How Far Have Irons Come in 40 Years? SHOCKING RESULTS!

Are new irons actually better? I tested 40 year old PING Eye 2 irons up against PING G440 irons.

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How far have irons come in the last 40 years? On today’s video, we’re going to try to find out using Ping irons. I’ve got the Ping i2s from over 42 years ago. In 1982, these were released. Some of the major innovations were the perimeter waiting, just how easy they were to hit, and how forgiving they were. Now, in 2025, Ping has the G440, a long, straight, forgiving iron. But is it a better iron? On today’s video, we’re going to put them head-to-head to try to answer this question, hitting a number of shots from different areas of the course, and then we’ll actually put them head-to-head in a scramble format to see which iron comes out on top. I think it’s going to be a lot of fun as we explore not only the history of ping, but really the history of golf clubs. All right, let’s take a closer look at these clubs that are separated by 40 years. Unreal. This is the seven iron for each club. Carsten Soulheim out of his garage in Phoenix, Arizona patented this perimeter waiting back in the day. Ping i2 was not the first to do that. There was actually clubs that preceded this one, but this was certainly the one that gained the most popularity. That is still a theme in today’s G440. We’ve got perimeter weighting and you’ve got a cavity here in the middle. Now, there’s a lot more toe waiting that you can see as these clubs have modernized. The miss for a lot of amateurs, including myself, is low in tow. And you can see there’s a ton of mass here. It’s not quite as much with the Ping i2, although it’s certainly there. If we look at the face of this one, much longer face with the G440 there on top. A more brutalist design. This is such an interesting design that Ping came up with in the early8s, but almost like triangular in terms of club shape. As Ping developed as well, a signature of their irons became this little cutout. This makes bending and customization easier with ping irons than any other iron. This is a cast club, but it can still be bent a couple degrees either upright or flat in order to adjust it if necessary. But the other thing they did here, as signified by the blue dot, is they came up with really the first ever lie angle customized clubs. You can be black, blue, orange, red, white, green. There’s a number depending on the lie angle for you. So, these were really the first customizable clubs and that carries through here today. A couple of other things to note. As you can see, you’ve got a fereral here on the modern club. You don’t have that on the Ping i2. In terms of shaft, shafts have changed considerably over the years, but has the performance changed? I’m not so sure. I still think a steel shaft at a certain weight is pretty similar. It makes a much bigger difference when you talk about graphite shafts, but when you talk about a steel shaft, there’s not a whole lot of difference. There’s actually no markings here on my Ping i2s that I bought secondhand out of play against sports. But you’ve got a KBS Tour 120 g stiff shaft here on the Ping G440s and lots lots more options than you ever had back in the day. You pretty much had regular stiff, extra stiff back in the old days. Nowadays, you’ve got a lot of different manufacturers you can choose from. In terms of grip, both of these have a golf pride. The Pingi 2 is certainly more loved, more used, but same grip here over all these years. Unreal. One more thing that I will point out is we’ve got a hollow cavity design here, as noted there by that screw port here at the bottom of the G440. We don’t have that on the Ping i2. So, over the years, a lot a lot has changed, including the loft structure of these clubs. That’s probably the biggest change. These two seven irons are separated by 6° of loft. That is a big big difference. Meaning if I’m hitting a 9 iron, it’s about the same club as me hitting this 7 iron in the i2. That’s incredible. But a lot of folks will say that it’s just a number on the bottom. And really the main thing is loft. So again, we’re going to be testing all of these theories out here today to see which club comes out on top. Now, in terms of balls, we’ll be playing the same ball here from Volvik. In honor of the i2s, we’ll be using a two for the Ping I2s. And for the G440s, we’ll be using a four. Thanks to Volvik for sponsoring Let’s Play Through. Allows us to stay consistent, honest, unbiased, so you get these reviews on clubs that you just can’t get anywhere else. It’s going to be a lot of fun. Let’s get to work. All right, so first test here is going to be a distance test because I think that’s going to be the biggest difference these clubs have. The Ping G44 iron is 19°. That is very, very pressed. When you think about the I24 iron, 25°, 6° difference. That’s almost two clubs worth of difference. We’re going to hit some T- balls here and we’re going to see just how different