Ping i525 Iron Review

Ping i525 Iron Review

Joel Tadman tests the new i525 iron from Ping out on the golf course

Ping usually works on longer product cycles than most other manufacturers but it made us wait a whopping four years for the replacement of the i500 iron. It occupies the space between the G425 iron and i210 as a hollow, distance-orientated iron in a slimline chassis. In i525 this theme continues but Ping claims that changes inside the head should elevate the distance, forgiveness and feel to new heights.

On first inspection, it would appear not much as changed. Besides a small textured section on the back, which doesn’t do much for me, the shaping and overall look remains similar to i500 - which is no bad thing given the visual appeal of i500 and how it was one of the best golf irons of its time.

Down at address though, the differences become more obvious. There are four more grooves on the face of i525 spaced closer together. This is the same as what we saw on the i59 iron, a change designed to reduce fliers from the rough and produce more consistent spin on long iron shots. The thinner grooves make the white bottom groove harder to spot, arguably making alignment a little more difficult.

The topline is definitely thinner than on i500 and the hitting area looks a fraction larger while the overall shape looks similar. In short, Ping has made subtle changes while maintaining many of the visual elements that made i500 such a popular compact mid-handicap iron.

I first tested both irons and the G425 on the Trackman launch monitor at AF Golf Store in Peterborough and the data hinted that the performance hadn’t moved on a great deal. Ball speed and launch were very similar and the i525 carried one yard further than i500. The i525 did spin around 300 rpm less, although some of this might have been down to the Project X IO shaft.

I then hit shots side by side outdoors and what was immediately obvious was that the i525 did have a more lively, stable feel to it. It didn’t necessarily feel any softer - it still has that metallic tone at impact - but it was a little more energetic than the i500.

Shots flew on a similar trajectory and down at the green, it became apparent that the i525 was a little longer than the i500 versus what the launch monitor told us. In reality, shots with the i525 finished 3-4 yards further up the green than the i500, so that powerful feel seems to convert itself into extra yardage.

There were a couple of slight mishits with i525 that carried further than expected, so it looks like your margin for error has increased slightly with i525 but we are only talking fractions. The problem Ping has is that the bar was set very high with i500, both in terms of looks and performance, but the i525 certainly improves on the areas the i500 struggled with - the feel off the face and forgiveness. The changes aren’t drastic, but i525 immediately becomes a major player in the compact distance iron category alongside the 2021 TaylorMade P790 iron.