MEMBER REVIEWS: Ping i530 Irons Testing | See What Members Are Saying!

[GolfWRX_Official]

We have five (5) GolfWRX members testing the PING i530 irons! The members below will report back to the community about what they noticed while testing this product. Please feel free to ask any questions that you might have, as the testers will be happy to answer them

The testers are:

 

•  @jrg75
• @lazyjc4
•  @jwo
•  @bladehunter
•  @JL529
   

About the PING i530 Irons

PING's new i530 irons feature an internal weight pad that provides a deeper and thinner face-to-sole transition, ensuring more face flexing and pushing mass down to lower the center of gravity in the design for more ball speed. The forged, highly flexible maraging steel C300 face is precisely welded to a 17-4 stainless steel hollow body. A polymer applied inside the head on the back of the face bids to improve feel and sound while maximizing face bending. The body design contributes to distance by accentuating face bending. The lower CG is more aligned with where impact occurs, and distance-optimized lofts bids to help ensure more distance and higher max height for green-holding results. Three loft configurations (Standard, Power and
Retro) are available to optimize a golfer’s launch conditions during the custom fitting process.

Learn more about the PING i530 Irons here.

 

Thank you to PING for putting on this member testing opportunity for our community!

[QuigleyDU]

Great group of testers! Looking forward to hearing about these. They are a pretty clean iron for this category.

[jrg75]

Thank you @GolfWRX_Official

and @PING for this incredible opportunity. Happy to report that the i530s were delivered last night, just a little over a week after I sent my specs!!!! Here are a few early pics. I’ll post much more detailed photos and initial thoughts later tonight followed by some reviews after getting to the range later this week and some on course time this weekend!

Edited June 10 by jrg75

[bladehunter]

1 hour ago, QuigleyDU said:

Great group of testers! Looking forward to hearing about these. They are a pretty clean iron for this category.

Il be back shortly …. I’ve been chomping at the bit to post on these.  Hard for me to keep my mouth shut ( shocker 😂). Mine came in earlier last week.  Omg the 4 iron !! Have numbers on it and it’s really good !  Have to run some errands and I’ll upload the data I have so far and the round I had on Saturday.  

[getair23]

What was the process for picking your specs: dot color shaft, set makeup, etc.?

[jrg75]

22 minutes ago, getair23 said:

What was the process for picking your specs: dot color shaft, set makeup, etc.?

Process was super simple.  I received a message from a GolfWRX official with links to the options/specs that were available.  I have been fit multiple times in the past including for a set of Ping so I used known fitting specs which put me in Blue Dot, 1/2" long.  I went with standard lofts but power spec and retro specs were available. 

 

Any set makeup was available; I stopped at 5 iron (22 degrees of loft) but added at UW given the loft of the PW. My current gamer shaft was not available as a stock option so I went with one in the same weight class (115 grams) and one (Dynamic Gold Mid 115 S300) that I had recently demoed.  

Edited June 10 by jrg75

[ChrisATL]

Awesome group of testers here - congrats to all of you!  Can't wait to follow this thread!

[stryper]

Congrats to all, looks like a true lottery win!!!  

[bladehunter]

First off this couldn’t have come at a better time for me . Being in a rut is an understatement.  I had sold my irons out of frustration.  And was shopping.  So thank you @PING and @GolfWRX_Official for the opportunity.  
 

some backstory on me and ping irons.  I’ve played my best in two separate spurts. Low right at +2 handicap.  Both before I had a teenage kid playing everything and no time to practice.  But Each time with a ping iron.  Once with i500 for 8-9 months. didn’t love the 4-5 iron in those . A bit harsh on mishits and higher VCOG. and sold them .Then with blueprint OG from day 1 of their release for almost a year.  I sold  those after an elbow injury sidelined me and regretted that ever since. Each of those sets had modus 130x in them.  Which will come into play here in a minute. ( Nippon ). I love the look of ping irons.  When you know.  You know.  

 

to my shock.  FedEx brought my set on Wednesday.  I saw the long box and was like “ what is that. I didn’t order any club “. And then it hit me. Was a great surprise.  Straight out of the box the look at address and the feel was excellent.  Sounds like fluff im sure. But I couldn’t stop looking at them.But  I had work left to do.  So I put them away for a few more hours and then I quit early enough to hit the range at home for some U wedge and 4 iron testing.   Both are very important clubs to me. I’ll explain why.  
 

when asked for my specs on these I thought hard. I decided to go with power spec. To gap right behind my 3 wood , and in front of my sand wedge. Same as if you had a 2-pw etc.  that’s why the 4 iron is so important. It needed to be long enough to fill the gap.  And easy enough to elevate to be a par 5 weapon off the deck.  Mission accomplished !!    I didn’t have that with the previous i500.  It was great off the tee. But really bluntly , inconsistent off the deck.  I blamed it then on the higher Vcog and my shallow angle of attack. The i500 measures .940 according to maltby.  The i530 is lower , down to .845. Just about where the blueprint og is.  Thats a huge deal to me.  Bravo ping ! 

now specs and shaft?  From my previous fittings I knew. +1/2 inch and green dot. Plus midsized grips .   Back to the love of Nippon.  I know their shafts inside and out. And I have had them all.  The 130x has been my go to. But. I’ve hit the point of age, life, and joints not loving that shaft now.  It’s rebar with a solid core for feel and heavy as crap!  I also know that i don’t get along with the modus 120 or 105. Balance is different.  But I have had many ping wedges with the awt2.0. And always loved them. Sooooo I decided that was my route. On a hunch.  And I could not be happier.  They are what I wanted. A lighter , easier to load version of the 130x.  The stability is there. No wild balloons. No shifty hooks, or whippy noodles. Just no nonsense stability, with the balance I wanted.  I requested D4.  And they got it. Right on the nose.  
 

