Ping I200 Irons
Ping I200 Benefits
You won’t have to be around the golf game long to understand that Ping is known for feel.
The Ping golf clubs typically have a better feel than many other golf clubs on the market, even in their game improvement sets.
The Ping i200 are certainly a club that feels great.
This club has our favorite feature: It looks like a blade but performs as a game improvement iron.
If you like a thin top down look, the Ping is extremely thin, and when a player looks down at the ball, they will feel as though they can hit the ball cleanly.
The Ping i200 has a slightly stronger loft than a player’s club, but it is not extreme.
Many game improvement type irons are going to lower lofts by several degrees, but with the Ping i200, you only see a difference of one degree.
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The Ping i200 is a low spinning iron, which is good for those golfers who have a hard time keeping the ball straight.
For those looking to stop long irons from running onto the green, it isn’t the best option.
You will see the difference over time. If you are able to maintain enough club head speed, it is possible for your i200s to stop at a green.
The i200 is designed to give players good ball flight on their shots as well.
You can still hit some shots with a lot of lift, even though your lofts have been slightly lower.
The center of gravity in the iron head is low enough to help get the ball up in the air.
The Ping i200’s ability to miss the ball slightly but still gain a lot of distance is something that most golfers love about it.
When you miss the club face with a blade iron in your hand, you are going to have a very poor result.
The Ping i200 is a fantastic choice for golfers who enjoy the performance and feel of a blade, but lack the consistency or skill to strike them consistently.
The Ping i200 comes with an option for the Power Specs technology.
Power Specs can be described as irons with loft adjustment that make them even more powerful.
Golfers need to make sure that adjusting the loft of their irons will not change the ball flight too much.
The technical term for an iron that is less lofty than one with a lot is “less forgiving”.
Other adjustments were made to golf irons so they can launch the ball a little higher, but you will still need to watch out for this issue.
You will find a variety of shafts available depending on whether your Ping i200 irons are new or used.
The stock Ping shafts are built for a mid-handicapper who needs a little help getting the ball around the course but can still make great contact.
Although ping irons tend to be more expensive, they can also hold their value.
If you purchase a set of Pings, chances are you are going to have them for a very long time.
This will allow you to decide what set of irons you think is best for your long-term goals.
2017 saw the release of Ping’s i200 irons.
Most of the irons you are going to find today in the i200 are going to be used sets.
As we mentioned before, Ping used sets of golf clubs are very high performing and hold their quality.
Ping I200 Irons: First Impressions
The Ping i210 irons are direct replacements for the i200 which have been one of Ping’s best-sellers over the past couple of years.
And from a looks point of view there isn’t a huge amount to notice that’s different.
We’ve got a very similar profile in terms of the topline, blade length, offset and the same hydropearl finish.
The dampening material behind your face appears to be a little larger than the i210.
Ping staff members Tyrell Hatton, Brandon Stone and others have switched from the i200/i210. There is clearly some improvement they can see.
We think both the i200 and i210 have a wide-ranging appeal
There is nothing to stop a middle-handicap player from playing golf.
Ping Irons I200: The Results
I hit the i210 and the 1200 side by side and couldn’t notice any really differences in appearance when in the address position.
But there was definitely a softer and more enjoyable sound and feel with the i210.
These are truly a delight to be hit.
In terms of the launch monitor numbers, there really wasn’t much difference between the two. The 7-ion did exactly what I expected and more.
Both have an average carry of 150 yards.
There seemed to be a touch more spin with the i210 but no jump in launch which is good for me as I struggle to keep the ball down.
Both the i210 and i200 have 33@ of loft on the 7-iron compared to 30.5@ on the i500 (which carried 160 yards) it was understandable that they weren’t going as far as some other irons I have hit.
Although the ball speed numbers are very similar to those of the i500, it was the extra spin and launch that cost me a little bit more carry.
It’s great that Ping are once again offering these with the power spec option with stronger lofts.
Hands-On With The I200
I was able to meet the i200 during a recent trip to PINGHQ. Although I will admit that I have never been a “PING” guy, the two recent releases of the i200 are starting to make me reconsider.
I’ll cop to being an unabashed fan of the iBlade. Although the launch conditions are the best I have ever experienced, the reality is that my skills at hitting the ball with it make me want something more flexible. That’s what makes the i200 so appealing.
The i200 felt similar to my iBlade but I noticed the extra forgiveness in how many times I said good-bye.
I’m not one to work the ball much. It’s usually a matter either of necessity (I lost my drive in bad spots) or trying to play the conditions (hold it against the wind). But I was happy to be able to shape and control the ball with relative ease. More surprisingly I found I was able to move the ball left to right, which is the more challenging shot for me.
I was also able to control, or at least bring down my trajectory with relative ease, which is handy in the wind or when you’re trying to squeeze out a few more yards. Take it for whatever individual results are worth, but the i200s gave me the confidence that I could move the ball in any direction. On the course, that confidence is invaluable.
