what's with the tracer lines on those shots? They would imply that the ball is making almost a mini "s" shape?

The i500 was not a bad iron but IMO completely overshadowed by its competition. The i525 was a big jump forward but from memory had gapping issues The i530 is an incremental improvement. Looks a lot better, but there are problems. Biggest problem is Pings own line up of irons: G730 appears to perform close to identically to the i530s but with even more forgiveness and the i230 is a great choice for "players" (although I still prefer my i210s). The Ping iron line up looks a bit cluttered Of course that is just my opinion and I am not a big fan of the jacked lofts, I understand why they are needed but it doesn't mean I have to like them. If I was changing clubs and wanted a players distance club (hollow bodied or not) I would go P770 or Srixon ZX5 although there are a lot of great clubs in this category - sadly I do not think the i530 really stands out above the competition in a way that the i210s did when they came out or the Blueprint S (pure golf porn!) do now in their respective categories