Ping Eye 2 Mini Reveiw

Rickochet

Being a lover of big ole thick top line shovel irons I snagged a set of Eye 2's off of ebay 3 - W with stock steel shafts. 2 shafts had been replaced with something I couldn't ID. The shafts didn't interest me anyway as my plan was to ream them out and reshaft. I also picked up a SW and LW to got with them. After sitting in the closet for two years I finally got them out last week, reamed and reshafted the 6 - LW with FST 115 shafts which I use in most of my other sets. Th e 3- W heads had matching serial numbers. When I weighed all of the heads I noticed the 6 - W were all about one club lighter than I would expect in "normal" sets. The SW was normal at 296g but the LW was a whopping 309g. So I decided to do a one club soft step tip trim for the 6 - W and a normal tipping for the SW and LW. I added Winn Excell jumbo grips to them all.

I put these in the bag yesterday for a round. I anticipated some issues dialing in the distances with these since they are very high lofted irons with the W, SW and LW at 50.5°, 57.5° & 61°. Next was the shaft flex guess. Good news, I nailed the flex and it was right on about feel. Bad news is I absolutely hit moon balls with these. The clubs looked nice at address, felt solid on impact, went very high which is ok but it really short distance wise. At age 70 I have been losing iron distance the last couple of years. My 50° A wedge I usually hit about 100 yards. I only got about 80 from the Eye 2 W. My normal 7 is now about 140 but only 120 with the Eye 2. What this does is it leaves a huge gap between the 7 iron and a Titlelist 816h1 hybrid I have dialed up to 29° and can smooth it to 150. I actually hit these well yesterday but very short. I have given up on the 6 iron this year and can't hit the Eye 2 6 either. Too bad their is such a gap diff with these and my hybrids since I hit these better than any other set this season. And after 9 shank shots last time out I did not have a single one yesterday. Oh, the SW and LW didn't work for me at all. I think with the lofts I was afraid I was going to hit myself in the nuts and the LW felt like swing a brick. So, that is my review of the Eye 2's. Nice heads but maybe not the best for me distance wise. I might try a steel shaft with a more of a boring trajectory but don't know if that is available in a senior flex.

bigshank

Rickochet
Your results and mine were similar. I lost a full club plus. It was hard to pull 8 iron out knowing it’s a normal wedge. Being not long as it is ( 7 iron- 150 yds) it put a lot of longer irons into play for me. Fun nostalgic set but after 40 years of golf I don’t like going anymore backwards than I have to. I did play the sand and lob wedges pretty well once I got used to them. Mine were zz lites

Typhoon

Rickochet

Do you have any old balls from around 1985? I did an experiment a few years back when I was using my eye2 irons because over the years I lost distance with them but since I kept my driver current, I increased distance with that.

I dug up some old Titleist professionals and the ball flight came down. No moon balls unless I hit a pro v with them.

pellmell

Rickochet Sounds like there's too much dynamic loft, which is determined by attack angle, shaft flex, release style and contact location.

raggmann54 When you have a 40* 8 iron and a 45* 9 iron versus 33* 8 iron and 38* 9 iron...

That's basically a two club loft difference for the same club number.

toraider

Not sure, as I have no experience with them, but would the FST 115 Pro suit your needs? They have the A/R flex or perhaps you could hard step the shafts you have to achieve what you want?

Rickochet

Typhoon Do you have any old balls from around 1985?

My balls are a lot older than 1985. 😜 Actually no old golf balls. I played Titleist Tour Soft yesterday. I can live with the shorter distance in the Eye2 since I hit them well but I need to fix the gap between the Eye 2 7i and the 29° hybrid. A 20 - 30 yard gap is too much. I have a full set of Acer XDS React hybrid I might try one or two of those in the set for the gap.

Typhoon

20 yards is a lot. Hope you get it to work out. If not just send them to Steve’s Ping Museum.

scotts33

Rick---Did you look at the Wishon 989CLA's (custom length assembly) strong lofts and thick-ish topline for Wishon anyway. Low offset 2 mm thru the set and medium-wide sole with good weighting options. Since you build to over length I would think this would help you. Low CG and won't break the bank. The 989CLA's when I looked them over I thought of you right away. I have RH 6-AW new in plastic just pay what I did and will ship FedEx Ground. 😀 I don't think I am going to use them if interested. I don't think you will lose your loft/distance gaps as they are stronger lofted. Guessing you will pick up a club distance. 6i 27 deg. PW 45 deg.

Rickochet

scotts33 Did you look at the Wishon 989CLA's

Thanks Scott, will take a look at the Wishon's. I have a set of Power Play Adrenaline's that are stronger lofted huge shovels with reduced offset I currently have graphite in that I am getting ready to reshaft with FST 115's.

sdandrea1

Rick, your review is what I would call expected performance for those heads. It matches my experience, anyway. High, straight solid shots that fly 1 to 2 clubs shorter than anything designed in the last 15 years or more. Guys like John (Typhoon) that still make fast clubhead speeds can get more out of them. The only surprise is the wedges. I find them almost unbeatable around the greens. My Cleveland RTX are the only other design I have full confidence in.

scotts33

Rickochet Thanks Scott, will take a look at the Wishon's. I have a set of Power Play Adrenaline's that are stronger lofted huge shovels with reduced offset I currently have graphite in that I am getting ready to reshaft with FST 115's.

