by Alan Alsheimer, Jr. - AmateurGolf.com Player Staff

Ping knew they had something special when Bubba Watson put these irons immediately into the bag. Having played s59s for almost a decade, Watson wasn’t going to switch irons until he truly felt there was a performance advantage to be had.

Now consider how wildly successful the s56 models were - over 35 professional wins - and then take into account that Hunter Mahan, Billy Horschel, Angel Cabrera, Louis Oosthuizen and Miguel Ángel Jiménez all put the s55 irons into the bag as well.

Ping’s s55 irons are a little more forgiving, feel slightly softer and fly a bit further than the s56 stock. The biggest change to the iron design lies is with the CTP (custom tuning port). As with the i25’s, the CTP is made of a new thermoplastic elastomer material that better absorbs vibration at impact. This softens the feel of the 17-4 stainless steel cast, while the larger size of the CTP allows more weight to be moved from the center of the iron out to the perimeter causing a slightly higher (MOI) - a true measure of an iron’s forgiveness.

A tungsten toe weight stabilizes the head at impact on the Ping S55 irons.

At address, they look almost identical to the s56’s, but with PING, who push engineering and improvement with each new set, they found a way to further improve upon the performance of this iron. The longer irons launch higher, faster, but with remarkably low spin. I found each iron added about five yards of carry on trackman testing. To me they didn’t quite feel as soft as the i25’s, but soft enough; Given their technology, performance and workability, any true purist should find themselves leaning towards a “modern blade” that incorporates a lot of game improvement features. They cannot be seen at address, and the bag appeal of the satin “foggy chrome” appearance is striking.

The 17- 4 stainless steel heads offer appealing, confidence-inspiring geometry and a clean cavity design.

Moving down into the scoring clubs you have the look of a compact, traditional iron with thin top lines and a narrower sole that performs from any lie. I would argue that the performance benefits of the s55 greatly outweigh the sound and feel characteristics listed by many top players as important in a true players iron. All said, the s55’s are easily the most forgiving tour-quality iron a golfer can buy. While the i25’s remain in the bag and are incredibly hard to take out, this iron may be the one exception. Ping has built its name and reputation on performance and engineering driven improvements using technology that have converted other brand loyalists for decades.

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