For those looking for concrete data – and I don’t blame you a bit – it’s coming. The i200 will be tested as part of our upcoming 2017 Most Wanted series.
Finally, it’s worth mentioning… it was suggested that, because of my naturally high ball flight (I’m a dynamic loft machine), I might be a good candidate for the Power Spec. While some added distance would come with that, the recommendation itself is based on the benefits that would come from dropping my launch angle and getting my spin rates down a bit.
What is The I200 for?
The i200 was designed to be used by some of the top players around the globe. On the PGA side that’s guys like Lee Westwood, while on the LPGA you could start with Brooke Henderson.
PING’s i irons are very popular. Around 40% of the PGA staff and 60% of LPGA players own an i. The expectation for tour players who don’t play the iBlade is that they will soon switch to the i200.
Call it a tour level iron with a little bit of wiggle room.
The i200 is not like the G iron, which Paul Wood (PING’s Vice President of Engineering) describes as “Point and Shoot”. Its short, slim irons allow better players to still have creative and artistic shots. While the longer, more forgiving irons are appealing to mid-handicappers.
If you’re a guy who likes the look of a smaller iron, but doesn’t want to go all-in on a blade, the i200 can offer you the flexibility to create shots, while still leaving you with some forgiveness to lean on when you miss the sweet spot.
It is a good enough tee for touring, but it’s also flexible enough to be used by handicappers with low scores and scratch.
Is that intriguing?
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First Impression
Ping told me that there’s a specific target group of players who would like these irons. Most Tour players on Ping’s roster play an i-Series iron of some sort, and as MyGolfSpy.com suggests, those remaining will transition to the Ping i200 irons sooner or later.
I was a fan of the s-Series irons Ping offered a couple years ago, as well as the Ping i25 irons I gamed for about a year. Both featured the matte-finish and rounded profiles that fans of the brand love, and the i200 irons appear to stick with that look.
The problem for me? I don’t love the look of Ping irons. Ping irons are too cluttered and dull. I like chrome finishes, with sharper addresses.
Ping can be trusted when it comes to performance. Iron technology hasn’t changed drastically over the last decade, but if any company is going to keep their loyalists happy in terms of tech, it’s going to be Ping.
5) The Importance Of Yardage Gapping
Ping used data from Tour players, as well as their previous iron releases, to create iron lofts for the i200 iron sets.
According to Jertson, the long irons with thinner faces travel 6-8 yards further than previous i series irons. The set’s short irons have thicker faces to reduce the gap in yardage.
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If you want more distance with each iron, respectively, Ping has something for you…
Forged
The i200, like all PING irons is made from cast. PING is certainly aware that there are some of you who won’t try it because it isn’t forged. Me, I think that’s narrow-minded, and for its part, PING isn’t about to sacrifice performance for the perception of better feel.
And while I’m certain many of you won’t believe it, if you talk to anyone inside just about any R&D department, they’ll all tell you the same thing. It’s not about casting vs. forging. It’s about materials and geometry. Once upon a time there were casting metals and forging metals, but that’s not the case anymore. It’s absolutely possible to make a great feeling cast iron.
PING casts the i200 out of 431 stainless steel as it did with the i Iron. The material is dense and durable (longer groove life). The material has a great feel and is very useful in casting.
Distance
Distance is a key selling point of the club. The Ping i200 isn’t excessively long but the gapping between the clubs is one of the best I’ve played. Some manufacturers strengthen their lofts to add distance but this can result in a 7-iron playing only 10 yards shorter than its matching 5-iron. The lofts of the i200 are spaced 3.5deg between 3- and 7-iron, and 4deg between 7-iron to PW. Normally you would run a 3deg split from 3- to 7-iron, but by weakening the lofts Ping has managed to not only gap the distances between each club more effectively, but also the flight.
The new face design, which has a thicker top and thinner lower portion, has dropped the centre of gravity to boost ball speed and give a higher launch. If you find the high launch flight too much there is a Power Spec Loft option which strengthens the lofts from 4-iron to wedge. A 7-iron, for example, would drop from 33 to 31.5 degrees.
Distance
The Callaway Apex is going to win the distance category when you compare these two golf irons.
The problem with using only this fact to make your golf iron decision is that it doesn’t tell the whole story.
On a standard set of Ping i200 irons, the pitching wedge is going to be 45 degrees.
On a standard set of Callaway Apex, the pitching wedge is 43 degrees.
The yardage that you can hit this club is affected by two degrees of differential.
Although the Apex seems to be a much longer club than the i200, the lofts are not exact, so it isn’t totally a fair comparison.
It is more sensible to decide on the feel of these irons than distance if you’re not sure.
You can simply join a club if you love the Ping i200 but don’t like it enough to hit the target as often.
