Ping i525 Review: Should You Buy It?

Your golf experts: Jordan Fuller & John Marshall.
Updated May 3, 2023. This article was thoroughly audited by multiple golf experts and coaches for its accuracy. You can read more about our rigorous testing protocol here.

Ping’s latest players iron, the i525 set, offers hollow body iron construction that dramatically increased ball speed during our time with the clubs.

In this Ping i525 review, we’ll take a detailed look at why low handicappers and experienced weekend warriors should pay attention to it.

Ping i525 Irons Review

Best Distance Iron for Low Handicappers

Ping i525 review

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Specs

  • Loft: 18°-50°
  • Lie Angle: 60°-64.1°
  • Shaft Length: 35.5”-39.5”
  • Weight: D0/D0.5/D2

Pros

  • Exquisite feel and responsiveness
  • Distance to burn with long irons
  • Impressive spin rate with short irons

Cons

  • Some may dislike the funky Ping look
  • Needs precise striking to utilize

Ping i525 Irons Overview

The new Ping i525 irons, designed primarily for advanced golfers, offers workability, improved ball speed, and exceptional spin in a compact blade-like design.

This top-tier set is worth highlighting several features, but we’d like to focus on four specific details of Ping’s outstanding club collection.

Tungsten Toe Weighting

One of Ping’s little secrets involves including a Tungsten toe weight that anchors the head through impact while balancing the entire hitting area. The improved face deflection allows golfers to dial up more accuracy without losing a yard of distance.

The shaft also has tip weighting to keep the hosel down, even as you take a divot. Instead of burying the toe as you strike the ball, the tip weighting also works hard to balance the face and reduce twisting for more precise shotmaking with a tighter dispersion.

Micromax Grooves

Let’s talk about Ping’s Micromax Grooves included on the face of the i525s.

First, they are precision milled, something you can easily see once you hold the club in your hand. These razor-sharp groove channels can impart some serious spin on the outer layer of the golf ball.

Ping has included four extra grooves on each face than your typical iron. The extra grooves minimize hitting balloon shots with a short iron and maintain consistent ball height with a long iron.

Compact Design

At address, the iron looks compact and tight, providing that clean, reduced offset appearance experienced players love when crafting their shots. The thin topline, another element that Ping enjoys including in their advanced iron collections, accentuates the professional look of the Ping i525 irons.

Ping coated each iron with a hydropearl 2.0 finish that not only looks great but is capable of pushing water away from the surface of the hitting area to ensure dry contact at impact.

Polymer Injected Face

The company has injected a proprietary polymer onto the inside of the face of the Ping i525 irons.

The polymer helps dampen vibration and improve the overall feel and sound as the ball contacts the sweet spot. As a result, the ball feels pure as it comes off the face, even when hitting it toward the toe.

If you want to play your best golf, these four characteristics of the Ping i525 iron offer the top improvements to your game.


In-depth Ping i525 Irons Review

Ping i525 review

Looks

Always offering some of the best-looking golf clubs in the golf industry, Ping does another spectacular job with the i525 irons.

Draped in a silver finish, the Ping i525 iron carries the distinct Ping look with impressive flair. The compact blade of each iron in this set holds the shape of a cavity-backed iron but with Ping’s spin on a forged blade.

Sound & Feel

The company’s club designers have gone out of their way to improve sound and feel with the Ping i525 iron. The thinner maraging steel face offers the most flexible face for a forged iron we’ve ever seen from the company.

With improved sound also comes exceptional responsiveness. During our testing, the i525s delivered an immediate response, letting us know where our ball was headed.

Distance

Not only do the Ping irons here offer outstanding workability, but you’ll find they provide extra distance as well. For advanced iron sets, the Ping i525 still offers high-grade playability, especially when it comes to the long irons in the set.

On full swings, the i525s deliver a low penetrating flight that adds distance on swing after swing. A pleasure to hit, even with the stronger lofts of the short iron, the Ping i515 irons offer impressive all-around length from the fairway or tee box.

Forgiveness

While the i525s certainly need to be evaluated through the lens of a player’s iron, we were pleasantly surprised at how forgiving each iron was in this set.

With minimal offset on the blade, most golfers would expect that they’d need precise shotmaking to maintain distance, but the good designers at Ping have found a way to keep off-center strikes heading toward the target with speed.

Performance

The long and mid irons in the i525 set offer mid-range penetrating flight with lower spin, helping you keep the ball under the wind. If you love hitting stingers, the i525 iron excels offering more distance and forward roll than you’d expect from a blade iron.

