgiving. 

[hammergolf]

Just now, DiscoStu35 said:

I'm so glad my fitter had me try the Cobra's. I think they're under the radar for most people. I usually miss on the toe side and I agree that the i230 were slightly more forgiving. 

Here is some robot testing data you can look at for forgiveness on certain parts of the face.

 

https://coolclubs.com/iron-reviews/

[DiscoStu35]

13 minutes ago, thigos said:

I've had both and much prefer the Cobras.  The 230 is just a bit too high bounce and wide soled for my liking.  Also the micro max grooves on the i230 are a bit annoying to keep clear of debris.  On feel and looks, the cobras are the nicer iron.  There are probably others who have just as strong a preference for the Pings. 

 

Good on you for ordering both!

 

Thanks for the insight! I definitely am more in love with the look of the Cobra but also don't dislike how the i230 looks. I have read so much here about the bounce and high VCOG on the Pings and it does make me concerned. I am definitely more of a sweeper but not dramatically so. I hit both off mats so I'm not sure how many errors that was covering up. 

[DiscoStu35]

5 minutes ago, hammergolf said:

Here is some robot testing data you can look at for forgiveness on certain parts of the face.

 

https://coolclubs.com/iron-reviews/

Awesome thanks so much. I also watched AskGolfNut on YouTube for these irons and both seemed plenty forgiving for what they are. He loved both irons. 

[hammergolf]

1 minute ago, DiscoStu35 said:

Awesome thanks so much. I also watched AskGolfNut on YouTube for these irons and both seemed plenty forgiving for what they are. He loved both irons. 

He is very good in his golf review videos. One of my favorite guys to watch club reviews.

[Pnwpingi210]

They are going to launch and spin very similar ( high and high) for an iron in its category.

 

They are shaped very similar.  The cobra is slightly more squat at address.  The soles are similar but different.   The cobra has a wider and flatter sole with a shaper leading edge. I It does taper a little more than the ping, but at the widest point of the sole the cobra is measurably bigger.  The ping has considerably more bounce.

 

feel is where they seperate the most in my opinion.  Cobras feel like a players forged iron.  Ping has a solid and dense feel, but feels like some tech is helping you (think t150 or p770)

[MiloMalt]

I have a combo set of Cobra King Tour and King CB. I could 100% play a full set of Tour's they feel, look and perform so well for me. When I tried the Ping Blueprint S and i230 they just didn't feel as good but performed pretty close to the Cobra's

[raptors11]

I was surprised how good the king tours are 

[eric61]

These are my two favorite irons on the market right now.

 

For me, the i230s won out for the reasons others have mentioned — a touch more forgiving, more bounce, high VCOG, plus I already had them when the King Tours came out and they really do everything I’d want on the course.

 

However, I do think the King Tours feel a little nicer. They flew just a touch higher for me, too. Fantastic irons. My only negative about them is the relatively sharp leading edge — in these early, wet days around Chicago, that’s going to dig trenches — but for others that could be a positive.

 

I love my i230s but could easily be happy with the King Tours, too. No real loser between these two, just some slight differences that would be positives for some people and negatives for others.

[Jmccas]

I tested both and ended up with the Tours due to their turf interaction. The i230s seem to bounce into the ball. I also liked the lower CoG of the Tours. I bent mine two degrees weak and they worked well. 
 

I have moved onto a new set though (technically two new sets lol) and will be listing them on BST soon. 

[mlencioni]

Just ordered a new set of i230s mostly because I'm a Ping guy and my home course has soft conditions and the extra bounce works well there. However, the shop I ordered them from told me they were back ordered until late April. This isn't the first time I've endured an extended wait for a Ping club and I really have no problem waiting. Not sure if that might influence your decision.

[atom bomb]

I just hit these along with several others yesterday.  For me the Cobras were the best as far as feel and consistency.  I have never really been a ping fan but was surprised at the 230 and blueprints.  The cobras just felt so good and I cant wait to be back into a set of cobras again. 

[Pnwpingi210]

37 minutes ago, atom bomb said:

I just hit these along with several others yesterday.  For me the Cobras were the best as far as feel and consistency.  I have never really been a ping fan but was surprised at the 230 and blueprints.  The cobras just felt so good and I cant wait to be back into a set of cobras again. 

The cobras are a great iron.  If the height, spin, and sole profile work you I don’t think there is a better iron.

[DiscoStu35]

20 hours ago, eric61 said:

These are my two favorite irons on the market right now.

 

For me, the i230s won out for the reasons others have mentioned — a touch more forgiving, more bounce, high VCOG, plus I already had them when the King Tours came out and they really do everything I’d want on the course.

 

However, I do think the King Tours feel a little nicer. They flew just a touch higher for me, too. Fantastic irons. My only negative about them is the relatively sharp leading edge — in these early, wet days around Chicago, that’s going to dig trenches — but for others that could be a positive.

