 As you've seen from the intro, this is a real interesting one, well at least I think it is anyway and I can't wait to get and start hitting some of these balls this morning. I've managed to get my hands on a set of pink irons that are 40 years old. Yes, 40 years old. Little bit of refurb gone on, new shaft in, re-gripped. I'm gripping this thing by the way, look at that. Plenty of close-ups, get that in focus. That is Stainless Steel Cast Club made by Ping, first introduced in 1978. The cast on one is the set of irons. Very much a leader as we all know in terms of club head, iron design in particular, the Ping Eye 2 is a massive, massive seller worldwide as we're all aware. These were perimeter weighted cavity back irons from 1978. I know it sounds mad. Have a look at some of these close-ups that I'm throwing up on screen now. Little different in the shape to what we see now. Little sharp around the edges, certainly the height of the toe you can see there. It leads to a very pointy leading edge, very narrow in terms of height down by the heel area. That's underneath the club again is fairly wide, so I suppose, but still narrow top line, but you'd explain this or describe this rather as a very, very compact head. Lofts are interesting on these and what I'm going to do, I'm going to put them up against probably what Ping would claim I suppose their most recent release, the i500. Totally different, a hollow head design, very much all about what technology Ping has introduced into golf clubs right now in 2018. So let's see the differences between the two, so that's the head-to-head I'm going to do. But yeah, if I throw up on screen now, you'll just see the differences in the lofts because what I'm going to do, I'm going to hit a 7 iron, I'm going to hit a 5 iron and we'll see what the differences are in terms of performance wise. But is the differences in the lofts first of all? So as you can see, the more traditional lofts are 35 degrees, 7 iron, 26 degrees in the 5 iron and we've got 24 degrees on the i500 and 30.5 in the i500 on the 7 iron. Quite a bit of difference in terms of loft, but the things we're going to see or things I'm interested in is average golfer, as we all know. Can I hit these things first of all because they look incredibly small and by the modern day how we look and perceive clubs, they're not confidence inspiring because like I said, they're so small sat behind the ball. But what happens when you strike the ball well and hopefully throw a few bad ones in there as well? No doubt, as you know, I'll hit across the club face, no doubt. And I'd be interested to see how these things perform when you don't hit the middle of the face as well. So no more talking because I can't wait to get stuck in. So let's move the camera and get hitting some golf balls. Right, we're going to start proceedings off with the 7 iron of the Karsten 1. I don't know what the name of the set is. The Karsten 1 is what I can read on the back. It's the 7 iron. I'll move into the 5 iron shortly. But like I said, out of dress you can see from 35 degrees of loft, it's got plenty of club face that you see sat behind the ball. The club face in terms of sits a little bit back from the hosel. I like the way it frames the golf ball. I remember the Ping I2 irons did a very similar thing indeed. And like I said, it's an unusual look, that high toe end, if you like. Just really sticks up. But at the shallow end of the club, near the heel, it is very, very narrow indeed. But enough talk. Well, I couldn't go off to a better start. Right on the line, I've got to say, it's not a forwards club obviously. This is a cast cavity stainless steel. The feel out of that was surprising. I'm assuming I got that one out of the middle of the club because of the way that felt. So I'll hit a few more with this. And I've got to say go a big smile on me, because I'm enjoying this this morning. I can't wait to hit some more golf balls. Hit some more with this 7 iron. Moving to the 5 iron of this. And then I'll have a quick break and I'll talk about the difference between the two when we look at the I500 in both those two clubs as well. Let's just before I go into hitting the I500, which I've done quite a bit over the last couple of weeks in both the individual testing and a little bit of a head to head with the P790s. Let's look at the differences between the two when they're sat alongside one another. So don't forget, these are both the 7 irons. You can visibly see the change in loft. There's five degrees difference in terms of loft and they do look like two different clubs. One looks almost like 899 as it would suggest with the difference in loft compared to the other sat down at address. Very much a thicker top line. Very much more, it's this chrome finish as opposed to the dull finish that was on the cast and irons. Oddly enough, and like I said, it's a very personal thing. I like the way that the original Ping iron sat at address to be quite honest with you as well. One looks, you can tell obviously there's a massive difference in one looks like a modern club and the other doesn't. It's as simple as that because of the head shape and design that we have gotten used to looking at. But I have to say, for me, the unique look of the cast and one really sets it apart and on the eye, I prefer the older club. But ultimately with these clubs, we're expecting to see huge differences