Over this past season, you started to see more players on the PGA Tour and on the LPGA switch out blades in their bags for cavity back irons. Blades are what you typically associate as players irons, because of their low penetrating ball flight and ability to shape your shots. But the shift to cavity back irons, is quite a departure, because they are often seen as either being too forgiving (like that’s a bad thing), having thicker toplines, and not very workable golf clubs. That’s not the case with Ping’s i15 irons, a progressive set of steel irons that offer control of a blade, but with the forgiveness of a cavity back.
Look and Feel
The i15 irons are a progressive set of irons that the engineers at Ping developed for the better player who wants to be able to shape their shots and control their trajectory. The longer irons in the i15 are actually larger in size for more forgiveness, while the mid and short irons are smaller for workability, which the better player can appreciate.
The mid-sized stainless steel heads have a nice matte finish to them and a dense tungsten toe weight for forgiveness and workability. The cavity design has dual stabilizing bars behind the Ping logo and Custom Tuning Port (made from a soft elastomer) for better feel and sound on your shots. The medium topline on the i15 irons are not too thick for cavity back irons, and set up really nice at address.
The shafts on the i15 irons are Ping’s regular flex 99g Asscending Weight Technology (AWT) steel shafts that are lighter for the long irons for higher swing speed and higher trajectory, and heavier in the short irons for lower ball flight. The standard grips on the Ping i15 irons are Ping ID8 grips which is a soft rubber grip, comparable to a Golf Pride Tour Velvet grip, but have dog-bone pattern for better control.
Performance
The reason more players on Tour are switching to cavity back players irons, is they can have the forgiveness of a cavity back without sacrificing shot control and feel. The Ping i15 irons are engineered to provide just that, solid feel, control, and forgiveness on your shots in all your irons, but in a progressive set.
What i noticed in the 5 iron was how the ball seemed to launch much higher in the air than my typical 5 iron I play. The trajectory of the i15 5 iron was more in the medium-high trajectory for my shots that seemed to bore through the air, while the 7 and 9 irons were medium-low penetrating shots. It did take a little getting used to the ball flight of the long irons (higher trajectory) versus the short irons (medium), but it didn’t affect the amount of distant or carry in my shots. You’ll really appreciate the workability and shot control on your approach shots with i15 irons, and that is attributed to the optimized center of gravity location.
Cavity back irons usually lack the kind of feel you get from blades, but the Ping i15 irons do a great job of providing the right amount of feel on your shots that is solid feeling across the face of the club with it’s Custom Tuning Port and dual stabilizing bars. The engineers have done a great job of optimizing the sound and feel in a set of cavity back irons, even the most discerning golfer would appreciate.
In terms of forgiveness the tungsten toe weight insert is designed to provide increased MOI in the mid-sized steel head, with workability and cavity back forgiveness. I found the Ping i15 irons to be forgiving on miss-hits, but not as forgiving, like a set of Ping G15 super game improvement irons. The great thing about these irons is that you really don’t sacrifice the workability and control of your shots, because of the cavity back design.
Overall, the Ping i15 irons are great set of irons that offer the control and feel of blades, but with the forgiveness of cavity back irons for the better player.
Ping i15 Irons $799 3-PW (steel shafts)
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Great review. I traded my i10 set for the i15’s. It was late in the fall so I have not had much time with them yet but the time I have had (on swing analysis, range and course) has been absolutely impressive. I went with the KBS shaft. I was given an i15 black with the kbs shaft and swung it for about 2 days. The difference in feel, ball flight, workability, etc was immediate. I gained a whole club on the first 70 % swing, honestly. An amazing difference. I can’t wait for Spring.