Ping i20 Driver

Received the Ping i20 driver today. 8.5 loft, stock Ping stiff graphite shaft. I tell you, 3balls is fantastic. The club was rated in 'very good' condition and it looks practically new. I can't wait to try it out. Doesn't HB own this club? I prefer the matte finish over the shiny Ping i15 finish. I also demoed the Ping g25 but it doesn't look as compact and the ball flight was a little higher. My ball spin is off the charts. I'm getting way too much spin off the driver and it doesn't seem to make much difference what club I try. I'm way over 3,000 RPM.

FamousDavis wrote:Received the Ping i20 driver today. 8.5 loft, stock Ping stiff graphite shaft. I tell you, 3balls is fantastic. The club was rated in 'very good' condition and it looks practically new. I can't wait to try it out. Doesn't HB own this club? I prefer the matte finish over the shiny Ping i15 finish. I also demoed the Ping g25 but it doesn't look as compact and the ball flight was a little higher. My ball spin is off the charts. I'm getting way too much spin off the driver and it doesn't seem to make much difference what club I try. I'm way over 3,000 RPM.

I've got one of these in the bag in 10.5. I'm very happy with it.

FamousDavis wrote:Received the Ping i20 driver today. 8.5 loft, stock Ping stiff graphite shaft. I tell you, 3balls is fantastic. The club was rated in 'very good' condition and it looks practically new. I can't wait to try it out. Doesn't HB own this club? I prefer the matte finish over the shiny Ping i15 finish. I also demoed the Ping g25 but it doesn't look as compact and the ball flight was a little higher. My ball spin is off the charts. I'm getting way too much spin off the driver and it doesn't seem to make much difference what club I try. I'm way over 3,000 RPM.

Then its not the driver but your angle of attack and/or set-up. I'm a high spin hitter but a low ball hitter. I don't understand how that happens and it really bothers me when I hit balls indoors with the machines reading the hit parameters. When your swing speed starts to deteriorate, you need all that spin just to keep the ball airborn and lots of older guys get suckered into the "low spin off driver" balls and low spin heads and shafts and end up losing yards of carry. Someone asked Chi Chi Rodriguez one time why he hits the ball so high and Juan responded with "..because there ain't no bad bounces in the air."

FamousDavis wrote:Received the Ping i20 driver today. 8.5 loft, stock Ping stiff graphite shaft. I tell you, 3balls is fantastic. The club was rated in 'very good' condition and it looks practically new. I can't wait to try it out. Doesn't HB own this club? I prefer the matte finish over the shiny Ping i15 finish. I also demoed the Ping g25 but it doesn't look as compact and the ball flight was a little higher. My ball spin is off the charts. I'm getting way too much spin off the driver and it doesn't seem to make much difference what club I try. I'm way over 3,000 RPM.

I tend to be the opposite 14.5* to 15.5* launch with low spin around 1700. Although I haven't jumped onto a launch monitor with a driver in a couple of years. I'm considering buying a new driver but range sessions like last night tend to squelch the desire. I was stripping the ball with a baby cut, carry about 280 yards. I'm not sure if the ball would have rolled further because the range ends uphill. Still, 280 is enough for most courses.

Poe4soul wrote:

FamousDavis wrote:Received the Ping i20 driver today. 8.5 loft, stock Ping stiff graphite shaft. I tell you, 3balls is fantastic. The club was rated in 'very good' condition and it looks practically new. I can't wait to try it out. Doesn't HB own this club? I prefer the matte finish over the shiny Ping i15 finish. I also demoed the Ping g25 but it doesn't look as compact and the ball flight was a little higher. My ball spin is off the charts. I'm getting way too much spin off the driver and it doesn't seem to make much difference what club I try. I'm way over 3,000 RPM.

I tend to be the opposite 14.5* to 15.5* launch with low spin around 1700. Although I haven't jumped onto a launch monitor with a driver in a couple of years. I'm considering buying a new driver but range sessions like last night tend to squelch the desire. I was stripping the ball with a baby cut, carry about 280 yards. I'm not sure if the ball would have rolled further because the range ends uphill. Still, 280 is enough for most courses.

Both of you are lucky....i measured my spin on an average of 3500RPM!!!Thats carrying around 300yards. I have to swing slower to get the ball to go further!!!When I really PUMP one with my driver I can make that thing climb like a plane and land around 240meters...

Fluffy wrote:

Poe4soul wrote:

FamousDavis wrote:Received the Ping i20 driver today. 8.5 loft, stock Ping stiff graphite shaft. I tell you, 3balls is fantastic. The club was rated in 'very good' condition and it looks practically new. I can't wait to try it out. Doesn't HB own this club? I prefer the matte finish over the shiny Ping i15 finish. I also demoed the Ping g25 but it doesn't look as compact and the ball flight was a little higher. My ball spin is off the charts. I'm getting way too much spin off the driver and it doesn't seem to make much difference what club I try. I'm way over 3,000 RPM.

