PING s55 Iron - Review Thread

Jman,
Great initial thoughts and excellent camera work. As a Ping homer I'm both jealous and excited with the s55 iron review and will be following along, drool cup in hand.

After looking at your pictures I realize they are even better looking than I thought and it appears they should be forgiving.

Question:
What are your thoughts on the CFS shafts? I've never played them and I'm curious what they compare to.
 
James way to kick this thread off! Man those look great and your writeup is fantastic buddy.
 
Great start jman. Very sharp looking clubs. Looking forward to hearing more about the feel of these irons.
 
Those might be some of the best looking Ping irons they've made. Great start to it all James.
 
Great pics, Jman. Curious to see these compared with DPCs and the new Apexes. I'll be paying close attention to this thread.

And SpeedBladez.

Really great start, Jman.
 
That may be the best kick off to a review I have ever seen. The pictures are phenomenal. Well done James.
 
Nice intro to your review thread!

The 55's are really pretty. I've been gaming 57's since they hit the market, and have loved them all along.

I'm looking forward to your insights on these.


All you need in this life is ignorance and confidence; then success is sure - Mark Twain
 
PING s55 Iron - Review Thread

Looking forward to your on course review.
 
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Guys, please please please don't turn this into a waiting for ship or when arrivals will happen thing. For the sake of THP and for PING as well.

Thanks for all the kind comments everyone, as to those who have posed questions, as soon as I get home I'll write a formal reply to you all!!
 
Question for / request of the testers:

We often correlate forged irons to feel. Many say sound is feel - and it is - but I think the concept of softness is also feel. From what I've read Ping is achieving softness via the thermoplastic elastomer custom tuning port (CTP) which acts as a dampening agent. I'm really interested in having you guys explore this notion of softness with an eye toward Ping's technique vs softness from clubs being forged. What is the advantage of this approach? Why not produce a forged club? Why not this approach in a forged club? Thanks.
 
Holy smokes! Those look great! It might only take a few review posts before I order-up a 7-PW to go with my G25 long irons.
 
I bet Ping is ecstatic about the start of this thread. Sharp and professional look with excellent pics. Might be the best start to a club review thread. Helluva job Jman.

Looking forward to all the testers thoughts. I think we're all curious to know if a mid-handicapper can game these bad boys.
 
Great start to this thread; have to be the best looking offering from Ping I've seen. Will be following along to see how they work out on the course but an eye catcher for sure!
 
Great write up Jman you knocked this one out of the park.

#sojelly
 
Those irons scare me just looking at them. Such a thin sole, and a tiny top line. Can't wait to hear how they work for you. Biggest question for me is how forgiving, and whether you would recommend them for mid-cappers or if they are too player-y as Blu suggested?

I hit em a bunch at a store, and I personally think they could be gamed up to a 12-15hcp. I really thought they were forgiving, impressed me a ton.
 
Damn James.

Beautiful clubs and PHENOMENAL photos. So damn well done showing them from all the angles.

Such a great looking club. You have had a nice variety of irons in play recently, looking forward to the thoughts buddy.
 
Every time I look at these they just get even prettier. Can't wait to hear if they have the performance to back it up!

Sent from my SPH-D710 using Tapatalk
 
looking forward to this. These are priced pretty high for a non forged club. Interested to hear about the forgiveness and performance. They look slick but have a daunting task of grabbing the forged lovers attention with similar priced models to be had, like the 714 series. Undoubtedly ping made a good club, but is it that good?
 
Wow Jman that was a nice write-up. These look better than I expected. Can't wait to hear even more.
 
Jman that was a most professional start to a review thread, Ping would be so happy, might even offer you a job haha. Be interesting how they go on the course and what the other testers think. Those clubs look super sexy. Thank you.
 
Fun with cameras in the morning:

DSC_0785-L.jpg


DSC_0784-L.jpg


To say the least, they look good in the bag too! Hahaha

Should be getting out for a round tomorrow with the Doc, so, these will be thrown immediately into the fire!
 
Those irons are so pretty I expect them to make a duckface when pictures are taken of them.
 
LINKS TO PREVIOUS UPDATES:

As is standard practice for me in a forum review, I will place links to prior posts/reviews within this thread on these irons here, once the list becomes too long it will be placed into spoiler tags.


