The Big Review – Mizuno MP-62 Irons
Ask any serious golfer what they think of Mizuno irons and you will more than likely
get some variation of this: Top quality forged irons with buttery soft feel'. In the years before big money contracts, Mizuno dominated the major Tours in iron usage with its MP range of irons. The MP-14, MP-29 and MP-33 are all rightly heralded as classic muscleback blades and the more recent award winning MP-32 with its cut muscle technology has proved a huge success.
Mizuno say that they only release new equipment when they are happy that they have something that is an improvement on its predecessor. For them to be releasing 4 irons sets at once indicates that some serious work has been going on in the offices of the Research and Development department. With the MX-100 and MX-200 aimed at the game improvement market and the MP-52 being aimed at the mid to low handicapper, Bag Chatter got to test the newest in Mizuno's long line of better player irons, the
MP-62 irons.
Of all the more recent Mizuno irons, few have been held in higher regard than the MP-33. The classic muscleback blade produced an enviable combination of performance and feel that was adored by the best players in the world. That said, the uptake on Tour of the cavity back MP-60 irons showed that even the best players in the world appreciate a little more forgiveness. Mizuno have obviously taken this on-board, combined the principles behind both and created the dual-muscle cavity back that is the MP-62. When testing the prototype irons with Tour players Mizuno taped up the back of the club so that the players could not tell whether they were playing blades or cavity backs the MP-62 is the result of the iron that dominated the players preferred choice.
The
MP-62 irons is described as a Dual Muscle by Mizuno. Unlike a simple muscleback blade where the muscle section is straight across the back, the muscleback on the MP-62 is separated across both the cavity and the perimeter. Unlike many of the recent Mizuno irons, there is no sign of the cut-muscle technology that made the MP-32 so stunning. Mizuno go on to describe this iron as a Tour-ready design that came out from numerous prototypes from the Tour workshop. With minimal offset, a centrally located center of gravity and the same sole grind as one of the finest iron strikers in the game, Luke Donald, this is a club aimed at the better player one who does not need any help controlling their shot pattern but instead is looking to work the ball, both left and right and high and low.
Appearance
An exceptionally handsome set of irons. With the small face and double nickel chrome plated finish at address the MP-62 is almost impossible to distinguish from a blade. The long irons have a classic box toe and sit tight behind the ball with a small but reassuring amount of offset. With the shorter irons the high toe is still present which makes aligning the ball very simple and the transition from hosel to face is as unobtrusive as you could wish for and the top line is super sleek. All things considered, this verges into a new iron category the cavity blade, where the club is completely blade like at address but still offers the benefits of a cavity back.
Feel
With the research performed by Mizuno into vibration and frequency analysis where the pitch, volume, length of sound generated by each head was analyzed a clean strike with these delivers a unbelievably pure sensation that is frighteningly addictive. The Grain-Flow forged heads ring like a bell when you flush one out of the middle. The feel is amazingly solid and harks back far more to the MP-33 than the MP-32 or MP-60 that this iron replaces in the Mizuno line-up. Combined with that trademark buttery soft feel that all Mizuno's have and you have 8 pieces of heaven.
Thins and shots missed towards the toe or heel are dealt with surprisingly well for such a blade-like club with little or no unwanted vibration, but hit this club too high on the clubface and you are well and truly told that you got it wrong.
Performance
While it is clearly a cavity back, the amount of perimeter weighting is fairly small so while it is more forgiving than a pure blade like the MP-67 or MP-33, it is closer to them than a cavity back like the MP-52. With the minimal offset and the sheer mass of the dual muscle behind the ball, you would expect the ball flight to be mid-low and you are not disappointed. The natural ball flight of this club is one that will pierce through any wind, resisting ballooning or any tendency to be blown off-course. The marketing info contained the phrase "Neutral left / right shotmaker's bias" which has confused some people into thinking that there is a bias towards playing a fade. This is incorrect as just a few shots will show you that there is no shot bias and that what the marketing blurb is saying is that the neutral COG allows you to move the ball both left and right with equal ease. The same few shots will also show you that these are definitely shape makers clubs. These are a paper-width less workable than the MP-67 blades but only a paper-width but the cavity and peripheral weighting makes them far more forgiving in comparison.
As mentioned earlier, the shape of the sole is directly taken from Luke Donald's personal grind having both a rolling leading edge and a rolled trailing edge to ensure consistent turf interaction and has an aggressive camber from back to front and from heel to toe, allowing both diggers and pickers to play their natural shots.
Distance is also very good and in combination with the Project X shafts fitted in the review set we were able to really get the ball out there with very little extra effort. This excellent distance was not at the expense of any consistency as the dual muscle setup really came into its own when flag hunting. If you put the same swing on the club, you are able to predict exactly what the ball is going to do: shot height, shape and spin levels are all served on a plate and it's just a question of what you want to do.
Conclusion
Everything about the
MP-62 irons is 5-10% better than I expected, and I expected them to be seriously good. Mizuno's determination to only release clubs when they feel they are improvements on what came before has paid off and the high level of customization and the wide array of shaft options mean there is no excuse for not getting the setup that is just right for you. While these are aimed at the better player, the dual muscle weighting makes these more accessible than a blade for almost exactly the same incredible level of performance but it does take a consistent iron player to get the most out of these. Mizuno's stated aim for these clubs was to produce a Tour ready golf club and they absolutely have succeeded. Fans of blades and Mizuno irons in general will love these and I'm sure that they will also gather a few converts along the way.
Mizuno at their absolute best.
The Big Review Mizuno MP-62 Irons
By: manning
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