Golf's Answer Man - Brian Manzella
My best two years of golf were 1994 and 1995.
I had a set of PING EYE 2's. The number one selling club of all-time, at the time. I really loved those irons. They had been my Dad's before he got a tee time to play thew only course better than Augusta. He had shot his career round—an even par 72 on the championship course—with them. They were one degree flat, with a stock ZZ LITE shaft. I hit a little cut back then. I could—and I very often would— take something off of a shot. My favorite yardage was 128 with an 8-iron. I just "breeeezed on it."
Then, after two course-record 59's on a par-68, a pair of 64's on two different harder courses, and too many 66's to remember—and for reasons I can't explain other than the fact I made 4 birdies in a row with a borrowed set of irons—I went an ordered a set of the "borrrowed irons"—PING ISI-K. They had the "sweetspot" way closer to the center of the club. I gave my big brother Chick, Dad's clubs.
So, I went to play in a "tunamint," and I hit the first fairway on a 440 yard hole. I had 195 left. Aimed just left of the green to play my stock cut with a 3-iron. I flushed it. I posed. It went WAY, left. Bogey.
The same thing happen about 27 more times in 36 holes. Within a week I traded the ISI-K's for a set of ISI's—the smaller head.
Less trouble, but same thing.
Panic set in. I traded everything I owned except my video camera, my puppy dog and my car to get a set of IDENTCAL Eye 2's (Note, not EYE 2+'s).
I played very well with these irons for a long while. But, they weren't as good as the original set (more on that in a bit).
The original irons had PERFECT sweetspot positioning. Not just heel-to-toe, but back to front. They were ALL DESIGNED TO FEEL like an 8-iron, so besides the fact that they ALL had the sweetspot in the same spot relative to the shaft centerline, they were also the straightest sloped frequency clubs of all time in a stock set.
The EYE2+'s were good too—but not as good.
But here is the funny part—they weren't the
BEST set PING EYE 2 set ever made. That was the Beryllium Copper EYE 2's (Again, note, not EYE 2+'s).
Here's how it went.
Karsten designed the PING EYE 2's my Dad and I scored all of our great scores with. Then, thanks to Kim Braly and Dave Pelz, the "Featherlite" craze began. Even PING came out with a set, the EZ LITEs. Karsten just too the mold of the EYE 2's and scooped out extra cavity to create a lighter head. He did so without moving the sweetspot, but DID increase the MOI. If the weren't C1 or C2 they'd have been great.
After Calvin Peete and Ray Floyd ruined there games—in their prime—for a brief time trying to figure our why they hit their RAM Featherlies so good on the range but not on the course, the craze died a horrible death, and PING had some expensive molds with no use at all.
Except...Karsten was genius. He knew how good the EZ LITE heads tested, so he searched the factory for a metal that when put in the EZ LITE molds, would weight the same as 17-4 stainless in the EYE 2 molds.
Beryllium Copper.
Karsten had used the alloy in a few rare putters years before, and so the Beryllium Copper EYE 2's were born, and the Beryllium Copper craze followed. The PING BeCu's were so good—especially the L-wedge—that companies figure it was a magic metal.
It did FEEL good, but the reason the PING's were so good was the accident of all time, the EZ LITE heads that would have been scrapped.
Now—you may ask—why didn't I have a set of the Beryllium Copper PING EYE 2's (Once again, note, not EYE 2+'s)?
I did. I loved them.
One day, I was showing Mike Finney how to "float-load." He proceeded to hit a 200 yard six iron with a shag ball and created so much force with the downloading of the shaft and his "accumulators," that the shaft broke in half and the head flew down the practice area.
I would have gotten the club fixed, but I was offered $600 for the irons as is. So, like a dummy, I sold a set that now just the L-wedge is worth that much. I got a set of Accuforms that I don't think I ever shot in the 60's once with. That was 1989.
In 1993 I got a new set of Beryllium Copper EYE 2+'s 'that were good, but not as good. Mike Finney played with an identical set for years.
The whole trick to these great PINGS was the sweetspot, folks trust me, too much toward the toe and the club is unplayable. The Pings have been examined by ever other company, and copied in every way possible. Including by PING. The "best" copy, in my opinion, was the Callaway X-12's. The Taylor Made R7 TP's that I now have are another set that has some EYE @ "in them." But those original sets had a VERSION of the ZZ LITE shaft that is not made anymore.
You see, PING changed the ZZ LITE dozens of time without telling anyone. The originals were the best, and most "straight lined."
Like Don Villavaso always told me, "Babe, if you like dose clubs so much, ya needa COUPLE of "backup" sets. The quality always goes down. That's why I have 100 pair of dese blue seersucker pants..."
One side note—Tom Bartlett HAS a set of the ORIGINAL Beryllium Copper PING EYE 2's (For the last time, note, not EYE 2+'s). He doesn't play with them, but he ain't selling either.
He knows better.
