CarstenBF
New member
So, my old Callaway X-16's are starting to show some serious wear, and I've been aching to replace them for a while now. As I've stated on a few occasions in the past I've been close to pulling the trigger on a set of i15's, but the beautiful forged Mizuno's have always been lurking in the back of my mind. I've been trying to tell myself that I don't have the game to play them, given I just started this spring and I play off hcp 35.
Yet I find myself doing price checks on them on a daily basis, so finally I caved in and booked a fitting at the nearest Mizuno fitting centre.
Showed up slightly nervous, as my warm-up range session was less than ideal. Struggled to hit anything below my 8i properly. Luckily the fitter turned out to be a cheerful and confidence inspiring guy. It was with some trepidation that I first told him I was a 35'er and then that I was looking to hit the MP68's.
"A tad ambitious perhaps, but let's give it a go and see what the numbers say", he told me. He did however suggest building a combo set, with 53's in the long irons and 68's from 8i up. Exactly what I had in mind in fact.
Then he pulled out a Nippon N.S Pro 950GH shaft in stiff and put a 53 6i head on it and handed it to me. First impression: Wow! They are truly beautiful. Almost a piece of art. Oh, how I hoped I could hit them properly.
Stepped onto the mat and adressed the ball. "Relax. Don't overthink. Just hit it!", I told myself. Shank! Missed the screen entirely. Yikes!
A few more bad shots, before I got used to the surroundings, and was able to hit some decent shots. Oh boy was I disappointed. After all the post I've read about the legendary Mizuno forged feel, to me they felt harsh and "dead". Way short also. He then taped up the head and had me hit a couple more, and it was quickly obviously that I wasn't making proper contact. Was hitting it much too low on the face near the sole. "No worries", he said. "Try move the ball a couple of inches back in your stance".
Heureka! Flushed the next 10-15 shots. Oh my! I was in love. Proceeded to hit maybe 50 more. Even clocked a 190 yard hit. That's unheard of for me with a 6i. Perhaps a fluke in the machine. A few slight misses here and there, but the vast majority was perfect by my standards. And the few misshits weren't all that bad really. Lost maybe 20-30 yards or so in average. The dispersion was fine as well. Finally I know what all the fuzz is about. I had found my new irons. Not a doubt in my mind.
Was almost disappointed when he asked if we should move on to the 63's. To be honest a had trouble distinguishing between the two, other than it seemed like I lost a little more distance on my misses.
Then onwards to the 68's. While the others we're stunningly beautiful, these were just out of this world. Pictures don't really do them justice. They were way sleeker and smaller than I had imagined, and it was with awe that I adressed the ball. But alas, I was getting tired. Suddenly wacking balls for 40 mins at the range before a 1h fitting session didn't seem like such a good idea. Kept on trying but after maybe 20 balls or so I gave up. Just couldn't make proper contact. Tired or not, I had to admit that blades is perhaps a bit more than I can handle at this point.
The fitter gave me a lot of credit though, and saw no issues with doing a combo set like I described in the beginning of the post. He told me that there were no major issues with my swing, just minor tweaks.
All in all a great day. Finally I know my specs, and shaft of choice. I'm sure the Nippon shaft deserves it's fair share of the credit btw.
While typing this post, I realize that I'm really at a loss trying to describe the subtleties of the irons I hit, considering that I've only owned one set of clubs. I just hope that reading this hasn't been a complete waste of time. Just needed to vent my excitement.
Morale of the story: Don't let anyone, even yourself, tell you what you can or can't play. See something you like? Go try it out!
Sincerely
Carsten
Yet I find myself doing price checks on them on a daily basis, so finally I caved in and booked a fitting at the nearest Mizuno fitting centre.
Showed up slightly nervous, as my warm-up range session was less than ideal. Struggled to hit anything below my 8i properly. Luckily the fitter turned out to be a cheerful and confidence inspiring guy. It was with some trepidation that I first told him I was a 35'er and then that I was looking to hit the MP68's.
"A tad ambitious perhaps, but let's give it a go and see what the numbers say", he told me. He did however suggest building a combo set, with 53's in the long irons and 68's from 8i up. Exactly what I had in mind in fact.
Then he pulled out a Nippon N.S Pro 950GH shaft in stiff and put a 53 6i head on it and handed it to me. First impression: Wow! They are truly beautiful. Almost a piece of art. Oh, how I hoped I could hit them properly.
Stepped onto the mat and adressed the ball. "Relax. Don't overthink. Just hit it!", I told myself. Shank! Missed the screen entirely. Yikes!
A few more bad shots, before I got used to the surroundings, and was able to hit some decent shots. Oh boy was I disappointed. After all the post I've read about the legendary Mizuno forged feel, to me they felt harsh and "dead". Way short also. He then taped up the head and had me hit a couple more, and it was quickly obviously that I wasn't making proper contact. Was hitting it much too low on the face near the sole. "No worries", he said. "Try move the ball a couple of inches back in your stance".
Heureka! Flushed the next 10-15 shots. Oh my! I was in love. Proceeded to hit maybe 50 more. Even clocked a 190 yard hit. That's unheard of for me with a 6i. Perhaps a fluke in the machine. A few slight misses here and there, but the vast majority was perfect by my standards. And the few misshits weren't all that bad really. Lost maybe 20-30 yards or so in average. The dispersion was fine as well. Finally I know what all the fuzz is about. I had found my new irons. Not a doubt in my mind.
Was almost disappointed when he asked if we should move on to the 63's. To be honest a had trouble distinguishing between the two, other than it seemed like I lost a little more distance on my misses.
Then onwards to the 68's. While the others we're stunningly beautiful, these were just out of this world. Pictures don't really do them justice. They were way sleeker and smaller than I had imagined, and it was with awe that I adressed the ball. But alas, I was getting tired. Suddenly wacking balls for 40 mins at the range before a 1h fitting session didn't seem like such a good idea. Kept on trying but after maybe 20 balls or so I gave up. Just couldn't make proper contact. Tired or not, I had to admit that blades is perhaps a bit more than I can handle at this point.
The fitter gave me a lot of credit though, and saw no issues with doing a combo set like I described in the beginning of the post. He told me that there were no major issues with my swing, just minor tweaks.
All in all a great day. Finally I know my specs, and shaft of choice. I'm sure the Nippon shaft deserves it's fair share of the credit btw.
While typing this post, I realize that I'm really at a loss trying to describe the subtleties of the irons I hit, considering that I've only owned one set of clubs. I just hope that reading this hasn't been a complete waste of time. Just needed to vent my excitement.
Morale of the story: Don't let anyone, even yourself, tell you what you can or can't play. See something you like? Go try it out!
Sincerely
Carsten