 

so the feel. Best way i can describe it is this. I just sold p7mc , a fully forged one piece with mmt graphite.  These feel as soft or better. They don’t have that clank feeling on a slight miss that the i500 has. ( comparing to what i know ). They look compact from address. And they go through the ground much better than expected. I tested the u wedge first for distance and consistency.  Not wanting to see crazy distance. I wanted to see height. And consistent numbers.  Delivered exactly that. As you can see. No weird jumpers, and very easy to hit.  Move around both ways or bring down low if I want.  First 3 balls shown. I continued to repeat this for a whole  bucket. It basically flies 122-125 on a normal swing. I can fly it 130 if I jump on it with a draw . Perfect for my gap need.  
 

 I use a garmin g80 on my range at home.  It’s not trackman. But it’s very good on distance. Swing speed , tempo .  It’s ok on ballspeed for comparisons. But it will under read at times with a driver. I’ll get on trackman at some point this week when I can for comparisons.  But this is what I use daily. So I know it’s quirks and comparisons. For me. 

 

now the 4 iron.  As I said before. I wanted it to gap behind my 3 wood ( 16.5 loft). And it’s perfect.  I’ll show a couple swings off the deck (tight  Bermuda) and then 2 off a tee peg.  Where I just tee it up to a perfect lie. Not some 3 inch tee that I’m picking it off. As expected it dropped spin and picked up carry off the tee. Really solid. Really strong and  really easy to hit. I’m flying it off the deck right at 218 And off the tee at 235. But notice the consistency.  I was of course trying to hit flush shots. Not whack it full bore for home runs. So that helps the consistency numbers. But this is a close as any iron I’ve ever hit.  It just repeats.    The 218 number I’m giving for flight off the deck comes from a par 5 approach I hit Saturday.  A known exact lasered  distance.  It hit and stuck into an upslope right at pin high.  
 

so on to the round Saturday.  Maybe the best honeymoon ever.  With my rusty no practice schedule.  I managed to shoot an even par round with 6 birdies  🤣.  I did blade a sand wedge into a pond for double on 3.  That was the cause of most of the crap show side of the round.  I hit 3 par 5s in two.  4 iron , 4 iron.  6 iron.  Keep in mind. I started this rounds warmup having never hit the 5-pw.  Ever.  To say I like this set is an understatement.   It’s the perfect thing for me in my place in life , time to practice etc. I had loads of fun again.  And  I haven’t felt that in a couple years playing.  Not for score. I stay in the 70s easy enough. But because they feel so goood. And are so easy to hit.  I focused on attacking pins. Not perfect contact.  If that makes sense.  Confidence was just instant. 
 

I’ll have more thoughts as I go. But for now that’s long enough.  ( too long ). 🤣

 

 

[AllDunn]

excited for this one!

[CROUSE99]

Congrats testers!  Looking forward to reading the reviews.

[jwo]

First and foremost a huge thank you to @GolfWRX_Official and @PING for this great opportunity. 
 

My clubs arrived today and man are they beauties. I’m still not a huge fan of hybrids yet although I am warming up to them. So I ordered 4-pw,uw. I’m 60 and losing speed so I decided my next set of irons I would go graphite. I’ve demo’d the Recoil esx 65 and it felt good but did feel light so after reading many reviews I decided on the Recoil dart 75 in regular flex. I also know after a fitting by a Ping rep that I’m very standard. Black dot standard length. 
 

Going to go out and hit a few in my net right now and looking to get into a local sim for some numbers this week then a Father’s Day round on a course I’ve played 50+ times. It will be a good test. 

 

Buckle up WRX‘ers this should be good!

 

Quick update. I was able to go out and hit some balls last night in my backyard station/net. Not sure if it’s the shafts or just the nature of the i530’s but in just that short time I noticed that the more I felt like I was going at it less than all out the better they seemed to feel/ perform. Will see once I get to the course. And that feel I can only say was explosive. Don’t know how else to describe it. I don’t think I I’ve ever felt a ball come off the club like that from anything near the middle of the face. 

 

 

 

 

Edited June 11 by jwo

[jrg75]

About Me:

I’ve been playing golf since I was a very young boy but I seriously took up the game in 2005 when I was 30 and landed my first good job. I have never been a fantastic golfer and my current handicap (-4.1) is about as low as it’s ever been, mostly because of about of year of consistent lessons with a pro who I trust (he helped tame a very in to out swing that was causing some big hooks).  Still, I have periods of inconsistency and while I can shoot in the low 70s for the better part of 6-8 weeks, I also have periods where I shoot in the low 80s.  I am married and have two kids so my playing time is limited to about once per week.  I also try to practice a few times a week but as I have gotten older, my days of beating balls on the range have been replaced with more time at the chipping area and practice green (I wish I knew how important that part of the game is when I was a young boy)

 

I’d say that my game is built on driver accuracy and I still have decent speed for a player who is nearing 50 (last fitting I was around 108 with the driver).  Irons have been a mediocre part of my game for as long as I can remember and in the last 10 or so years, I have owned multiple different sets trying to find the unicorn that would change this noticeably weak part of my game.  My current set of Titleist 718 AP2 have been in the bag for about a year and a set that I have really grown fond of as they just seem to fly straight, feel fantastic and have great turf interaction.  They are noticeably shorter than other clubs on the market and I do get tired of being the guy in my group that pulls a 7 iron when others are hitting 8s or even 9s.  For reference, my last set of Pings were the i200s that I played for about 1 year (circa 2017).  I enjoyed the consistency and feel of those irons and have long respected Ping’s approach that incorporates engineering and innovation into their products.

