New Ping i500 Irons, Lost Distance

[DSGolfer23]

I was recently fitted for a new set of Ping i500 irons. I was playing an older set of Mizuno JPX 800 pros. After a few hours on the range, it didn’t look like the new irons were going longer. The lofts on the i500 are about 2 degrees less than my mizuno (long to mid iron, pw and gw are the same)

My 7-iron is about a 170 yard club, but I seem to be about 5-10 yards shorter with the new irons. During the fitting, I went thru about 4 different shafts before I got something that gave me good numbers in the Trackman.

Does anyone have any experience in this area? I know the i500 has been promoted as being longer, so I wasn’t expecting less distance. 

[MrGolfguy67]

Could be related to launch angle, 2 degrees less loft is significant.

[DSGolfer23]

My launch angle was about 16 with the i500, which was in the optimal range with the Trackman (15-18ish).  Most of my data points were in the optimal zone, with the exception of my spin rate which was a little low (but not terrible).

It did feel like the ball was launching higher (which I was told is something the i500s would do), it just felt like it was dropping fast, if that makes sense. I’m a mid-trajectory player.

[billchao]

21 minutes ago, DSGolfer23 said:

My launch angle was about 16 with the i500, which was in the optimal range with the Trackman (15-18ish).  Most of my data points were in the optimal zone, with the exception of my spin rate which was a little low (but not terrible).

It did feel like the ball was launching higher (which I was told is something the i500s would do), it just felt like it was dropping fast, if that makes sense. I’m a mid-trajectory player.

Sounds like you're not getting enough spin to keep the ball in the air.

Could be a shaft issue. What do you play now and what did you end up with in the i500?

Actually it could be a ball speed issue. I assumed you had good speed because you said your 7i was your 170 club, but you also mentioned you're a mid-trajectory player which has me thinking you don't hit the ball high enough to get the most distance out of low spinning clubs.

[Vinsk]

16 minutes ago, DSGolfer23 said:

My launch angle was about 16 with the i500, which was in the optimal range with the Trackman (15-18ish).  Most of my data points were in the optimal zone, with the exception of my spin rate which was a little low (but not terrible).

It did feel like the ball was launching higher (which I was told is something the i500s would do), it just felt like it was dropping fast, if that makes sense. I’m a mid-trajectory player.

First, what’s your handicap? I just got my new set of i500’s about 3 weeks ago. It was quite a change in specs from my fitting (gladly I’ve ‘changed the picture’). I went from i200’s to these. I struggled early on but now I’m loving them and getting about 10yds more in distance through the set. I got standard lofts. 

[iacas]

16° with what club, @DSGolfer23?

[DSGolfer23]

4 minutes ago, iacas said:

16° with what club, @DSGolfer23?

7-iron, it’s 30.5 degrees loft.

10 minutes ago, Vinsk said:

First, what’s your handicap? I just got my new set of i500’s about 3 weeks ago. It was quite a change in specs from my fitting (gladly I’ve ‘changed the picture’). I went from i200’s to these. I struggled early on but now I’m loving them and getting about 10yds more in distance through the set. I got standard lofts. 

I’m about a 7-10 handicap. My irons are usually pretty consistent in the distance department. 

[iacas]

3 minutes ago, DSGolfer23 said:

7-iron, it’s 30.5 degrees loft.

That's PGA Tour level launch angles, which would be a little surprising with i500s.

[DSGolfer23]

14 minutes ago, billchao said:

Sounds like you're not getting enough spin to keep the ball in the air.

Could be a shaft issue. What do you play now and what did you end up with in the i500?

Actually it could be a ball speed issue. I assumed you had good speed because you said your 7i was your 170 club, but you also mentioned you're a mid-trajectory player which has me thinking you don't hit the ball high enough to get the most distance out of low spinning clubs.

Mizuno, has True Temper Dynalite S300. Ping, has the AWT 2.0 Stiff. Both were cut down half an inch, the 2.0 shafts are about 12 grams lighter.

I hit a bunch of different shafts and the AWT gave me the best numbers.

My ball speed is about 120 with the 7-iron. 

15 minutes ago, iacas said:

That's PGA Tour level launch angles, which would be a little surprising with i500s.

My old clubs, I was about 16.8 launch angle with a 7-iron at 33 degrees club loft. 

[billchao]

5 minutes ago, DSGolfer23 said:

Mizuno, has True Temper Dynalite S300. Ping, has the AWT 2.0 Stiff. Both were cut down half an inch, the 2.0 shafts are about 12 grams lighter.

I hit a bunch of different shafts and the AWT gave me the best numbers.

My ball speed is about 120 with the 7-iron. 

Doesn't make sense to me. If it's a shaft issue, your launch angle will also be affected. If you're hitting the i500 7i at 16° and 120 mph ball speed, you should be hitting at least as far as your Mizunos. Unless the spin is excessively low, the lower spin with those numbers should increase distance.

