Some of you may remember the following quote from a page or so earlier in this thread...
Well check out my SIG as I am now the proud owner of a set of S55 irons (CFS, stiff). The following is a short review based on 4 short range sessions and playing around 9 holes at my home course (Apollo Beach GC) over the Thanksgiving Holiday's which I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!!!
First a little about me and my game...I am 54 years old and have been playing the game on a regular basis for about 6 to 7 years now trying to see how good I could be. I have had my handicap down as low as 6.3 but two shoulder surgeries (not golf related) in 2010 and 2013 and a couple of job changes along the way have caused my game to decline over the last three years. Anyway now that I am on the road to recovery I have reunited with my Pro and have to decided to get back on track to improving...practice, practice, practice...LOL My strengths have always been my short game and if my ball striking shows up I can shoot mid to low 70's (been a while though)...I would say for comparison the distance that I like to play my 7 iron to is an average of 150-155 and I dont hit a driver but when swinging well can average around 245 off the tee with a strong 3 wood...so enough about me and on to my short review:
Great feeling and forgiving iron for a players profile...period! How is that for a review!!! :clapp:
But seriously as I try to find my game and work on improving my ball striking I made a conscious decision to pick a iron (head) that I want to aspire to play. I wanted somehting that appealed to my eye and sense of feel...the S55 iron serves both purposes for me.
Strengths:
1) Set Up - Great set up at address...very classic looking but it just sets up well to the ball...best I can explain
2) Feel - very very very soft for a cast iron (CFS shaft could be helping this with the soft tip???)
3) Turf interaction - very desirable for my swing...creating a nice shallow divot.
4) Ball flight - high but not balloning...again CFS could be helping this???
5) Bag Appeal - Great looking in the bag!!!
6) Distance - I had never owned the S56 iron due to many reviews I read that said this iron is not a distance iron of any sort and I think Golf Digest even wrote once "Players seeking distance will have to bring their own" but the distance I get with the S55 irons is very comparable (again loft, shaft length, etc...) to many GI irons I have owned AND I have not seen any hot spots what so ever in my 4 range sessions...so IMO that makes these excellent for distance control
7) Forgiveness - I find that my misses with the S55 irons are really not much worse than any of my misses with any other iron I have owned (comparable specs, loft, length of shaft, etc...) and the added titanium in the toe defintely helps misses (distance control) on the toe. This is my miss and I have been pleasently surprised by the distance the ball still goes for a Players iron profile like the S55 iron. And trust me I have hit a few way out there on the toe...OUCH!
Weakness:
1) Player's iron - Jman has referred to this a few times in his review in that you will need to focus on every swing to put your best swing on it (small head) but I like this as it makes me do just that "Focus on every swing"...so with this said I would think one would need to consider what they want out of their game...BUT dont get me wrong...I think anyone can play this iron as one may be a high handicapper because of their short game but are a solid ball striker???
2) Misses - Can sting your hands if you miss it (toe or hosel)...but this is something I want in an iron so that the next swing I need to step up and focus more (see #1 above)...again remember my goals for my game and you will have to make that decision for yourself...but if you hit it far enough out on the toe on any golf club IMO you will feel it...
In conclusion, I think PING has engineered as much forgiveness as you can into a "Players" iron...and they defintely have focused on the feel which is important to me and my game. I would seriously recommend the S55 irons for anyone between 0 - 15 handicap but again if ball striking is the strength of your game than I would not put it past any handicap playing this iron...it is that good...thanks again to "The Hackers Paradise" testers for exposing all of us to this great iron and thank you to PING for the S55 irons!!!
DANG "The Hackers Paradise" testers and PING for the S55 irons...
Well check out my SIG as I am now the proud owner of a set of S55 irons (CFS, stiff). The following is a short review based on 4 short range sessions and playing around 9 holes at my home course (Apollo Beach GC) over the Thanksgiving Holiday's which I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!!!
First a little about me and my game...I am 54 years old and have been playing the game on a regular basis for about 6 to 7 years now trying to see how good I could be. I have had my handicap down as low as 6.3 but two shoulder surgeries (not golf related) in 2010 and 2013 and a couple of job changes along the way have caused my game to decline over the last three years. Anyway now that I am on the road to recovery I have reunited with my Pro and have to decided to get back on track to improving...practice, practice, practice...LOL My strengths have always been my short game and if my ball striking shows up I can shoot mid to low 70's (been a while though)...I would say for comparison the distance that I like to play my 7 iron to is an average of 150-155 and I dont hit a driver but when swinging well can average around 245 off the tee with a strong 3 wood...so enough about me and on to my short review:
Great feeling and forgiving iron for a players profile...period! How is that for a review!!! :clapp:
But seriously as I try to find my game and work on improving my ball striking I made a conscious decision to pick a iron (head) that I want to aspire to play. I wanted somehting that appealed to my eye and sense of feel...the S55 iron serves both purposes for me.
Strengths:
1) Set Up - Great set up at address...very classic looking but it just sets up well to the ball...best I can explain
2) Feel - very very very soft for a cast iron (CFS shaft could be helping this with the soft tip???)
3) Turf interaction - very desirable for my swing...creating a nice shallow divot.
4) Ball flight - high but not balloning...again CFS could be helping this???
5) Bag Appeal - Great looking in the bag!!!
6) Distance - I had never owned the S56 iron due to many reviews I read that said this iron is not a distance iron of any sort and I think Golf Digest even wrote once "Players seeking distance will have to bring their own" but the distance I get with the S55 irons is very comparable (again loft, shaft length, etc...) to many GI irons I have owned AND I have not seen any hot spots what so ever in my 4 range sessions...so IMO that makes these excellent for distance control
7) Forgiveness - I find that my misses with the S55 irons are really not much worse than any of my misses with any other iron I have owned (comparable specs, loft, length of shaft, etc...) and the added titanium in the toe defintely helps misses (distance control) on the toe. This is my miss and I have been pleasently surprised by the distance the ball still goes for a Players iron profile like the S55 iron. And trust me I have hit a few way out there on the toe...OUCH!
Weakness:
1) Player's iron - Jman has referred to this a few times in his review in that you will need to focus on every swing to put your best swing on it (small head) but I like this as it makes me do just that "Focus on every swing"...so with this said I would think one would need to consider what they want out of their game...BUT dont get me wrong...I think anyone can play this iron as one may be a high handicapper because of their short game but are a solid ball striker???
2) Misses - Can sting your hands if you miss it (toe or hosel)...but this is something I want in an iron so that the next swing I need to step up and focus more (see #1 above)...again remember my goals for my game and you will have to make that decision for yourself...but if you hit it far enough out on the toe on any golf club IMO you will feel it...
In conclusion, I think PING has engineered as much forgiveness as you can into a "Players" iron...and they defintely have focused on the feel which is important to me and my game. I would seriously recommend the S55 irons for anyone between 0 - 15 handicap but again if ball striking is the strength of your game than I would not put it past any handicap playing this iron...it is that good...thanks again to "The Hackers Paradise" testers for exposing all of us to this great iron and thank you to PING for the S55 irons!!!