 

First Impressions of Ping i530:

My first impression when pulling these new Ping i530s out of the box was wow.  It’s a very attractive looking iron head without much badging other than some very subtle Ping and i530 logos and a nearly indiscernible “Forged” laser engraved on the back of the clubhead.  The numbering is also the standard engraving and paint fill, no more of the chrome numeral inset that were on previous generations of Ping irons.  The finish is a very nice pearl chrome. I don’t know if it’s the same hydropearl finish that were on previous generations of Ping irons, it looks a little shinier and brighter to me.  Overall, Ping nailed it with the appearance of these irons, very clean and understated.

 

 

Size wise, you can tell these are a little larger size with sole widths and blade lengths that are noticeably bigger than my current Titleist 718 APs.  The irons have minimal offset, especially in the shorter irons and while larger than my AP2s, the size is not a drawback at all.  In the address position, these have very nice and compact look (5, 7, 9 at address).

 

 

The Build:

As I mentioned in a previous post, the process for sending in my specs was super easy and everything I got was based on previous fittings/known specs.  Here is what I ended up with:

 

Hand: Right
Set makeup: 5-UW
Shaft: True Temper Dynamic Gold Mid 115
Shaft flex: S300
Shaft length: +1/2"
Color code (lie angle): Blue Dot
Loft: Standard Loft
Grip size: Midsize Tour Velvet
Swingweight: D3

 

This evening, I did some checks of length and swingweight, Ping was spot on with all specifications.  Every club was perfectly set to D3 swingweight, so perfect, in fact, that I really didn’t even have to move the weight on my swingweight scale when I changed clubs.  Ping’s build quality and tolerances  (especially swingweight) have always been one of the best in the business in my opinion.

 

On length, I ordered everything 1/2” long and they all came in with perfect length progressions based on the standard length listed on the Ping website.  I did notice that everything was basically 1/4” longer than my current set with the UW/PW measuring 36.25” on my ruler and everything moving up from there (the 5 and 6 irons have slightly longer length progressions).  I think this is an artifact of a difference in measuring techniques (grip on, grip off, etc.), just something to keep in mind if ordering (PW measurement shown below).

 

I plan some additional measurements in the coming weeks and plan to take these in for loft/lie checks.

Review Methodology:

I have a lot of different things I would like to do to test these irons in the coming months.  In addition to initial impressions, I plan to post some detailed comparisons to my APs in the coming days. I have an anniversary and birthday this week so my first range session will probably be Thursday followed by some on course review from this coming weekend.  I will post updates every so often as I continue to play these over the summer.  As an engineer, I hope to incorporate some science and data into this review that will include detailed measurements and launch monitor data.  I think it will be fun to find a way to do some side-by-side comparisons to other clubs in the same category (P790, T200, etc.) so stay tuned for that.  Finally, I have a fun trip planned to Streamsong at the end of the summer and will take clubs with me so that I can do some additional testing under different conditions.  It’s going to be an epic summer.

 

Thanks again @GolfWRX_Official and @PING for this incredible opportunity.  I hope I can provide a review that will be of significant value to this great community that has helped me so much in figuring out this crazy game that we all love.

 

 

Edited June 11 by jrg75

[lazyjc4]

Ok, gonna power through the jetlag to get this started.  Apologies/compliments to jrg75 for using his initial post as a template, I couldn't be anymore organized than he was.  Thanks!

 

About Me:

I’ve been playing golf since I was 14 years old, got kinda serious about it by 16, when I started to break 90 with regularity and made my high school golf team. Never had a formal lesson in my life, was shown the basics by my Dad and became a disciple of "the secret's in the dirt" theory and have tried to figure things out for myself ever since.  I've been around the game for a long time and have been fortunate to have met a lot of great players and teachers, whose brains I've certainly tried to pick whenever possible.  Broke 80 for the first time while in college and have yet to break 70, or shoot under par for that matter. Probably like many here, I held my lowest handicap during my single years, I was a 3.5 index when I got marred 15 years ago.  Once my two kids came along, the rounds per year and practice opportunities have dwindled.  I'm currently a 7.1, and have kept it in single digits largely to a decent short game (what I get to practice most).  Long game is very inconsistent, I can hit 12 fairways in a round, but only 3-4 greens, then 3-4 fairways and 12 greens the next day. 

I've always been a fader of the ball off the tee, but struggled with a hook/pull with pretty much every other club in the bag.  Still hit it a decent way, can carry driver around 260 on a good day, I'm used to the following carry numbers from my irons over the past several years:

4 iron - 210

5- 195

6- 180

7- 165

8- 155

9- 145

PW- 128

GW- 115

SW-105

 

I too have owned multiple different iron sets trying to find the unicorn that would make me a more consistent iron player.  I've owned a lot of "players" cavity backs over the years, but moved more into the "players distance/game improvement" category recently. My last gamers were my first foray into graphite shafted irons, PXG Gen2 0311P's with MMT shafts.  They stayed in the bag about as long as anything has over the last 30 years, so I believe I'll have graphite shafted irons for the duration of my playing days.  On a whim, I bought a set of Ping Blueprint S irons with Recoil Dart shafts the day before I was notified that I'd been selected to test the i530's! 

