i20 irons

Aesthetics

1) Address view: the look at address leans more towards the compact S56 irons than the forgiving G20 set. This look, combined with added forgiveness, means that they will appeal to a wide range of golfers.

2) Shelf appeal: Ping irons don't normally feature a ferrule, but these do and, combined with the black and silver cavity, this creates a classy look. The visuals will attract the attention of those who might not normally opt for Ping.

Components

3) Stock shafts: CFS is Ping's new steel shaft, which stands for control, feel and stability. It is designed to create an even flow of energy from the club to the hands.

4) Grip: Ping offers a variety of grip sizes and styles to fit different hand sizes and texture preferences. The Ping ID8 comes as standard though and is excellent.

Technology

5) Internal: the face has been made thicker than previous versions to improve distance control and offer a solid feel. This is helped by stabilising bars behind the face.

6) External: a custom-tuning port sits behind the face of each iron to control the launch conditions. This is combined with a tungsten toe weight to aid forgiveness. ?

Performance

7) Feel: these do create a slightly different sound - and therefore feel - compared to forged clubs at a similar price point, but not in a particularly bad way. The feel is solid rather than soft, but extremely consistent.

8) Flight: The progressive nature of the set means the ball flight is excellent throughout. The longer clubs fly noticeably higher than the S56 offerings, but short clubs show no sign of ballooning.

9) Distance control: the technology in the head helps to create an impressively straight ball flight throughout, which plays a big part in producing consistent distances. Anyone wanting to shape shots would prefer the S56 heads, but the majority of people will see consistently straight hitting as a positive.

10) Forgiveness: anyone who normally plays a blade or shallow cavity like the S56 iron will find the soles of these quite thick. Anyone else will appreciate the forgiveness on offer for an iron with a compact look at address.