Equipment

Ping Blueprint irons are officially coming to retail

Published

5 years ago

May 20, 2019

After what has been much speculation they are here: Ping’s Blueprint forged blades.

Born from the idea of creating a club for the most exacting of golfers, Ping meticulously prototyped and tested in house with their tour staff and other highly skilled players on everything from preferred shots, grind, to blade size and shape. When it comes to shape, the Blueprints are one of the smallest blades on the market, but there’s some reasoning behind this.

From Ping:

“After extensive in-house research with varying head sizes, the findings revealed the theory of “aim small, miss small” was validated by many of the highly skilled players in the test, who produced tighter stat areas when hitting the more compact head.”

Only the bravest golfer will take on this 2-iron

It makes a lot of sense when you consider the fact that the more you concentrate mass, the more that mass will transfer energy when you get close to it right? It was that final design that we saw out on tour around nine months ago that has ended up becoming what we will see at retail. Tried tested and ready for fittings and finding their way into golf bags.

From Ping’s President John K Solheim:

“When we launched it on tour, a few players put it in play immediately and it wasn’t long before we had our first win. Based on a lot of their input, we were able to deliver exactly what they were looking for while expanding our iron offerings into a new category. We’re very pleased with the development process we went through and are looking forward to applying our learnings to future PING products.”

More in-hand photos of Ping Blueprint irons, here.

Like everything Ping, the company has gone the extra mile when it comes to engineering every last aspect of these irons. Even something as simple as a tip weight has a calculation attached to it. Just like the G410 irons, the Blueprint irons have a visible tungsten toe weight.

Let me explain: basically every iron on the market utilizes a tip weight, either inserted into the shaft or into a port in the bottom of the hosel. (We’re about to go deep into the weeds from a design standpoint but stick with me). There is 100 percent nothing wrong with OEMs using tip weights to achieve desired swing weight but when you use them you move the CG closer to the hosel/heel side of the club…not on a humanly noticeable level but certainly from a definite engineering perspective.

This is why Ping has always placed the CTP (Custom Tuning Port) in the middle of the club head, directly behind the COG. But with a forged blade this is NOT possible because it’s solid metal, but there is a way to keep that COG EXACTLY where you want it: taking the amount of needed mass, dividing it by two and placing equal amounts in the hosel and in the toe. Simple? Yes. Done by anyone else? No.

Ping Blueprint irons construction

Ping is utilizing a four-step, multi-stage process for the one-piece forging to create the Blueprint forged iron. This process provides very tight dimensional tolerance control within the compact design. The high-strength, 8620 carbon steel (same material used in the Glide forged wedges) increases the iron’s durability compared to other carbon steels, ensuring long-lasting performance. The Blueprint irons go through more than 50 steps in the manufacturing process, including milling faces and grooves to ensure quality control club after club with each and every head checked for absolute accuracy.

Details

Available in 2-PW, starting at $230 per club
Stock shaft options: True Temper Dynamic Gold 120 (S300, X100), Ping AWT 2.0 (R, S, X) with all other Ping shafts available at additional cost
Arccos Smart Sensor grips available at an additional cost

More in-hand photos of Ping Blueprint irons, here.

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Ryan Barath

Ryan Barath is a club-fitter & master club builder with more than 17 years of experience working with golfers of all skill levels, including PGA Tour players. He is the former Build Shop Manager & Social Media Coordinator for Modern Golf. He now works independently from his home shop and is a member of advisory panels to a select number of golf equipment manufacturers. You can find Ryan on Twitter and Instagram where he's always willing to chat golf, and share his passion for club building, course architecture and wedge grinding.

25 Comments

Pingback: Best irons in golf of 2022: Best blades – GolfWRX
Mark

Jun 9, 2019 at 11:47 am

I tried those irons today. They are so easy to hit straight (smaller MOI makes it easier to square the face) and really very forgiving as for blades. There is no comparison to traditional Miura blades that are more demanding for sure. I am 2 hcp and I don’t think at all that better players will have any problem hitting them but rather will play better. This is one of bigger innovations lately.

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Dave r

Jun 6, 2019 at 9:19 am

Ping has to come up with a smaller golf ball now just so you can hit them. Just think at $100.00 bucks a dozen you would have the best of both worlds. You would be the envey of your club.

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Chris

May 27, 2019 at 6:15 pm

The blade length is WAY TOO SHORT. Otherwise, good looking iron.

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JP

May 21, 2019 at 12:38 am

Ping can thank PXG for allowing the price gouging. It’s ridiculous, but almost expected these days. Now with all these oem’s following in PXG’s model, PXG themselves introduces a lower priced iron model! They do a 180 and once again twist up the market! Haha.
.
Once my irons show heavy signs of wear, I won’t be buying anything. I’ll send them in to get cleaned up and rechromed. They’ll never leave the bag.

