The Ping Anser irons are the second version of the forged Anser iron that was introduced in 2010. The 2012 Anser iron is also forged and the feel is still very good.
The head features a new design with a hollow sole and a progressive stablising bar that changes as you go through the set. It looks pretty good and the trajectory from all the irons is great. It is very easy to hit all the irons and thankfully the progressively smaller club heads are still are good size as you reach the short irons, unlike Ping sets of the past.
Ping say the forgiveness from the Anser Forged is a little less than the Ping i20, but more than the Ping S56 and we would go along with that.
Certainly when comparing the Anser and i20 iron together on the range, the i20 did seem easier to hit and had a slightly higher trajectory. This could also be because standard steel shaft is the Project X Rifle shaft and this is a bit more work than the CFS from the i20s.There is also fractionally less offset than the i20's so if you are low single figures you may prefer the look of the Anser irons.
You may not prefer the price which is double that for a set of i20 irons and really there is not much difference in performance, hence the loss of a star. Not surprisingly, Ping don't expect to sell many of these sets in the UK as they are aimed at more premium markets on the Continent and the Far East.
However if you have more wedge than you know what to do with and want a quality Ping forging then you won't be disappointed.
Overall Rating - 4 stars: