Ping loves to roll out fresh products in the heat of a Sonoran summer. The Phoenix, Arizona-based company heats up the 2018 golf equipment landscape with new Ping products including i500 and i210 irons, Glide forged wedges and ProdiG junior clubs.
Ping i500 & i210 Irons
The sleek-shaped i500 iron employs much of the same technology as the popular G700 iron in a smaller, more compact, muscle-back appearance. Its forged, C300 maraging-steel face is precision milled and combined with a 17-4 stainless steel body to create metal-wood-like performance, generating significant ball-speed increases and lower-spinning, higher-flying shots with stopping power.
In the compact i210 iron, PING’s engineers put a premium on the feel and precision by leveraging a patented multi-material construction that combines a 431 stainless steel head with a larger and softer elastomer insert. The additional volume of the custom tuning port, which also increases perimeter weighting and provides swingweight fine tuning, allows for a 30 percent larger insert and creates 25 percent more face contact, resulting in activation of the elastomer to produce a soft and pleasing feel. They also took great care in refining the shape and look to ensure the iron appealed to the discerning golfer’s eye.
The i210 iron’s face and grooves are precision milled as is the cavity, giving it a high-end appearance. Tighter groove spacing in the pitching wedge and U-wedge provides greater precision and helps prevent fliers on shots where control matters most. A new hydropearl chrome 2.0 finish repels water to greatly improve consistency from the rough and wet conditions.
Both iron sets are available for pre-order at www.ping.com The i500 is $175 per iron (steel shaft), $190 per iron (graphite). The i210 is $137.50/$152.50 per iron.
Ping Glide Forged Wedges
Forged from 8620 carbon steel with sizing and shaping influenced by PING tour professionals and advisors, the Glide Forged wedge is the company’s newest wedge engineered and crafted for golfers wanting to improve their shot-making by employing a sleek, high-spinning blade-style design with a soft, pleasing feel.
As part of the introduction, PING also announced a new website where golfers can create one-of-a-kind Glide Forged wedges customized to their personal preferences at ping.com/glideforgedcustom.
Working closely with PING professionals and company advisors, including Louis Oosthuizen, Stan Utley and Todd Anderson, PING’s engineers designed the Glide Forged wedge to provide the feel and versatility required to play an array of approach and finesse shots around the green. A sole design with a rounded lead edge and more heel-toe camber allows for greater shot-making and creativity around the green. The gooseneck-tapered hosel ensures a smooth transition through grass and sand while providing a captured look at address.
Patented, precision-milled, wheel-cut grooves, first introduced in the Glide 2.0 wedges and developed by PING’s engineering and manufacturing teams, enable grooves with a sharper edge radius, which increases interaction with the ball at impact, creating more friction for improved spin and trajectory control.
$217.50 per wedge (steel shaft); $232.50 per wedge (graphite).
Ping Prodi G Junior Clubs
Engineered with the score-lowering technologies of its adult line and inspired by its commitment to introduce more juniors to the game, the new custom-fit, custom-built Prodi G Series are Ping’s highest-performing junior clubs to date.
The custom-engineered set is comprised of 11 clubs: a 15-degree titanium driver, 22-degree fairway wood, 27-degree hybrid, perimeter-weighted irons (6-9, PW), two specialty wedges (52-degree & 56-degree) and a blade-style putter. The lightweight clubs can be ordered in any combination and all are custom built at Ping’s Phoenix headquarters. Two sizes (34-inch, 3.5 lbs. and 30-inch, 3 lbs.) of the Hoofer Prodi G carry bags can be purchased separately.
The proven technologies applied to the new line include turbulators on the driver for increased clubhead speed, and irons with a custom tuning port to allow for precise swing weighting during the custom-building process. Two lightweight graphite shaft flexes are optimized for weight and balance to match junior swing speeds.
In developing the new products, Ping’s Fitting Science team created a junior fitting chart (a variation of the company’s iconic color code chart developed nearly 50 years ago) that takes into account a junior’s height and wrist-to-floor measurement to determine the appropriate lie angle and club length.
As part of the launch of the new clubs, the company also announced the Prodi G “Get Golf Growing” program, an industry-first junior golf equipment initiative that offers custom-fit and custom-built junior clubs that include a one-time, no-cost adjustment to sets of five clubs or more. The program helps address an all-too-common occurrence that results in a lot of junior golfers playing clubs not suited to their games.
Per-club prices range from $90 (irons and wedges) to $240 (driver). Bags retail for $135.
