Zing

The Zing line begins in 1968, and beeclassifieds.beenews.com has described its design as mallet-style putters offering increased forgiveness and alignment aids, with scalloped edges creating perimeter weighting for forgiveness, per hagginoaks.com. That original head has drawn some of the widest range of opinion in the line. Hagginoaks.com called it a great putter and recommended it for its game improvement capabilities, the feel of the club and its proven track record, while best-putter.com found it to have a somewhat dead feel, a bit like hitting the ball with a plank of wood, with no great sound and instead a dull thud. The Vintage Golfer went further still, ranking the Zing as one of the greatest putters of all time in that reviewer's book.

By 1985 the line moved to the Zing 2, a release the maker's page (as reported by 2ndswing.com) lists with a flare-tip neck, heel/toe weighting, low CG, and stainless steel construction. Best-putter.com described it plainly as a more up-to-date and better version of the legendary Ping Zing, praising its great roll and feel, and chicagogolfguy.com echoed that the roll is so true, noting it feels lighter but does just fine. Best-porter.com's alignment notes point to a much longer line from front to back on the Zing 2, a detail that reviewers tied directly to complaints made about the Original.

That contrast comes into focus with the Ping Zing Original, a release distinguished on this record by a short aimline and a small white notch or tiny notch on the top bar, per best-porter.com, along with a dull brass-colored finish and a head described as wider at toe than heel with a back edge not parallel to the hitting surface. Best-porter.com was blunt about the result, advising against seeking one out due to very light head weight, a short aimline and mediocre roll, and pointing buyers instead toward the steel colored models from the Zing 2 onward. Other reviewers on this record praised the Original for terrific touch on fast greens and a good, verging on excellent roll, alongside its curvy, aesthetically pleasing shape, while still flagging that same dead or dull feel and sound at impact.

The line resurfaces in 2007 with the Ping Redwood Zing, built, per golfmagic.com, with 3003 stainless steel facing (also reported as 303 stainless steel by greenskeeper.org) and a rich black chrome finish per golfbluebook.com, customisable for length, loft and lie and shipped with a plush red and black head cover. Greenskeeper.org called it one of the putters you might try, most likely finding it hard to let go of because of its high quality and craftsmanship, its looks and its balance, a verdict this record's own release rows echo in praise for craftmanship, looks, and balance. Two further editions round out the line on this record, the Karsten 1959 Zing and the Karsten TR Zing, the latter reported by amateurgolf.com at a 350 gram head weight suited to a strong arc stroke, extending the Zing name across six releases without a single settled verdict on how it feels in the hand.