Ping Golf Clubs in 2010
A blogger who claimed he blogged on food went to a upmarket restaurant with some friends ordered some food and drank champagne. The bill came up to a few hundred $ and he refused to pay saying that he is a blogger. On goodwill, the restaurant reduced the bill to like a quarter of the original and he threw his credit card at the cashier. Maybe it was a misunderstanding but can such a blog be independent? Do you have a voice against bad service, poor products or do you still have moral authority to rate and review? Bloggers must know if they are in it for free food and goodies or to be a real reviewer. I have always paid for every bill when I eat or spent on golf equipment and I will write what I think is proper and correct. One of the key criteria is to help and at the same time entertain or motivate people. Promote friendship and connect people. All you need is a camera and a laptop and you expect to go everywhere eating for free. Shameful! Where is the integrity?
Well, I am going to put my money where my mouth is. Those who have followed my previous articles would have understood why Ping is such an important icon in the golf world from its founding days of Karsten Solheim and its original Anser putter which gives rise to Ping to the latest rage. Ping is like Apple because they make things that work and work wonderfully and after you have tried it you would want it but yet unlike Apple, if you haven't tried it and by just looking at it you may not consider it because they look different and they have never followed the crowd. I believe this stems from the confidence in their own ability, quality and innovation. You hardly see Ping advertisements splashed all over the shops. Some people even called Ping clubs ugly. I guess they chose brains over beauty. Yet the latest G series - the G15, i15 and the Rapture V2 are anything but ugly. Alright, they may not win a beauty contest but this time Ping has chosen the right graphics and colours and I have always love their matt finish for their irons which is anti-glare.
History
Let me intro you to Crazy Frog's version of Axel F because he starts with Ping, Ping...you will love it.
Karsten Solheim was not satisfied with putters everywhere so he toyed with his very own prototype by putting more weight towards the back and wanted to call it the "Answer" but due to the lack of space on the putter head, his wife suggested that he drop the "w" and the word "Anser" fitted nicely. Today, every major golf brand has an "Anser" type putter model. When he wanted to sell some putters, nobody wants it until they won honours in a PGA tournament. The original makes a "ping' sound on contact with the ball so that was how Ping was named. He transferred his knowledge of perimeter weighting to Ping irons in the old series and made them the world's best-selling. Now, every driver, wood, hybrid, irons, wedges and putter we play with comes with perimeter weighting and has helped tremendously in reducing the sound of cursing everywhere. Some people may even ask you to go away in a robust fashion with flowery language and colourful graphics after a bad shot when you laugh.
First and foremost, Ping is the pioneer of golf-fitting and remains the best golf fitter in the world. The concept is simple and yet profound. Everyone buys a standard set of clubs off the shelf and expect to play well with it. Little do we realise that if you are standing at 5ft.7in. or you have a burly frame standing at 6ft. 3in., both would be playing the same clubs with the same length, loft and lie angle and even the same grip size. Does it make sense? What happens is that all of us who buys off the shelf are playing by compensating our swing to fit the clubs' characteristics. This is against the nature of science and our body since even folks with the same height may still have different arm reach and a different set up and swing type.
When placing the club head on the fairway ready to strike, some of us are actually too upright or too flat. You could be having the toe or the heel sticking up. This simple act alone will cause the ball to go left or right. In golf, one or two degrees variation can mean tens of yards of fluctuation. You will also find that there are times when you hit a four and five irons and you find little difference in terms of distance. When you get fitted by Ping, they measure you like a tailor would and you do not have to have a perfect swing or to change your swing. Just come as you are with all your imperfections and they will purify you by getting the most suitable equipment you deserve. In other words, to give you the right grip, length, lie angle and distance gap and by making you a straight shooter. The fitting is the same process as what they would give to Lee Westwood, K J Choi or Bubba Watson. Would you do that when making an expensive suit? Moreover, they keep your record and if you ever lose or damage a club you can have it replaced with a simple order. How cool is that?