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Dan

May 20, 2019 at 10:13 pm

Thanks for the specs

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No Diggity

May 20, 2019 at 7:31 pm

was excited and debating picking up a set till the $1610 number showed up. You can pick up a new set of Cobra Mbs AND a F9 driver for that price and still have some greens fees cash left over.

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Rolando Rushay

May 20, 2019 at 5:55 pm

I love Ping irons..Have used them for years!! I play with the cavity backed and play well. I tried switching to forged irons & they’re not for me. Unless one is a Tour professional the average weekend player needs to keep it simple and easy because golf is a difficult game to play…why make it hard & costly..$230/ WOW!!!!

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T-Bone

May 20, 2019 at 5:32 pm

So PING made their name back in the 60’s, 70’s, and 80’s by inventing perimeter weighting. Now, in 2019, their touting the same blade technology they supposedly made obsolete way back when. Oh, and this 1940’s technology will now cost you what you could have bought a house for back then.

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Tom54

May 20, 2019 at 5:13 pm

Gorgeous club – funny name – way too expensive. $1800 for 8 irons? No thanks

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joe

May 20, 2019 at 4:54 pm

Don’t worry they will be in bargain bin in 5 years.

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todd

May 20, 2019 at 4:34 pm

TW irons are $250/ea, Miura are $280, PXG are $400, CNCPT are $500/ea. So the cost on these are outlandish because…

I’m sure I would be deadly accurate buttering my toast in the morning with these. Hitting them would likely be another story 😉

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Cdub

May 20, 2019 at 4:19 pm

Looked amazing until seeing the price.

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Get in the hole

May 20, 2019 at 3:17 pm

$230 a club is outrageous. Just pricing the consumer out of the sport. But that said, these are for the serious of serious golfers. Ping does make good quality $600 iron sets that would work well for the majority of golfers. If you’re sporting these and not playing to at least a 2 handicap, you’re dumb.

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- Steve
  
  May 20, 2019 at 3:41 pm
  
  True, but not true enough! I’d wager a 2 hdcp would miss the 2-5i’s at least 30% of the time. Why put yourself through that kind of misery? A real player wouldn’t let ego cost himself that many strokes.
  
  Reply Report comment
Carl

May 20, 2019 at 2:51 pm

At $230 per club, you better be making money with these.
If not, you’re looking like a poser.

Reply Report comment
- David Lehmann
  
  May 20, 2019 at 3:20 pm
  
  Thats less than PXG and these look a heckuva lot better than those “toys”.
  
  Reply Report comment
steve

May 20, 2019 at 2:51 pm

I’d like to offer a couple of thoughts about this new offering from Ping. First, wow!, that is a good looking club. Second, how many people do they really expect will pay $200+/iron For a full set? Lastly, I play to a three handicap. So while I am not bad, I am certainly not that great. I do this with a premier weighted set of irons. Why would I want to make the game more difficult than it needs to be? Club manufactures need to know that NOT ALL of us are clueless consumers

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- Steve
  
  May 20, 2019 at 3:09 pm
  
  Correction…Premier should read “perimeter”
  
  Reply Report comment
BWatts

May 20, 2019 at 2:42 pm

Cue the Miura Baby Blade comparison! Smaller head=more mass concentrated to put into the ball. Last week I tested my small blades against ‘more friendly’ offerings: Mizuno, Cally Apex Pro, Srizon etc…none got the ball speed my small blades delivered. Cool to see this theory proved out by PING!

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dat

May 20, 2019 at 1:50 pm

Insane price. Perhaps PXG should offer to buy Ping, or is it the other way around?

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Milo

May 20, 2019 at 1:28 pm

Damn those are sexy, makes me drool. But for that price, maybe I’ll pick some up in 4 years.

Reply Report comment
Ray

May 20, 2019 at 11:24 am

Wow! $230 per club?

I’ve admired Ping and their engineering but that’s a pretty penny given some of the other irons in this class.

Reply Report comment
- gunmetal
  
  May 20, 2019 at 12:41 pm
  
  Yeah, these guys like Ben Hogan and their ‘direct to’ model is going to start looking more and more attractive if we keep delving into $1600 7 piece iron sets, IMO.
  
  Reply Report comment
Dave Lawrence

May 20, 2019 at 11:03 am

Specs (in case anyone was curious):

2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 PW
___________________________________________________

17.5 20 23.5 27 30.5 34 38 42 46

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Equipment

A shocking Backstryke putter appearance + 7 interesting gear photos from the Zurich Classic

Published

2 hours ago

Apr 25, 2024

Andrew Tursky

Welcome to New Orleans, where TPC Louisiana plays host to the 2024 Zurich Classic. In between breakfast beignets and nightly Creole feasts, PGA Tour players are also competing in the unique two-man format at the Zurich this week.

Although the vibes in Nawlins are a bit lighter-fare than the recent back-to-back competitions the Masters and the RBC Heritage signature event), the gear news was no less serious this week.

