PING i Irons: THP Review Thread

[mesaman777]

I've been going through a long, confusing club selection process but this is what I settled on. My club pro is incredibly nice and has spent several hours with me over about four sessions just putting different clubs in my hands with every shaft you can think of. I'd been playing Modus 105s shafts for a few rounds and KBS Tour 90s for a while before that but they were both too light causing all sorts of tempo issues. I'd gone in to the fitting process just looking for new shafts but it didn't go that way. I settled in to the new i200s with Project X 6.0 shafts...literally the last I figured I'd end up with at the start. I couldn't believe how well I hit this set up. Went to my pro's office and was indecisive, mostly because of price. He then looked on his retailer insider website, texted his friend at Ping for a bit, and then suggested I go outside with a I Ie head he found and put on the PX. Hit it for a few minutes and loved it just as much. If there's a difference between this one and the new i200s beyond the cosmetics, I'm certainly not good enough to tell. I went back in and he told me he could hook me up with a fitted set for 5% above cost...ended up paying $640.00 for the 4-UW. I upgraded the grips so that will put me at about $700 when its all said and done but I have no complaints. I was looking at about $400 to reshaft so I'm good.

Great deal. I have been playing the ie1's for about a year now, and got very similar results with the i200's. So close that I wouldn't even consider upgrading. The iblades however are a different story:act-up: The ie1 is a pretty solid iron imo. I hope you enjoy them as much as I have.

 

[TonyBrown32]

Picked up a combo set of the iE1 for a good deal on Ebay last night. Can't wait for them to arrive.. Combo set of Ping G series 5i & 6i, and iE1 7i-W all with the Nippon Modus3 105s. Just happened to all be in my color code (red), and already weighted to D2 which saves me some led tape

I struggle with trajectory with the long irons 5i and up, so hoping this will be a very good combo. Been playing the G30s in the CFS for a few years, and have always gotten along great with them, but their chunky size has always bothered me slightly, mostly when playing super tight fairways or hardpan.. visually the G30 size is slightly offputting for me on those types of lies..

I was really lusting over the i200s. I think they are an outstanding looking iron... I did get a chance to hit both the i200 & iE1 in the Nippon, against my gamer G30 7i over the weekend at a 2nd Swing used golf shop... to be honest, not leaps and bounds differences between any of them, but here were my impressions of each:

G30 in CFS - Launching about 18*, peak hight around 28y. Occasionally nipped one well and got to the 30y peak hight, but not often.. more often than not hit a bit of a puller (seems to be my miss with these g30s since I had them, the amount of offset always bothered me a touch as well), and those pullers were low lefties.. but went a mile. Average distance 163-168 and seemed to have the most variation in distance between the three...

i200 in Nippon - so pretty.. felt really good, and I do sense the ball jumping off the face a little here. Mildly clicky sound compared to the other two but not offputting. Definatly was the firmest feeling iron of the three. Launching about 18-19*, peak height 28-29y, and distances about 162.. more consistency in distances than the g30, but a smidge shorter. Far fewer pull shots...

iE1 in Nippon - dang. I was shocked how nice this combo feels. It was actually the first iron I hit, and had to look at it again to see if I grabbed the wrong club. Felt soft but solid, love the load of the Nippon shaft. This intrestingly was the most consistently struck iron of the three. Launch was same or a little higher than the i200, had a few that hit 20-21* launch and got up to 30-31yd more times than the other two. This also suprised me, as I went with the g30s to gain some trajectory.. seeing these launch slightly higher on average was a big plus... the iE1 were not out when I purchased the G30.. and the g30 were not offered in the Nippon, so I was fitted for the right iron at the time.. love progress.

Being able to hit all three side by side was enlightening. Still surprised how nice my G30s feel in comparison to the other two. One of the softest feeling GI irons in my opinion. Also impressed to see that I can improve the trajectory I have in my G30 with either the iE1 or i200, which I didn't expect.

The differences between the i200 and iE1 I felt were pretty small, so decided to go with a used set of iE1s since they happened to show up in my speck and shafts on Ebay...

Anyone else with additional expriences with the i200 vs the iE1? I've read several opinions that have said the difference in playability has not been significant enough to notice.. but keep reading the marketing of the 30% thinner face for higher launch and more distance. I believe those improvements were made, but I think the loft changes in the i200 result in them playing very very similarly to the iE1. Now if I went with the power spec option in the i200 things may be different, but I again think I'd bring my trajectory down more than I'd like with those lofts.. and be where I am with my g30s.

Great thread... looking forward to seeing how the iE1s work on the course...