When placing the club head on the fairway ready to strike, some of us are actually too upright or too flat. You could be having the toe or the heel sticking up. This simple act alone will cause the ball to go left or right. In golf, one or two degrees variation can mean tens of yards of fluctuation. You will also find that there are times when you hit a four and five irons and you find little difference in terms of distance. When you get fitted by Ping, they measure you like a tailor would and you do not have to have a perfect swing or to change your swing. Just come as you are with all your imperfections and they will purify you by getting the most suitable equipment you deserve. In other words, to give you the right grip, length, lie angle and distance gap and by making you a straight shooter. The fitting is the same process as what they would give to Lee Westwood, K J Choi or Bubba Watson. Would you do that when making an expensive suit? Moreover, they keep your record and if you ever lose or damage a club you can have it replaced with a simple order. How cool is that?
Fitting Systems
If you have ever embraced club-fitting before you will understand a little. Even old style Ping gets you fitted by letting you try a 6 or 7 iron to get you straight first then with different flex and types of club heads and they would place a white tape on the club face and sole for you to hit from a board until you get the sweet spot consistently. Some retail shops may use a launch monitor to record a few details of your swing but Ping today has a state-of-the art computer system which even their retailers have to purchase from them. You can still get fitted without the system but this amazing system can show you everything you need to know but have never known about yourself and your swing. It can tell you everything about your launch angle, distance, spin rate, direction, swing speed, etc. It could even show you how you perform with your current clubs and how it would benefit you if you were to play with fitted Ping clubs. You can get fitted in a Ping style studio or at a range. Some of us who are eternal pessimists or doubting Thomases can opt for one where they can use this system and yet be located at a range so that when your details recorded are read to you, one can match what you read and what you actually see on the actual shots in terms of the trajectory, ball flight, distance, etc. to have better visualisation. Wouldn't this be a double assurance and bliss? My personal preference is to get fitted with this system and at the range.
Ping nFlight
Pings' nFlight fitting experience as a pioneer and leader in club-fitting will elevate and enhance a golfer's expectations and experience. In creating the system which they called "nFlight", Ping scientists, engineers, software experts combined years of research, knowledge and scientific data to develop the industry's first virtual fitting suitable for indoor as well as outdoor environment. No stones are left unturned as it was developed to digitally analyse and scientifically compare every aspect of every shot that is captured. As a result, thousands of club combination can be recommended. It goes beyond great graphic details as it could even simulate the actual playing conditions and environment of your home course or the type of ball you use to give you the best overall result. You can be measured for every club - driver, wood, hybrid, irons, etc. The usual part of your discussion, measurements and colour code remains (colour code is a range of coloured dots which Ping use as a measurement of your lie angle of being flat or upright). The system can also address your distance gap issues to give you a full combination. Such a process will help ensure that you are in full confidence of your most suitably fitted clubs in exact requirement in accordance to your body type, height and swing. The only sad part is you cannot blame your clubs anymore. I read somewhere that Ping's fitting is the best in the past 100 years. With their club-fitting reputation and this enhanced system, I think Ping is one leg up on the competition. I am writing as a fan of Ping and is becoming a convert.
Ping Clubs
The last time Ping wowed the world was when they introduced the G10 series. The driver and irons won many accolades which also included some top ratings for the fairway wood and hybrids. When they launched the G15 and the i15 series, I asked myself if it were true that they can improved on the already very good G10. How is that possible. Soon after they introduced the Ping Anser, the first time Ping embarked on "forged" irons since maybe 30-40 years ago. This is first launched in the Japanese market because Japanese believe only forged irons are the best. Ping's forged Anser has a tuning port like the other Pings and resembles the i15 in looks. So, there you have it for the irons - Anser forged for those who love the forged feel, Rapture V2 (titanium face) which is a Super Game Improvement iron, the i15 for better players who like to have more playability like shot-shaping and a lower trajectory, the more forgiving G15 (game improvement) and the Player's iron meant for pros the Tour-inspired S57 or the updated S56. The one uniquely wonderful feature about Ping clubs is that the G15 for example can be used by a broad range of players from single digit to high handicap. My personal liking for Ping is that their clubs are built with high quality, plus personal fitting and a lovely matt finish. When you hit it, it has a buttery feel. Some people described it as hot knife cutting through butter.