I tend to be the opposite 14.5* to 15.5* launch with low spin around 1700. Although I haven't jumped onto a launch monitor with a driver in a couple of years. I'm considering buying a new driver but range sessions like last night tend to squelch the desire. I was stripping the ball with a baby cut, carry about 280 yards. I'm not sure if the ball would have rolled further because the range ends uphill. Still, 280 is enough for most courses.

Both of you are lucky....i measured my spin on an average of 3500RPM!!!Thats carrying around 300yards. I have to swing slower to get the ball to go further!!!When I really PUMP one with my driver I can make that thing climb like a plane and land around 240meters...

Just look on the bright side, the ball will hit and stop. No worries about it rolling through the fairway.

Mongrel wrote:

FamousDavis wrote:Received the Ping i20 driver today. 8.5 loft, stock Ping stiff graphite shaft. I tell you, 3balls is fantastic. The club was rated in 'very good' condition and it looks practically new. I can't wait to try it out. Doesn't HB own this club? I prefer the matte finish over the shiny Ping i15 finish. I also demoed the Ping g25 but it doesn't look as compact and the ball flight was a little higher. My ball spin is off the charts. I'm getting way too much spin off the driver and it doesn't seem to make much difference what club I try. I'm way over 3,000 RPM.

Then its not the driver but your angle of attack and/or set-up. I'm a high spin hitter but a low ball hitter. I don't understand how that happens and it really bothers me when I hit balls indoors with the machines reading the hit parameters. When your swing speed starts to deteriorate, you need all that spin just to keep the ball airborn and lots of older guys get suckered into the "low spin off driver" balls and low spin heads and shafts and end up losing yards of carry. Someone asked Chi Chi Rodriguez one time why he hits the ball so high and Juan responded with "..because there ain't no bad bounces in the air."

Yes... it took me several years to accept the concept of "angle of attack" , we all could hit the exact same driver , say 10.5* , same shaft/flex and the resulting trajectory is quite different. I tend to hit high so in the past yr and now I play Diablo Edge Tour 9.5* and Cleveland 460 Ti Launcher 9.5* and I do enjoy the trajectory, what surprises me is I hit S-flex on DET better than the R-flex on Launcher, yes I am not comparing apples to apples, perhaps I am confident with the DET and hit the sh$$$t out of that ball

Play a lot with this one guy who got a Rocketballz whatever stiff 9 degree and he hits that thing high and long whereas the Bridgestone J38 in 10.5 reg that I am using is mid to low depending on how I tee it and most of the time he will be hitting his second before I do and kicking my ass (he is very, very good with irons and around the greens)

Poe4soul wrote:

FamousDavis wrote:Received the Ping i20 driver today. 8.5 loft, stock Ping stiff graphite shaft. I tell you, 3balls is fantastic. The club was rated in 'very good' condition and it looks practically new. I can't wait to try it out. Doesn't HB own this club? I prefer the matte finish over the shiny Ping i15 finish. I also demoed the Ping g25 but it doesn't look as compact and the ball flight was a little higher. My ball spin is off the charts. I'm getting way too much spin off the driver and it doesn't seem to make much difference what club I try. I'm way over 3,000 RPM.

I tend to be the opposite 14.5* to 15.5* launch with low spin around 1700. Although I haven't jumped onto a launch monitor with a driver in a couple of years. I'm considering buying a new driver but range sessions like last night tend to squelch the desire. I was stripping the ball with a baby cut, carry about 280 yards. I'm not sure if the ball would have rolled further because the range ends uphill. Still, 280 is enough for most courses.

If that is your launch angle and spin then you are near perfect. 1700 is difficult to obtain and I would think you'd have a hard time getting enough carry with that kind of spin. One of the salesman at GG told me that the pros are trying to obtain around 17.5 launch angle and around 2,000 RPM. Lee Westwood uses an 11.5 degree driver. That was unheard of several years ago. I guess the idea it to launch high with low spin.

The problem with that is I've heard from many people who got fitted with a higher lofted driver based on results in a simulator. When they got on the course the trajectory was too high and they lost distance. I don't think us amateurs can use the pros as a basis for fitting because their games and swings are quite a bit different than ours. Youth plays a role as well. The top high school players are hitting it over 300 in the air. Really, there are almost too many variables to consider when getting fitted.

FamousDavis wrote:

If that is your launch angle and spin then you are near perfect. 1700 is difficult to obtain and I would think you'd have a hard time getting enough carry with that kind of spin. One of the salesman at GG told me that the pros are trying to obtain around 17.5 launch angle and around 2,000 RPM. Lee Westwood uses an 11.5 degree driver. That was unheard of several years ago. I guess the idea it to launch high with low spin.