 

First Impressions of Ping i530:

As sexy as the Blueprints are, I think Ping has hit one out of the park with the looks of the i530s. For a player like me who's grown a bit accustomed to looking down at a bit larger footprint lately, they are the perfect blend of pleasing to the eye and confidence inspiring.  They're not too big, but there's enough behind the ball to let you know that you don't have to be perfect. The topline isn't too chunky, and there appears to be very little offset.  The finish looks like the same as my Glide 4.0 wedges, which I personally really like the looks of. I usually don't care too much about what's on the back of the club, but these irons are very simple and understated.  They look like they're all business, no frills here. 

 

 

The Build:

Hand: Right
Set makeup: 6-UW
Shaft: Alta CB 82 
Shaft flex: stiff
Shaft length: standard
Color code (lie angle): Red Dot
Loft: Power Spec
Grip size: Midsize Tour Velvet
Swingweight: D1

 

I don't have the means to measure lie/loft or swingweight at home, I'll have the ability to run them by my local club builder later on, but everything looks and feels right.  Length is exactly as it should be.

I struggled a little choosing the set composition because I wanted to fit them in between two of my favorite clubs, my 22 degree 4 iron, and my 50 degree gap wedge.  I decided to go with the 6 through UW with Ping's Power Spec lofts.  This gave me the closest specs to my old set of PXG iron lofts.  I'm going to have to make sure that I realize that each club is lofted about a club stronger than my old set, however.  Hoping no near-senior moments result in air-mailed greens after grabbing the wrong club! 

 

Review Methodology:

I will test these irons as often and in every way that I possibly can.  At the range, on the course, and with Trackman data.  In addition to initial impressions, I plan to post some detailed comparisons to my Blueprint S set in the coming days. I've been on a bit of a holiday the past several days, so I've got to get back to work this week, but plan on getting at least a range session in with them on Thursday or Friday.  Hopefully my first time on the golf course with them will come this weekend. I will post updates as often as I can and/or have new info/data to share.  I'll get my first photos uploaded tomorrow. 

 

Thanks again to Golfwrx and Ping for this opportunity, can't wait to hit these! 

Edited June 13 by lazyjc4

[SwingBlues]

 

Congratz guys 👍👍👍

 

Super stoked GolfWRX & PING partnered to give you guys a chance to test these BEAUTIES and I -think- you guys will be blown away with what Ping has done in these i530s

 

I immediately ordered mine when it hit pre-order, took me a long time to save for them but in the end, as you will find, these irons are SO GOOD, best of the i5xx series (I had the clicky i500s way back when)

 

I totally love the looks, so clean & elegant with the genius blend of satin, chrome and CNC milling in the back. More importantly, the micro grooves are something to hold any greens. 

 

 

 

Look forward to your reviews especially you @bladehunter, love to see how you fare with the beauties

 

Go Get 'Em Birdies

 

🍻

[JL529]

Hi everyone, thank you so much to golfwrx and Ping for this opportunity. It really is humbling to be picked and I'll give it my best to answer questions as best as I could.

 

First, about me. I'll be brief. I play to a 10 handicap, been golfing seriously the last 10 years. My preference is always sleeker irons but with my ability probably should play game improvement irons. Iron play was a strength of mine, but pretty much nowadays I aim for the center and just pray I'm in the vacinity. Much of it has to do with the lack of practice.  My iron delivery is neutral and pretty smooth and my driver (or mini driver) speed is about 104. Last time I checked my driver club head speed was about 106.

 

I usually play stiff steel in my irons, but finally moved to graphite for this set. I'll get into the spec details now and we'll go over why in a sec.

 

My specs were:

4-uw; orange dot (2 flat); 

standard length; standard lofts

recoil 75s F4 (stiff).

[Dpavs]

Congratz to all you lucky ducks!

[jrg75]

I couldn't resist and made a quick stop at a local driving range during my lunch hour for my first practice session with the new i530s. I hit everything from 5 iron all the way down to the UW. Here are my thoughts followed by a few pics of the clubs at the range.

 

Sound and Feel:

I started with an 8 iron and made a somewhat tentative swing, almost a 3/4 shot. To my surprise, the ball rocketed off the face in a beautiful trajectory with a loud but pleasant sound. I worked my way through a bucket hitting every iron. The best way I can describe the sound is a heavy thud with just a faint metallic undertone that gets a little clanky if you miss the center of the club face.

 

Feel wise, the i530s have a very pleasing, powerful feel, like the ball is springing off the face. Definitely not a dense feeling like a Mizuno forged iron that gives you a sensation like the ball is stuck to the face for a split second longer than it actually is. If anything, it feels like the ball is gone and way down range faster than you would expect it would be. The combination of sound and feel is perfectly matched in these irons and gives you the sense that you can take on any green.

 

Performance:

These things are long, I mean stupid long. I didn't do detailed testing of distance/gapping so everything is anecdotal based on visual and a range finder but I feel like these are at least 2 clubs longer than my 718 AP2s (not withstanding the obvious and significant differences in loft). For reference, in my 718 AP2 I normally consider my 5 as my 190 yard club and today, I was hitting the Ping i530 7 iron to a practice green I measured at 191 yards.  I will do a lot more testing to check distance, spin, height and descent angle.