these are. I got the GC quad to make sure we’re getting the same swing speed and same contact here on these shots. Let’s see how we do. That was well struck. Super high trajectory. Very straight. Heading down the right hand side. Might catch the right rough, but it’s uh very, very well struck. Club head speed was 86.2. My ball speed was 124 and the smash 144. My estimated carry here was 189. Shot two. That was a little toe side. It was not great contact, but actually that’s dead center of the fairway. My club head speed was 87.1. Ball speed was 116. The smash was 134, which is indicative of that poor contact. And the carry was 176. Certainly not my best effort. Very forgiving result though in the middle of the fairway. All right, we’re going to switch over now to the Ping I2. I too had a dress. Much different looking club. The face of course not as long. Looks like to be more offset. Also definitely a kind of a weirder alien shape for sure. These clubs were groundbreaking not only in the performance department but also the looks department. All right, shot one. You know, I struck it okay. Not great. It was heading a little bit further left. My club head speed was 83. Ball speed was 113. So that’s way down. Oh, my smash was 135 and the carry 165. That’s a big difference from what we saw on an offc center strike with the Ping G440s. See if we can hit a little bit better one here, though. There we go. So, that’s pretty good apples to apples because I hit one good, really good one with both and hit one pretty poor one with both. That was middle of the club face according to the GC quad. Club head speed was 84.3. Ball speed was 119. Smash was 141. Again, indicative of a much better strike. and the carry was 174. Let’s go find them. So, one thing you probably noted right away is that my club head speed was down with the Ping I2. Now, that is actually a function of the shaft because the shaft in the Ping G440 is much, much longer. In fact, they extended the four and five irons in the Ping G440 set this year to make them even longer than the G430s in order to generate more club head speed. So basically, I took the same swing, believe it or not, but we got vastly different club head speed numbers, at least by 2 three mph there, which is going to equate to a big distance disparity. All right, I’ve got my Garmin G80 here to give us the GPS distances. One of the balls landed right here and finished here. This is going to be the poorly struck Ping G440. And right next to it is going to be the Ping i2 that I actually hit fairly well at 187. Just one yard difference. So this was my best Ping I2 and my poorly struck G440. You can see the difference that the modern club does make there. This was my other Ping I2. This was the more poorly struck Ping I2. Again, it went middle of the fairway here, but we definitely lost some distance at 182. And my best strike with the Ping G440 is over here in the rough. And it actually lost a little bit of distance being in this rough, but it certainly went a much further way. In fact, it went exactly 200 y. So, mis hits with the new club go as far and still very forgiving with the G440s. And when you hit the G440 really well, you’re going to squeak out 15 to 20 more yards. But that’s going to come at a cost, right? There’s always a trade-off in golf. When you get more distance, you’re going to give up things like stopping power, trajectory, other parts of the game. There’s just no perfect iron out there. So, let’s go to another test here to explain what I mean. All right. So, in this test, we’re going to have a 125 shot here. And what we’re going to do is take the 9iron here from the Ping I2 set, and we’ll take the pitching wedge out of the Ping G440 set. On this test, I really want to gauge stopping power, trajectory, the angle of descent, that sort of thing. First shot pretty good. I mean, I hit it fairly thin, as you see. I didn’t even take much of a divot there, but a good result there in the front of the green, and it seemed to stop pretty quickly. Let’s see if we can make a little bit better contact here on shot two. That was much better contact. A little higher trajectory. It’s drawn in there. And again, very good result. That looks like it’s about 10 15 feet from the pin there. I take one more. That one I pushed down a little bit. Still a forgiving result. So, two out of three of those strikes were not my best, but all three ended up on the green. It does really strike me just how forgiving the Ping i2s were for their time. I would say irons have gotten a little bit better in terms of further offcenter contact. They’re not a whole lot different really in results, especially when you put a short iron like this in your hands. All right, so now we’re moving on to the Ping G440. Again, rather than nine iron, I’m hitting a wedge just like the first shot. I kind of pushed that one and I think it’s going to end up in a fairly similar spot. Although I might be maybe just a little bit shorter there than my first one with the i2s. Again, we’ll