Q&A with PING Senior Design Engineer Marty Jertson!

[mvmac]

Senior design engineer for PING Marty Jertson has offered to answer questions submitted by you guys, The Sand Trap community. Erik and I will pick 10-20 questions from this thread for Marty to answer.  His answers will be put together in a Q&A; Sand Trap article.  So if there was anything you wanted to know about PING golf clubs, what it's like to play in a major, how clubs are designed, tested, tour equipment, technical aspects of golf science, etc, THEN POST YOUR QUESTION IN THIS THREAD!

BTW Marty can play, he's a PGA professional and has qualified for the 2011 and ’12 PGA Championships and was clutch at the 25th PGA Cup in 2011, going 4-0 as the U.S. team defeated Great Britain & Ireland, 17½-8½.

[Mordan]

I'd like to Marty that if he was going to receive a new set of irons, but could only choose one of the clubhead or shaft himself with the other to be a random (current model) component which way would he go and why?

[Stretch]

Marty, as a golf club engineer, where do you go from here? The ruling bodies have pretty much legislated future technological advances out of the game and just about everybody is already making equipment that's right up against the limits. How is the industry going to be able to offer golfers something tomorrow (or, say, two years from now) that's convincingly better than what you're putting in their hands today?

[inthecup]

Ping is very hesitant to add adjustable hosels.  They mention the weight it adds to the club in the wrong places.

Their new adjustable hosel only adjusts 1/2 a degree I believe. The engineering department won out over the marketing department for sure.  How significant is adding weight to the hosel as far as club performance, what are the potential negative effects?

[MS256]

Originally Posted by inthecup

Ping is very hesitant to add adjustable hosels.  They mention the weight it adds to the club in the wrong places.

Their new adjustable hosel only adjusts 1/2 a degree I believe. The engineering department won out over the marketing department for sure.  How significant is adding weight to the hosel as far as club performance, what are the potential negative effects?

If an engineer comes up with a good way to have the shaft spined/pured in an adjustable hosel I'll think they are getting somewhere. Until then I'll continue to think that adjustable hosels are a marketing joke, including the one that I have. (Yep. I fell for it too).

My R9 is fairly useless except on one setting (where the spine probably happens to be right, or at least close). Any other setting and the shaft feels like wrestling with a snake.

[Mr. Desmond]

I noticed Ping kept its 3 wood length at 43 inches, but shaft length crept up on all other fairways. A 42 inch 7 wood - seriously?

I know this may be a case of "We need to keep up with TaylorMade" trend, but would not the typical golfer purchasing a G25 (forgiving) fairway perform consistently better with a shorter (forgiving) shaft length?

Or why not make a second set of fairways with heavier heads and 41 inch 7 woods, 42 inch 5 woods, etc with 55-65g shafts that older and/or mid cappers can hit with consistency?

Instead, to remain with a lighter shaft, some of who can afford it or have knowledge, must take that club to a custom clubmaker, have him put a little hot melt in the head, and/or put a slightly heavier shaft with a softer butt and tip, and shorten the shaft length to get a balanced, consistent club?

It is a PITA.

[JaxGolfer1]

Does PING take satisfaction in knowing that the "new" golf technology of custom fitting is something PING brought to the market YEARS ago?

[jamo]

This is slightly more personal, less related to the things he does at PING, but some people might be interested in how, as an engineer, he got his start in the golf club design business?

[ay33660]

Originally Posted by Mr. Desmond

I noticed Ping kept its 3 wood length at 43 inches, but shaft length crept up on all other fairways. A 42 inch 7 wood - seriously?

I know this may be a case of "We need to keep up with TaylorMade" trend, but would not the typical golfer purchasing a G25 (forgiving) fairway perform consistently better with a shorter (forgiving) shaft length?

Or why not make a second set of fairways with heavier heads and 41 inch 7 woods, 42 inch 5 woods, etc with 55-65g shafts that older and/or mid cappers can hit with consistency?

Instead, to remain with a lighter shaft, some of who can afford it or have knowledge, must take that club to a custom clubmaker, have him put a little hot melt in the head, and/or put a slightly heavier shaft with a softer butt and tip, and shorten the shaft length to get a balanced, consistent club?

It is a PITA.

I have purchased two sets of woods (3, 5 and driver) from TaylorMade (R9 and RBZ) and this year I am going to move away from TM and I am set to purchase the 3 and 5 woods G25. I have demo'd the G25 Driver and I don't like it so far.

[Mr. Desmond]

Originally Posted by ay33660

I have purchased two sets of woods (3, 5 and driver) from TaylorMade (R9 and RBZ) and this year I am going to move away from TM and I am set to purchase the 3 and 5 woods G25. I have demo'd the G25 Driver and I don't like it so far.

I don't want to go off topic (as we are directing questions to our Ping engineer), but it's not about TM as much as the entire industry so concerned with marketing distance, that they make it more difficult to attain a consistently fine golf shot because of this factor - longer length shafts.

[walk18]

I've had my G15 driver for a few years now and I absolutely love it!

[mvmac]

Originally Posted by jamo

This is slightly more personal, less related to the things he does at PING, but some people might be interested in how, as an engineer, he got his start in the golf club design business?

Yep, great question

[KrazyTrain18]

I would ask if Ping ever has plans to release true blades ? I'm sure they would be hot on tour and amongst those amateurs in those market segments.

[clearwaterms]

I don't know what the question is here, but I would love to hear more about Pings disabled golfer customization program. I have heard stories about Pings sponsorship of the wounded warrior project and how it is using golf to help disabled people (veterans and otherwise) to find golf and use the game as a rehabilitation. Again, I don't know what the question is, but I would love to hear about some of the engineering that ping has done and obstacles they have to consider regarding that as well as the efforts that ping is doing to help people learn/relearn the game.

[caddie4u]

I am curious if Ping will try to enter the Golf Ball market? Ping is the only MAJOR company without a ball.

[newtogolf]

Ping, seems to be losing the marketing battle to TM especially with younger players (demographic for Ping gamer is 46 years old).  Where does Ping see the market going and how will it evolve as a company to attract younger players?

[JaxGolfer1]

PING manufactured and sold golf balls from 1976 to 1997.

[sportsnut]

I have a specific qregarding Pings I20 irons, the set appears to me to be user friendly to a broad spectrum of players with more forgiving long irons and more conventionally designed short irons. Am I correct in believing that these clubs suitable for players in the low to mid teen handicap range? I hope to give them a try this month. Thank you.