Connect with us

Equipment

SPOTTED: Ping “Blueprint” Forged prototype irons

Published

on

On Tuesday, Ping staffer Louis Oosthuizen posted photos of Ping prototype irons, which look as though they will be called “Forged Blueprint” based on the stampings.

See what GolfWRX Members are saying about the Ping prototype irons.

Judging by their sleek designs, and the fact that Louis Oosthuizen is testing them, the irons could be the replacements for Ping’s previous iBlade irons, which mixed design principles of both blade irons and more forgiving cavity back irons. But if you look closely, the irons also have a screw, or “tuning port,” in the toe of the irons. This could mean that they are hollow-bodied, much like the current, game-improvement G700 irons. But the irons also say forged; is the entire iron forged, or just the face? Are we looking at a forged blade iron with the forgiveness designs of a G700?

For now, we’re left to speculate on the designs and analyze the photos from Louis.

See what GolfWRX Members are saying about the Ping prototype irons.

Your Reaction?
  • 364
  • LEGIT22
  • WOW34
  • LOL8
  • IDHT12
  • FLOP7
  • OB5
  • SHANK22

He played on the Hawaii Pacific University Men's Golf team and earned a Masters degree in Communications. He also played college golf at Rutgers University, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism.

20 Comments

20 Comments

  1. Kevin

    Jan 5, 2019 at 9:46 pm

    As someone who has heard from Ping inside reps I can tell you they have no foam inside and the screw on the toe will open up to a hallow inside. The club is fully forged and may not be released to the public in general. I would love to have a set of these myself but I fear they might not be released to the public. Ping is only going to release these if they fee the demand is worth the price tag they would need to place on them due to the forging process as it is far more expensive than casting as they have done for most of their irons. They now have access to the Nike golf technology as Nike sold them many patents when they exited the golf business as Nike repspected Ping enough to go to them first and is the reason why a decent amount of the Nike tour pros are playing Ping now.

  2. ht

    Oct 3, 2018 at 3:53 pm

    NIP set of MP-64’s in the BST right now for less than half of what these will cost. Can’t see any other reason to buying other than to satisfy your hoe urges. Nothing wrong with being a club hoe

  3. William Davis

    Oct 3, 2018 at 1:54 pm

    I have a set of 25 year old Mizuno TP9 irons. Why would I want these?

  4. Jim

    Oct 3, 2018 at 12:14 pm

    Meh… Buy & use late 60’s / early 70’s Wilson Staff – better clubs, solid carbon steel, no hollow or foam-filled gimmicks. But of course, if “growing the game” and helping manufacturers survive is your goal, then by all means acquire new clubs every few months.

    • oppie

      Oct 3, 2018 at 2:03 pm

      … for rich, old and impotent Baby Boomer (1945-1965) golfers who have more money than brains or talent… and gotta have a good looking WITB set of arsenal of weapons.

  5. Mokokos

    Oct 3, 2018 at 11:37 am

    This not the first attempt by Ping of this type of forged irons. I have the 2nd generation Anderso irons which were forged and hollow bodied. They are very good and accurate and Miguel Angel Jimenez won a tournament gamingvthese irons. The only drawback was the dead feel and dull sound of these irons. Hopefully Ping has addressed that issue with these prototypes. I still think when you go hollow body you need some kind of creative insert to improve the feel and sound of the strike.

    • Mokokos

      Oct 3, 2018 at 11:40 am

      Sorry, I meant to type Anser irons.

    • oppie

      Oct 3, 2018 at 2:05 pm

      Yes…. sound and orqasmic impact feeeel are so important to incompetent duffers with no consistent swing.

  6. ogo

    Oct 2, 2018 at 1:46 pm

    Kudos to Andy Tursky for this!!!:
    “But the irons also say forged; is the entire iron forged, or just the face? Are we looking at a forged blade iron with the forgiveness designs of a G700?”
    I’ve been questioning the “fake forged” scam starting with the P-790 and now you’ve taken up the cudgel questioning another hollow iron design. Welcome aboard!!!!