 

Overall, trajectory was outstanding, nice medium high ball flight that was very penetrating. Individually, the 5, 6 and 7 were very easy to hit, launching quickly and piercing through the sky without much curve. The shorter irons were also very easy to hit with a nice mid trajectory. It seems like Ping did a great job in keeping the scoring irons such that they don't launch too high.

 

Overall, super impressive set. Need more time to figure out distances but I'm really excited and looking forward to some on course time.

[JL529]

I know it's difficult to be completely objective, but these irons are indeed very pretty. In hand, the first thing you'll notice is the satin. Not a game changer, but after years of playing chrome irons, it's a nice change. The hitting area is a bit rougher and there are a lot of grooves--19 grooves on the gap wedge vs the 14 on my current gap wedge.  I haven't changed irons in quite some time and it was nice to see the progression of head shape. My current set 4 iron looks exactly like the gap wedge. The bottom of the sole has some meat, so it doesn't look like I'm hitting blades. Being a 10 handicap I wasn't exactly sure if these irons were forgiving enough for me, but the blade length is long enough to atleast instill some confidence in the long irons. I actually love seeing the head be more compact towards the bottom of the set. 

[bladehunter]

Got in some good practice this morning.  Still just loving this set.  Playing Saturday morning again in our normal dogfight  and playing in  some side games.  So far this set is a money making set! 🤣.  Making me look at some ping wedges to match.  Glide 3.0 or 4.0 should be a nice pairing.  

Edited June 13 by bladehunter

[jrg75]

I spent the morning doing a detailed range session with the new i530s including some side-by-side comparisons with my Titleist 718 AP2s. My goal today was to figure out my stock yardages and also get a feel for turf interaction. I also spent a little time at the chipping green with the UW.  Here are my thoughts:

 

Distances and set gapping:

There is no doubt that these irons are crazy long but today, I wanted to see if the set has appropriate gaps and if they provide consistent yardages.  With one of my previous experiments in players distance irons (2019 P790s), I experienced a pretty significant gap between the 7 and 8 irons (like 20+ yds) and some inconsistent yardages.  I really want the i530s to not have the same problem and today's testing seemed to indicate that Ping has done a great job gapping this set. 

 

I was getting slightly less distance than my first test earlier this week (had about a 1 club headwind) but I was excited to see pretty consistent 10-15 yd gaps.  Here are what I was seeing based on visual/range finder:

 

Ping i530 Distances

5 iron (22 degrees) - 205 yds

6 iron (25.5 degrees) - 190 yds

7 iron (29 degrees) - 178 yds

8 iron (33 degrees) - 165 yds

9 iron (37 degrees) - 150 yds

PW (42 degrees) - 138 yds

UW (47 degrees) - 125 yds

 

From the above values, my range has targets set up at 205, 175 and 135 which roughly matched the 5, 7 and PW so I'd consider those measurements the most reliable.  

 

Comparison to current gamers:

I did the same gapping exercise with my 718 AP2s to check how the i530s compare.

 

718 AP2 Distances

5 iron (27 degrees) - 185 yds

6 iron (30 degrees) - 175 yds

7 iron (34 degrees) - 165 yds

8 iron (38 degrees) - 150 yds

9 iron (42 degrees) - 138 yds

PW (46 degrees) - 125 yds

GW  (Vokey 50 degrees) - 110 yds

 

It was really interesting to see that my yardages were pretty consistent between the Ping i530s and the Titleist 718 AP2s when adjusted for loft.  

 

In comparing the two sets, each one has its own drawbacks and advantages. I prefer the sound/feel of my Titleist irons over the Ping i530s, but it's not a huge difference, especially when you hit the center of the club face.  Forgiveness definitely goes to the Pings.  I hit a few balls on different points of the club face and got reasonable results. There's also plenty of bounce and a pretty wide sole so it's much tougher to hit a ball fat with the i530s.

 

One of my favorite features of the Titleist 718 AP2s was the pre-worn leading edge which makes for lovely turf interaction and I will miss that feature with the Pings.

 

Comparing the VCOG is also interesting (reference Maltby).  The i530s have a VCOG of 0.845 whereas the AP2s have a VCOG of 0.803.  From what I saw today, this seems pretty accurate.  The Titleist seem to perform a little better on thin strikes whereas the Pings like a strike a little higher and have a more piercing trajectory.

 

MOI comparison (reference Maltby) is also interesting, Ping (16.0887) , Titleist (14.7683).  Again. this seems accurate as the Pings produce repeatable, straight ball flight and the Titleist curve more.

 

Overall,  I prefer the new Pings for their forgiveness and straight, piercing ball flight which seems to be worth the tradeoff of less feel and the preferred sole shape of the AP2s.  Below are a few pictures of address photos comparing the Titleist and Pings (5, 7 and 9 iron, Ping on the right).  Pretty comparable shape from address.

 

 

47 Degree UW:

I spent quite a bit of time today testing out the utility wedge that came with the i530 set. It's a great club on full swings, very much mimicking my existing pitching wedge. I also found it's very good on half swings and 3/4 swings, there was a target at the range set up around 80 yd and I was able to hit very consistent half swing wedges to it.  I also tried the UW at the chipping green and while it was pretty easy to get good contact with the bounce and wide sole of the club, distance control was very difficult as the club has a somewhat springy face and the ball can jump making it hard to land at a consistent spot.  I doubt I will use this club for much chipping and based on the lofts of the overall set, will likely have to rethink my wedge setup.

