213 replies to this topic

[The Gachet]

DRIVER: Ping Rapture V2 (10.5°) with Ping prototype 824x shaft
FAIRWAY METAL: Ping G10 (17° bent to 15°) with Fujikura TW84x shaft
HYBRID: Ping Rapture V2 (17°) with Aldila VS Proto Hybrid 80x shaft
IRONS: 3-PW Ping S57 with True Temper Dynamic Gold X100 shafts
SAND WEDGE: Titleist Vokey Design Spin Milled (54°)
LOB WEDGE: Ping Eye 2 (59°)
PUTTER: Ping D66
BALL: Titleist Pro V1x

Edited by The Gachet, 30 September 2009 - 02:15 AM.

[matthewmttn]

Ping S57 not S58

[DBWWBD]

only 13 clubs?

[Lefty Cat]

Its gotta be 3-pw.

[ETERNAL06]

DBWWBD, on Sep 22 2009, 10:08 AM, said:

only 13 clubs?

14 WITH PUTTER!

[bucky316]

Question for the experts:

Why would Mahan adjust his 4-wood to 15 degrees?   (as opposed to using a stock 15.5 degree G10 3-wood)

thanx!

Edited by bucky316, 22 September 2009 - 04:25 PM.

[mat562]

There are any number of reasons why a player may take a particular head and adjust it his/her preferences.

The most likely reason is that Mahan prefers the smaller shape of a 4 wood head and/or gets a better performance with a slightly shallower face. A stronger-lofted 4 wood head offers both those aspects with something more akin to 3 wood performance in terms of loft, trajectory and carry.

[dlygrisse]

mat562, on Sep 22 2009, 04:57 PM, said:

There are any number of reasons why a player may take a particular head and adjust it his/her preferences.

The most likely reason is that Mahan prefers the smaller shape of a 4 wood head and/or gets a better performance with a slightly shallower face. A stronger-lofted 4 wood head offers both those aspects with something more akin to 3 wood performance in terms of loft, trajectory and carry.

It may also have come from the foundry with less loft than printed on the sole and the adjustment may not have been as much as the full 2 degrees.  I may also give the appearance of being more open.

[TheBoomer]

DBWWBD, on Sep 22 2009, 10:08 AM, said:

only 13 clubs?

If you count the clubs in the bag theres 14 of them.

[madjsp]

There is a 3 iron in the bag, but the OP said 4 - pw.  Could have just typed too fast and missed it.  He put s58 instead of s57 as well.  Those dang numbers are a killer.

[The Gachet]

madjsp, on Sep 30 2009, 07:34 AM, said:

There is a 3 iron in the bag, but the OP said 4 - pw. Could have just typed too fast and missed it. He put s58 instead of s57 as well. Those dang numbers are a killer.

Updated, thanks for the spot !

[The Gachet]

[The Gachet]

DRIVER: Ping Rapture V2 (10.5°) with a PING Prototype 824 X shaft
FAIRWAY WOOD: Ping G10 (15.5°) with a Fujikura ZCom 84 X shaft
HYBRID: Ping Rapture V2 (17°) with a UST V2 89 X hybrid shaft
IRONS: Ping S-57 (3-PW) with True Temper  X-100 shafts
WEDGES: Titleist Vokey Design Spin Milled (54°), Ping Eye 2 (59°) with True Temper S-300 shafts
PUTTER: Ping IWI D66

[crazygolfnut]

thanks for the pics

[T Shaf]

dlygrisse, on Sep 22 2009, 05:05 PM, said:

mat562, on Sep 22 2009, 04:57 PM, said:

There are any number of reasons why a player may take a particular head and adjust it his/her preferences.

The most likely reason is that Mahan prefers the smaller shape of a 4 wood head and/or gets a better performance with a slightly shallower face. A stronger-lofted 4 wood head offers both those aspects with something more akin to 3 wood performance in terms of loft, trajectory and carry.