    • ogo

      Oct 2, 2018 at 1:52 pm

      Furthermore, it’s obvious the club OEMs are attempting to design in that soft buttery feel of fully forged irons but only hit on the sweet spot. A hollow iron filled with jello goop may absorb the clank of off-center hits to make the duffers feeeel gooood. Obviously an open cavity back with a rubbery insert just doesn’t do it so PING is following the herd their their PXG/TM hollow versions.

      • jo

        Oct 3, 2018 at 9:21 pm

        maybe in some cases, but wait until you get old and you’ll appreciate the shock absorption.

        • ogo

          Oct 4, 2018 at 9:55 pm

          Use soft lady’s flex graphite shafts because you must stop the mis-hit ‘shock’ in the shaft… NOT the clubhead.

  7. James

    Oct 2, 2018 at 11:39 am

    Looks like there is a faint mark on the toe area to designate tungsten (much like the iBlade).

    • ogo

      Oct 2, 2018 at 2:28 pm

      Do you know why TM and PING are inserting very high density tungsten plugs low in the toes of their irons…. and why PXG achieves the same effect with external tungsten screws? I do…. 😀

      • Luke

        Oct 2, 2018 at 5:26 pm

        Why?

        • oppie

          Oct 3, 2018 at 2:09 pm

          … because most recreational golfers hit low in the toe… and the extra metal toe weight compensates for incompetence.

  8. rex235

    Oct 2, 2018 at 10:27 am

    Am in as soon as they show a LH set.

Leave a Reply

Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Whats in the Bag

Kevin Streelman WITB 2024 (April)

Published

on

  • Kevin Streelman what’s in the bag accurate as of the Zurich Classic.

Driver: Titleist TSR3 (10 degrees, D1 SureFit setting)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus TR Black 6 X

3-wood: Titleist TSR3 (15 degrees, A1 SureFit setting)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Blue 8 X

5-wood: Ping G (17.5 degrees)
Shaft: Graphite Design Tour AD DI 10 X

Irons: Wilson Staff Model CB (4-9)
Shafts: Project X 6.5

Wedges: Wilson Staff Model (48-08, 54-08), Titleist Vokey Design WedgeWorks (58-L @59)
Shafts: Project X 6.5 (48), True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S400 (54, 58)

Putter: Scotty Cameron TourType SSS TG6

Grips: Golf Pride Tour Velvet

Ball: Titleist Pro V1x

Check out more in-hand photos of Kevin Streelman’s clubs here.

Your Reaction?
  • 3
  • LEGIT0
  • WOW0
  • LOL1
  • IDHT0
  • FLOP0
  • OB0
  • SHANK0

Continue Reading

Equipment

Choose Your Driver: Which 2012 driver was your favorite?

Published

on

The year was 2012. Gangnam Style ruled supreme, its infectious beats and ludicrous horse-riding dance moves hypnotizing us with their stupidity. Everyone was talking about the Mayan calendar, convinced that the end of days was near. Superheroes soared on the silver screen, with the Avengers assembling in epic fashion. Katniss Everdeen survived The Hunger Games. And the memes! The memes abounded. Grumpy Cat triumphed. We kept calm and carried on.

In much the same way that automotive enthusiasts love classic cars, we at GolfWRX love taking a backward glance at some of the iconic designs of years past. Heck, we love taking iconic designs to the tee box in the present!

In that spirit, GolfWRX has been running a series inspired by arguably the greatest fighting game franchise of all time: Mortal Kombat. It’s not “choose your fighter” but rather “choose your driver.”

Check out some of the standout combatants of 2012 below.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by GolfWRX (@golfwrx)


Nike VRS

Often harshly critiqued during its years releasing golf equipment (right, Phil Mickelson?), Nike’s tenure in the club-and-ball business gets a gloss of nostalgic varnish, with many of its iron and putter designs continuing to attract admirers. Among the company’s driver offerings, the 2012 VRS — or VR_S, if you will — drew high marks for its shaping and toned-down appearance. The multi-thickness, NexCOR face was no joke either.

