Gear: Ping i59 irons
Price: $275 per club with Project X LS steel shaft and Golf Pride New Decade MCC Arccos-enabled grip. $290 per club with UST Recoil 760 ES graphite shafts. (From $250 each at dickssportinggoods.com and $285 per club at carlsgolfland.com)
Specs: Forged 1025 carbon-steel body with a 17-4 stainless steel face, aluminum insert, tungsten toe and hosel weights.
Available: August 24, 2021
When elite golfers such as Viktor Hovland look down at an iron in the address position, there are things they want to see and things they don’t want to see. A thin topline, relatively little offset and clean looks are a must. Typically, they don’t like to see game-improving features such as a wide back piece that might enhance sound and feel, or an especially wide sole.
But with the creation of the new i59 irons, which replace the iBlade, Ping engineers have tried to sneak a few elements into a better-player’s iron to deliver more distance and forgiveness on mis-hits without sacrificing the feel and control that accomplished players demand.
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The AlumiCore system creates discretionary weight. (Ping)
The i59 has a more complex design than the minimalist outside might have you believe.
The body is forged from 1025 carbon-steel for a soft feel, and Ping added a laser-cut 17-4 stainless steel face. However, instead of leaving the head hollow, Ping added a new technology to the i59 called AlumiCore. It is an insert made from aluminum, and Ping makes a unique one for each i59 iron.
The aluminum is approximately one-third the weight of the stainless steel it replaces. So the AlumiCore insert creates about 30 grams of discretionary weight in each head that Ping designers can redistribute to improve performance.
Weights in the toe and heel increase the moment of inertia. (Ping)
Much of the weight has been added to a screw in the toe and a weight in the hosel. That gives the i59 more perimeter weighting, a higher moment of inertia and increased stability. Ping says the i59 has the same moment of inertia as the i210, a better-player’s club that is slightly larger.
Ping has been able to add four more grooves to the i59 hitting area. (David Dusek/Golfweek)
Ping developed a new groove and groove pattern for the i59 irons. The MicroMax grooves are spaced closer together, allowing Ping to add four more grooves to the hitting area. That places more groove edges on the ball at impact for more consistency.
Ping said adjustments to the sidewalls of the grooves also help reduce fliers on short-iron shots while maintaining spin on long-iron shots.
The i59 has a Hydropearl 2.0 finish to repeal water. (David Dusek/Golfweek)
The blade length, offset and bounce of the i59 is identical to the iBlade, but the sole is slightly more narrow.
To help keep water from between the grooves and the ball, which reduces consistency, Ping designed the i59 with a Hydropearl 2.0 finish. It is a hydrophobic technology that causes moisture to bead up and fall away from the club. Ping has used it on wedges for several seasons.
The lofts of the Ping i59 irons are traditional. (David Dusek/Golfweek)
The standard set of i59 irons will be 3-iron through pitching wedge. As you might expect, the lofts are very traditional, with the 5-iron being 27 degrees and the 9-iron being 42 degrees. A Power Spec with stronger-lofted clubs and a Retro Spec with weaker-lofted clubs are also available.
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