Ping Eye 2 Review

Almost everything a modern iron does was argued into existence by this club. The eye shaped cavity pushes mass out to the perimeter, which is why a strike off the toe of a forty year old Eye 2 loses less than a strike off the toe of plenty of game improvement irons sold since, and the color coded lie angle system stamped on the hosel is the reason a fitting cart sits in every golf shop today. The square grooves are the famous part.

They generated so much spin out of rough that the governing body moved to ban them, Ping sued twice and settled twice, and those settlements left every set built before April of 1990 exempt from the groove rules. In amateur golf that exemption still stands, and nothing else in the game carries it. In professional golf it is gone: after a public row at a tour event in 2010, Ping waived its rights and the old wedges were barred from competition that March.

Playing them now is a strange mix. Turf interaction is excellent, the wide sole is forgiving out of anything soft, and cast stainless gives a firmer and more informative strike than the marketing of the era suggested. Distance is the grade that sits well below the rest, and the reason is arithmetic rather than failure: the lofts are traditional, so a six iron here flies roughly what an eight iron flies in a current set, and nobody should be surprised or offended by that. At around a hundred and fifty dollars for a used set it is still one of the best things a beginner can carry.