New Product Launch: Mizuno MP-25 and JPX-EZ Irons
There are a couple of ways for a golf manufacturer to add yards to its irons, with one of the easiest being to lengthen the shaft and de-loft the face. You do that and, voila, the ball off of that 7-iron is flying as far as it used to off your 6-iron.
However, that type of club making has always seemed a bit like a cheat at Mizuno Golf. The Japanese club stylists prefer the time-chewing, laborious method of technological improvements. The result is that, during the intervals of innovation, Mizuno tends to get ignored in the commotion over big distances, and is instead more cherished by those in search of the feel of a well-struck iron. But make no mistake; Mizuno irons are the real deal.
The Arrival of Boron
For much of the past decade, Mizuno concentrated its club design around the infusion of boron into the steel used to fashion club heads. Mizuno claims that its boron-blasted steel is 30% lighter than other steel, and yet is no harder a material. The happy result is the same Mizuno feel its golfers have always enjoyed.
Mizuno is the only club manufacturer to use boron. So what is it doing with the compound to result in such a lighter club? First, they make the club faces as thin as possible for maximum responsiveness, and then they push the mass around the perimeters to create a massive sweet spot. There are two new Mizuno irons crafted from the investigations into boron—the MP-25’s for the low-handicapper, and the JPX EZ’s for players who need a little more help from technology.
The Mizuno MP-25 Irons
Designed specifically for better players, Mizuno’s distance iron offers the small club head that is pleasing to the traditional eye, with a compact size and look—something their players have requested with these new products. Crafted with the lightweight 1025 boron mentioned earlier, they also employ Harmonic Impact Technology in each set to deliver corresponding sound frequencies to the exalted Mizuno feel at impact. In other words, good shots feel and sound good, but bad shots do not.
What the player cannot see on the Mizuno MP-25 irons is the “micro-slot” that resides between the ultra-thin faces and the sensuous channel backs. Mizuno engineers discovered that they were able to weld this slot tight on the longer three through six irons, and by doing so achieved seven additional yards of ball flight—the result of a higher launch angle and less spin. Without carving out the back, they were still able to create impressive impact with the Micro Slot, and increase the ball speed up to 3.1 mph faster than with previous models.
To learn more, this full-length video on all of the ins-and-outs of the new MP-25 irons is a must-watch:
The Mizuno JPX-EZ Irons
Launch angle and distance is what the Mizuno JPX EZ irons — the company’s first foray into the game improvement arena — are all about. These irons come ready to play, with big heads and coated with a serious-as-a-heart-attack black gunmetal finish. These are brawny clubs with hefty faces and plenty of forgiveness. The cast clubs have an undercut channel under the topline with a much thinner sole for a flex that borders the line at the USGA limit.
The sole is so thin in fact that the number now has to feature on the iron’s outer toe. If it looks like too much weapon, and less like the traditional clubs you prefer, the JPX EZ line also comes as forged irons rather than cast, which appear a bit leaner and are not offset quite so dramatically. The forged JPX EZ irons also feature the boron steel we mentioned earlier, for lightweight feel without the break in strength.
Check out this video to learn more about the new JPX-EZ irons:
Mizuno promises that the sweet spot on these weapons is as big as you get in golf, delivering maximum forgiveness while still preserving the traditional lofts and length options. All that comfortable room on the club face comes at the expense of the company’s vaunted “feel” at impact. You won’t know if it was a good strike or bad, but chances are good that the golf ball will be flying farther and faster towards the target, and trailing in its wake will be a loud, satisfactory “click.”
With the JPX EZ and the new MP-25, Mizuno no longer needs to worry about criticisms cast on the distance of its irons. These clubs can march it out there with the longest of its brethren, and they didn’t even have to take the “easy way out” with strong lies and lengthened shafts.
The new Mizuno MP-25 and Mizuno JPX-EZ irons are now available.