 

I love my i230s but could easily be happy with the King Tours, too. No real loser between these two, just some slight differences that would be positives for some people and negatives for others.

As a fellow Chicago area player, I hear what you're saying about those wet spring rounds! This is very helpful info. Thank you 

[MMB1500]

This is a very timely thread. I've narrowed my iron search down to these two options and it's been a very difficult choice.

 

Both irons are really outstanding, but I found the ball speed, dispersion and feel to be marginally better with the King Tours. That said, they are 1° stronger which accounts for a lot of the speed difference. I haven't tried the i230 in power spec. I'm a sweeper so I don't necessarily need the higher bounce of the Ping's either.

 

My heart is telling me the i230s because I really like Ping, but my head is telling me the Cobras. Price is also a factor and the superior performance of the Cobras for less money seems like a no-brainer.

 

Interestingly the Cobras also performed exceptionally well in the below 2023 irons tests. The King Tours are surely one of the most underrated irons on the market right now. As a club, they're almost like a poor man's Blueprint S.

 

 

 

 

Edited March 25 by MMB1500

[kenomikes]

On 3/4/2024 at 6:53 PM, DiscoStu35 said:

I recently got fit for the first time and these were my two finalists. I am a low flight and low spin player so those were the two main areas of concern and both of these irons helped dramatically. The i230 won out simply because the dispersion was better than the Cobra's, but not by much. I have ordered both in my specs from a local shop to hit again but that won't be for a couple weeks. 

 

I'm currently gaming Apex 19 (non-pro) in TT Elevate 95g (shockingly got fit in to the same shaft) and one of my main concerns is missing the forged feeling that I've come to love in the Apex's. 

I was hoping to get people's opinions who have hit both of them. Currently a 12 HC with irons as the strongest part of my game.

 

Any and all thoughts are appreciated!

 I play the CF19 too in lefty. How was the distance and spin on the Cobra and Pings compared to the CF19s. 

[DiscoStu35]

49 minutes ago, kenomikes said:

 I play the CF19 too in lefty. How was the distance and spin on the Cobra and Pings compared to the CF19s. 

I averaged 150 carry, 4100 spin at about 80 mph swing speed with my Apex irons off of mats. Decent angle was approximately 38 degrees. I will say that the fitter pointed out a few things with my ball placement and swing that were hurting my low flight numbers.

 

With the i230 I lost about 5 yards. The Cobras were almost identical to my Apex in carry yardage.

If I remember correctly both irons added 500-700 rpm and 3-4 extra degrees of decent angle depending on the shot. 

 

I will say one of the biggest differences between the Cobra/Ping and the Apex's is how hot the face feels. To me the ball just rockets off the Apex but that's what that face technology is meant to do. The Cobra and Ping don't feel like that but feel great individually. I guess that's my biggest takeaway from going from a player's distance to a players iron.

Hope that helps. 

[JMB3]

5 hours ago, MMB1500 said:

This is a very timely thread. I've narrowed my iron search down to these two options and it's been a very difficult choice.

 

Both irons are really outstanding, but I found the ball speed, dispersion and feel to be marginally better with the King Tours. That said, they are 1° stronger which accounts for a lot of the speed difference. I haven't tried the i230 in power spec. I'm a sweeper so I don't necessarily need the higher bounce of the Ping's either.

 

My heart is telling me the i230s because I really like Ping, but my head is telling me the Cobras. Price is also a factor and the superior performance of the Cobras for less money seems like a no-brainer.

 

Interestingly the Cobras also performed exceptionally well in the below 2023 irons tests. The King Tours are surely one of the most underrated irons on the market right now. As a club, they're almost like a poor man's Blueprint S.

 

 

 

 

The biggest Ping homer I know went KT over i230.  I haven’t tried the KT but I do like the i230.  Hard to go wrong.

[Zach.buckler23]

I’m my opinion it would be the cobras. They’re such an underrated iron. 

[jbole267]

Absolutely loving my KT for what it’s worth. Feel great and have a little pop in a smaller by not tiny package.

[Kale_m]

King tours all day. 
 

was not a fan of the i230 shovels 

[MiloMalt]

I agree that the King Tour is one of, if not the most underrated iron out right now.

[DiscoStu35]

After hitting both again I decided to go with the Cobra's. I preferred the feel and looks at address more than the i230 with increased height and spin numbers being pretty similar. Both are great irons and and I agree with others that you can't go wrong. It just comes down to a personal fit.

 

I did end up switching to the Modus 105 stiff from the elevate 95 regular after quite a bit more testing with a second fitter. Between that and going 3 degrees upright, these irons are a different beast from what I had. The first range session felt like a get to know you date, but overall I see a long future together.

 

Looking forward to some more range sessions and my first round with them early next week.

 

[ALX]

I went to the King Tour's from Apex CF16's. Tried all the big names, kind of had my mind set on Srixons, but just kept coming back to the Cobra's. 2 rounds in and so far so good. Good luck!