see if we can make a little bit better contact here on swing two. And I did. Just like the i2, I got a little higher trajectory. I still pushed that one off to the right a little bit, but we’re hitting greens. All right, sixth and final shot here. That one’s on a better line. I don’t know if I gave it quite enough, though. I think it’s up there. I did pull it just a touch and I hit it a little bit toeside, which I also hit a little toesside with the i2. So, let’s take a look at these two. I honestly think the i2 may have beaten it, but we’ll walk up to the green here and find out. I mean, these balls are close. Very, very close. Now, this one could be one of my better shots. Maybe my best shot, but it is on the apron here. I pulled it just a little bit left. That is going to be that last G440 I hit, but pretty much pin high here. The rest of these are a little short of the pin. All in all, pretty decent, though. I’ve got a pitch mark here, and you can see it rolled out. Oh, maybe a yard and a half. That’s actually going to be the Ping I2. That’s our best with the ping i2. And then look at these four, how close they are. My swing was pretty consistent, I think, and they all ended up over here. This is an i2. This is a G440. This is the other G440. And this is the other I2. One thing I will say is the stopping power here seems to be just slightly in the Ping I2 favor. That was the pitch mark and the ball was right next to it. This is the pitch mark for the G440 and it leaped up about a yard. So, not a whole massive amount of difference, but there’s going to be more stopping power. Of course, I was hitting a wedge rather than a 9 iron with the i2. But that is something that you can expect the i2s to do. They’re going to fly a little bit higher. They’re going to stop a little bit quicker. And overall distance-wise, I think we’ll continue to see that the Ping G440s are simply going to be longer on offc center contact. That was the most important part of that test there, the offc center contact, cuz that wasn’t a good strike and it was still basically pin high. Let’s move on to the next test. All right, so we’ve seen that we’re going to get more distance out of the G440s. We’re probably going to get more forgiveness off offc center hits that’s going to fly further as well. We’ve also seen now that stopping power is going to be better, and you’re maybe even going to have a little bit more control with the Ping I2, the older club. Now, we’re going to test probably the next thing that is useful on a golf course. We’re going to play some shots out of the rough. And we’re at a 150 yard shot here. So, what we’re going to do is take a 9iron out of the G440s because that’s how long these clubs are against a 7iron out of the Ping i2s. The sole of this is pretty much the same, but there’s definitely a sharper leading edge here on the Ping I2 versus a more rounded leading edge that tapers also towards the back with a little bit of relief there. And we don’t get that on the I2 either. Let’s see how the turf interaction is here between these two clubs. Out of the rough. All right. Right. So, seven iron first with the ping eye too. Came out pretty nice. We definitely hit the green. We’re heading towards the pin, but we’re probably a little bit short. All in all, I thought that was a pretty decent result out of a pretty poor lie here. I’m pretty buried. Shot two. Again, real good result. The control with the i2s is really exceptional. That hit the green. probably traveled about as far as just a little left of my intended target. But all in all, really good result. This is going to be my worst lie here. And the reason I’m giving kind of poor lies again is because generally a game improvement club, which both of these clubs fall into that category, generally has a little bit of harder time cutting through the rough. Sometimes that club face will close or you’ll lose just a ton of distance because of that big sole. Both the soles of these clubs, as we saw, not that massive, though. Third shot came out beautifully. Again, probably the furthest left of target, but probably also the furthest shot. When you pull a shot, they go a little bit further anyway. So, great results out of the rough from 150 yards. Now, you would think having a 9 iron is going to be an advantage here for the Ping G440 because if you look at Shot Scopes data, they’ve done some incredible research and they will tell you that the lower iron you’ve got in your hand, always, always, always the more accurate you’re going to be. But will that hold true when we’re talking about different loft structures and different iron sets altogether? Let’s find out. So, here is the G4409 iron. Cut a little on the thin side. still hit the green. Probably short of the other ones. It wasn’t my best contact, but it’s up there. Also, it was on a real good line. Shot two. Again, I’d say pretty poor contact, but that’s heading right at the pin. Again, maybe a little shorter than the others, but again, we’re hitting a 9 iron versus a seven