[DSGolfer23]

3 minutes ago, billchao said:

Doesn't make sense to me. If it's a shaft issue, your launch angle will also be affected. If you're hitting the i500 7i at 16° and 120 mph ball speed, you should be hitting at least as far as your Mizunos. Unless the spin is excessively low, the lower spin with those numbers should increase distance.

My ball speed and spin rate were very similar between the irons. My Mizunos were about 200 rpms higher, on average, which I wouldn’t consider excessively low. 

[LL24]

Have you checked the centerness of hits with the new clubs? With new clubs it might take some time to adjust into. If the strikes are good then have someone check the lofts of the new clubs and the Mizunos.

[Typhoon92]

We're u able to compare your Mizunos and the I500 irons side by side using the same type of ball?  

[klineka]

On 9/11/2018 at 10:03 PM, DSGolfer23 said:

It did feel like the ball was launching higher (which I was told is something the i500s would do), it just felt like it was dropping fast, if that makes sense. I’m a mid-trajectory player.

If you were hitting real golf balls in your fitting and reduced/limited flight driving range balls on the range, that would make the difference right there.

[Typhoon92]

So today it was raining so I was hanging out at Golfers Warehouse.  Grabbed an i500 6 iron and the Srixon range balls they have in the tray and was hitting it just as far as my own Ping ie1 6 iron.  Ball speed was around 121,spin was 3500 and  launch angle of 18.5....this was using the i500/ dg105 shaft.  Not impressed. 180 yard carry.

Happened to find 2 pro v 1 in the tray.  Hit those and the carry was 204.   Ball speed 127, launch angle came down to 16ish.  Spin rate was 5600.

This all on the GC2 with Ping nflight.

Why do places trying to sell clubs use crap balls with a launch monitor.  Now my interest in these has peaked.

[Carl3]

12 hours ago, Typhoon92 said:

Ping ie1

That is what I play. I was fitted for them in Jan 2016 and about a moth later they came out with the i200 I believe. Before that they had the i25, so obviously I was confused and perhaps disappointed as it seemed that the had a hiccup in the numbering/design philosophy or something. Do you know the story on these clubs? I had played the G5's before that and loved them. They had some badges pop off and I felt like I needed new clubs to take my game to a new level.

I feel like I am playing experimental clubs and that maybe Ping changed their mind on technology and went a different way or something.

[Typhoon92]

11 hours ago, Carl3 said:

That is what I play. I was fitted for them in Jan 2016 and about a moth later they came out with the i200 I believe. Before that they had the i25, so obviously I was confused and perhaps disappointed as it seemed that the had a hiccup in the numbering/design philosophy or something. Do you know the story on these clubs? I had played the G5's before that and loved them. They had some badges pop off and I felt like I needed new clubs to take my game to a new level.

I feel like I am playing experimental clubs and that maybe Ping changed their mind on technology and went a different way or something.

Yeah, the name thing  is friggin weird but God knows what they are doing...they went from g30 to g400...Wtf is that all about?

Name aside they are nice heads..they used 431 stainless steel for the first time in the "I" series and have continued with the I200 and 210...(God knows why it's not I300).  Anything before that like the I25 was 17-4 just like the g series and every other iron dating back into the 1970's when I got my Karsten1 irons.

The ie1 irons feel soft, lofts are fine, I hit them the distance I expected to hit them.  Nothing special.  I didn't like the color of the face being darker than the toe and heel but a scotchbrite fixed that...actually being 431 stainless I used a scotxhbrite to buff them up and they look Satiny and like new...a good thing.

I have the modus 105 stiff in them.  Love the shaft but I think it's a bit too light for me and does launch high.  The Mizuno optimzer a while back spit out the project x 6.0 for me and whenever I hit that shaft it's good.. might be a better fit.

I'm tossing a few ideas in my head for next year.  I also have a set of i25 irons, might sell both sets and look into the I500 power spec with Project x.

[Foot Wedge]

I got a chance to hit a few balls with an i500 7 iron during lunch today and it was interesting.  I was either getting my typical carry (~155) with higher spin (6000-6200 rpm) or WAY longer (170-175) with stupid low spin, as in 3700-3800 rpm low.  Both with about 20* launch angles.  It was hard to tell much more though since I hit into a net without the flight simulator (that's only available for fittings), just the carry, launch, direction, and spin numbers.  My miss is high and right so I don't know if those were the shorter ones, but the the direction angles were close to 0 and the "sidespin" numbers were pretty low (200-400) although I am not versed enough in ballflight numbers to know exactly what kind of curvature that means.

On 9/29/2018 at 8:03 PM, Typhoon92 said:

The ie1 irons feel soft

What do you think of the feel compared to the ie1?  I wouldn't really describe the i500 as soft to be honest.