But are they strong lofted? That's the issue with distance loss us duffers ALL have lost 1 -2 clubs as we went into our 70's. Isn't that the issue?

Rickochet

scotts33 But are they strong lofted?

SPECIFICATIONS
Club Loft Lie Weight Offset Bounce RC*
#3 20° 59.25° 243 g 5.8 mm 0° 39"
#4 23° 60° 250 g 5.5 mm 1° 38.5"
#5 26° 60.25° 257 g 5 mm 2° 38"
#6 29° 61.5° 263 g 4 mm 3° 37.5"
#7 33° 62.25° 271 g 3 mm 4° 37"
#8 37° 63° 278 g 3 mm 5° 36.5"
#9 41° 63.75° 285 g 2 mm 6° 36"
PW 45° 64.5° 291 g 2 mm 8° 35.5"
AW 50° 64.5° 291 g 2 mm 9° 35.5"
SW 55° 64.5° 298 g 1 mm 12° 35.5"

I played them for years with the FST shaft but needed to go to a softer flex but never did. I think they will play fine with the FST 115 at a Sr. flex. BTW, thanks for the offer of the Wishons, but after looking at the pics they just don't have that "me likey" look. I also played a round last week with some Integra Sooolong Powerbar irons that really have jacked lofts. Those are the ones I shanked 9 times.

sdandrea1

scotts33 But are they strong lofted? That's the issue with distance loss us duffers ALL have lost 1 -2 clubs as we went into our 70's. Isn't that the issue?

Loft is just a number. I hit the 50 degree Eye 2 wedge as far as I hit the Cleveland 50 degree wedge. I hit the Eye 2 9i as far as I hit a modern 44 degree PW, etc. In my minimalist bag the clubs below my 31 degree hybrid are 45, 50 and 56. They can basically be any make from any year as long as they have the right shaft. You can play the Eye 2s if you like them......just gotta know how far they go.

Rickochet

scotts33 But are they strong lofted? That's the issue with distance loss us duffers ALL have lost 1 -2 clubs as we went into our 70's. Isn't that the issue?

I snagged a Cally Rogue X 7i 27° to demo. Film at 11:00... 🙃

raggmann54

When you have a 40* 8 iron and a 45* 9 iron, as you get in the Eye 2's you will lose distance versus today's iron sets. The Taylormade M6 iron set as an example - 33* 8 iron and 38* 9 iron. Instead of playing the club number, play the loft you need.

Rickochet

pellmell Sounds like there's too much dynamic loft, which is determined by attack angle, shaft flex, release style and contact location.

Any could be an issue. I have a high AOA and ball placement, flex, release can be an issue. I have been swinging the club the same way for 58 years so a swing change isn't on the agenda. This year, I just haven't played much so there is a lot of swing rust still there. I don't dislike the PIng Eye 2's as shafted. The feel and ball flight is nice. It is just the distance issue, The club number doesn't matter to me it is how far I hit it. I can live with the Eye 2's if I can fix the gap between the 7i and my 29° hybrid.

bigshank

pellmell
They also are not forgiving like today’s sets. In their time they were because everything else were butter knife blades. They have offset but are not large by any means. I didn’t flight them super high but I believe they cost me strokes. A modern game improvement 6 iron like my g410s or rogues fly higher and farther than the eye2 4 iron. The slight mishit on the eye 2 was too much for my geezer swing to absorb. My friend has given his old eyes 2s to his brother. He swings 115 mph so his results were much better than mine. I’m around 90 mph

scotts33

Rick---What is your 6i and PW playing length?

Rickochet

scotts33 Rick---What is your 6i and PW playing length?

PW - 38" 6i - 39.5" - The same as I play in all of my other irons sets.

scotts33

Rickochet PW - 38" 6i - 39.5" - The same as I play in all of my other irons sets.

I think that sheds some light to some of the other responses in this thread as most don't know you play longer playing length irons. Thanks!

Rickochet

scotts33

Scott, I found the specs on the Adrenalines and posted to an earlier reply.

scotts33

Rickochet Scott, I found the specs on the Adrenalines and posted to an earlier reply.

Good and I took a look Rick. Slightly stronger which will help IMO. Let us know how they work out.

BTW on distances and though I play Minimalist 7-8 clubs. I have a 180, 160, 140, 120 and 100 club. These could be any club loft. I can hit these 80% consistently those numbers only depending on conditions. My tendency is to over club or club up and choke down. Brings ball flight down slightly and control better. Most average rec golfers under club. I don't look at the numbers on the sole. In fact, I wish I could find some irons that had no numbers, I'd stamp long, mid, short on them.