in performance. Don't forget, this is 40 years of technology now that it's packed into the i500. All the changes that have been made. This is, don't forget, this is a hollow head design. It's a forged face on this club. It's strong and lofted. So we're expected to see big gains in distance, big gains in consistency. And what you'd naturally expect is that the sweet spot on the i500 will be where the difference is really. I think the difference between the two clubs when you hit out the middle or with all clubs in general, not massively different. It's when you're in and around the heel and toe of the club face. Once again, off to a good start, which in terms of strike, I'd rather be hitting a few balls in and around the club face. I'm sure I will do that, maybe not with the 7, but certainly when we get into the 5, I'm sure I'll find plenty of that club face. To see the difference, like I said, when the weaker shots come in, what happens. And I say weaker when the poor strikes from the average golfer come in, what happens to the ball in terms of overall performance then. That's going to be the interesting difference. But yeah, interesting to see what happens in the end of all this. So I'll carry on with this 7 iron and then into the 5 iron on the i500. And then we'll sit down and discuss numbers and I'll tell you my overall thoughts. Back into the office, a little bit of time to look through the numbers and not a great deal of numbers to look through that. It's because it was fairly limited shots that I hit this morning with both clubs. But I've got to say I really enjoyed doing the video. The thing that stood out for me a mile was something that I want to pick up on the next video. Because I also tested, would you believe, a 1 iron from Ping as well from the same sort of period. I really wished that Ping would have kept this iconic design to the current day. Now I assume that changes were made because of whether it was just a change in aesthetics because of what we got used to seeing in terms of a golf club. Whether it was to do with aerodynamics or to do with, like I said, improved performance, I don't know. But the one thing that I noticed was that looking at the club, you know that it's a Ping iron. That's not the same to be said as the current day and I just wish, like I said, that it kept some form of that iconic design. Which they did through the 80s and early 90s but then things started to change and everything now sits on the shelf looking pretty similar. So it's a shame that they didn't carry on with that design but there you go, I'm sure there was reason and logic for it. I think I want to throw the numbers up straight away and we'll have a look. There's no great secrets in here but please wait until the end because I think there's a very valid point to be made out of some of this data that we've got as limited as it is. And I'll get to it at the end of all this. So we'll go through first of all, if I throw the numbers up for the two comparative 7 irons that I hit. For some reason I hit one more shot. I don't need doing groups of three. Which, like I said, is very limited but here's what happened with the 7 iron. So, very, very quickly. 151 carry as opposed to 134 carry. 94 P kite, 105 P kite, 62 spin as opposed to 68 spin and a ball speed of 111 as opposed to a ball speed of 103. Now what you've got to remember straight away is that there's a loft, a strong loft of 30 degrees on the 7 iron as opposed to 35 degrees loft. So in terms of the extra distance, pretty much exactly as you would expect. No surprises there and increased ball speed once again, no surprises. And I think we can purely put that down so if we look at nothing else at this stage. Purely put that down to the difference in loft between the two irons. So once again, hit the 5 iron, minimal shots, but here's the data that we've got for the 5 irons. So again, 172 carry as opposed to 156, 80 P kite as opposed to 98 P kite, spinning very similar, 5000 as opposed to 51. Huge difference in ball speed here at 120 ball speed on the 5 iron on the I 500 and 111 on the cast and one. And there wasn't such a vast difference in the change of lofts here. So in the longer irons we started to see probably better performance, not directly related to loft. So there's arguably different reasons as to why that 5 iron performed that much better than the old 5 iron. And it can look into great detail as to why that would be. My obvious assumption would be is down to the strike, the biggest sweet spot on the I 500. I think it would be something that would come into play. There are definitely faster ball speeds off of the newer clubs across the club face. So there's a number of things that we could look at as potentially why. And I'm going to get to my little analogy very, very shortly. So let's assume that the assessment, the evaluation of the period of time, whatever I said 40 years so that has passed between these two clubs. What did I notice? Well, obviously the biggest difference is the size of the sweet spot, forgiveness I suppose. Increased ball speeds. I mean just the size of the club face itself, I mean there's just so much more club head to make contact with the ball width compared to that very sleek and small design. I think you've got to pay massive tribute like I said to the players of that era because their ball striking must have been far, far superior to what it is now