HomerJSimpson
Hall of Famer
Having tried the Mizuno and had a fantastic lunch I tried some Pings. Now despite what the forum thinks about these being old men clubs the G15 and I15's I tried (I have already tried the S56 and I'm not consistant enough) should not be dismissed to quickly
Both sets were fitted with the Ping AWT in regular flex and I tried the black dot standard lie.
The G15 is a traditional looking club in the Ping style. A little ugly and chunky behind the ball especially compared to the Mizuno (including the JPX range) but again not dissimilar to the Burner or Callaway X series.
The thing with the G15 is that it is so easy to hit and if you do miss the sweetspot you aren't punished and you still get good flight and distance. The good ones thoug feel great off the face and to be honest at my level the sweet ones felt every bit as good as the ones off the forged Mizuno's. The problem I had was the ball flight. Again it gave a rainbow like trajectory and there was little or no run after landing. This meant that distance wise I was about 5-7 yards per club down on my TP's despite the loft of the G15 being relatively strong (29 degree for a 6 and 45 for the PW). Being a short arse hitter anyway that wasn't good news. However even the long irons were easy to hit and again will appeal predominantly to anyone from high handicappers down to mid teens. I could see the better player struggling with the flight especially on exposed courses.
I15
The I15 seems to have enjoyed a bit of a cult status on the GM forum and having had the chance to hit one at my own pace and in a more suitable shaft (compared to the Ping demo I was on) I can see why. It slots beautifully into the niche between the forgiving G15 and the better players club the S56. Despite being a degree higher (30 degree in the 6 and 46 in the PW) the ball flight is much more penertrating and much more aligned to the flight I get with my TP's. I tried the 7 iron and took an MP53 back out for comparison and I thought in terms of dispersion, distance and flight the I15 was well ahead.
I think this is a much more user friendly club than perhaps the target audience (I'm guessing 14 and down) it was inteneded for. Of all the irons I tried it ticked most of the boxes and even the 4 iron was pretty easy to hit and I could stand over it confident that even a miscue would still try and do a reasonable job for me.
I15 Driver - 11 degree UST Mamiya AXIVcore 69 regular flex
I'd tried the I15 driver in a 9.5 stiff at the Ping demo day and had surprisingly found it very good in terms of distance and dispersion but had gone away with a nagging dobut about the loft. I tried the 11 degree and whilst I found the club pretty easy to swing, the sweetspot is smaller than my TM Tour Burner and certainly more so than a G and K15 and so off-centre shots didn't fly with any authority. As driving isn't my forte it wasn't the model for me
S56 Wedge - 52 degree 12 degree bounce
A really classy wedge to accompany the S56 irons and it looks good, really good behind the ball. However it does have a heavy feel to it, a bit like the Cally X series and for that reason I didn't like it. I didn't get on with it at the demo off grass and even on a forgiving mat it didn't speak to me. The good shots were fine with good flight and plenty of spin but I struggled to control distance and contact.
So the conclusion. After much consideration, the ones that really suited me best on standard set ups were the I15. However there was little to choose between those and the 800Pro and so were I in the market for new clubs I'd probably have to go away to a C/F centre somewhere and get the full facts and figures fromt he monitor and see what the experts said.
Both sets were fitted with the Ping AWT in regular flex and I tried the black dot standard lie.
The G15 is a traditional looking club in the Ping style. A little ugly and chunky behind the ball especially compared to the Mizuno (including the JPX range) but again not dissimilar to the Burner or Callaway X series.
The thing with the G15 is that it is so easy to hit and if you do miss the sweetspot you aren't punished and you still get good flight and distance. The good ones thoug feel great off the face and to be honest at my level the sweet ones felt every bit as good as the ones off the forged Mizuno's. The problem I had was the ball flight. Again it gave a rainbow like trajectory and there was little or no run after landing. This meant that distance wise I was about 5-7 yards per club down on my TP's despite the loft of the G15 being relatively strong (29 degree for a 6 and 45 for the PW). Being a short arse hitter anyway that wasn't good news. However even the long irons were easy to hit and again will appeal predominantly to anyone from high handicappers down to mid teens. I could see the better player struggling with the flight especially on exposed courses.
I15
The I15 seems to have enjoyed a bit of a cult status on the GM forum and having had the chance to hit one at my own pace and in a more suitable shaft (compared to the Ping demo I was on) I can see why. It slots beautifully into the niche between the forgiving G15 and the better players club the S56. Despite being a degree higher (30 degree in the 6 and 46 in the PW) the ball flight is much more penertrating and much more aligned to the flight I get with my TP's. I tried the 7 iron and took an MP53 back out for comparison and I thought in terms of dispersion, distance and flight the I15 was well ahead.
I think this is a much more user friendly club than perhaps the target audience (I'm guessing 14 and down) it was inteneded for. Of all the irons I tried it ticked most of the boxes and even the 4 iron was pretty easy to hit and I could stand over it confident that even a miscue would still try and do a reasonable job for me.
I15 Driver - 11 degree UST Mamiya AXIVcore 69 regular flex
I'd tried the I15 driver in a 9.5 stiff at the Ping demo day and had surprisingly found it very good in terms of distance and dispersion but had gone away with a nagging dobut about the loft. I tried the 11 degree and whilst I found the club pretty easy to swing, the sweetspot is smaller than my TM Tour Burner and certainly more so than a G and K15 and so off-centre shots didn't fly with any authority. As driving isn't my forte it wasn't the model for me
S56 Wedge - 52 degree 12 degree bounce
A really classy wedge to accompany the S56 irons and it looks good, really good behind the ball. However it does have a heavy feel to it, a bit like the Cally X series and for that reason I didn't like it. I didn't get on with it at the demo off grass and even on a forgiving mat it didn't speak to me. The good shots were fine with good flight and plenty of spin but I struggled to control distance and contact.
So the conclusion. After much consideration, the ones that really suited me best on standard set ups were the I15. However there was little to choose between those and the 800Pro and so were I in the market for new clubs I'd probably have to go away to a C/F centre somewhere and get the full facts and figures fromt he monitor and see what the experts said.
