Mizuno MP-54 Preview

kc720 said:

54s are indeed special. As far as feel goes, it is definitely subjective. But when I compare to another club's "feel" it's definitely "softer." Maybe it's less of a "thwack" sound, less harsh feedback, or some combination of both. But is is definitely perceived by ME as "softer." Again it is subjective and one persons review could very well be different from another's. I find the 54 head in a kbs tour shaft has top notch "feel."

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I agree that this head shape produces a sound that is fantastic. Lots of forgiveness in a reasonably small head. I agree with all of that.

blugold said:

"Buttery soft" is a result of an amazing marketing department putting a name to something that doesn't exist.

Grain flow forging doesn't produce any unique or extraordinary feel that other oems have already created.

It doesn't surprise me that people have bought into it.

But I really like the feel and definitely the sound off of these irons. But I don't buy into the nonsense.

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If it's not the grain flow then what is it. You like the feel and sound not to mention think they are pretty special. What is it that creates those feelings for you?

I took a couple swings with the 6i at GS today. I thought it was a nice looking club. The top line was a bit bigger than I expected considering the player's nature of the club. But that probably speaks to its forgiveness.

Tadashi70 said:

If it's not the grain flow then what is it. You like the feel and sound not to mention think they are pretty special. What is it that creates those feelings for you?

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The shape, weighting, materials, but not the grain flow thing. I hit a mp69, pure blade, and the sound of the mp54 was very similar. But completely different than a Cleveland TT or Speedbladez. I know that a lot of golfers can hear that difference, I could.

I'm going to do some side by side by side testing to look at the feel thing among similar shapes. I'll admit yesterday that my impression was a noticeably lower tone at impact than I've seen in the V2's and 588 CB's. I don't think I ever characterized the CB's as soft. They always had a pretty good crack at impact to me. Definitely have to hit center face though. I thinned one yesterday in the 40° temps and that sucker made my finger go numb.

Hawk said:

I'm going to do some side by side by side testing to look at the feel thing among similar shapes. I'll admit yesterday that my impression was a noticeably lower tone at impact than I've seen in the V2's and 588 CB's. I don't think I ever characterized the CB's as soft. They always had a pretty good crack at impact to me. Definitely have to hit center face though. I thinned one yesterday in the 40° temps and that sucker made my finger go numb.

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I hope the Mizunos treat the old man well today.

blugold said:

This is alway hilarious to me. I don't think Mizunos feel any different or "buttery" than any other iron with a similar shape.

But the MP54s are pretty darn special.

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I have to respectfully disagree with you on that one. Even you said they sound different. Sound is feel, my friend. As for the whole, "grain flow forged" aspect and where its all marketing or not, Ive worked with metal enough to know it does make a difference. Forging it with the grain as opposed to against the grain makes a difference in how the metal reacts and in turn how it vibrates, what sound it makes and how it, "feels".
Ive got a few friends who are mechanical engineers and a while back I commented to them about some of the discussion we've had on here about this issue and they literally laughed when I told them that people think there is no difference from cast to forged. There response was, "are they serious???"

Badger_Golfer said:

I have to respectfully disagree with you on that one. Even you said they sound different. Sound is feel, my friend. As for the whole, "grain flow forged" aspect and where its all marketing or not, Ive worked with metal enough to know it does make a difference. Forging it with the grain as opposed to against the grain makes a difference in how the metal reacts and in turn how it vibrates, what sound it makes and how it, "feels".
Ive got a few friends who are mechanical engineers and a while back I commented to them about some of the discussion we've had on here about this issue and they literally laughed when I told them that people think there is no difference from cast to forged. There response was, "are they serious???"

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I've said that these irons are fantastic. The sound is amazing. The weighting is great. The head feels great.

I will listen to club builders and major OEMs they say that a golfer cannot tell a difference between cast/forged. But that isn't for this thread.

You guys are awesome, but take this to the cast/forged thread

Badger_Golfer said:

I have to respectfully disagree with you on that one. Even you said they sound different. Sound is feel, my friend. As for the whole, "grain flow forged" aspect and where its all marketing or not, Ive worked with metal enough to know it does make a difference. Forging it with the grain as opposed to against the grain makes a difference in how the metal reacts and in turn how it vibrates, what sound it makes and how it, "feels".
Ive got a few friends who are mechanical engineers and a while back I commented to them about some of the discussion we've had on here about this issue and they literally laughed when I told them that people think there is no difference from cast to forged. There response was, "are they serious???"