 

Overall, continue to be very impressed with the Ping i530s and plan to take them out tomorrow after the US Open for some on course time and will report back on how they do. 

 

I'm also planning to take some detailed measurements of soul width and blade length to compare with my Titleist.

Edited June 15 by jrg75

[eric61]

3 hours ago, jrg75 said:

 

47 Degree UW:

I spent quite a bit of time today testing out the utility wedge that came with the i530 set. It's a great club on full swings, very much mimicking my existing pitching wedge. I also found it's very good on half swings and 3/4 swings, there was a target at the range set up around 80 yd and I was able to hit very consistent half swing wedges to it.  I also tried the UW at the chipping green and while it was pretty easy to get good contact with the bounce and wide sole of the club, distance control was very difficult as the club has a somewhat springy face and the ball can jump making it hard to land at a consistent spot.  I doubt I will use this club for much chipping and based on the lofts of the overall set, will likely have to rethink my wedge setup.

 

Terrific review. I'm really interested in the UW portion, and glad you devoted some space to it -- this is something I've been thinking through myself quite a bit as I look for new irons. I do like the idea of a 52/58 wedge set-up -- I've played it before and it really covers all my needs, as long as the 58 is a versatile grind -- so I'm not turned off by Ping's 42 degree PW and 47 degree UW. But I've wondered about chipping with the 47, since that's something I've wanted to do. 

 

If you were building this set from scratch, do you think maybe something like the i530 PW at 42 degrees into maybe like an S159 46/52/58 set-up might work? Maybe bend the 46 to 47 and use an S159 instead of the i530 UW? On the other hand, a 52 might be all you'd really need for those lower, running chips and pitches if it's played back in your stance a little.

 

It's a tough question to work out with a fitter, since basically no one has a full set available for fittings. Kinda seems like it's just a trial-and-error thing.

[jrg75]

23 minutes ago, eric61 said:

 

Terrific review. I'm really interested in the UW portion, and glad you devoted some space to it -- this is something I've been thinking through myself quite a bit as I look for new irons. I do like the idea of a 52/58 wedge set-up -- I've played it before and it really covers all my needs, as long as the 58 is a versatile grind -- so I'm not turned off by Ping's 42 degree PW and 47 degree UW. But I've wondered about chipping with the 47, since that's something I've wanted to do. 

 

If you were building this set from scratch, do you think maybe something like the i530 PW at 42 degrees into maybe like an S159 46/52/58 set-up might work? Maybe bend the 46 to 47 and use an S159 instead of the i530 UW? On the other hand, a 52 might be all you'd really need for those lower, running chips and pitches if it's played back in your stance a little.

 

It's a tough question to work out with a fitter, since basically no one has a full set available for fittings. Kinda seems like it's just a trial-and-error thing.

@eric61, thanks for the feedback and thoughtful questions.  I'm 100% where you are, I'm not turned off by the 42/47 PW/UW, I really just think of it more as a traditional 9/PW.  I also immediately thought that a 52/58 wedge setup was probably where I'll land.  I feel like you can do most anything with that set up (provided you get a versatile 58) and I actually like a little bit bigger gapping (6 degree lofts) in my wedges to take some of the ambiguity out of what to hit.

 

I see your point about a possible S159 46/52/58 setup, presumably to get some of the versatility out of the s159 46 degree.  I think what I'm going to do is some experimenting with the i530 UW once I get these in the course.  If I can get the spin and stopping power I want with the UW on 1/2 and 3/4 shots, I would probably go that way and just do my chipping with a 52/58 because the UW is really a nice club on full swings.  

 

Like you said, kinda trial and error but lots of fun experimenting!

[eric61]

12 minutes ago, jrg75 said:

@eric61, thanks for the feedback and thoughtful questions.  I'm 100% where you are, I'm not turned off by the 42/47 PW/UW, I really just think of it more as a traditional 9/PW.  I also immediately thought that a 52/58 wedge setup was probably where I'll land.  I feel like you can do most anything with that set up (provided you get a versatile 58) and I actually like a little bit bigger gapping (6 degree lofts) in my wedges to take some of the ambiguity out of what to hit.

 

I see your point about a possible S159 46/52/58 setup, presumably to get some of the versatility out of the s159 46 degree.  I think what I'm going to do is some experimenting with the i530 UW once I get these in the course.  If I can get the spin and stopping power I want with the UW on 1/2 and 3/4 shots, I would probably go that way and just do my chipping with a 52/58 because the UW is really a nice club on full swings.  

 

Like you said, kinda trial and error but lots of fun experimenting!

That approach makes sense! As you test on those partial shots, please follow up -- definitely something I'll be eager to read your thoughts on.

[bladehunter]

Second round in the books with i530 yesterday morning.  Almost hesitate to tell the score.  🤣.  Bettered last week by a shot. Including a double bogey on 8 when I attacked a tucked pin from 190 like  a moron , and hit the cartpath which runs 4 yards off the green.  Total user error. I had miles to the left of the pin to hit  it and 2 putt. But I was on a roll.  And paid for the aggression. Finished up the back 9 strong to shoot a 71.  ( 40 points stableford ) Hit 15 greens.  2 I missed were because of errant drives.  The 3rd being the OB ball on 8 I mentioned. . That’s absolutely an awesome contrast to the struggles I have been having. 
 

