JAugusta

New member
Joined
May 21, 2013
Messages
18
Reaction score
0
Location
Pittsburgh, PA
Handicap
18
Went to Golf Galaxy and came across the Mizuno MP-H4 irons. They had the thicker sole and topline, but were forged. Are these game improvement/players irons that act as a transitional set? They look great, but who are they really geared towards? Has anyone ever gamed these irons? Are they forgiving?

Thanks
 
I have a set. Good looking club. My opinion is that in todays day and age, categories such as game improvement, game enhancement, players, etc are all blurred. The only thing that matters is that one likes the set they are hitting and gets the most their golf swing will allow out of said set.

To answer the question, they are decently forgiving. I love the look of them, but did not fall in love with them if that makes sense.
 
I would call these more of a Game Enhancement set if anything. They are not as forgiving as a G25 or JPX 825. If you miss the center, you will lose distance and you will feel it. The looks would be outstanding if not for a weird lump of gel in the back cavity
 
I play it in a 3 iron in my set and its a beast. Long and easy (IMO) to hit. First 3 iron I have ever owned I could pull and hit with no reservations.
 
Aimed at players who prefer long irons over hybrids, but would still appreciate some help with launch and forgiveness. I don't know how many full sets they'd sell, but they'll probably sell lots of 2, 3 and 4.

By the way, Mizuno make the best product info videos I've seen, bar none.

 
Great clubs, I just bought the 3 and 4 iron to have som forgiveness and lenght to my mp-59 set and they fire lika cannons! Might just go for a 5 iron as well...

And as allways sry for my crappy written english :D
 
I thought I'd put down my thoughts after a number of demo sessions, followed by a few indoor sessions once I got my set. I know this set was released in 2012, but they are still considered a new release and thought my input might help those pondering them.

I went to a fitting a little over a month ago and was essentially curious about being fit into the correct shafts, because in looking in my bag, I realized my shaft flexes and weights were all over the place. In conjunction with that, I have been taking lessons and my ball striking has been improving, so I thought it would be interesting what the fitting would show. I was fit into the MP H4's with the Aerotech Steelfiber i80's. The i95's were also a good fit and my KBS Tour 90's have always felt great, so I didn't hesitate when I saw a set of MP H4's with Nippon 950 shafts in stiff. The deal was so good that if I really didn't get along with the Nippons, I could always get the Steelfibers and switch them out.

At any rate, I did a lot of demoing before deciding to go with the MP H4's. What ended up clinching it for me was how accurate I was with them. I wasn't dead straight and that's not what I mean, but for any club I hit, the balls all landed very close to each other. So I saw a lot of consistency with each club and that was the driving factor. It also helped that the long and mid irons were nice to hit. With the SpeedBlades, the long irons are very easy to hit with a full turn and tempo swing, but I started seeing mis hits if I got after it too much (had regular graphite shafts). I wasn't seeing that with the MP H4's. The progressive design of the irons really appealed to me as well, as I really want a complete iron set in my bag, but haven't found anything that stays easy to hit at the top of the bag like my hybrids.

Looks wise, they are terrific. It's a very clean look, although the top line and club face look a tad bigger to me than what I was playing, but are much sharper than the JPX 825's. The back of the club head sticks out a bit in the longer irons, but not enough to look bulky. They set up very well for me over the ball.

Performance wise, the shaft-head combo feels very good and I have been very impressed so far. The set came with mid size grips, which feels different to me, but with the results I'm seeing, I'm really looking forward to putting better fitting grips on to see how things improve. They feel heavier than they did when I demoed them, which I attribute to the grips for some reason. At any rate, I am seeing very good distance and that consistency with ball flight is definitely there. It didn't take me long to dial in how far I hit each club and it seems to be right on.

There are two things that really stick out for me with these irons. First, this might be the first set where I can get very aggressive with my swing to get more distance or higher trajectory, whereas I haven't been able to do that in the past. But even during my fitting, once I started getting more comfortable swinging the club, I really started to put up real good numbers. That's exciting. For me, that possibly translates into better ball striking. Today at Carnoustie (in the sim), I had a number of tough approach shots over the burns and whatnot, which ramped up the pressure a little. I used to have to tell myself to calm down and put a nice tempo swing on the ball, which usually didn't end well (swing issues among the reasons). But with these, I'm actually able to just focus on a full swing and coming into the ball as hard as I want and got a lot of GIR's.

Second, the ease of using the long irons. These have picked up where the SpeedBlades were going for me, and that is getting rid of (most of) my hybrids. The 5h is one of my favorite clubs, but the 5i is making a strong case for a place in the bag. I'm sure a lot of this is mental, but for me, I like being able to hit the same type of club when getting to the top of the bag. This will be a process, but I have stopped hitting my hybrids altogether just to see how I fare with the long irons. So far, I can't say I'm missing the hybrids all that much.

Finally, the ball flight (at least from what I'm seeing on the simulator) is very nice. High and more often than not I'm seeing a nice draw.


As far as the bad goes, I'm seeing some high/long pulls with the short irons and high/long pushes with the mid and long irons, so that's no bueno. These were mostly near the beginning of the session, so I like to think I just needed to warm up. My swing is to to blame anyways, not the clubs.