iron. That’s a big difference. All right, last one here. See if we go six for six hitting the green. That would be something. Again, came out real nice on a very good direction. and about as far as our Ping I2. So, very interestingly there. Basically similar results out of a similar lie. The only difference is we’re hitting two extra clubs there with the I2s. But let’s look at the dispersion up at the green and see if there’s anything else we can figure out. Scarily similar results here. Let’s see what we’ve got. This one is probably on the second best line to the hole. And this is going to be the G440. This one really stuck when it hit the green. And this is going to be, interestingly enough, the other Ping G440. That was probably my third shot there. Had a lot of spin on that one. This one landed here and it rolled out a good ways. This is also going to be a G440. This one I hit a little bit thinner. And then here are all of our I2s. Really consistent in terms of distance. That’s something. So, a much tighter dispersion there with the Ping i2s, which is really fascinating given again the fact that we are hitting a 7iron instead of a 9iron. We also did get the one ball that really had the stopping power though when we hit the 9iron G440. So, to wrap things up here in section one, we’re getting considerably more distance out of the Ping G440s. We’re able to hit about two clubs less because of that. We’re also getting very good forgiveness from this club. Now, when it comes to accuracy, stopping power, peak height, and trajectory, I think I’ve got to put it in the i2’s favor there. Of course, you’re giving up two full clubs in order to get that. And so, at the top of the bag, you’re just not going to be able to hit it as far. There’s going to be a point where you just there’s not enough clubs in the bag to make up that distance. But overall, a very accurate club. So, now we’re going to transition to our scramble format. And it should be very interesting to see which club comes out on top because we certainly have the distance club with the G440 and we certainly have the accuracy club with the Ping i2s. In this format, we’re going to hit one shot from each location with each club. We’re then going to take the best shot. I imagine we’re going to be getting a lot more drives out of the G440. But how about when it comes to getting in the right position on a layup or attacking greens, we might see the Pingi 2 come out on top. Either way, it’s going to be a lot of fun. The other rules to this competition are the ball that gets us there is the ball we play first. Which means when we hit greens, there’s going to be a slight advantage to the ball that putts second because we’ll have known the line. In order to bridge the gap, what we’ll do is if the putt falls with club one, we’re going to give it two points. And if a putt falls with club two or the second putt we take, that is going to be one point. Gimmies are worth nothing. That’s a wash. Let’s get to work and let’s see which one takes it. I really don’t know. All right, we’re going to lead off here with the Ping G440. With the G440, we’ll be playing the Volvik fourball here throughout this round. Oh, great strike there. That is going to be basically position A. They are very easy clubs to hit these G440s. No doubt about it. Don’t have to think much with the swing with those. Thing I up next. Oh, another great strike on a very similar line. an almost identical line, but it’s going to be considerably shorter. And if you’re thinking, like I was thinking, of course, the Ping G440 is going to be the longer club. It’s going to win almost every drive. Well, I started thinking, it happens on the PGA Tour, too. Rory is going to hit drives that are 350 yards with a driver. Some of his opponents, other players on the tour are going to hit it 280 with a driver. I think that’s the tour average. So, they’re both hitting the same club. One’s just going further. Which one would you rather have? So, I think even though we know there’s a big loft difference, this is still going to be the fairest way and it’s going to be up to the Pingi 2 to do better on these approach shots if it’s going to take it. Wow. Not as big of a difference as I thought to be quite honest with you. So, here we are at 179. This is the Pingi 2 4 iron and we’re not much further. Again, both those shots were on the same line. Very, very similar. I did take a pretty smooth swing with the Ping G440. We were at 190 and again didn’t get much roll out in these wet conditions and also uphill. But I’m surprised it’s only an 11 yard difference to be quite honest with you. But the first point here goes to the G440. All right. Now we’ve got 136 to the flag. I am going to give both of these balls a little wash. So we’re getting apples to apples. 