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I wont litter this thread with more of this talk, but this is laughable and we both know that.

How did the round go, Hawk? How did the clubs treat you?

tequila4kapp said:

How did the round go, Hawk? How did the clubs treat you?

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Very well actually! I'm just starting to gather a few thoughts here to put down.

Hawk said:

Very well actually! I'm just starting to gather a few thoughts here to put down.

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"These irons are awesome.

The End

-Hawkster "

I just wrote the review for you.

Hawk said:

Very well actually! I'm just starting to gather a few thoughts here to put down.

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Cant help but be excited to hear about it. Im definitely a fan so want to hear other opinions

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Played a 'messing around' 9 holes with the boy yesterday and a true 18 hole round today, both on the same course. Conditions were pretty much the same both days.

Probably one of the toughest times of the year to not only play golf, but also to test equipment. It's finally getting cold and it's really hard for me to get going early in the round as I get older. Body just doesn't want to swing and the extra clothing doesn't help. Wind is also picking up. Last two days it's been in the 15-20mph range.

One thing I'll say right off the bat is that irons of this profile don't intimidate me. I've played what I'd consider irons with less forgiveness as a much worse golfer, so no fear when I opened the box. I know some will look at the little number under my name (or next to theirs) and immediately assume these are more than I/they can handle, but they are really just golf clubs. Less forgiving, a little shorter iron for iron - yes, but put a decent swing on them and the ball still flies.

Round today started a little slow, mostly thanks to a spotty tee game, but it came around by the 9th hole and I had a very good back nine, breaking 40 for the first time in a month or so. During the first eight holes, I'm not sure I hit more than a couple decent iron shots and hit a whopping two greens. Contact wasn't bad for the most part, but I was just getting out in front and pull hooking the ball. Back nine hit 5 greens, so actually had a decent day by my standards for GIR. Wish I'd been a little sharper early on, but that's golf.

Feel - It's there and I liked it. I'm not going to get too ahead of myself in terms of comparisons to similar irons I've played, but these do have a very soft feeling at impact. Something that I don't think anybody could deny after hitting them. Audible tone is lower/quieter than others to me. The feedback into the hands in pretty typical of an iron with this profile. Hit the center and you won't feel much of anything, but miss thin or toe side and you'll probably end up with a stinging finger if it's cold out. I had one that just plain hurt yesterday, but keep in mind that it was probably 40° tops with the aforementioned winds. Still, I wouldn't say marginal misses were anything like that.

The Shaft -DG S300's don't get a ton of internet love these days, but I don't have any complaints at this point. I hit the ball plenty high and still was able to get a ball flight that I liked with them. Plenty of stopping power due to trajectory, though I know from seeing Vector numbers (and from seeing the balls final position in relation to its pitch mark) that I'm not getting a lot of spin in the mid irons. Nothing like undesirable roll out, but the numbers don't lie. Spin is pretty low. What I've come to find in the last year or so that I almost prefer that. Increases carry for me and with the high trajectory I can still keep the ball under control after it hits the green.

Accuracy - As I mentioned earlier, the first 8 holes weren't exactly stellar, with some pull hooking going on, but I did have a few nice swings in there that were right on target. For the most part, shot shape was something I could anticipate, with no surprises popping up. Once I got warmed up I started really hitting some nice shots and I'd say that my accuracy was very good. Hit a 160 yard shot to 3 feet, and finished by hitting 5/9 greens on the back. For me, that's very good. That being said, I've seen equally good performance with the irons I've played over the last year, so I won't say I noticed a big difference either way with these in hand. Good swings equal good results and vise-versa.

Distance - Similar in the scoring irons, but as I creeped down the set I did notice some loss. It wasn't huge. Maybe a club in the 5-6 iron range and 1/2 to 1 club in the 7-8 iron. Really, nothing I didn't expect and definitely something I could work with. I liked that the scoring irons were pretty similar. In vector testing, I saw a few mph less ball speed with the MP-54 7 iron compared to the SpeedBlades on good swings.

Ease of Use No issues here. Like I said a couple times, swing good/get good. No issues, even with the longer irons with elevating the ball and I didn't feel outclassed one bit with these in the bag.

