Best Titleist irons for S55/i500 player?

[theothertomjones]

Mid hcap looking for a more forgiving players iron or GI iron. T150? T200? Is the T350 sound like the G425?
 

I tested G425s today and the sound is god awful. Can’t do it. 
 

Am I stuck in the players category? Maybe i230?

 

[cflo2382]

2 hours ago, theothertomjones said:

Mid hcap looking for a more forgiving players iron or GI iron. T150? T200? Is the T350 sound like the G425?
 

I tested G425s today and the sound is god awful. Can’t do it. 
 

Am I stuck in the players category? Maybe i230?

 

I know you said best Titleist irons, but have you tried the Blueprint S? If you're a previous s55 player (like me), then these are just as easy (if not easier) to hit, especially in the long irons. If you're truly leaning Titleist then T100/T150 would be a good start.

Edited Friday at 02:54 AM by cflo2382

[theothertomjones]

15 minutes ago, cflo2382 said:

I know you said best Titleist irons, but have you tried the Blueprint S? If you're a previous s55 player (like me), then these are just as easy (if not easier) to hit, especially in the long irons. If you're truly leaning Titleist then T100/T150 would be a good start.

my fitter hinted at the Blueprint S, but I’m hesitant. Can I hit them? Yes. Do I want to worm that hard to hit them? No not really. 
 

not sure if I need to step down in weight and flex or move to a different category head. A big pet of my just wants to take a break from Ping for a while. 

[ucmike11]

T150 + T200 long irons.  High moi, low vcog to get the ball in the air really easy. It is what I am playing now. In years past I have played Iblade and i500, but the t150 just works great for me so far.

[theothertomjones]

5 minutes ago, ucmike11 said:

T150 + T200 long irons.  High moi, low vcog to get the ball in the air really easy. It is what I am playing now. In years past I have played Iblade and i500, but the t150 just works great for me so far.

Are the T150s more forgiving than the i500s by chance?

[cflo2382]

1 minute ago, theothertomjones said:

Are the T150s more forgiving than the i500s by chance?

I had a brief stint with the T150's and felt that they were very forgiving especially on thin and toe strikes. I hit the i500 years ago and played a few long irons but never really liked them. They always seemed super "clanky" to me and not as forgiving as advertised, but that's just me. You mentioned you had a fitter. Why not just go through a full fitting with them and hit all brands/shafts/full matrix?

[ucmike11]

From my initial experiences on an actual course, yes. I500 for me were long and straight, but the lower spin and high vcog meant my front/back dispersion was not always the best depending on my angle of attack and strike. The i500 were a short experiment that failed due to not working with my swing.

 

T150 work well for me because my angle of attack is not always steep, and with the low vcog, I am able to maintain some semblance of spin and trajectory that has improved my front/back dispersion.

[theothertomjones]

17 minutes ago, cflo2382 said:

I had a brief stint with the T150's and felt that they were very forgiving especially on thin and toe strikes. I hit the i500 years ago and played a few long irons but never really liked them. They always seemed super "clanky" to me and not as forgiving as advertised, but that's just me. You mentioned you had a fitter. Why not just go through a full fitting with them and hit all brands/shafts/full matrix?

He’s shut down shop and mostly retired now. Doesn’t have heads or shafts in stock, but he’s fit me for 10+ years now, built my swing and clubs, so he can mostly “eyeball it” and say x, y, and z heads will work. On the other hand he can say with high confidence, “that head will hit too high for you”, or “you’re going to hate that” and he’s rarely (if ever) wrong. 
 

I’m probably a rare case where I hit 120 S C-Taper shafts but that’s only to get trajectory down. As I’m getting older I’m swinging slower and I don’t want to have to work as hard to optimize the club. It may be time to just get a full fitting again. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 

 

I’m gaming my S55s right now and I can hit them just fine as far as face contact is concerned. I might block it or pull it but I’m still hitting the same spot on the face. 
 

Im thinking the T150 would be a bit more forgiving than the S55. I liked the i500 fine but just didn’t love them, and I’m much less fascinated with distance now that I’ve experienced the problems longer distances irons cause. 

[Ephemerlol]

I think the primary difference between s55 and t150 for me was sole width.  If wider soles dont make your contact worse then you might find the t150s are more forgiving on the thin strikes.

[theothertomjones]

2 hours ago, Ephemerlol said:

I think the primary difference between s55 and t150 for me was sole width.  If wider soles dont make your contact worse then you might find the t150s are more forgiving on the thin strikes.