136 should be a pretty comfortable pitching wedge, I think, with the G440. And I’d say I’m between an eight and a nine with the Ping I2s. I’d say I’d rather be long than short with a bunker in front here. So, the ball that got us here was the G440s. We’ll start with that. And again, we’re hitting ball number four, in case I forget, up at the green. Pretty good strike. It’s on a good line. Just left of the pin. And we are probably on the apron, I would say. Eight iron here for the Ping. I twos. Pretty similar in terms of strike. pretty similar in terms of direction. And that one carried a little bit further. We’ll see which one’s closer. Honestly, I don’t know from here. Okay. Well, how about this? The Pingi 2 pin high. To give you an idea of stopping power, this is the pitch mark here for the G440. It only rolled out less than a yard, but it is short of the hole. Here is my pitch mark with the i2s. It rolled out a little bit further, but again, we’re hitting an eight iron instead of a pitching wedge. And still only about three yards of roll out max. And we are like I said pin high. So we got a tie ball game here. Ping eye two ball up first. I don’t think I hit it. Was on a great line. Man, if I hit it, that was in. If I hit it, that was in. Let me get that one out of the way. So I do have the benefit of the line and now the speed. That’s why this will only be worth one point if it drops. Tap-ins are worth nothing. Hit that one a little firmer. Oh, a little too firm. So, we’ll tap this one in. Take our par. And this is a tie ball game after one hole. One point each. Par three up next. So, there won’t be that advantage that the G440 had on a drive. It’s going to be pretty even here, I think. Now, from 167, I’m hitting an eight iron with the G440. I’m having to hit a sixiron here with the Ping i2s, but let’s see which one comes out on top. because the Ping twos got us to that last green. It’s going to be the ball I hit first here. But that is Oh, man. That is right at it. Oh, that looks really good. Got some serious check on it, too. All right. Well, can be tough to beat that one to be quite honest, but we’ll see if the G440 is up to the challenge. Again, I’ve got eight iron in hand, so you would think it’s got a better shot at it, but let’s find out. Another really good strike. started that more right of the green and it’s drawn back towards the hole. It looks maybe a little short and potentially on the apron. Let’s go find out. Either way, I think I had two good strikes there. This is going to have to be walked off. I think this looks really close in terms of distance. They’re pretty much equidistant. This one here further to the right of this pin is going to be the G440. And to give you an idea of where it hit, it was right here. So it rolled off six feet basically. Now our sixiron with the ping landed basically equidistant. It had a lot of spin on it though and it kind of circled around here and finished here. This is absolutely now that I’m seeing it much closer to the pin. So, probably hit him about the same distance, but the way this green is, this was a more accurate shot, and it takes it again on the approach shot. That’s crazy. So, we got a little bit more roll out here, but it’s absolutely the closer ball. That is wild again to see. All right, so very similar putt to the one I just had to be quite honest with you. This one may be moving downhill just a little bit more. Let’s see if we can roll one of these in. I’d love to have a birdie. Come on. Break. Break. Break. Break. Break. Break. Wow. It was a lot straighter. I got the speed right, but it was a lot straighter than I thought. So, having known that, I’ve got an advantage here with the Ping G440. Oh, and I just missed that one, too. Just missed that one. Maybe just as well because I really do think the Ping I deserve to win that one with that beautiful shot. All right, we’re heading to a par five next. All right, so score update. Two to one in the Ping I’s favor. Both of those have been approached shots. So, so far the more accurate club. So, interestingly, even though we’re hitting two less clubs, it’s the more accurate ball. Really wild. Now, this is a chance though for the G440 to come back because this is going to be a three shot hole. This is a very long par five. We’re playing irons only and it’s going to be probably its best chance to get back in the hunt here against the i2. All right, I up first. Big sweeping slinger there. That’s going to find the middle of the fairway, though. Ping G440 up next. Didn’t quite catch it, but again, also kind of slinging there from right to left. A little bit more draw than I would like, but they’re both going to find the fairway. We’ll see which one is in better position. Something I 100% did not expect to see right there. Now, I think I did hit the Pingi 2 slightly better, but uh either way, that’s wild. That’s wild. I can’t award a point to either of those two balls. They’re exactly the same distance. Like exactly. I mean, less than a club’s length. That’s 18 in. All right. So, no point there for the G440, which means we’ll be hitting the Pingi 2 first here. See if I can straighten out that shot cuz I do not want it to sling left on me here. We’ll be on in the woods. I’m going to try