The G15 and i15 series have wood and hybrids that have also won accolades but it is the driver that seemed to have won the highest accolades when Golf Digest picked it as the highest performer and the only one club that became the "Editor's Choice" for 2010. A few other golf magazines including a prestigious one from the UK selected it as the Gold Medalist driver. It is everything how a driver should be from the way it looks, feel and sound and the end result of straightness, trajectory, distance and dispersion and it doesn't cost you an arm or a leg like some Japanese drivers selling for $1,500. I shall introduce you to the driver and irons with more details at another time as I have just gotten myself all excited, worked up and nowhere to go. As I write, Ping is introducing the K15 series which may arrive here soon. These are built more like the Rapture V2 and will probably replace it.
Introduced from August last year, the G15 driver has been the number one driver in the USA for three straight months of March to May from a report I read. Bubba Watson won the Traveler's Championship with a G15. Miguel Angel Jimenez switched to the G15 for awhile and won Alstom Open de France just using it for a week. Oosthuizen won the Open Championship amazingly at St. Andrews using Ping equipment. Lee Westwood ranked top three in the world uses Ping. He even said he prefers an 11 degrees driver. KJ Choi is now using the G15 irons. An old friend golf buddy who I have introduced the G10 having tried the G15 driver has been egging me on to get it. Nothing is like taking on the equipment and trying it for yourself. I have this feeling that Ping is coming on strongly to be the top equipment maker of 2010/2011 and with even more to come.
Where To?
Where To?
Ping has retailers here where only Certified Ping Fitters can put you on their club-fitting programme. These fitters has to be trained by Ping. Some could be retail shops located at shopping centres. They will put you on a manual test to determine which model of club, which club head, lie angle and shaft flex is the most suitable for your swing type. They put white tapes on the club face and sole and place the ball on a board for you to hit. First they test you for the straightness of your shots based on model and club head, then for shaft flex and also the lie angle. This is good enough for 70-80% accuracy and then they will make static measurement of your height and length of you hands for shaft length and also for the grip but not all Ping fitters use their nFlight computer system to further verify and give you peace of mind as the system has to be purchased from Ping for some $10-20 grand. You can bring your own clubs to test and compare the results of hitting your own current clubs versus the results of what Ping could give to your game. You can see for yourself the computer record of your shots in terms of straightness, dispersion, distance and consistency.
With these two combination in fitting, you should get very good and accurate results but there are some folks who require extra assurance because at retail shops in a shopping centre you are going to be hitting onto a canvas and would not be able to see how your shots ended up even as the computer tells you they are good. Then a better place to visit would be a such a place at a range as you get a manual test together with the nFlight computer hook up to read and then you can get your very own visualisation to see the ball's trajectory and landing. At the Bishan range, you will find Custom Golf shop at the corner one level up. They are formed by a group of hobbyists like you and me who have their own businesses and are passionate about the game and they specialised only in Ping.
They have several Ping certified fitters there for your needs. They can also provide coaching when required. Here you can see the boss Ben Ang (in blue) and fitter Clayton Ong (in red). They provide friendly service and they want to help your game.
If you are there and Ben is available and in the mood, he may give you a demo on how to flop your shots with a 64 degrees Ping Tour-W wedge if you mention my name. I haven't seen anything like that since I last saw Phil Mickelson did it. Ben has even shown me how to chip and run or chip it with back spin so that the ball would bite, check and stop - mind you, all this just on the putting mat in the shop. Amazing confidence.
Well,there you have it. You are going to hear a lot more about Ping! And according to their slogan: Play Your Best! Ping should be in fashion.
Here is Suede with "She's In Fashion":
Golf as in life, play as it lies.
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