The problem with that is I've heard from many people who got fitted with a higher lofted driver based on results in a simulator. When they got on the course the trajectory was too high and they lost distance. I don't think us amateurs can use the pros as a basis for fitting because their games and swings are quite a bit different than ours. Youth plays a role as well. The top high school players are hitting it over 300 in the air. Really, there are almost too many variables to consider when getting fitted.

Golf stores use a simulator to suck people into buying perhaps things they don't fit 100%. I use it for comparison, not absolute values. If there is a "van" coming to town, that would be the time to get fitted at a local driving range.. but I won't, I am too cheap to buy $250+ new driver(s)and I am proud of it

FD, I've got a K15, not an I20. I know for a fact that angle of attack makes all the difference in the world with a driver. I have a very difficult time hitting with an ascending blow, but if I can even get to level, I kill it. This was displayed in shocking detail when I got that K15 reshafted and did my fitting via launch monitor.

FamousDavis wrote:

Poe4soul wrote:

FamousDavis wrote:Received the Ping i20 driver today. 8.5 loft, stock Ping stiff graphite shaft. I tell you, 3balls is fantastic. The club was rated in 'very good' condition and it looks practically new. I can't wait to try it out. Doesn't HB own this club? I prefer the matte finish over the shiny Ping i15 finish. I also demoed the Ping g25 but it doesn't look as compact and the ball flight was a little higher. My ball spin is off the charts. I'm getting way too much spin off the driver and it doesn't seem to make much difference what club I try. I'm way over 3,000 RPM.

I tend to be the opposite 14.5* to 15.5* launch with low spin around 1700. Although I haven't jumped onto a launch monitor with a driver in a couple of years. I'm considering buying a new driver but range sessions like last night tend to squelch the desire. I was stripping the ball with a baby cut, carry about 280 yards. I'm not sure if the ball would have rolled further because the range ends uphill. Still, 280 is enough for most courses.

If that is your launch angle and spin then you are near perfect. 1700 is difficult to obtain and I would think you'd have a hard time getting enough carry with that kind of spin. One of the salesman at GG told me that the pros are trying to obtain around 17.5 launch angle and around 2,000 RPM. Lee Westwood uses an 11.5 degree driver. That was unheard of several years ago. I guess the idea it to launch high with low spin.

The problem with that is I've heard from many people who got fitted with a higher lofted driver based on results in a simulator. When they got on the course the trajectory was too high and they lost distance. I don't think us amateurs can use the pros as a basis for fitting because their games and swings are quite a bit different than ours. Youth plays a role as well. The top high school players are hitting it over 300 in the air. Really, there are almost too many variables to consider when getting fitted.

If you ever get back up to Portland check out this course. Link - http://www.golfredtail.com/custom-fitting/custom-fitting.php The gentleman in the center of the picture, Rick, is the fitting manager and he knows golf and is a great fitter. No BS either. He played through college but didn't want to try the mini tour rat race. The fitting room is 4 bays on a range with trackman launch monitors. They probably have over 100 different drivers plus fitting carts for the major brand names. The combination of hitting balls on a range and seeing the numbers and ball flight works. The only complaint I have is you are using range balls. It would be cool if they could finish the fitting using real premium golf balls. Especially with the adjustable drivers.

Here's my experience with Rick. I was fit by a couple of other places and they had me set at 2* up. He took one look at me at address and told me there was no way that I'm 2* up. I should be more like 2* down and had me grip down about 1/2". He bent my 7 iron and had me hit balls for 3 days with it before our next fitting session. It was night and day. At first I couldn't hit anything. By the time I went to my fitting session I was hitting the balls much better than before. He went through the fitting and I haven't been happier with my equipment. I doubt I would be swinging the club the way I do today if I had to compensate for 4* of lie.

FamousDavis wrote:Received the Ping i20 driver today. 8.5 loft, stock Ping stiff graphite shaft. I tell you, 3balls is fantastic. The club was rated in 'very good' condition and it looks practically new. I can't wait to try it out. Doesn't HB own this club? I prefer the matte finish over the shiny Ping i15 finish. I also demoed the Ping g25 but it doesn't look as compact and the ball flight was a little higher. My ball spin is off the charts. I'm getting way too much spin off the driver and it doesn't seem to make much difference what club I try. I'm way over 3,000 RPM.

I'm still hitting the PING G15 driver I put together last year with 13.5 degrees loft and a stiff DG Steel shaft. The thing is accurate as hell.

Horseballs wrote:FD, I've got a K15, not an I20. I know for a fact that angle of attack makes all the difference in the world with a driver. I have a very difficult time hitting with an ascending blow, but if I can even get to level, I kill it. This was displayed in shocking detail when I got that K15 reshafted and did my fitting via launch monitor.

It is all in how you swing. I like to go back a little more level and come through the ball, therefore, the higher lofts agree with me as I still hit a low penetrating drive that rises gradually over trees before coming back down to fairway. If you have a big descending swing through the ball, then the lower lofts should fit. I was always taught that your swing with a driver should be a little more level than your swing with your irons.