to change my club path here. Oh, caught it chunky. Not a great strike, but it is right down the middle. Certainly not my best effort, though. And just so you see it, we’ve talked about it already, but that’s the difference in length here. It’s about a good inch and a half, almost 2 in different. So, you have to take a slightly different swing with the G440 if you’re going to hit it well. And I did hit that one well. So, 100% the G440 is going to take this one, but I’m still surprised on those T-shots how close they were. We’re 22. All right. So, here is the Pingi 2 again. dead middle of the fairway, but it’s a long way from home here. 180 is the number from here. And also pretty much dead middle of the fairway is our G440, but this is you’ll see how far this drive is. It’s quite a distance up there. Again, didn’t hit the Ping i2 as well. But on top of it, the other thing I’ll say is the Pingi 2 does dig into the turf just a little bit more. We saw that leading edge being a lot sharper and it’s not going to be quite as forgiving on fat shots. So 129 is the number here. A big difference for the G440. And now we are tied up 22 with our Ping G440. Should be hitting pitching wedge. Even at that pitching wedge is too much club. So I have to take a little bit off. Doing the math. I think 9 iron is probably the club here with the i2s as long as I make a good strike on it. So, that’s something else to consider when you’re deciding between a modern set of irons and a 40y old set of irons. First off, gapping. Okay, gapping is going to be much, much more difficult with this modern set. You’re probably going to have to be carrying four wedges nowadays because the lofts are so pressed. Not only will you have a pitching wedge, but you’ll have to have a gap wedge. You might even have to have a wedge in between a traditional gap wedge at 50 degrees because when these sets are 43 44 degrees of the pitching wedge, you still need something at about 48ish. So you might go 48, 52, 56, 60, for instance. There’s more wedges you’re going to have to add to these modern lofted sets for sure. And that makes a shot like this a little bit more awkward because again, I’m in between clubs. This is really like a 140 club, this wedge, whereas my gap wedge, the next club in my bag, is more like a 120 club. So, I’ve got 20 full yards of difference between the two. That can take its toll on these shots where you really need to be precise. I’ve got a bunker in front. Also, this green slopes from front to back, so I could run off if I hit it too far. I’ve got to be real careful here. Much more careful with this wedge and the G440, which is the first ball up. I’m playing basically middle of the green on that shot because again, a lot of variables. I don’t want to be long. Long is dead here. So, I had to take a little bit off. I also had to play a little bit of a safer shot there with the G440 with this one. I think I can really attack. You can see I really went after that one. That is right at it. And I think that’s going to be a winner. We continue to see it play out here time and time again. The more accurate club seems to be the Pingai, too. And there’s definitely some benefits when it comes to loft structure with these as well. All right, our first real major difference, I think, between these two clubs in terms of approach shots. This one considerably considerably better. Hopefully, you can see just how treacherous of a pin position this is. If I go long, it’s rolling off that way. If I go any right of this hole, we’re rolling down this hill. So, accuracy was really at a premium and I just couldn’t attack with the G440 there like I could with the Ping I2s. So, we’re now 32 in the I2 favor in a chance for a commanding lead. If this putt drops and it’s a very makeable putt, we could be 52 real quick. Yes, sir. Three-point play for the Ping i2s. I didn’t expect to be here, but we still have a lot of golf to play. We’re going to ping I2 first. Four iron again is the shot. It is a straightaway pretty much maybe slight dog leg left, but pretty much a straightaway par4 here. I’m going to tee it up high and let it fly. Well, I got a little bit more of that sling with the i2s. I think it’s going to catch the left side of the fairway. Hopefully, it’s in the fairway. It’s real close. did hit that slightly toe side, which is why I got that extra draw to it. Almost a leaning on a hook. I will see if I can straighten that club path out a little bit here with the G440. Similar, but I think it’s going to be considerably longer. We’ll see if it stays in the fairway, too. It’s going to be close. Both of those are going to be real close. We’ll see what the better shot is. One ball is in the fairway over here. This is going to be the i2. And one ball did hit the rough. That’s going to be the G40, but it’s also about 15 yards closer. Honestly, this could go pretty much either way. And if you were in a scramble, I’d love to know what you would do. So, please leave me a comment down below. I’d say I would take the distance in this particular case, especially playing a scramble. I can improve my lie a little bit over there in the rough. So, we’re going to go ping G440. It’s going to take that point there. Distance can sometimes be really critical when it comes to putting yourself in the best position to make these approach shots. 