I’ve always been a very strong iron and wedge player. Struggle at times with driver , and putter. I had my putting figured out for a while. And driver serviceable , but I had been struggling on approach. Just not clicking with feel , looks or anything really.  This set flipped the switch. Im having so much fun hitting them.  
 

id like to join the u wedge topic. I’m finding it to be my favorite club so far.  For a full swing im getting a very nice towering draw out of it that just dies where it lands. Or I can play it back a hair for a low fade that pinches 10 yards off the total and has some spin on it.  I also have found it to be great for a lower running pitch.  No worry of it grabbing and coming up way short.  That’s valuable to me because I tend to pinch pitches and chips and get a lot of stopping power.  So it adds an option.  I don’t have to fly it right to the hole.

 

my only question Is wedge setup alone. First round I played 52 56 60.  Never once pulled the 52. Was covering the gap from 56 to U wedge with ease.  Preferred it to the 52.  This week I swapped in an old favorite pair.  54-59 vokeys.  Even better. So I played with 13 clubs.i think I’ll be eyeballing a 54-60 ping wedge setup just for fresh grooves and  I could add a hybrid above the 4 iron for a really high launch rescue option , and into par 5s ,not sure yet.  
 

great job @PING !!  Design to my eye seems to be perfect. And the build quality , I can’t find a flaw. Grip alignment , grip size , and swing weight all seem to be spot on.  And I’m a very picky player.  

the lowering of the Vertical center of gravity was an excellent idea.  Turf interaction, is great. Even on my courses red clay base.  In dry times. They cut nicely.  None of this bouncing up stuff.   The honeymoon continues !   Can’t find a bad thing to say. 

[Lobbing Iron]

Thank you all for the reviews.   I am also curious about the PW/UW for chipping around greens.

[jrg75]

Got out and played a quick 9 holes with the i530s and learned a great deal about how they perform (spoiler, I really tested their forgiveness this afternoon.)  I promise all my future posts won’t be this long but I wanted a detailed re-cap of my maiden round with them:

 

Hole 1 – 363 Yard Par 4

I hit my 5 wood to avoid the large fairway bunker on the right which left me 168 yards out into a slight headwind, I tried to hit a stock 8 iron.  My strike was pretty heavy and toe side, so I did not make the green.  What surprised me was that despite my very crappy strike, the ball traveled remarkably straight and ended up just short of the green (see photo).  I chipped up to about 4 feet and made a decent par despite a shaky approach shot.  1^st hole and I was already very impressed with the i530 forgiveness.

 

 

Hole 2 – 355 Yard Par 4

Not much insight into the i530 performance on this hole.  I hit a really good drive leaving me 68 yards to the pin.  I used a Vokey 56 to pitch my ball to about 15 feet and made a 2-putt par.

 

Hole 3 – 456 Yard Par 5

Honestly, it’s hard to call this a par 5 but that’s what it is on the card.  I pulled my drive to the left and found a very muddy lie in the rough, about 189 yards from the pin.  As a good test, I played the ball as it lies and got reasonably good contact with a 6 iron. My ball ended up short and right of the green but I was really impressed with how the i530 dug the ball out of a really crappy lie.  I chipped up and 2 putted for a par.  Photo below of the muddy lie that the i530 was able to chop the ball out of.

 

 

Hole 4 – 367 Yard Par 4

Hit a good drive leaving me 84 yards to the pin.  I tried 1/2 wedge shot with the i530 UW.  Ball came off reasonably well stopping about 12 feet short of the pin.  I just missed the birdie putt and settled for par.  The UW seems like it may have some reasonable versatility for these partial wedge shots, so far really impressed.

 

Hole 5 – 189 Yard Par 3

Hit 6 iron again and just tugged it left.  The ball flew very straight, the miss was 100% user error.  I ended chipping to about 12 feet and missed the par putt.

 

Hole 6 – 502 Yard Par 5

Some really cool information collected on this hole.  First, I slightly pushed my driver right of my aim point and ended up in a large fairway bunker.  I was up near the front lip and contemplated what to do.  Normally with a lip this high, I would - hit a 9 iron or PW but I wanted to see what the i530s could do.  I pulled a 7 iron and cleared the lip with ease (these things are really easy to launch.) Photo below of what I faced in the bunker:

 

 

I left myself about 120 yards to the pin and hit a beautiful UW with a little draw to about 6 feet, probably one of my best strikes of the day.  The ball stopped very quickly, see photo below, a very good indicator of the descent angle that these irons can generate.  I did my best Rory impression and missed the birdie putt ☹️ (Sorry Rory, I love you but  those putts on 16 and 18 were tough to watch). Photo where I hit my UW to (note the divot just a few feet from the ball):

 

 

Hole 7 – 415 Yard Par 4

Also some interesting data on this hole.  I hit a so-so drive into a slight headwind leaving me 165 yards to the pin.  I hit an 8 iron and immediately thought to myself, oh man, that is all over it.  To my dismay, the ball landed short of the green but right on line with the pin.  I then looked down and saw my ball mark on the face of the iron realizing a hit it very much on the toe (see photo).  Despite another pretty crappy strike, I was probably about 25 feet short of the front pin location which seems like a good indicator of how forgiving these irons are.  I used putter from off the green and ended up with a bogey.

