Last night's demo day (Callaway, Mizuno, TM, Cleveland)

Jericho

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Last night was the first demo day I've been fortunate enough to experience. I was just going to the range, as I always do on Thursday nights, and was pleasantly surprised by the big Callaway flag at the entrance. I suddenly remembered, "Oh yeah, there's a demo day today lol". I get there and you know the drill, lots of tents, bags of clubs, and people swinging away. The vendors there were Callaway, Mizuno, Taylormade, Cleveland, and Bionic. My first thought was, "of all the days to wear a t-shirt and gym shorts" (I usually wear more golf appropriate clothing but felt like being a bum). Unfortunately the tents were set up to have all the players hit off mats, which i hate, but whatever. I've never hit hit anything really other than my current and previous set so this was going to be a first for me and comparisons will obviously be against my Di11's. So here's what I hit:

Mizuno- Always heard about the buttery stigma so I had to start with Mizuno.

JPX-800 Pro: Grabbed a 7-iron. Hit a bunch and walked away "eh". The ball always went straight but the mishits (toe) left me much shorter than I'm accustomed to (I was comparing my 8-iron to everyone else's 7-iron due to my strong lofts). Wasn't that easy to shape the shots, the ball wanted to go straight. Slight mishits definitely were known in my hands (still awaiting the soft feeling). Walked away from that set thinking it's good looking, goes straight but not worth the price versus what I already have.

JPX Fli-Hi 4 Hybrid: Love it. Easy to draw or hit straight. Great distance, great forgiveness. Love it. Bit on the bulky side from an appearance standpoint but the bulk gives high cappers confidence. I think I liked this much better than my Nike VR and Adams hybrids.

MP-69: Obviously not a club I'd ever normally hit or buy so I thought I'd have some fun and try it out anyway (never hit a blade before btw). Surprisingly enough I hit this thing damn well. Toe hits were 20-30 yards short but I guess I was expecting something much harder to hit. I'm not a big shot shaper with irons but when in Rome. It was amazing how easy it was to draw and fade these things. The feeling of an absolutely flushed shot finally gave me the feeling I was expecting and I promptly had to change my shorts :). Absolutely amazing feeling! I was hitting the ball great so I decided to not come back down to reality yet and stopped while I was ahead.

Cleveland- Love the wedges, and hear great things about the Mashie so I made my way there next

Mashie M3 and M2: The finish was a very dull gray but the performance lives up to the hype. Went far straight and was not too hard to turn over simply by loosening the grip and letting the wrists release. The head was much smaller than the JPX but the finish just turned me off so much. The club flat out performs. After I destroyed the first ball, I had to look at the loft because it had comparable distance to my Nike 18*...it was the M3 20.5*!! The M2...get outta town the thing is long!

Classic Driver 10.5* Stiff: Didn't like it. From the brown head to the knuckleballs I seemed to be hitting. Just not for me.

Callaway

Razr X- Not too much different than the JPX irons. Point and shoot. Not a whole lot of mystery as to where the ball is going to go. Distance was on par, not short but not earth shattering (note: my distance perspective is obviously going to be skewed)

Razr Hawk 9* Stiff: Really wanted to like the driver because of the hype and the aggressive appearance. Truth be told I never hit one good shot with it. My miss is a hook yet I sliced EVERY single shot. The head looked enormous for a 460cc. Promptly put it away. Different strokes...

Taylormade- By now I was starting to get fatigued (and I still had my normal range session to do after) so I only hit the club I was interested in

RBZ 9* Stiff: I know I sound pessimestic but I do NOT see what the hoopla is over this club. Every hit sounded like the head was going to explode...not in a good way. Hit it straighter than the Razr Hawk but that wasn't saying much. Hit probably ten drives and then put it back feeling completely let down.

After the demo I went to the grass and hit my normal clubs. The thing I noticed is that I now understand the difference between player's/blades and GI/SGI. The MP-69 could be worked with the bat of an eyelash. I couldnt get my Di11's to do much other than go straight. I'm not a big iron shaper so thats why I was so shocked to see how easily the Mizuno's could be moved either way. Dont get me wrong, I'm a beginner so I dont ever attempt to shape shots on the course but since I was just practicing and having fun I thought I would.

The biggest difference was my driver versus the ones I tried. The feel, trajectory, sound was all more pleasant to me. Granted I was using the stock shafts in everything but I walked away with the mindset that what I have currently works best for me. The irons on the other hand, I feel like it's almost not a fair comparison because one was hitting off mats and the other was grass. I have turned into a digger so I always lay back because of the whole concrete under the mat thing. I think I'm happy with my current irons and really am only in the market for hybrids to replace my long irons. I thought I wanted the G15's simply to match my driver and future 3W...but holy crap I'm not sure I can say no to the Miz/Cleveland hybrids.

On the way home I really couldnt stop thinking about the MP-69 feeling. Absolutely ridiculous.

Well that was my night

-Chris

 
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Nice write up! Thanks for letting us read your thoughts and I'm glad you found something that you did like and would consider purchasing.
 
Was this at CB Smith/All Golf? If so I'm angry, I called over there earlier in the week and they said there was no demo day this week!
 
Was this at CB Smith/All Golf? If so I'm angry, I called over there earlier in the week and they said there was no demo day this week!

Yup, I completely forgot about it until I was there
 
Thanks for sharing your thought's Jericho. Sounds like your into a serious ponder mode with those Mizzy's.
 
Good writeup. Get the 69's becuase you'll never stop thinking about them. Worst case, you find out they aren't for you and you can sell them at a small loss.
 
At the risk of sounding like a Cleveland homer, the Mashies (for me) are the best golf innovation since I have been playing golf. The ability to play them from any lie and they go a mile is just tremendous. They arent the flashiest looking clubs but their performance more than makes up for it.
 
Nice job. I know what you mean about the feel on Mizuno irons. Really satisfying. Hit everything at least twice. Whatever does best when your swing is off is the way to go if you ask me.
 
Thanks for the insight...if you liked the Mizzies go check out the JPX Pro's or MP 53's - much more forgiving and still have a pretty sweet forged feel. Not as nice as the pure blades, but still nice.
 
Good stuff Jerico. Didn't get a chance to hit the RBZ irons?
 
Good stuff Jerico. Didn't get a chance to hit the RBZ irons?

Unfortunately I didn't hit the RBZ irons. In all honesty, it never crossed my mind. After hitting the MP-69's, suddenly I didn't really want to hit any other irons.

I feel like a mid-high capper, like myself, falling in love with blades is like a nerd falling for the prom queen :( You know you're never going to get her but it doesnt stop you from wanting her.
 
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