PLAYING WITH … PING I210 AND I500 IRONS

Cost: i210: $210 per iron (steel), $240 per iron (graphite); i500: $270 per iron (steel), $300 per iron (graphite). Tested by: Jimmy Emanuel, Golf Australia Writer (GA Handicap 9.4)

The latest irons on offer from Ping are built for precision and power.

MODELS PLAYED: Ping i210 (4-iron to pitching wedge), fitted with True Temper Dynamic Gold 120 S300 shafts and Ping i500 (4-iron to pitching wedge), with True Temper Dynamic Gold 105 S300 shafts. FIRST IMPRESSIONS: Both models had instant visual appeal in terms of the back of the iron and at address. When placed behind the ball the difference was negligible for mine as to which model I preferred, with the edge going perhaps slightly to the i500.

Once I had made my first swing with the i500 I knew I was dealing with a different sort of golf club. The feel was firm and extremely powerful; the ball coming off the face with an extremely penetrating low spin trajectory that still launched high enough and seemed to go forever.

Where the sensation of hitting the i500 was one of power, the i210 was extremely soft off the face, surprisingly so for a cast iron, and the ball flight was at a nice mid-trajectory and appeared to spin slightly more than the i500. HOW THEY PERFORMED: Throughout my testing it became more and more clear that despite possessing extremely similar profiles, the two models are built for two very different purposes and players.

The i500 is, put simply, long. In the short irons, I was consistently at least half a club longer than my own irons and the i210 even on average strikes, but once reaching 7-iron and above the i500 really extended the gap to easily a club if not more.

The ball flight with the i500 irons is extremely strong and can be moved around in both height and direction. The added power did increase my dispersion when compared to the i210, with the firmer feel off the face the only other slight issue I found during my testing. Both of which were easy to ignore when watching an iron shot easily carry a green that I had just hit with the equivalent iron from my own set, albeit without a score on the line.

As I often find with iron models built for distance, I was most impressed with the long irons from the i500 set. Whereas the short irons were a little lively, particularly when attempting a few bump and run shots, I regularly described shots hit with the long irons to my playing partners as “pounded” upon impact; the flight seemingly unaffected by the wind. And I continually found my ball significantly further down the fairway than I am accustomed to or deeper into greens.

The i210 irons, while not nearly as impressive in terms of pure power, were definitely my preferred model of Ping’s latest releases. The feel off the clubface continued to impress me as a combination that was soft yet solid, and the mixture of forgiveness and control was exactly what I would want from a better player’s cavity back iron.

The i210 spun more than the i500 into greens, and this added spin helped make it very workable through the air. A faded 7-iron hit to within a foot of the pin during one round of testing was the best iron shot I have hit in recent memory.

Although not built for distance like the i500, the i210 wasn’t short by any means and was slightly longer than my own irons and mis-hits were less affected in regards to distance on both heel and toe strikes.

Beyond the feel, the most impressive aspect of the i210 was how the sole interacted with the turf throughout the entire set. As someone who can get a little steep with my golf swing and take decent sized divots, I felt the i210 countered this as well as any iron I have tested in recent times. The sole felt as if it simply bruised the grass every time, which allowed me to swing with a great deal of confidence, even when faced with a less than perfect lie.

Overall, both models impressed me greatly for very different reasons – which made it easy to understand why the i210 irons have seen a significant take up on Tour and the i500 has

similarly seen some action with the world’s best players as a powerful long iron replacement.

The i210 was the pick for me thanks to its more traditional better player iron performance and outstanding feel. But the i500 did impress with its raw power and flight that was not just low bullets – making it a perfect option for those who like a blade iron appearance but don’t want to ever be hitting a longer iron into the green than their similarly skilled playing partners.