 

 

Hole 8 – 136 Yard Par 3

I hit a very pure PW to about 10 feet.  Strike was very similar to the UW I hit on hole 6.  Missed the birdie putt 😡but was very impressed with the performance/similarity of the UW/PW (my leave below):

 

 

Hole 9 – 323 Yard Par 4

I normally hit driver on this hole but I wanted to test the i530s so I hit my tee shot with the 5 iron.  Wow, that club is so easy to hit for something with 22 degrees of loft.  I hit a nice high draw (about 205 yards) leaving myself 119 yards to the hole.  I again pulled the UW and hit a similar shaped shot to what I did on hole 6 and 8. I had a 20 foot putt (photo) which I made for my first birdie and a nice opening 37.

 

Key Takeaways from my few holes with the i530s

The PW and UW are $$$$$$, especially on full shots.  Probably my favorite clubs in the set.

 

These clubs are forgiving!  I made some pretty crappy swings and got very reasonable results.  When I missed the center of the clubface, distance loss was not all the punishing.  Even better, I didn’t see any wild hooks/slices, basically if your path is screwed up, you just see pushes and pulls.

 

I used ProV1s for today’s test and I was getting great stopping power from all the clubs.  I also think the high-quality ball added some spin and knocked down some of the distances I was seeing while testing with range balls.  Overall, I think I was seeing distances about 1 club longer than my current 718 AP2s.  I ordered a Mevo unit today to see if I can get some more reliable/complete data.

 

Overall, these are great clubs, Ping knocked it out of the park with this model  Unfortunately, I won’t have another chance to play before my normal cash game on Friday.  Hopefully, I can get my ballstriking cleaned up or else I’m going to have to make a run to the ATM machine.

Edited Monday at 02:59 AM by jrg75
Add photos

[jwo]

Well 2 range sessions (and I’m not much of a range rat) and 27 holes in. I can say there’s a lot to love with the i530’s. First off looks are a big deal to me. I can’t stand to look at much offset and what little the i530’s have does not bother me at all. I played blades all through my 20’s and 30’s and just prefer that look still. The i530’s look great to my eye. 
 

Feel is a very close second for me with irons. For me the i530’s with anything close to center contact feel really nice. The ball feels like it is shot out of a cannon and not hard to me at all. Thin and heel hits do feel harder and louder but they should. The performance on mis hits is very impressive though. However the feel hopefully just on my build is just off. I can’t help but wonder if I screwed up with my shaft choice. I did request D1 in the 4-9 and D2 in the pw-uw and that’s what the build card shows. They feel very light though. All my fault as I asked for a shaft I’ve never used. The Recoil 75 in reg flex. I’m 60 and definitely slower than I’ve ever been so I thought they’d be right up my alley plus thinking the shock absorption would help a couple of arthritic fingers and right shoulder. I played DG s300 for 10 years in my AP2’s and in the last two years had them swapped out for Modus 105 reg with very good results. I’m going to stick with them for a while but may reach out to @PING to see if I can pay for a reshaft if I can’t get used to them. The way Ping builds these with the tip and toe weights plus their obvious quality I wouldn’t want anyone else to reshaft them. 
 

Let’s talk a minute about distance. The i530 in every way lives up to its place in the players distance category and is THE reason I want the i530’s to stay in my bag. In yesterdays round I hit some ridiculous iron shots, for me. I was able to take a couple of pictures of a couple of shots yesterday before my phone died. We were watching the US Open between shots. 
 

#6 par 3 was playing 163 from the back tees. ( I play with younger flat bellies that won’t move up) I don’t know if I’ve ever pulled a 7 iron for that distance but with a light wind at my back I pulled a 7 yesterday. Thought it would be a good test of the i530 horsepower. 

My ball is the yellow ball. Ping high 3 feet. Birdie. The ball mark is at the bottom of the picture. About 3 feet past that ball mark the green was slight downhill to the flag. 
 

Next and last pic of the day. Was with the UW. Like others have shared I was curious how the the gapping would work. I’m a 50, 55, 60 wedge guy. I took the 50 out of the bag yesterday. 3rd shot on #7 par 5 was 122 to the pin. I don’t think I’ve ever played my 50 for anything more than 110 yards so again I decided to test the UW. Pretty strong right to left cross wind and in light rough. I caught it a little high on the face and it felt like it would be short of the green. It was short but not of the green. Very impressed and an easy two put par. 

 

Plenty of spin too. And regarding the UW. I also had 108 into another green. That’s definitely too much for my 55 so I hit a very smooth feeling UW and it responded very well. 10 feet right, pin high. Missed the birdie. I also used it to chip from off the green a few times with great results. Very impressive for such a hot face. 
 

So we are still very early in testing and I’ll keep playing with this build to see if I can get used to them. I had the most issues with the longer irons. Stay tuned

Edited Tuesday at 02:02 PM by jwo

[QuigleyDU]

Good stuff guys!

[lazyjc4]

A few initial pics, range review coming tonight.  It's going to be hot as blazes all week here in the Mid-Atlantic, so should my club shouldn't be too busy for me to do an on course testing at some point. 

 

The build:

 

 

Blueprint S 8 iron compared to i530 9 iron (same loft):

 

 

i530 6 iron (24 degrees) compared to Blueprint S 5 iron (26 degrees): 

 

 

I was surprised how similar to the two models are blade-length wise.  View from address really isn't too different.  The Blueprint is much skinnier overall, and, especially in the longer irons, I like that there's some meat to the i530's without being chunky or having a lot of offset.  There are some differences in feel, but I'll get more into that tonight.  

Edited Tuesday at 01:40 PM by lazyjc4