We spotted some recent changes from Rory McIlroy, a very rare Odyssey Backstryke putter, dove into the bag of legendary New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees, and spotted Patrick Cantlay continuing to test new equipment.

Get your beads out and crack your crawfish, because it’s time for an equipment rundown from The Big Easy (meaning New Orleans, of course, not Ernie Els).

See all of our photos from the Zurich Classic here

Rory’s on-and-off lob wedge

Since the end of 2023, Rory McIlroy has had an on-again, off-again relationship with a Titleist Vokey K-Grind lob wedge. In his last start, it was on, and the wedge is back in the bag again this week. We got a great look at the complicated grind that McIlroy uses.

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A full look into McIlroy’s bag above also shows that he switched out of the TaylorMade BRNR Mini Copper that he used at the RBC Heritage, and he’s back into the Qi10 core 3-wood. As we discussed last week, McIlroy will likely keep the BRNR around as a course-specific club, trading it in and out for the 3-wood.

See Rory McIlroy’s full 2024 WITB from the Zurich here

Turning Back the clock

Unless Tommy Gainey is in the field, it’s unlikely you’ll ever see Odyssey’s Backstryke technology make an appearance on the PGA Tour.

But then, when you least expect it, Russ Cochran shows up.

For more than a decade – since the 2013 Sony Open in Hawai’i – Cochran has been stuck on 599 PGA Tour starts. This week will be his 600th.

Cochran is in the field at the Zurich this week playing alongside Eric Cole, whose regular caddie is Reed Cochran, Russ’s son.

The Backstryke putter was first released back in 2010, and its unique design helps shift the axis point of the putter closer to the CG of the head. And, the putter is getting a nod this week at the Zurich Classic, thanks to Cochran’s 600th career PGA Tour start.

The putter is certainly awesome, but don’t forget to check out Cochran’s full WITB from this week.

Drew Brees with a Super Bowl winning Scotty Cameron putter

Drew Brees, a legendary retired quarterback for the hometown New Orleans Saints, made an appearance at the Zurich’s Wednesday Pro-Am, playing alongside Zach Johnson, Ryan Palmer, and current Saints QB Derek Carr.

Brees’ bag included a TaylorMade Stealth2 Plus driver, a BRNR Mini 13.5-degree, a Stealth 5-wood, a mixed set of P-790 and P-760 irons, Milled Grind Hi-Toe wedges, and a custom Scotty Cameron “New Orleans Saints” putter, which Scotty made for Brees following his Super Bowl MVP-winning performance in 2010.

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It should also be noted that Brees has his Venmo QR code as a bag tag.

If you’re gambling with Brees on the course, just know that not having cash won’t work as an excuse.

Brilliant.

See Drew Brees’ full WITB from the Zurich here

Stricker’s unrecognizable putter

Steve Stricker has made numerous upgrades to his bag recently, including a new TSR3 driver and T100 irons, but his longtime Odyssey White Hot No. 2 putter is still going strong. It’s the most recognizable unrecognizable putter ever.

Here’s a better look at Stricker’s flatstick, which he started using back in 2007.

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Patrick Cantlay has opened the equipment-switching floodgates

Over on the PGA Tour’s Equipment Report this week, we covered Cantlay’s recent switch into Ping Blueprint S irons, and a Titleist TSR2 driver.

Cantlay hadn’t switched irons for about seven years, so the iron switch he made at The 2024 Masters came as a shock to the norm. He simply isn’t one to change gear very often, so anytime Cantlay makes a switch, it’s news.

It seems the floodgates of equipment testing have opened up a bit for Cantlay, who was also spotted testing a custom Scotty Cameron blade putter on Tuesday this week. By Wednesday, Cantlay was back practicing with his familiar Scotty Cameron T5 Proto mallet, but it’s certainly something to keep an eye on going forward.

Daniel Berger’s custom Jailbird site lines

Berger, who’s currently using Odyssey’s Ai-One Mini Jailbird mallet putter, has a unique 3-dot, 2-line alignment on the crown of his navy-white-navy-white mallet putter. Looking down at the putter, it’s easy to see why this alignment system would help; it just seems impossible to set up to the ball off-center, or misaligned to the target.

Also, for anyone worried, you can rest easy. Yes, he’s still playing the 2013 TaylorMade TP MC irons, which we highlighted in our recent “Modern Classics: Old vs. New” video testing series.

FitzMagic teams back up

Brothers Matthew and Alex Fitzpatrick are teaming up once again at the Zurich this year, and Bettinardi Golf hooked them up with some festive “FitzMagic” headcovers to match this week.

See what else is in Alex Fitzpatrick’s WITB here

And, with that, we say goodbye to the Zurich Classic in New Orleans. Don’t forget to check out all of our photos from this week, including 30 unique photo galleries full of equipment photos.

We’ll see you next week in Texas for the 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson!

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