154 is the number. I’d say that’s a 9 iron for the Ping G440s with a little bit of wind behind us that we’ve got just a slight breeze. And I think it’s going to be basically a seven iron for the I2s here. All right, so G440 is the ball that got us here. It’s going to be the ball that’s up first. Oh man, that’s right at it. Actually stuck pretty good for coming out of the rough there. We’re below the hole, which is a good spot to be. Let’s see if the Ping i2s can improve on that. Well, pulled that one. Is it going to make it to the green? It did make it to the green, but it is going to be the further ball. So, a little bit more control when I can put a 9 iron in my hand there. That means the G440 takes it. And we are getting tight again. It’s now 54 in the I2 favor. One thing I did love there is uh that Ping G440, the action it had. If we look at the actual distance of how far I hit each shot, pretty much equidistant. Again, there’s basically a two club difference between these two sets. But certainly in this case, the G440 was online better than the i2 there. So, it’s going to be the first chance for the G440. It’s the first green we’ve actually used it on and the first chance for it to have a three-point play if I can roll this one in. Oh, man. It was on a great line. Just had to hit it. Just had to hit it there. That one I pretty much pushed. So, no points for putting here. And we are heading to the fifth hole. All right. This is a longer par4 here, so we need a lot of distance. I’m really going to take a big swing with this i2. But first up is the G440. That is right down the middle. Very high, very long. Be tough to beat that one to be quite honest. Tried my best, but it’s not going to. Still going to find a fairway though. It’s a fairway finder for sure. If you’re using irons off the tea, I would say the G440 has a good 40 yard advantage once again here. That means it could come down to this hole. It could all come down to this hole. 177’s the number. That’s max distance really out of this Pingi 2, I think. Whereas I could hit seven iron, I think pretty comfortably here with the G440. And that’s going to be the club. Oh, caught it thin. It is drawn right back towards the hole. It did hit the green and it’s bouncing forward because on that thin shot, we had less spin. This is tough because I think if I hit a great five iron, I get there. If I hit a shot like I did there with the Ping G440s, I really need the 4iron. So, because this is a little tougher shot for me, I think four iron is going to be the play to be quite honest, just in case I don’t quite flush it. Got to know your tendencies in golf. And I did not flush that one. It’s drawn back towards the right side of the green, but it is short of the green. And that means here on our last hole, one of these has a good opportunity to take home the glory. All right, so this one landed right in here, but on this up slope, didn’t get much roll. Whereas that thin 7 iron actually landed right here. This is my pitch mark. And of course, when you hit them thin, you lose spin at that part of the bag, which was a good thing. And look at this. I’ve got 6 9 12. We’ll call it 14 ft here for our birdie. This is going to be a dead heat. Very makeable putt. Right to left. Slightly uphill. I can get aggressive. Here we go. Oh my gosh. I thought I had it. Oh, I thought I had it. I know the line. I know the speed. So, this is a big advantage. Oh, you got to be kidding me. I thought both of those putts were in. But, I’ll tell you what, these clubs, in my opinion, are pretty darn close. As an approach club, I think the Pingi 2 wins it for me. as a pure distance club and forgiveness club. I think you’re looking at G440. But surprisingly, the difference is so much more narrow than I thought. Which leads me to a few conclusions. Ping has just simply been making exceptional clubs for a very long time, and they’ve been so far ahead of the game that if you were to find a good used set of Ping out on the market, you’re going to be able to play some very good golf. Of course, if distance is your priority, you need ultimate forgiveness and ultimate length as well. the Ping G440s are simply going to be the better club. But when it comes to accuracy and once you get those short irons in your hand, there’s a strong argument that the Ping I2 wins it. Either way, I had a ton of fun testing these and I hope this gives you some more things to think about. It’s not just the newest and the best, but it’s about the best club for you. And if you already hit it a long way, the Pingi 2 might be the club. Wild, wild stuff. If you enjoyed this one, hit subscribe and I’ll catch you back here next time on another edition of Let’s Play Grow.