~ ~ The Karsten Manufacturing Company, or in more common golfing parlance “Ping”, have been making fine golf clubs since the mid-1960’s.
~ ~ They first came to the attention of golfers with a revolutionary new putter, that was destined to take the golfing world by storm. The founder of the company was an engineer from the USA called Karsten Solheim. When he took up the game of golf in the 1950’s, he wasn’t able to find a putter that suited his golf game, so he simply decided that he’d make his own. So popular did his new design prove that he then began to make them in his garage at home (shades of Bill Gates!) for members of his family and close friends. By 1996 he’d given up the day job altogether, and his home spun cottage industry were now based in a new custom built factory in Phoenix, Arizona, and a golfing legend in their own right.
~ ~ The new putter that started of this golfing revolution was called the Ping Anser. The “Ping” came from the very distinctive sound it made when it struck the golf ball, and the “Anser” as Solheim swore it would be the answer to all golfer’s prayers. (By the way, if you just happen to have one of these old putters lying around somewhere then head for the nearest bank vault, as they’re now worth an absolute fortune)
~ ~ It was the 1970’s before Ping manufactured anything other than putters. Their first venture into making golf irons were called the “Ping Eye”, and proved relatively successful, but it was their successors, the “Ping Eye 2” that were eventually to take this company into the manufacturer’s premier league.
The Ping Eye 2 <><><><><><><>
~ ~ The Ping Eye 2 irons first came on the market in the early 1980’s. Like the Anser putter before them, they were totally different to anything else on the market at the time. Up to then, most irons were blades, and manufactured using an engineering process called forging, which allowed many clubs to be made from the one metal mould. Instead Solheim decided to make each club individually, using a cast system which utilised wax moulds that melted during the manufacturing process. They looked very different too. Instead of the flat back of the blades, they had a hollowed out or cavity back. The weight of the clubhead was concentrated in the heel and the toe, a system which was later to be called perimeter weighting. Ping were also the first golf club manufacturer to use CAD (Computer Aided Design) to help produce a higher quality product. Their marketing of the new club was just as revolutionary as its design. A method was devised to allow each set of clubs to be customised for the individual golfer, with different shafts, different angles of clubhead, and different thicknesses of grip being made available for every individual player, whatever their size, shape, height, or physical prowess.
Playability <><><><><><>
~ ~ So much for the company background and the technical jargon. It was how they performed on the golf course that truly made them such a success. The old style blade irons are very difficult clubs to hit well with any kind of consistency, and are really only suitable for fairly low handicap golfers who play the game a lot and practice on a regular basis. This is mostly because of the way they are made, which gives them a very small sweet spot. Miss this sweet spot and the ball is liable to hook viscously to the left, or slice violently to the right, when what you actually want it to do is to go straight up the middle of the fairway. Only about 5% of golfers ever achieve a single figure handicap, which meant that for 95% of golfers the game was being made even more difficult by the very equipment they were being forced to use.
~ ~ The Ping Eye 2 golf club changed all that forever. Because of their design, a less practised player could now hit an off centre shot, and then watch in amazement as it still flew straight and true towards its intended target. Weekend golfers flocked in their thousands to their local golf stores and professional shops and bought up these clubs as fast as Mr. Solheim could make them. Enjoyment of the sport was now available for the first time to players who had only suffered pain and frustration for years.
~ ~ I owned a set of these irons from 1985 to 1992, and played to a handicap of between two and five for all this time. Much of my consistent good play I attribute to my trusty set of Pings. I owned the top of the range set, made from very soft copper beryllium metal. They were an absolute joy to play, and I hit shots with these clubs which will live in my sporting memory forever. My only criticism of these marvellous clubs was with the short irons, from the eight through to the sand wedge. There is no question that I didn’t get the same degree of spin or control over the ball as I could achieve with traditional blades, and I didn’t use these but continued with my old and trusty blade irons. But there is no need to carry a matched set of clubs these days. Look in a tour pro’s bag the next time you’re at a tournament; it’s quite an eye-opener. There’s everything in there but the kitchen sink!
Cost and Availability <><><><><><><><><><><>
~ ~ They were not cheap. My set cost me £110 per club, a grand total of £1,100, but they were available at around the £800 mark if you were happy with ordinary steel heads. Sadly, these clubs went out of production in the late 1990’s, but have been replaced by another set, called, guess what, the “Ping i3”. (that’s another op) There are thousands of sets of the Ping Eye 2 for sale on the second hand market, and many can be found by simply typing the name in a good search engine. (try Google) They sell at anything from around £250 upwards, but are a good purchase, as you can be assured of getting at least your money back when and if you ever want to change them.
Conclusion <><><><><>
~ ~ The Ping Eye 2 were the first of the“game improvement clubs, and set the world standard for over a decade, forcing every other manufacturer to follow suit or risk bankruptcy. All off the cavity back golf clubs which now flood the market are there as a result of the pioneering work of Mr. Solheim in his little garage way back in 1959. The company still continue to set standards of excellence today which others seek to emulate, and are considered one of the top manufacturers in the world.
This product has not yet been reviewed. 
