As MyGolfSpy’s resident history buff, I’m fascinated by how the various OEMs got to where they are today. The arc of their existence and the products they made (or, for that matter, broke) is an endless source of fascination. Often, this story can help explain why one company thrived while another faded into obscurity.
Today, I want to dive into the products that made PING PING and their contemporary counterparts who still PING PING.
If you think when PING it was in its infancy, golf clubs were not being designed by engineers. They were being processedusually by ex-touring pros technically employed by the OEM. MacGregor’s Toney Penna is a prime example.
Karsten Solheim, the engineer who never got his engineering degree, changed everything.
Applying objective analysis, physics, and problem solving, Solheim set a never-ending goal: to make gaming easier and more enjoyable for everyone.
PING can rightfully take credit for inventing or popularizing many of the key technologies that club designers use today. These include perimeter weighing, back cavity design, advanced heat treatment, robot testing, high speed photography, custom assembly and investment casting.
Did you know?
Almost everyone agrees with this PING popular investment casting. However, he was not the first to achieve great commercial success with it. That would be Lynx, whose Master Model iron was the first investment iron to be sold in mass quantities. However, Karsten Solheim’s K series and PING eye irons will soon take over.
Then it came PING 2 eye. It became the best-selling iron ever and made investments that set the industry standard. While PING today offers many forged options, investment casting remains a major part of what it does.
The PING i530 player’s distance iron, for example, features a forged maraging steel face with an investment cast 17-4 stainless steel body. of i530 (i540 coming next month) and its more compact brother, 240share a lot of DNA with the PING Eye 2. Both feature perimeter weighting, are more forgiving than you’d expect, and have low centers of gravity for higher launches.
Karsten learned early on that low CG/high launch irons needed stronger lofts to keep the ball from ballooning. As a byproduct, stronger lofts make the ball go farther.
Who doesn’t like that?
But here’s the key: irons with stronger height spin less. Karsten’s second version of the PING Eye 2 included a unique neck adjustment that increased spin and helped hold the greens better. That DNA remains with PING today in the form of Spinsistence. of i530 (and, we assume, the new i540) features MicroMax grooves. The idea is that more grooves closer together will give more spin. In a player’s distance iron, this is a tremendous help.
Original PING Hoofer
If you’ve been paying attention to MyGolfSpy’s bag testing over the past decade, you know all about Hoofer PING. It has taken top honors in our bag testing seven of the past nine years. In the years of Hoofer did not win (2018 and 2022), came a close second.
But you know that Hoofer back to the late 1980s?
PING released different bags before but Hoofer it was the first PING original, with patent drawings from 1989. It was one of the first bags to use aluminum legs, with a simpler, cleaner and more functional design than the clumsier mechanisms used at the time.
It is no exaggeration to say the original Hoofer it was a big step forward for stay bags. It was the first truly functional, lightweight and reliable golf model. As a result, PING’s bag division eventually grew to be as large as its rubber business.
Today’s Hoofer is a more than worthy successor. The stand mechanism is stable and the weight distribution makes it suitable for carrying or on pushcarts. The Hoofer also features high-quality zippers, 16 well-planned pockets and 11 colors for some green-edged pizzazz.
We don’t have a MyGolfSpy Hall of Fame (maybe we should), but if we did, PING Hoofer would be a candidate on the first ballot.
Driver aerodynamics
Say what you will about PING Turbulators, but don’t doubt for a minute that there is science behind them. The first PING drivers date back to 1968 and, even then, Karsten knew that aerodynamics mattered. However, one problem. He didn’t have a wind tunnel.
So he did what any self-respecting engineer would do: he found another way.
Karsten had his son, Allan, drive their vintage Saab down a deserted highway in the Arizona desert. He then stuck a driver, with a special meter attached, outside the window. After Allan reached 100 mph, Karsten took some readings to measure that driver’s aerodynamics.
Again, say what you will about the Turbulators, but you can’t argue with the performance. PINGs G430 Max 10K ran away and hid from the competition in MyGolfSpy 2024 Testing. To prove the performance was no fluke, she finished a strong second behind Callaway Elyte Triple Diamond in 2025. It is, quite simply, one of the best drivers we have ever tested.
This year’s model, PING G440Khas a tough act to follow. PING says the new version balances 10K MOI combined with high ball speed. That’s not as easy as you might think, and this year’s testing will determine if PING can pull it off.
Of crossings and moving bars
PING has a relatively short history when it comes to utility irons, but it’s still full of good performers. of Crossover PINGlaunched in October 2022, it was the company’s first serious foray into the utility iron market. At the time, PING insisted it was NO a moving iron.
Despite PING’s insistence, MyGolfSpy crowned him The best driving iron of 2023and it wasn’t particularly close. He repeated in 2024, finishing first in distance and accuracy and third in forgiveness.
For some reason, PING decided to overhaul the entire lineup last summer. Instead of insisting that it was NO a moving iron, the company set the new PING iDi it is, in fact, a moving iron. There are no pretensions either. The Di part of the name iDi actually means “moving iron”.
His first trip to the MyGolfSpy test wasn’t as spectacular as that iCrossover. of iDi finished a close second in MyGolfSpy 2025 testing, just behind Title U505. It offered pretty good distance and forgiveness, but fell a little short on accuracy. Therefore, a good fit is a must.
Enseri is in question
Blade Runners may or may not pass, but there’s no debating the impact of their generations PING considers. The story of how Karsten went from a rough sketch on an album sleeve to a working prototype in three days it’s the stuff of legend.
Seriously, click that link. It’s an incredible story.
of of Anser The design patent expired in 1980. For some unknown and borderline inconceivable reason, PING decided not to renew it. Then, it didn’t take long for every company on the planet to come up with their own version. “Zero-torque” me all you want, but Anser remains the most copied player in golf history.
of HOLDS is the OG perimeter shooter and is one of Karsten’s many, many lasting contributions to the game. As such, timeless design remains a staple in PING’s lineup. The newest PING Anser features tungsten toe and heel weighting, a contrasting platinum face and a black hollow section.
of Consider 2 it might be the closest thing to the original Anser with a slightly longer and narrower profile than the current Anser. PING has added thicker versions of the Anser to appeal to the “almost hammer” crowd. of Anser D AND Consider 2D have deeper profiles (hence the “D”) to provide more stability on impact. Anser 2D is Tony Finau’s favorite.
What does any of this mean to you?
I have had some interesting conversations with PING company historian Rob Griffin over the years (yes, PING has an official company historian) and each time I walk away with a new appreciation for Karsten’s contributions.
“He always said his No. 1 goal was to make the game easier to play,” Griffin says. “I never heard him talk about how many clubs we sold or anything like that. His goal was to make the best golf clubs he could and make the game easier and more enjoyable for people.”
We’ve also said before in this space that even if you’re not playing PING clubs, the clubs you are playing have some PING in them. It’s not a stretch to say that Karsten taught the industry how to build a modern golf club. Whether it’s the custom fit concept, perimeter weighting, or driver aerodynamics, even PING competitors trace it to what Karsten was doing.
“Karsten came up using science and mechanical engineering,” Griffin explains. “He just turned the golf industry upside down.”
Anyway, we hope you enjoyed this little experience connecting to PING. It’s an easy climb, considering we’re now in the third generation of Solheim leadership at the company. We can only imagine that the other OEM lines would be just as fascinating.
Let us know what you think.
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