It may also have come from the foundry with less loft than printed on the sole and the adjustment may not have been as much as the full 2 degrees.  I may also give the appearance of being more open.

could also be a cranked open face which reduces loft correct? - I know I would like this as I tend to get a lot of draw spin on my g10 4w though it is a great club.

[The Gachet]

DRIVER: Ping Rapture V2 (10.5°) with a PING Prototype 824 X shaft
FAIRWAY WOOD: Ping i15 (15.5°) with an Aldila R.I.P 80 X shaft
HYBRID: Ping i15 (17°) with a UST Proforce V2 89 X hybrid shaft
IRONS: Ping S-57 (3-PW) with True Temper X100 shafts
WEDGES: Titleist Vokey Design Spin Milled (54°), Ping Eye 2 (59°) with True Temper S300 shafts
PUTTER: Ping IWI D66
BALL: Titleist Pro V1x

Edited by The Gachet, 03 December 2009 - 11:05 AM.

[The Gachet]

[Caldymat]

Does every Ping Eye 2 have that sole grind if it doesn't have the + on it??

[mat562]

Caldymat, on 13 January 2010 - 12:57 PM, said:

Does every Ping Eye 2 have that sole grind if it doesn't have the + on it??

Sadly not. The standard sole on the Eye 2 L wedges has a chunky design and a lot of hounce. A lot of people, me included (I played a beryllium Eye 2 L wedge for a decade or so), used to grind the sole to reduce the effective bounce - particularly if you weren't using the club from sand as a bunker club.

The stock clubs had something like 16 degrees of bounce (albeit measurements vary) and the size of the sole meant that the bounce was very much in evidence when the wedge was laid open. Ping used to grind them, and many an aftermarket job was done on Eye 2 L wedges back in the day to lessen it.

Edited by mat562, 13 January 2010 - 01:19 PM.

[ROPERSTJ]

PING EYE2 WEDGES ARE SUPERB

[Caldymat]

mat562, on 13 January 2010 - 01:18 PM, said:

Caldymat, on 13 January 2010 - 12:57 PM, said:

Does every Ping Eye 2 have that sole grind if it doesn't have the + on it??

Sadly not. The standard sole on the Eye 2 L wedges has a chunky design and a lot of hounce. A lot of people, me included (I played a beryllium Eye 2 L wedge for a decade or so), used to grind the sole to reduce the effective bounce - particularly if you weren't using the club from sand as a bunker club.

The stock clubs had something like 16 degrees of bounce (albeit measurements vary) and the size of the sole meant that the bounce was very much in evidence when the wedge was laid open. Ping used to grind them, and many an aftermarket job was done on Eye 2 L wedges back in the day to lessen it.

thanks Gachet,  you reckon its worth giving to my pro to grind the bounce on the SW or just look out for one with the special sole grind and swap it?

[mat562]

To be honest, if you're talking Eye 2 sand wedges and intending to use it primarily as a pitching/chipping and bunker club - but not as a lob wedge that's going to be frequently opened up - I'd give the stock sole a fair crack of the whip before setting about it with the grinding wheel. It's a chunky thing and it's got a lot of effective bounce (on paper, it sounds horrendous) but it's actually pretty versatile and most people who've played an Eye 2 sand wedge at one time or another (probably 90% of golfers who were playing during the mid/late 1980s) class it as one of the very best bunker clubs, and indeed wedges, of all time. For whatever reason it flat out works, fantastically, from a huge variety of lies and from every sort of sand type.

The Eye 2 L wedge is a fantastic club, but the stock sole isn't for everyone. For a player like me, who opens up the face of the most lofted wedge and likes to have virtually no bounce, it was a lemon. With the sole butchered though, it was a fantastic club that stayed put in my bag for more than ten years. People who aren't opening up the face so much and who play a 60/61-degree wedge from sand very often put it in the same class as the sand wedge though, and class it as a wonderful lob wedge and greenside bunker club.

