In the game of golf you will hear people refer to the “Golf Gods” quite frequently. It is usually on the course and normally shortly after a player does something good (the Golf Gods were with them) or something bad (the Golf Gods were against them). When it comes to the world of writing equipment reviews the phrase really has no reason to come up ever, until a few weeks ago when a package arrived for The Hackers Paradise to review. Seeing the label made me smile from ear to ear. You see, the name Miura is synonymous with excellence in the realm of golf equipment and when I saw that this package came from them, I simply sat up and said “The Golf Gods are with me today”.
For the past 47 years Katsuhiro Miura has been on a journey. The journey in the pursuit of making golf club perfection. With the exception of the internet talk, most golfers outside of Japan have never heard of Miura. You see, Miura doesn’t sponsor players on the PGA Tour, instead the players pay to use these excellent forged clubs.
Inspired by the eye of touring professionals, the Miura wedge boasts a clean, classic shape. Using his own coin forging process, Miura has produced a forged wedge series with incredible feel. Miura’s forging techniques rearrange the molecular structure of the mild steel in a pattern that is uniform throughout the hitting area of the club in a manner that is unique to his clubs. This tightness in the grain structure of the metal is what gives Miura made clubs the controlled, soft feel that other manufacturers cannot achieve. Miura also uses a proprietary “spin welding” process to produce the industries most consistent hosel. This unique procedure ensures that the bore depths and hosel heights are identical on every Miura made head and the shaft of every club will be perfectly centered. Minimal offset allows tremendous versatility on all shots around the green. A rolled leading edge gives the player the confidence to be aggressive on full shots.
But technical stuff aside, THP was thrilled that we were about to get the opportunity to take a Miura wedge out for a test drive. We did this test over 2 days and 12 golfers. All of our test subjects were completely different. They ranged in handicap from scratch to 30. Most of them had never heard of Miura golf equipment, so it made the testing very unique. You see most of the time when testing clubs, people have a preconceived notion of how the club is supposed to play or feel based on brand name or marketing. With this club we had no such problems and looked forward to the outcome.
Day one consisted of five golfers hitting the wedge on the range. Each golfer was alternating between the Miura wedge and a wedge of their choosing. These golfers were mostly scratch players and three of the five players had never heard of this company. After the completion of the first day here was the general consensus.
1. The club is incredibly light weight in comparison to what they are used to.
2. The feel of the club head was like nothing any of the testers had ever used.
3. Not sure if the club would produce as much spin as some of the other wedges on the market right now such as Titleist, Cleveland, and Nickent.
4. Would put it in their bag in a second.
5. Where can I buy one.
Day two was a different type of day. We had seven golfers there and none of them had ever heard of this line of clubs before. Also, all of these players had a handicap of above 12, so it was a different type of testing as well. Each of the golfers alternated hitting balls between their current wedge and this wedge. Five balls with each wedge then switching. After the review we were suprised by the results. Here are some of the thoughts.
1. The club felt too light and I was not getting through the ball.
2. The head is not forgiving at all.
3. Its so nice to look at, but it does not work as well as my wedges.
4. Best wedge I have ever felt but the shaft is too light for me.
Overall, what did we learn? We learned that this club is one of the finest looking clubs we have ever come across. We also learned that for better players the feel is like nothing we have ever felt before. The club and your body become one and the forging process that they use, clearly is different than the forged clubs we are used to playing. For beginners or high handicappers this club is not really for you. But for that low handicapper that wants to have that edge on their short game, this club might be the right choice. Miura has developed something very special here and although not for everybody, it is a wedge that many will get a great joy in using. For more information on Miura or to find out where the Miura dealers are in your area check them out at Miura Golf.
Till Next time
Josh B.