Welp… made the ritual trip to PGA Superstore and hit the T150 and T350 in my C-Taper. 150 was much more difficult to hit than the S55. The 350 was pretty darn fantastic, but I seemed to hit it better with a slightly lighter shaft (110 vs 120) than the 120S C-Tapers. The 120s had a fair (but not bad) fade bias and the 110s were pretty straight. I may need to drop to R+ C-Tapers or try C-Taper Lites, but I’m 100% set on the T350s now.

 

Unpopular opinion: Regardless how Titleist markets the T350, I don’t see it as a GI iron. Ignore the marketing. It really feels like a fatter S55 (not an i2xx or g4xx). I’d say it’s inbetween the “players distance” and “game improvement” categories. IMO the T350 should be the defacto baseline for everyday average golfers. 

 

Reminder: the Ping G425 sound is f’ing awful. What in the hell was Ping thinking?

Edited Friday at 05:27 PM by theothertomjones

[Pepperturbo]

Coming from 620 MB, end of last year I moved to the new T100 3i-PW.  As much as I enjoy them, I wouldn't suggest them to any mid-cap people.   Course this depends on the level of practice time you're going to put in and your golf goal.  

 

Yes, T100 has a forgiving nature as does T150, but not nearly as forgiving as T200 or T350, which are better choices for mid-cap.  IMO, T100 forgiveness does exist, but it's misrepresented to the public, as is the case with 620 CBs, probably why so many sets show up in the secondary used market.

 

 

[theothertomjones]

12 minutes ago, Pepperturbo said:

Coming from 620 MB, end of last year I moved to the new T100 3i-PW.  As much as I enjoy them, I wouldn't suggest them to any mid-cap people.   Course this depends on the level of practice time you're going to put in and your golf goal.  

 

Yes, T100 has a forgiving nature as does T150, but not nearly as forgiving as T200 or T350, which are better choices for mid-cap.  IMO, T100 forgiveness does exist, but it's misrepresented to the public, as is the case with 620 CBs, probably why so many sets show up in the secondary used market.

 

 

Completely agree! When people say the T100 and T150 are forgiving they mean *for the blade category* which is a very very small scale, not forgiving in general. 
 

There are a TON of T100 and T150 irons on the used market. Unless you’re a low single digit hcap I do not recommend them. 

 

I spend a lot of time on the range as it takes less time than playing a round, so my swing is pretty good, but I don’t play enough to be low cap. In any event, I don’t want to make this game any harder on me than it has to be. 

 

Edited Friday at 05:56 PM by theothertomjones

[pkshooter]

I love the I500s.  I wouldn’t consider them in the same league as the S55s or Blueprints in terms of forgiveness and clubhead size.  I think the i500s are considerably more forgiving.  

[theothertomjones]

9 minutes ago, pkshooter said:

I love the I500s.  I wouldn’t consider them in the same league as the S55s or Blueprints in terms of forgiveness and clubhead size.  I think the i500s are considerably more forgiving.  

100% much more forgiving than S55s. I’d say the T350s are as forgiving if not a touch more than the i500s. 

[Archimedes65]

Not sure if you’ve already made a decision, but if not, I’d strongly suggest trying out the i230s.  I had a set of i500s for a short period of time and absolutely hated them.  They had no feel whatsoever, awful sound, and inconsistent distance.  I switched to the i210s and now the i230s, both of which I love by comparison.  Terrific irons.  Not a true GI, but also not unforgiving like a blade.  Great balance IMO.

[theothertomjones]

9 hours ago, Archimedes65 said:

Not sure if you’ve already made a decision, but if not, I’d strongly suggest trying out the i230s.  I had a set of i500s for a short period of time and absolutely hated them.  They had no feel whatsoever, awful sound, and inconsistent distance.  I switched to the i210s and now the i230s, both of which I love by comparison.  Terrific irons.  Not a true GI, but also not unforgiving like a blade.  Great balance IMO.

I actually had i20s for years until I switched to the S55. The i2xx line is my go-to backup plan. 
 

Ironically I found a used set (6-p) of mint T350s with KBS Tour Light R for <$800 on eBay last night. I snatched those up, and since the shaft tips are the same, I’m putting my C-Taper S in them from my S55, and putting the Lites from the T350 in the G425 for my father in law, then I’ll take the KBS S shafts from the 425 and put them in the S55. Circle of shafts complete lol!

 

But yes, if the T350s don’t work out I have no doubt that the i230s will.  I’m just trying to take a break from Ping at the moment. 

Edited yesterday at 10:41 AM by theothertomjones