  • Initial Unboxing/Info: CLICK HERE
  • First Range Time: CLICK HERE

A LITTLE 'GETTING TO KNOW YOU' TIME

So, I've got SO much to do its crazy, but, when the Doc fell asleep for a nap I seized an opportunity to run down and hit a bucket of balls at the range we have here in town just for the sake of me wanting a little initial feedback as well as staring and drooling at them far too much. Let me preface this by saying I literally only hit about 30 balls and this was a ratty little driving range I generally avoid like the plague as the balls are all Rock-Flites from the 90's. BUT, I wanted to see something, to feel something, to get my brain going a little bit until I can get out on course tomorrow after work.

So, remember, very base-line thoughts here. More depth coming when I finally get to put them through their paces, anyone who knows me knows there WILL be depth. :alien:

So, as I mentioned, I only hit about 30 balls, but I did hit at least 2 shots with every club. To start off I went with my normal routine of grabbing the 8i and then worked around through the set.

AT ADDRESS:

These look fantastic at address. Its been a long time since I've had an iron like this and I forgot just how much I enjoyed looking at a profile like the s55's have when I'm standing over the ball. Thin topline, more narrow sole, progressive offset, all things that for some amateurs may register as daunting but for me its always made me focus much more on my swing and knowing that irons of this "type" would demand more out of me than some sets. These make you want to compress the golf ball when you stand over them, they fit the eye really well and with the classic PING brushed finish glare isn't a concern like some of the polished chrome setups out there.

AT IMPACT:


I was hitting craaaaaaaaaappy golf balls but at impact I was impressed with the sound/feel that the s55's put off. PING has consistently managed to put out iron sets that always get the moniker of being the "softest cast club". I hate the forged vs cast debate, HATE it, the fact is in a blind test amateurs can't tell, its all about the sound and that is where PING has consistently nailed it in recent years with their use of stabilizing bars and the CTP (custom tuning port). The s55's are no different, you get a very pleasant sound at impact upon compressing the ball, its not clicky or harsh, but its also not completely deadened. Off of the toe or heel you get the sound feedback (among other things) to tell you that you missed, but in the middle of the club face its very nice. Really looking forward to hitting non range balls with them ASAP.

Turf interaction wasn't something I paid a lot of attention to today with where I was hitting golf balls but I took some really clean divots mixed with some larger ones that were a lot user error in getting used to the irons I think. definitely an area that I will be focusing on a lot though as it is a crucial part to players irons.

BALL-FLIGHT/SHAFT:


So, PING touted "higher launching" and I think I just took it as something that always gets brought up. Well, these definitely have a really nice launch to them. When combined with the CFS's (which are widely regarded as a really really nice mid-high launching shaft with great feel to them) and I was getting a flight I was really pleased with and a bit surprised about. Even with the 3/4i (which I ONLY hit off a tee today) the flight was higher than I had visualized in my head. Again though, I want to hit "real" golf balls on a course to see what holds true here and what doesn't.

DISTANCE:


Not much to say here. The range balls are ANCIENT at this crappy little range so I didn't laser any of my targets. Tomorrow will be the test here, I fully expect for these to have my 8i being my 155 club once again (recent sets its been 165) which is not a big deal at all, I could be way off base there but as these aren't GI/SGI irons I assume (yes, I know what happens when we assume) that I will come back in distances a bit, but, with the launch I was seeing with range balls it could be interesting to see.

PARTING THOUGHTS:


Like I said, just wanted to get a taste of the generalities about them, hence why I didn't get into a club by club breakdown, that wouldn't be fair to anyone yet. Really eager to get after it in this one and more eager for my fellow testers to get theirs in hand and to join in. That's the BEAUTY of THP forum testing, so much info and feedback through multiple perspectives.

Tomorrow I will be on course with the 3-PW, and I'm eager. I'll also add that I've re-shafted my i20's with CFS shafts at the same playing length as these for the purpose of getting some comparisons of the s55's to not only another PING setup that more GI, but also that happens to be one of my favorite sets of all time.

If you have Q's, feel free to throw them up, discussion and feedback is how we all learn about a product!
 
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