Beakbryce

as promised, a couple of pics of the 4 hybrid. It's a little hard to tell but the Mizuno is considerably smaller than the Callaway BB 19. I really like the look and shape and a smaller size doesn't bother me at all. Although these aren't actual hits with numbers, I have swung it on my mat and it is a pretty sweet swinging club. I can't wait to hit it. For review, this is the STZ 230 4 hybrid with a LINQ hybrid 75 F3 shaft. The standard setting is 22 degrees and it has the Mizuno adjustable settings in the hosel. Unlike the tests for the driver and 3 wood where I would like them to be longer and straighter than my current clubs, I am looking for a specific yardage of 180 yards, dead straight, with a higher window for the flight path. I would also like to be able to choke up and hit it 170 yards. On a whim, in case the good vibrations were the shaft, I looked at the Mizuno website. The have a LINQ shaft for the driver and the 3 wood. The 3 wood LINQ is greyed out so maybe not available right now? I guess the PGA Superstore didn't have those to try which may end up being a shame. Here is something else I found while I was being a bit more thorough on their site. https://mizunogolf.com/us/custom-fit/. They have a seven iron/ measurement tool that can make all kinds of club and shaft suggestions for all their clubs, including drivers. That would have been nice to use.

Are you sure that's not me waiting for other feedback?

4 Hybrid is here. Love the look. Pictures tomorrow. It is considerably smaller than my Callaway BB 19. Took it out back and swung it on my mat. Naturally swinging club. Everything about it feels nice. Can't wait to try it Sunday.

That will be taken care of later next week. In my community for aged folk there will be 2 courses open starting next week so there will be more tee times open later in the day. Going to be plenty hot but the fairways will be dry. Will play the military course as usual 3 times a week early and at least twice a week local. I won't have any problems seeing what the clubs can do under normal playing conditions. Next week due to personal preference and the military closed on Tuesday, will play Sunday, Wednesday and Thursday there. Probably play Friday here. May play Tuesday here as well but the wife has the cart in the morning for her league golf.

080323 I am hoping when I post this that the testers have good news on receiving their clubs. I received notification from UPS that the 4 hybrid is coming tomorrow. I don’t know what to say about these clubs. Driver: examined the face after every shot with the driver today. Dead center hits or just to the toe side. Two drives center hit went 235 and 236. One slight toe side went 233. However, average for all drives was 214, the same as Tuesday. Every shot felt as solid as you can feel with this club but 3 drives went 197, 197, 199. 2 drives actually came back a yard after hitting the ground, so some of the loss of yardage was water in the fairway but some of it was… I don’t know. I only missed one fairway so I cured the problems with having a consistent look when I set up to the ball. Drives had a nice window as far as height. 3 wood: On a whim, set the 3 wood to 17 degrees to see how the ball would flight. Nice window as far as trajectory and one unintended draw with the others very straight. Really felt I was hitting it well. However, again the average was 193 which is less than my Epic 5 wood. Basically, the same average for settings at 15, 16, 17 degrees loft. 17 degrees was the most comfortable feeling setting so far. Club looked good behind the ball. The unintended draw was the 6th time I hit the 3 wood today and I looked up and thought, “where is that going, the others were so straight”? I hit my Epic 4 hybrid twice today, once choked up to hit it 170 which worked and the next hole, 180 yard par 3, landed it on a sprinkler head at 175 yards and it went 190. This is my normal with this club. Well, maybe not hitting the sprinkler head. My next time to play will be Sunday. I am just going to take the Mizuno 4 hybrid out and play it. I might put the driver on upright +1 just to see where the ball goes. I may switch to plus 2 degrees, effectively 11.5, for the back nine. Right now, if I had to play this club in competition I would set it at the stock 9.5 setting, accept the lower ball flight, and hit it straight. It’s the only setting I have absolute confidence in. Going to leave the 3 wood as is. Tuesday I am going to take the Epics out. They have been complaining about the down time and how it was fun to laze around for a couple of weeks but they are bored. Terribly bored. I miss them. Which might be as definitive as I am going to get right now until I make the final summary. I mean, we have a month to six weeks for further testing and regular reporting. Hitting them over that time period may improve the whole picture. I’m hoping the other testers give me some feedback when they receive their clubs for something to try to further wring these clubs out. Next feedback will be Tuesday. Until then, hit them straight and long, lacking that, remember your price per hit improves the more you swing!

I haven't deliberately whacked a ball wide on the toe or heel side as yet. I am trying to find the optimum ball flight before I go to extremes. The unintentional hits to the toe side didn't lose distance or direction. Once I find an optimum shot, I will hit 2 off the tee with one hit way out of center to see what direction and distance loss, if any, is reportable. The club seems to have a physically wide hitting area on the face so my guess is if you are at the extreme end of the face, the shot may be a big miss as well. I don't know how any amount of technology could make a sweet spot as big as this clubface. Might be a chicken or egg thing but if one were to miss this club that far out on the face, my suggestion would be lessons before a new club. I mean, it is that big. I think you may find it is less spinny. That's why the flight is so straight. Well, at least at the stock setting. Not sure why changing the loft made the club a side spin magnet. I hope that was just that one day. The other thing, once I feel I have the best setting for the face, I am going to report after every other play date as I will alternate the Mizunos and the Callaways. I feel my swing is actually improved after working with new clubs which might benefit the Callaways. There is no off season here, I play a lot, and I am not a range rat, so although this may sound odd, one can become satisfied and lazy with the game and forget things like swing hard, try new shots, WORK at the game.