The short irons provide exceptional control and distance and are adept at helping you preserve spin from any distance. With these specific irons, the perimeter weighting really helps balance the dynamic face structure through the impact zone.


Ping i525 Iron Alternatives

TaylorMade P790 Irons

Most Accurate Blade Irons for Low Handicappers

TaylorMade P790 4-P/Rh S (Set of 7 total clubs: 4-PW, Right Hand, Stiff Flex)
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Specs

  • Loft: 19°-50°
  • Lie Angle: 60.5°-64°
  • Shaft Length: 35.5”-39”
  • Weight: D2/D3

Pros

  • Excellent forgiveness on off-center strikes
  • High launch with an outstanding exit velocity
  • Amazing feel and minimal vibration

Cons

  • Minimal offset demands precise contact

A favorite of professional golfers and low handicappers alike, the TaylorMade P790 offers a similar alternative to the Ping i525 if you are looking to stay in the blade iron family.

In our time spent on this Ping i525 irons review, we noted several worthwhile features on the P790 that golfers would enjoy. These TaylorMade clubs deliver exceptional distance on full swings. Even from the rough, these clubs do a great job at getting to the ball cleanly.

From the fairway, the contact remains crisp with ideal spin rates to help you stop your shots on the dance floor for more birdies.

TaylorMade takes these hollow body irons and fills the interior chamber with Speedfoam. The urethane foam dampens vibration and maintains a very high level of feel. One of the biggest reasons our testers also loved the P790 set was the delightful feel on each swing.

A terrific option for advanced golfers, the TaylorMade P790 irons win our affection as the top accuracy iron for low handicappers.


Mizuno JPX 921 Hot Metal Irons

Best Distance Iron for Mid Handicappers

Mizuno JPX921 Hot Metal Iron Set 4-GW, Right Hand, Steel Shaft, Regular Flex , Chrome
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Specs

  • Loft: 19°-59°
  • Lie Angle: 60°-63°
  • Shaft Length: 35.25”-38.5”
  • Weight: D2/D3

Pros

  • Extremely fast face delivers plenty of length
  • Clean turf interaction drives the ball high into the air
  • Easy launch with deep, low CG

Cons

  • Not as workable as a blade iron

Mizuno’s amazing iron set, the JPX921 Hot Metal, offers forged construction with a game-improvement design.

Technically, these clubs qualify as game-improvement irons, but they play similarly to players’ irons, such as the Ping i525 irons.

During our time on the range and course with the Mizuno set, we were blown away by how much fun these clubs are to swing.

At impact, the feel and responsiveness golfers crave show themselves with confidence. And the spin rates register toward the higher end of the spectrum, giving golfers a solid amount of spin to work with around the greens.

Our favorite feature of the JPX 921 Hot Metal set is the perimeter weighting. Not only do the longer irons offer balance, but they launch the golf ball with dynamic power.

Ideal for mid handicappers but accessible enough for newly minted single-digit handicappers that struggle to find consistency in their iron game, the Mizuno JPX921 Hot Metal irons are assassins ready to attack the pin.


Frequently Asked Questions

Are the Ping i525 forgiving?

Yes, the Ping i525 iron delivers forgiveness, but probably not how most golfers think. Since these Ping irons are considered “players distance irons,” the compact face doesn’t provide the all-around forgiving nature that players would find in a game-improvement set.

But for advanced golf clubs for low handicappers, the i525 offers incredible forgiveness.

When did the PING i525 irons come out?

The Ping i525 irons were released on March 24, 2022.

These hollow body irons are available in two sets, the first running from 4 iron through a pitching wedge, while the second set makeup runs from a 5 iron through a gap wedge. Golfers can also choose either a Dynamic Golf 105 or Project X IO steel shaft.

Who are the Ping i525 aimed at?

The Ping i525 iron is aimed at the serious player with a single-digit handicap. The 525s showcase features advanced players typically find in blades, including a forged face and a players style blade length.

However, the Ping i525 irons also provide design elements that offer a high launch with elevated ball flight.

More about the Ping i525 iron:

YouTube video


Our Verdict

If you are looking for a sleek, compact players iron that delivers crisp sound, tight shot dispersion, and excellent shot shaping capability, the Ping i525 irons are ideal for your game.

Offering more distance than its competitors, we loved the pleasing sound each Ping iron in this set provided our testers. And we adored the feel of the forged steel face that gave more responsiveness than we were expecting.

From the fairway, these Ping irons delivered the shot-stopping power we were craving with plenty of workability and control.

Overall, the Ping i525 irons are a premium player iron for single-digit handicappers but accessible enough for an experienced mid- handicapper looking to jump into primetime, making them well worth your time and consideration.