Check out our coverage from 2012 here.

Callaway RAZR Fit

Callaway’s first foray into moveable weight technology (married with its OptiFit hosel) did not disappoint. With a carbon fiber crown, aerodynamic attention to detail, and variable and hyperbolic face technologies, this club foreshadowed the tech-loaded, “story in every surface” Callaway drivers of the present, AI-informed design age.

Check out our coverage from 2012 here.

Cleveland Classic 310

Truly a design that came out of left field. Cleveland said, “Give me a persimmon driver, but make it titanium…in 460cc.” Our 2012 reviewer, JokerUsn wrote, “I don’t need to elaborate on all the aesthetics of this club. You’ve seen tons of pics. You’ve all probably seen a bunch in the store and held them up close and gotten drool on them. From a playing perspective, the color is not distracting. It’s dark enough to stay unobtrusive in bright sunlight…Even my playing partners, who aren’t into clubs at all…commented on it saying it looks cool.” Long live!

Check out our coverage from 2012 here.

Titleist 910

While there’s no disputing Titleist’s “Titleist Speed” era of drivers perform better than its 2010s offerings, sentimentality abounds, and there was something classically Titleist about these clubs, right down to the alignment aid, and the look is somewhere between 983 times and the present TS age. Representing a resurgence after a disappointing stretch of offerings (907, 909), The 910D2 was a fairly broadly appealing driver with its classic look at address and classic Titleist face shape.

Check out our coverage from 2012 here.

TaylorMade RocketBallz

The white crown. The name. You either loved ‘em or you hated ‘em. TaylorMade’s 2012 offering from its RocketBallz Period boasted speed-enhancing aerodynamics and an Inverted Cone Technology in the club’s titanium face. Technology aside, it’s impossible to overstate what a departure from the norm a white-headed driver was in the world of golf equipment.

Check out our coverage from 2012 here.

Ping i20

Long a quietly assertive player in the driver space, Ping’s i20 was more broadly appealing than the G20, despite being a lower-launch, lower-spin club. Ping drivers didn’t always have looks that golfer’s considered traditional or classic, but the i20 driver bucked that trend. Combining the classic look with Ping’s engineering created a driver that better players really gravitated toward. The i20 offered players lower launch and lower spin for more penetrating ball flight while the rear 20g tungsten weights kept the head stable. Sound and feel were great also, being one of the more muted driver sounds Ping had created up to that time.

Check out our coverage from 2012 here.

GolfWRXers, let us know in the comments who “your fighter” is and why!

Your Reaction?
  • 13
  • LEGIT0
  • WOW0
  • LOL0
  • IDHT0
  • FLOP2
  • OB0
  • SHANK1

Continue Reading

Equipment

Coolest thing for sale in the GolfWRX Classifieds (4/29/24): Krank Formula Fire driver with AutoFlex SF505 shaft

Published

on

At GolfWRX, we are a community of like-minded individuals that all experience and express our enjoyment of the game in many ways.

It’s that sense of community that drives day-to-day interactions in the forums on topics that range from best driver to what marker you use to mark your ball. It even allows us to share another thing we all love – buying and selling equipment.

Currently, in our GolfWRX buy/sell/trade (BST) forum, there is a listing for a Krank Formula fire driver with AutoFlex SF505 shaft.

From the seller: (@well01): “Krank formula fire 10.5 degree with AUtoflex SF505.  $560 shipped.”

To check out the full listing in our BST forum, head through the link: Krank Formula Fire driver with AutoFlex SF505 shaft

This is the most impressive current listing from the GolfWRX BST, and if you are curious about the rules to participate in the BST Forum you can check them out here: GolfWRX BST Rules

Your Reaction?
  • 9
  • LEGIT2
  • WOW0
  • LOL0
  • IDHT0
  • FLOP1
  • OB0
  • SHANK0

Continue Reading

WITB

Facebook

Trending