PHOENIX: Focusing on the needs of highly skilled golfers who rely on pinpoint accuracy, PING introduced the Blueprint today, a forged-blade iron sized and shaped to ensure the workability and confidence required to play with score-lowering precision.

The 8620 carbon steel iron is available for pre-order and custom fitting at authorized PING golf shops around the world beginning today.

“As the name suggests, we’ve applied a Blueprint approach to the new irons,” said John K. Solheim, PING President. “Every detail is extremely precise and carefully calculated. The resulting design is spectacular in every way for the elite player — performance, feel and looks. It’s a true shot-maker’s iron crafted with precision, and for precision.”

“With that in mind,” Solheim continued, “we know the Blueprint iron isn’t for everyone. We encourage golfers interested in the Blueprint to get fit and compare it to other PING iron designs to find the best solution for their game. To paraphrase the warning sign next to the first tee at Bethpage Black that we saw so often last week during the PGA Championship, ‘The Blueprint is an extremely difficult iron to play, which we recommend only for highly skilled golfers.’ ”

Workability, versatility

Fully forged from 8620 carbon steel, the Blueprint’s small blade design appeals to the player who puts a premium on workability and trajectory control. Shorter blade lengths, less offset and narrow sole widths optimized to perform in all conditions give elite players an iron to attack any pin with confidence. A machined tungsten toe screw increases the MOI for additional forgiveness and combines with an internal heel weight to provide precise swing-weight tuning.

“I put them in play immediately once they arrived,” said PING pro Tony Finau, the 15th–ranked player in the world. “They’re workable, incredibly versatile and feel great. There isn’t a single shot I can’t hit with them, which gives me a lot of confidence in pressure situations. The look at address is also perfect; the size and shape really fit my eye.”

Tour inspired, Tour validated

Based on requests from several PING professionals for a blade-style iron sized and shaped to deliver more control and workability, PING’s engineering team took a scientific, methodical approach to the development and design of the Blueprint iron. Through on-course observation sessions and conversations with the players about the shots they rely on to excel in competition, the engineers began the prototyping process to apply their learnings and gather additional feedback. After extensive in-house research with varying head sizes, the findings revealed the theory of “aim small, miss small” was validated by many of the highly skilled players in the test, who produced tighter stat areas when hitting the more compact head. That design was prototyped in limited quantities and released on tour nine months before the official introduction.

“When we launched it on tour, a few players put it in play immediately and it wasn’t long before we had our first win,” continued Solheim. “Based on a lot of their input, we were able to deliver exactly what they were looking for while expanding our iron offerings into a new category. We’re very pleased with the development process we went through and are looking forward to applying our learnings to future PING products.”

Four-step forging process

A four-step, multi-stage process for the one-piece forging provides very tight dimensional tolerance control within the compact design. The high-strength, 8620 carbon steel increases the iron’s durability, ensuring long-lasting performance and quality. More than 50 steps in the manufacturing process, including machining the face and grooves, are 100% inspected.

Pleasing sound and feel

The choice of 8620 carbon steel combined with a head design that concentrates mass through the impact zone delivers a pleasing sound and feel.

“The feel is amazing,” reports PING pro Louis Oosthuizen, who was the first player to put the new irons in his bag last fall and the first to win with them at the South African Open in December. “I love the feedback I get and how smoothly they go through the turf from any lie. They’re like no other iron I’ve ever hit. The Blueprint’s workability gives me the control to hit all the shots with the precision I need to win tournaments.”

Blueprint Iron Specifications

• Manufacturing process: One-piece, four-step, multi-stage forging
• Materials/finish: 8620 carbon steel, tungsten toe/heel weights, hydropearl 2.0 finish
• Available: 2-9, PW, +- 2° lie angle
• Stock grip: Golf Pride MCC Align Black/White (Std., Mid)
• Optional grips: Golf Pride Tour Velvet 360 in six sizes (Blue -1/16″, Red -1/32″, Aqua -1/64″, White Std., Gold +1/32″, Orange +1/16″); Golf Pride Tour Velvet Cord (upcharge) in two sizes (White Std., Gold +1/32”)
• Arccos Smart Grips: Golf Pride Tour Velvet 360 (upcharge) in two sizes (White Std., Aqua -1/64″)
• Stock shaft options: True Temper Dynamic Gold 120 (S300, X100), PING AWT 2.0 (R, S, X)
• Aftermarket shaft options (no upcharge): True Temper Dynamic Gold 105 (R300, S300), True Temper Dynamic Gold (S300, X100), Project X LZ (5.0, 5.5, 6.0, 6.5), True Temper XP95 (R300, S300), Nippon Pro Modus Tour 105 (S, X), KBS Tour (R, S, S+, X)
• U.S. MSRP: $230 per iron w/steel shaft (stock or aftermarket)