Let’s play a little game I like to call You’re In Charge of the OEM.
The rules are simple. As CEO, chairman of the board and HMFIC, you have the final say on new releases. Your company has three player’s irons, the oldest of which has been current since late 2022. It’s been a stellar performer for you. Heck, even those guys at MyGolfSpy rated it #2 in their 2024 testing.
Not only is this iron played by your PGA and LPGA tour staff but competitive amateurs and low-handicappers love it. Even avid double-digit handicappers play it.
The calendar, however, says it’s time for an upgrade. As CEO, you have a decision to make. Do you roll the dice on a complete overhaul? That’s bold but it could also make you an ex-CEO. You could just put a pretty new dress on it and call it “new and improved.” You might get away with it for a couple of launch cycles but that’s not really your company’s jam. It never has been.
The best choice, however, might be to just split the difference. Give it enough meaningful upgrades to matter (and make your tour staff happy) and maybe tweak the aesthetics to give it more sex appeal.
In short, make it better but don’t f*#k it up.
That’s the path PING has chosen with its new i240 irons. The question, however, is: Did PING go too far or not far enough?
PING i240 irons: Stuck in the middle with you
PING has called its utility irons “crossovers” for years (that’s now changing) but its i-Series irons might be the real crossovers in the PING lineup. The i2-line is a player’s iron in size and disposition but it’s noticeably larger, more forgiving and higher-launching than the PING Blueprint S.
The i2-line, however, is smaller, less forgiving, lower-launching and weaker-lofted than the PING i5-player’s distance iron. The i5, in turn, is smaller, less forgiving and lower-launching than the G-series game-improvement irons.
“The i230 was such an important iron for us,” PING Product Design Director Ryan Stokke tells MyGolfSpy. “It does have a larger footprint than the Blueprint irons, but it also has the largest crossover from the Tour to the consumer space.”
In that sense, you’d think the i240 would blend nicely with the i530 (or its upcoming replacement expected later this year). PING, however, thinks of the i240 as a complement to the Blueprint line.
“Three different iron sizes, three different trajectory goals,” says Stokke. “Blueprint T is the lowest flighted with the shallowest landing angle. Blueprint S is in the middle while the i240 is the highest launching with the steepest landing angle.”
Based on the lofts and low CG location, it’ll be the lowest spinning of the three, as well. Stokke says one-third of PING’s PGA Tour staff and one-half of the LPGA Tour staff has at least one i230/240 in their bags.
“It’s the first step in long iron replacement. We really work to make all three of these irons work well together. We know there will be a high percentage of mixed sets out there.”
So what’s new in the PING i240?
When updating a club that’s been such a success, PING took the golf club designer’s Hippocratic Oath to heart: Do no harm.
The most noticeable change is in appearance and, in this case, I’m not 100 percent convinced PING applies that oath. The i230 was a cavity back, with PING doing a nice job of making it not look like a cavity back. The badging filled in the cavity, giving the iron a clean, nearly blade-like appearance.
With the i240, PING didn’t necessarily take a step backward but it is, at the very least, a jump to the left. Or maybe a step to the right. Either way, the new multi-layer damping badge makes the club look exactly like what it is, a cavity back.
“It’s a plastic ABS material that’s very light,” says Stokke. “It’s chrome plated with a carbon fiber inlay. It saves a significant amount of mass.”
Overall, the badge saves nearly 10 grams compared to the i230 badging. The carbon fiber contributes to those savings a little but Stoke says its primary purpose is cosmetic.
As with i230, PING carves out a significant amount of mass from the cavity of the i240, replacing it with an elastomer material. Combined with the badge, the elastomer dampens sound, particularly the higher-pitched frequencies that can make an iron sound and feel tingy.
Additionally, all that saved mass gets repositioned along the perimeter. That added perimeter weighting combined with a high-density toe weight and the lighter badge helps increase the overall MOI across the set by 2.5 percent. For an iron the size of the PING i240, that’s not insignificant.
“These are major gains in heel-toe MOI,” says Stokke. “It’s one main reason why we see a lot of long irons in play on Tour.”
Is PING messing with a good thing?
If you’ve been paying attention, you’ve no doubt noticed PING irons are a hell of a lot better looking than they used to be. For a company with a tradition of function over form, that’s been kind of a big deal.
If viewed as a progression, Blueprint T flows seamlessly to Blueprint S. The jump from Blueprint S to the i230 was similarly seamless as was the jump from i230 to the i530. They looked like family.
This new i240 isn’t a bad-looking club at all. However, in trying to make it look more forgiving (which, compared to the i230, it is), PING changed the seamless transition formula. It’s hard to envision the i240 aesthetic applying to whatever replaces the i530 (presumably the i540). Player’s distance irons are hollow-body, multi-piece construction. It’ll be interesting to see how PING incorporates black carbon fiber.
Another change may or may not appeal to you. As it did with the most recent update to the Blueprint irons, PING is dumping its MicroMax
groove technology from the i240. Micromax is a spin maximization technology. It puts narrower grooves on the face, and more of them. The idea is to preserve spin from the rough.
What PING learned, however, is that MicroMax grooves had the reverse effect on the fairway. From there, spin actually went down. That proved to be problematic as Tour pros and better players hit up to 70 percent of their iron shots from the fairway from 150 yards and in. For them, more spin on those shots is better than consistent spin on all shots.
“When they’re in the fairway, they want to maximize spin. That’s what our Tour-favored, slightly wider groove spacing does. It’s now consistent with Blueprint T and Blueprint S.”
PING i240: Specs, price and availability
Like its predecessor, the PING i240 is cast from 431 stainless steel. (For the record, Blueprint T and S are 8620 forged. The i530 has a forged maraging steel face). Like the others, the i240 features PING’s Hydropearl 2.0 finish for peak performance in wet conditions.
The i240 will be available in 3-iron through pitching wedge plus a gap wedge (PING calls it a UW for utility wedge). It will be available in all 10 of PING’s color-coded lie angles in left- and right-handed models.
PING is also making a change in the stock steel shaft. The i230 came with the Dynamic Gold 105. The new PING i240 will feature the slightly heavier Nippon NS Pro Modus3 115. Nippon touts the 115 as a slightly lower launching, slightly lower spinning and ever-so-slightly heavier version of its popular Pro Modus3 105.
The PING Alta CB Blue is the stock graphite offering. As usual, PING has an extensive line of optional stock shafts.
The Golf Pride 360 Tour Velvet is the stock grip.
The PING i240 lists at $217 per club in steel and $232 per club in graphite.
Fitting opportunities and presale start today. The new irons will hit retail shelves July 17.
For more information, visit the PING website.
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