The Eye 2+ wedges are entirely different. For me, they're not a patch on the 'proper' Eye 2 wedges, but many people like them. The lofts are much stronger (4 degrees or so apiece in the case of the sand and L wedges) but the scalloped sole makes them much more versatile when the face is opened up. The bounce is again high, on paper, but the sloped trailing edge and the relieved heel means athat a stock Eye 2+ wedge can easily be laid wide open even from a tight lie.  

To me, the stock Eye 2 sand wedge is the club to have, with a ground lob wedge to take off a lot of the bounce. Grinding one is easy enough for someone who knows what they're doing and is probably the way to go. The in-house ground wedges are pretty rare and, needless to say, fetch a small fortune when they crop up.

[The Gachet]

The controversy sparked by Phil Mickelson, John Daly and other golfers who recently started using Ping Eye2 wedges made before 1990 has created a problem for Hunter Mahan.

Mahan has been using a pre-1990 58° Ping Eye2 lob wedge for years. He likes the look and feel of the club, but this week at the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship he would be the only player in the field using an "old groove" Eye2.

That doesn't sit well with Mahan, because he knows that if he does well using the old wedge some people might question whether his success was due to his skill or the grooves.

So this week Mahan has been practicing with an Eye2 lob wedge that is identical to his old club except that it contains grooves that conform to the new USGA standards. Tuesday morning on the range he had three Eye2 wedges in his bag. The two copper-colored clubs in the photo have the old grooves. The silver-colored wedge that you can partially see has the new grooves.

"I don't want the focus to be on the grooves," he told me. "It's really kind of unfortunate, but right now the players are taking the blame for all of this."

Mahan said he has not made up his mind which club he is going to use in his match Wednesday against South Africa's Charl Schwartzel. But from his tone and body language, I sensed that he really wants to avoid any controversy.

[The Gachet]

FootJoy order for Hunter Mahan

[seanheath1]

bucky316, on 22 September 2009 - 04:23 PM, said:

Question for the experts:

Why would Mahan adjust his 4-wood to 15 degrees?   (as opposed to using a stock 15.5 degree G10 3-wood)

thanx!

Lots of reasons, maybe just to f*** w people

[Eck42]

Does any one know anything about the shaft Hunter has in his driver? I have read it is a PING Prototype 824x shaft. I am just curious what it is similar to and specs, etc...Must be a good shaft.

[The Gachet]

DRIVER: Ping Rapture V2 (10.5°) with a Ping Prototype 824 X shaft
FAIRWAY WOOD: Ping i15 (15.5°) with an Aldila RIP 80 X shaft
HYBRID: Ping i15 (17°) with a UST Mamiya ProForce V2 89 X hybrid shaft
IRONS: Ping S-57 (3-PW) with True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X100 shafts
WEDGES: Titleist Vokey Design Spin Milled (54°), Ping Eye2 (61° bent to 59°) with True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S300 shafts (Vokey stamped HM)
PUTTER: Ping iWi D66 with a Black Classic Pingman Grip
BALL: Titleist Pro V1x
GLOVE: FootJoy StaSof
GRIPS: Golf Pride New Decade Multi-Compound Orange/Black
BAG: Ping Tour Staff
APPAREL: Under Armour
FOOTWEAR: FootJoy ICON MyJoys
HEADWEAR: Ping Cap
SUNGLASSES: Oakley Sundog Signature Series

Edited by The Gachet, 02 March 2010 - 08:42 AM.

[ckguy914]

BTW the Ping Prototype 824 X shaft that he has in the driver is actually the same shaft as the TFC129D X-flex available as a stock G10 shaft.  This is straight from the designer of the shaft.

Edited by ckguy914, 02 March 2010 - 09:23 AM.

[OnFire]

If Ping was smart they'd start making retro sets of Eye2s - the second best selling irons of all time.

[dlygrisse]

OnFire, on 02 March 2010 - 01:44 PM, said:

If Ping was smart they'd start making retro sets of Eye2s - the second best selling irons of all time.

I thought they were number one?  So if they are number 2 what is one?