Ping Unveils i59 Irons, Creates More Speculation

New offering is bolstered by aerospace-grade aluminum insert that creates level of forgiveness not often found in forged blade.

Ever since photos surfaced in May of new irons in the bag of Viktor Hovland and a couple of other Ping staffers on the PGA and European tours, the release of the company’s i59 iron model has been anticipated by Ping enthusiasts and curious golf equipment watchers.

Ping’s announcement on Tuesday that the i59 is now available for custom fittings leads to speculation as to whether it will replace the iBlade, which has been on the market for five years, or even the Blueprint, Ping’s forged blade model being played by Tony Finau, who just won the Northern Trust in the PGA Tour’s FedEx Cup playoffs.

The i59 is a forged blade, as well, but is set apart by its construction, with an insert that the company calls AlumiCore technology. It is an aerospace-grade aluminum insert, which is lighter than steel and saves about 30 grams of weight from the center of the club that has been distributed to the perimeter of the clubhead, using weights in the toe and the tip of the shaft.

Ping

The redistribution of weight creates a moment of inertia (MOI) comparable to the i210, which is played by a number of PGA Tour, European Tour and LPGA Tour players. The result is a level of forgiveness in the i59 not normally found in a forged blade, while maintaining a lower launch than i210 and tighter dispersion that better players seek.

The clubface is precision machined, so that the company’s MicroMax grooves are tighter spaced and there’s average four extra grooves per club to help prevent fliers in the short irons and maintain higher spin in the long irons.

Hovland won the BMW International in June on the European Tour with a partial set of i59s and Johannes Veerman won the D (plus sign) D Czech Masters last week with a full set i59s in his bag.

The i59 is available 3-9, PW in 10 color codes (lie angle). Black color code is standard.

PING i59 IRON SPECS

STOCK SHAFTS: Project X LS (6.0, 6.5) & UST Recoil 760 ES (A), 780 (R, S)

OPTIONAL STOCK SHAFTS: Ping AWT 2.0 (R, S, X), Dynamic Gold (S300, X100), Dynamic Gold 105 (R300, S300), Dynamic Gold 120 (S300, X100), KBS Tour (R, S, X), NS Pro Modus 105 (R, S, X), Elevate 95 (R, S), Ping Alta CB Slate (SR, R, S)

STOCK GRIP: Arccos Golf Pride New Decade MCC White

U.S. MSRP: $275 per club with stock steel shaft; $290 per club with stock graphite shaft