As many of you know, Ping Golf has recently released picture of their new S55 irons. They were released at this weeks Barclay’s Championship, where the clubs where made available to staff players to test out. Only limited details have been released on these irons and the rest of the info is still up to interpretation, until Ping fills in the blanks. The new S55 irons are very similar looking to their S56 predecessor, and are geared more or less to the exact same type of player – lower handicapped and accomplished players.
In terms of design, these clubs are very similar, being almost identical in size. The S55 are made with 17-4 stainless steel, much like their predecessor, but feature a much lighter look. The new irons feature a tungsten toe, and thinner face, designed to increase ball speed overall and move the sweet spot close to the centre of the face and further from the heel.
Here’s a comparison of the two irons side by side:
Ping worked to lower the center of gravity quite significantly in these new irons, especially in the long irons, which allowed them to strengthen the lofts by one degree. Some pro requests involved workability and Ping also tried to include features in these irons to help. One of the key differences between these two irons are the stabilization bars behind the face. The S56 irons feature two bars, whereas the S55 only has one, and much thinner at that. This likely helped lower the CoG even more. The shorter irons have a larger stabilization bar to help keep down the ball.
This combination of a new lower center of gravity, thinner face and weight distribution has given these irons a great feel. We’d expect the irons to retail around the $1,000 mark, and will go on sale November 1st.