Forgiveness -I'm sort of hesitant to say much about forgiveness with the limited time. Obviously, science tells me they'll be less forgiving than what I've played. for the last year. Didn't have any instances where I felt like I would have seen much difference in results today though. I wasn't really missing the center by a bunch today. However, that's all a guess. I'll do some Vector testing on off-center contact over the next couple weeks so I can speak a little more on this. There was definitely a little more dig than slide on two heavy misses I had, with one slight heavy miss still ending up on the green (but 30+ feet short of the flag) and the other bigger heavy miss leaving me with a partial wedge in. That would have been bad news with a forced carry of course.

Workability - I don't move the ball horizontally much, other than my stock right-left shot shape. The only time I really do that is with low shots, which I'll try to hook or slice if I have to (because of tree trouble), but neither came up today. However, to me workability is much more important with controlling ball height, especially this time of year. I have to be able to keep the ball low to even think of hitting certain greens that play into the wind. For the most part, I just clubbed up and swung full today, but there was one hole that I purposely tried to flight the ball lower with a 5 iron into a par 3 just to see if I could do it. Worked like a charm and hit the center of the green. Same thing yesterday with an 8 iron. I'll say right now I haven't really found that I've had much trouble with that shot with any iron, though I know the internet says I should

Low irons vs scoring irons -Just a couple lines to say that I didn't notice much difference (if any) in feel between the cavity irons and the solid muscles. Very consistent between the two iron types, which is nice coming from the RocketBladez, and to a lesser extent, the SpeedBlade.

Final Thoughts - That's about it for now. Nice first impressions. In the end, they are irons. Very pretty irons that feel pretty damn good. Easy enough to use and there to reward the good swings. Distances were a little shorter in the mid/long irons, but scoring irons were basically the same for me. I definitely enjoyed having them in the bag.

Nice writeup Hawk!

"Swing good/get good" might be my new go to.

I love the thoughts Hawk

Hahaha. I need more swing good in my life. It will be interesting to see what a solid day of toe balls will get me.

Hawk said:

Hahaha. I need more swing good in my life. It will be interesting to see what a solid day of toe balls will get me.

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Arthritis.

Hawk said:

The Shaft -DG S300's don't get a ton of internet love these days, but I don't have any complaints at this point. I hit the ball plenty high and still was able to get a ball flight that I liked with them. Plenty of stopping power due to trajectory, though I know from seeing Vector numbers (and from seeing the balls final position in relation to its pitch mark) that I'm not getting a lot of spin in the mid irons. Nothing like undesirable roll out, but the numbers don't lie. Spin is pretty low. What I've come to find in the last year or so that I almost prefer that. Increases carry for me and with the high trajectory I can still keep the ball under control after it hits the green.

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This tells me quite a bit about the heads to be honest, the S300's (OG DG's in general really) are still some of the lowest launching and spinning shafts out there for the vast percentage of amateurs. For you to get a flight you still like out of them tells me the heads are launching the ball really well.

I like hearing this.

I'd still prefer a brushed chrome finish, but hey, its what Mizzy is known for.

Very good stuff Hawkster.

Jman said:

This tells me quite a bit about the heads to be honest, the S300's (OG DG's in general really) are still some of the lowest launching and spinning shafts out there for the vast percentage of amateurs. For you to get a flight you still like out of them tells me the heads are launching the ball really well.

I like hearing this.

I'd still prefer a brushed chrome finish, but hey, its what Mizzy is known for.

Very good stuff Hawkster.

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Really good point Jameson. I would think that my beloved Nippons would be a little problematic with these heads.

Jman said:

This tells me quite a bit about the heads to be honest, the S300's (OG DG's in general really) are still some of the lowest launching and spinning shafts out there for the vast percentage of amateurs. For you to get a flight you still like out of them tells me the heads are launching the ball really well.

I like hearing this.

I'd still prefer a brushed chrome finish, but hey, its what Mizzy is known for.

Very good stuff Hawkster.

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Thank you sir. On the vector I was launching a degree or two higher than the SpeedBlade, but that wasn't a head to head test. Different days.

Hawk said:

Thank you sir. On the vector I was launching a degree or two higher than the SpeedBlade, but that wasn't a head to head test. Different days.

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Its something I'll definitely be interested to see how it holds up as you put these through their paces. One degree or two could pay huge dividends on course, and with S300's in them, that catches my attention super fast.

Great thoughts so far Hawk. Do you find these to dig more than other clubs in this catagory I always think that with a mizuno iron being so upright I may dig myself to china. From you experience is the distance more or less than other irons you have tested from the same catagory.

Thanks.

Hit these a couple weeks and was amazed with how they felt. Every shot I hit was totally acceptable and playable. Love the looks.