Equipment

Ping Rapture V2 Hybrid – Review

Published

18 years ago

Nov 16, 2008

R Hetzel

It is very difficult to replace a club in my bag that has been ever so faithful to me for the past two plus years. I know that my hybrid never looked at another golfer with envy. I know that I have eyeballed many a possible new hybrid to replace my faithful until the end, Callaway 3H. I find it amazing that I stuck with her for as long as I did.

You know, I grew tired of her steel core and lusted for a newer, sleeker and avant-garde looking babe to idle away the hours on many a golf course. Being the fickle golfer that I am, I looked at many a new girl, or hybrid. For the time being, I settled on the new Ping Rapture V2 20 degree hybrid. I swear I’ll never date that 3 iron girl again. She just could never be counted upon when you really needed her to take care of your needs. On to my newest love affair, enter the Ping Rapture V2 hybrid. Not only a looker, but a pure performer as well.

According to Ping Golf, they wanted “to ensure forgiving and higher launching results so their engineers relied on the density of a tungsten sole plate in the design of the Rapture V2 Hybrid Series.”

The design features a “sloped crown design and the 112 gram tungsten sole–which represents 48% of the club head’s mass–allows the center of gravity (CG) to be positioned lower and farther back from the face.” The Rapture V2 hybrid’s “larger head profile and longer face increase the moment-of-inertia for improved accuracy and confidence.” All golfers need a lot of both. And me? I’ll take all that I can get. I thought about the Ping G10 hybrid as well, but the Rapture V2 is the one that really caught my eye.

One small thing that I was concerned about was replacing the accuracy of my Callaway Uniflex steel golf shaft. These shafts have always been top- notch performers for a ‘tweener (not regular, yet not stiff) such as myself. No matter how good these steel shafts are, I am always searching for a graphite shaft that I can live with for fairway wood and hybrid shots. Although I really liked the bright green fading into black Ping TFC 939D graphite shaft, I was more worried about what type of ball flight characteristics this Ping graphite shaft would offer me. This Ping shaft offers a very straight and piercing ball flight that really seems to take off and surpasses any expectations that I had for it prior to purchasing it.

I don’t miss my Callaway 3H one tiny bit, not at all. This change is very surprising to me. Why is that? That Callaway hybrid had been in my golf bag for well over two years. This is a lifetime for a club in my bag! It is now relegated to light duty in my back up golf bag. Compared to the Callaway, the ball really takes off with authority when the V2 hybrid comes into contact with the ball. This is quite pleasing, so much so that I ordered the V2 Rapture 3 wood to replace my Cobra Speed LD-F 3 wood, but I digress, that review is in your future. Because this hybrid is 20 degrees (my old hybrid was 21 degrees) I feel like I can ditch my 19 degree Cobra LD-F 5 wood (and not miss out) and add a wedge if I so desire. In the few rounds that I have played with it, it has become my “go to” club and that says a lot. There is nothing more satisfying than reaching for a club without any doubt. If you are in search of a high performing hybrid, why not check out the new Ping Rapture V2 series, you just might be impressed.

Equipment

Slab city on the Korn Ferry Tour — Lead Tape Report

Published

6 hours ago

Jun 10, 2026

Andrew Von Lossow

This week, we have our Tour Photographer, Greg Moore, on the ground at the OccuNet Classic at Tascosa Golf Club in Amarillo, Texas, for the 14th event of the 2026 Korn Ferry Tour season. With that, we see some great things in the Lead Tape Report as we roll into Amarillo.

Joel Thelen

Monday Qualifier, Joel Thelen is in the field this week. He has played on the Korn Ferry Tour for a full season in 2023, and he is back in action this week. A couple of clubs caught my eye this week in his bag.

First off: His trusted Titleist 816 H2 hybrid. This club came out in October of 2015, and it still remains strong in the bag. Also, take a look at this Odyssey White Hot OG 7, putting a capital S in the 7S model. This custom neck has some impressive lean for an arm-lock-style putter. The bottom of the putter is covered in tape for optimal weighting.

Mitchell Meissner

Taking a look at Mitchell Meissner’s bag this week, we have some great lead tape coverage. Top to bottom working from fairway metals, irons, and wedges. We can see on the short irons and wedges that there is tape at the base of the grip, adding a little counterbalance. Along with that, some tape on the short irons and wedges as well. Moving to his putter, he rolls the Odyssey 7 Bird putter. Meissner putts left-handed and strikes the ball right-handed.

Whats in the Bag

Bud Cauley WITB 2026 (June)

Published

6 hours ago

Jun 10, 2026

Will Schube

Bud Cauley had >14 clubs in his bag when photographed prior to the Memorial Tournament.

Driver: Titleist GTS2 (8 degrees)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Black 6 X

3-wood: Titleist GTS3 (15 degrees, B1 SureFit setting)
Shaft: Mitsubishi Chemical Tensei 1K Pro Red 70 TX

7-wood: Titleist GTS3 (21 degrees, D1 SureFit setting)
Shaft: Mitsubishi Chemical Tensei 1K Pro Red 80 TX

Irons: Titleist U505 (3), Titleist 620 MB (4-9)
Shafts: Fujikura Ventus Black HB 8 X, True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue

Wedges: Titleist Vokey Design SM11 (48-10F, 52-12F, 56-14F), WedgeWorks (60-K*)
Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S400

Putters: Scotty Cameron Tour Prototype, Scotty Cameron GOLO 6.3 Prototype

Grips: Golf Pride Tour Velvet Align

Ball: Titleist Pro V1

See more in-hand photos of Bud Cauley’s clubs here.

Equipment

Name every set of irons you’ve owned – GolfWRXers discuss

Published

6 hours ago

Jun 10, 2026

Will Schube

In our forums, one user has offered up a prompt for the true sickos, inviting fellow forum members to share every set of irons they’ve ever owned. As to be expected, this is a lengthy forum topic.

@Lamosteve began:

Can you name every set of irons you’ve owned? Here’s mine

Spalding Dots
Spalding Eclipse
Ram Lazer FX
Lynx Parallax
Mizuno EZ Comp
Ben Hogans
Cleveland CG Red
Taylor Made R9s
PING i20
PING iE1
Taylor Made M6

Our members in the forum have been offering up their own collections. Here are a few posts from the thread, but make sure to check out the entire discussion and have your say at the link below.

macedan: “Started with a hand-me-down Golden Bear set from my brother when I was in high school, never really played more than once a year or got into the game until about summer of 2017. First purchased a set of Cleveland CG4’s (I actually really miss this set sometimes, soft & not terribly large for a GI iron), moved into Nike Vapor Fly’s by the end of the year. Those lasted until spring of 18 when I decided I wanted new, so I traded them in for TM Rbladez. Honestly, although I liked the Rbladez, poor decision on my part, I think this was really about the only time so far that after a week or two I was kicking myself for not staying with what I had. Rbladez stayed with me until late last summer when I switched to P790’s and (knock on wood) I am hoping this will be my longest lasting set.”
JimmyC59: “MacGregor Jack Nicklaus Triple Crown. Palmer The Standard. Still play these.”
jgrzask: “Tommy Armour 845u
Mizuno MP-32
Mizuno MP-33 (2 sets)
Bridgestone J33cb – still own
Srixon i-302 (2 sets) – still own
Tourstage X-Blades – still own
Mizuno Hot Metal – still own
Nike Forged Blades – still own
Titleist 714 AP1 – still own
Cobra Forged SS – still own”

Entire Thread: “Name every set of irons you’ve owned.”