when you consider like I said the size, the technology that's in clubs, the size of the club head. So you can go back to the size of drivers notes going on right now. Then like I said, all I can think back is my God, these must have been some talented golfers who could play around a golf, such a skill ground a golf with an iron of this size. And I really enjoyed it in the ping. I really like the look of it. I love the iconic look. And if I'm honest with you from a field perspective and I pretty much hit the middle of the club as well on these shots that I got here. I didn't really. I did okay to be fair, which like I said, I've no doubt on a cold day, one thinned out the bottom and you'd certainly know about it back into the hands. But as it happened in this performance, it was quite good and the feel that I got, I really enjoyed. If I'm honest with you, I prefer the sound out of the cast and wands than I did out of the ping high five runs, but I'm not going to go into that. But here's the interesting bit for me. That sort of tells the biggest tale about where we're at in terms of technology right now. And I'm going to throw up the figures of the ping cast on one five iron and the ping I 507 iron. Okay, so here they are on the screen in front of you now. And I think this tells a massive tale. First of all, the difference in lofts in these two is the cast and one five iron is lofted at 26 degrees. And the ping I 507 iron is 30 degrees. Okay, so four degrees difference in loft, but look at the performance. 156 carry, 151 carry, 98 peak height, 95 peak height, 51 spin, 62 spin, 111 ball speed, identical. So what is it that those numbers tell us and why is it so? For me, it stands out a mile here as to really show what the modern day technology does and what the difference is in modern day technology. Every time a club is released of late, they are very strong in terms of their loft. And that is often aimed as a criticism in terms of the comments. It's often aimed at manufacturers cheating on us, moving to goal posts. And I understand that logic and I think there's an element. Definitely the ball is definitely going further when you strengthen a loft. That is not disputable, but I think what these two sets of figures show us that it's not just down to the increasing loft that increases better performance overall because what we've seen here is that there's four degrees worth of difference. Don't forget, we're talking about a set of clubs that has a massive timescale in between it. I acknowledge that, so we're looking at extreme cases here, but I think that's where it highlights. 26 degrees loft, 30 degrees loft in the modern day club is producing the same set of numbers as what you would expect to get in terms of performance from a club that was lofted at 26 degrees 30, 40 years ago. What that says to me is there's a little bit more in the modern day club than just strengthening lofts. I hope everyone gets that and it sets the same alarm bell ringing in your head that it does in mine. It tells a tale. Modern golf club technology is more than just about strengthening lofts in terms of their overall performance and I think that clearly shows the difference between the two clubs. From, like I said, a massive period, a massive gap, 40 years time then you would expect some improvements to be made. Like I said, we're going into extremes here to highlight the points, but I think that's what it does with those two sets of numbers. That's a seven out of five iron compared. Not the same lofts, they're not about two lofts being the same. The new club is a lot weaker lofted than the five iron that we're referring to, but performance is almost identical. Right. Have a think about that one. I really enjoyed the test. It really, it did two things looking at it in two ways that kind of like. My overall assessment would be if you're on your game, if you're playing OK, these clubs still would be more than suitable for you to play a decent round of golf with. More than suitable. The downer is, and the difference is, is that in the modern day course of downer, it's reality, it's the way clubs have evolved, that you get away with a lot more, I think, with the modern day set of iron. And I think that's the big thing. The big thing that's changed is the sweet spot. The big thing that's changed is the level of forgiveness that we now get from the modern day club. Stronger lofts, yes, but still maintaining the same launch angle, same spin numbers. And I think that's the kind of how technology has evolved. I won't go on anymore. Anyway, I think I've said quite enough and I hope I got it to make sense because I was struggling there for a bit. But anyway, as ever, thanks for watching. I hope you enjoyed it. I'm going to post a video probably in the next three or four days, which will be me attempting to hit a ping. This is from the Carstin three range of irons. Again, from a similar period, it's going to be a one iron. Can the average golfer get one out of the middle would be great and record some performance. That's going to be an interesting one. And that's going to be up against. We're going to throw in a little bit of a ping crossover again at the modern day version of a driving iron. I suppose from ping and see how that compares. Anyway, I'll keep offering on. I'll see you soon. Thanks for watching. Thumbs up, comments down below and subscribe if you don't already.