I haven't been able to get outside with them yet, but I'm genuinely excited about these irons. This time last year, irons were a very weak part of my game. I've been working hard on improving that and as I understand more about equipment and how it relates to my swing, am beginning to realize what helps me have the best chance of getting good results. These irons seem to be a great fit for me. I actually find them pretty easy to hit, even easier than the JPX Pro's. I kind of initially shrugged these irons off because I assumed every MP iron were for guys much better than me, but I think these can work for a larger class of golfers than what is perceived. To me, I think it's possible many will demo this iron with the stock shaft, which is in stiff and sits around 125 grams. That is a lot of shaft for most folks, so they'll probably take a couple swipes, think it's just like every other MP, and walk away. I know I did. But Mizuno offers a number of other shafts and some lighter options in softer flexes could make these a real performer for a lot of folks. Just ask the sales guy to switch out the stock shaft with another offering to see if it works for you.


I will provide more thoughts once I'm able to get these outside, but at this point I think these irons shouldn't be overlooked.
 
Great write up Philly. I just purchased a set of these from my pops. Coming from G20s it's amazing how easy and forgiving these irons are. I haven't put any range time in with the 3&4 irons but I am hitting the 5-pw just fine and love the increased distance I am seeing (7-10) yards. Plus they are 100x sexier than the Pings lol.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Nice write up Philly.

I have KBS Tour 90s in my 3, 4 and 5 and like them a lot. It seems like this is one of those sets that flew under the radar but actually is a solid performer.
 
My first outside round with these is tomorrow, so I will post more thoughts. But the outside range sessions have been great and I've hit every club well, including the 3i, which is making me really wonder if there's a need for any hybrids in my bag at the moment.

And tequila, Tour 90's in these sound like a great combo. I'm a big fan of that shaft.
 
My first outside round with these is tomorrow, so I will post more thoughts. But the outside range sessions have been great and I've hit every club well, including the 3i, which is making me really wonder if there's a need for any hybrids in my bag at the moment.

And tequila, Tour 90's in these sound like a great combo. I'm a big fan of that shaft.

I dont play any hybrids in my bag. I just have 2-4is and I really enjoy them.
 
Id call them a, "combo set". They are very traditional in the short irons but are more GI in the mid irons. Theyre a great set of irons if you want a forging but dont feel comfortable with traditional mid irons and long irons.
 
My first outside round with these is tomorrow, so I will post more thoughts. But the outside range sessions have been great and I've hit every club well, including the 3i, which is making me really wonder if there's a need for any hybrids in my bag at the moment.

And tequila, Tour 90's in these sound like a great combo. I'm a big fan of that shaft.

How'd it go today??

I played in a base tournament today was not hitting well. It's odd because my pre-round range session was fine. On the course I couldn't hit a solid shot with anything over the 7 iron. Of course it's not the clubs fault, I just couldn't get comfortable out there.



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
How'd it go today??

I played in a base tournament today was not hitting well. It's odd because my pre-round range session was fine. On the course I couldn't hit a solid shot with anything over the 7 iron. Of course it's not the clubs fault, I just couldn't get comfortable out there.



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I'd grade myself a B with the irons. My swing wasn't the one I've grown accustomed to over the months indoors and on on the couple occasions on a driving range mat, but some times you find out more about a club when you don't have your 100% swing. And honestly, I'm thrilled with the misses, as they were mostly if not all loss of distance, but never OB and kept me in play. The majority of the time though, I was able to hit the ball where I wanted and it was extremely windy, so probably better than I'm giving myself credit for.

A few shots that stick out that probably only me are excited about. 2nd hole, second shot, 175 out, 5i to 10 feet. Stayed below the wind just like I wanted. The Eleventh, into the wind, 200 yards out, 4i hit very well, about 190. It might have been the best 4i I've hit during a round. The Eighteenth, it's a par 5, 7i and 8i as the second and third shot into the green, both went exactly where I wanted.

What does all of this mean? I will be keeping the long irons in the bag. More generally, it was a challenging day with the weather, but I liked how I was able to adjust ball flight, essentially landing where I was aiming. I still think these are a lot more forgiving and playable than recognized and I can't wait to get my swing 100% to see what kind of damage I can do. Most importantly, the misses kept me in the holes.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 
I'd grade myself a B with the irons. My swing wasn't the one I've grown accustomed to over the months indoors and on on the couple occasions on a driving range mat, but some times you find out more about a club when you don't have your 100% swing. And honestly, I'm thrilled with the misses, as they were mostly if not all loss of distance, but never OB and kept me in play. The majority of the time though, I was able to hit the ball where I wanted and it was extremely windy, so probably better than I'm giving myself credit for.

A few shots that stick out that probably only me are excited about. 2nd hole, second shot, 175 out, 5i to 10 feet. Stayed below the wind just like I wanted. The Eleventh, into the wind, 200 yards out, 4i hit very well, about 190. It might have been the best 4i I've hit during a round. The Eighteenth, it's a par 5, 7i and 8i as the second and third shot into the green, both went exactly where I wanted.

What does all of this mean? I will be keeping the long irons in the bag. More generally, it was a challenging day with the weather, but I liked how I was able to adjust ball flight, essentially landing where I was aiming. I still think these are a lot more forgiving and playable than recognized and I can't wait to get my swing 100% to see what kind of damage I can do. Most importantly, the misses kept me in the holes.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

So glad to hear about your positive experience. I'm about the opposite as I had a horrible ball striking day and am pondering something a little more forgiving. My 3-6 irons are the weakest part of my game so far this year yet the 7-pw in the MPH4 are so good to me. With a good swing these clubs flat out perform though.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Back
Top