At the stock setting the driver, for me, just wanted to go straight. Hard to miss. The change from my Epic, I tend to work it more in either direction, sometimes with unintentional results. Hard to mess up straight. Point and shoot. It set naturally and I had no problem with lining it up. Didn't really miss a lot unless I played it to far forward which caused to a big pull. The only problem was the low ball flight so I changed the loft. The problem was when I changed the loft. Visually, the club wasn't setting up for me. Tomorrow, the next time I play, I am going to grip with the club head in the air so I can see the leading edge. Should lead to a consistent alignment from which I can than work the club. This is the fun part of the test, experimenting with the options and making things work. BTW, this is the kind of stuff that a fitting doesn't always get to because a fitter will set one up by the numbers which can be perfect on that day but may not be the full value of the club every day.

I agree. There are lots of settings to test. Time and play dates to go. This will go better when all of us are testing the various settings.

08/01/23 Wow, not hitting 110 degrees outside today. Didn’t stop maintenance from watering. There were literally tons of casual water in the usual places, right in the middle of the fairway. Didn’t matter to much as I found out this club isn’t dead straight. To review, I set the driver +1 to 10.5. Overall, I had a better looking flight path as far as height. First three drives were slight push fades. Which was good because left was dead. However, the next driving hole hates push fades of any kind. Barranca city. So moved it up a bit in my stance, rolled the hands a little, and pull hooked it in the next fairway over, about 70 yards left of where I was aiming. Okay then. My perception of the clubhead for open or closed at address was difficult. That’s why I like the logo on the grip to be upright as my final check. However, grip rotated when I changed the loft. I was trying to hit one straight so I would have a guide. Next shot was a baby draw. Decided at that point, it was easier to see a slightly open face and played a 5-10 yard fade until 18. Problem with that was I hit every wet area in the middle of the fairway. On 18, it looked really wet up the right so decided I would try for that baby draw again. Another 60 yard left shot. Way to easy to hook this club at this setting. Additionally, average for all drives was 214 affected by the wet conditions. At this point, if it’s wet I would rather the low ball flight that skids through the water. Still, this is a test, so going to leave it for a few rounds and see if I can work with this loft setting. Baby fade is playable, would be cool to develop a baby draw. Even better to have some dry conditions so the yardage matches the hit. The 3 wood at 15 degrees had basically the same average as at 16 degrees, 193 yards. Little lower flight but better skip. Ball flight was straight.

Ok all you fun loving, 120 mph club head speed swingers, this is for you in another 35 years, and for all of you who don't swing that fast and who's swing now requires a modicum of technology. Have you ever fallen in love with a club after only a few sessions? I do. It's not just an infatuation either, as I keep them for years and years. This was the case with my Callaway Steelheads. I bought them after they appeared on the Callaway pre-owned site based on the fact that they were an updated model of the X-12. I loved my X-12s for years. I love my Steelheads. Then, I got older and suffered through a few years of minor injuries that changed my swing. Irons became harder to hit. I bought hybrids. The end result was, whereas before I had great gapping, I suddenly had a gap between my 7 hybrid and my 8 iron. I needed an iron that went 140-145, another that went 130-135, and another that went 120-125 and that I could choke down on for 110. The 7 hybrid went farther than my 7 iron and the 8 iron had lost some distance and wasn't going but 135. No amount of practice could make that gap reasonable. I tried all kind of configurations, 7,8,9 and 7, 9, PW. Everywhere I turned, a big gap somewhere. What to do? I figured a 2 degree change in loft would go a long way to making things right, especially as newer generations of clubs and technology would also help. So there I was, perusing my preferred site, Callaway pre-owned. But I felt the need to spread my wings so I also looked at Mizuno and Titleist irons because, well, they are reportedly pretty darn good clubs. I had hit both at demo days in the past and liked them. Looking for clubs that were 2 degrees stronger than my 8,9,PW. Saw a lot to choose from. A buddy had recently added a Rogue 3 wood which he loves. Slid on over to the regular Callaway site and noticed the Rogue ST Max irons were going for a bit of a song and dance. Huh, $114 an iron. Brand new. Golly gee whiz, what's their specs? 2 degrees stronger. Another $15 a club buys a graphite shaft. Surely that would help an old guy. Wait, they have a discount for military vets and I have points from previous purchases? Out the door went the whole try, fit, then buy. They arrived in record time. Loved the Callaway look. Little bigger than the steelhead, big top line, hidden cavity. Cool. Range work, nay. I hate the range. Straight to the course. Where I had all kinds of trouble hitting them. What was I thinking? Luckily, I had received a couple of Mizunos for the current Mizuno Long Game test. A driver and 3 wood that required I go to the range and get some test numbers. Took the irons for warm up. Changed my grip and stance a little. Hit a booming PW. Wait, what? That wasn't hard. 2 9 irons and 2 8 irons later, all good. Of course, things aren't that simple. Took another play day to recapture those shots. They have fit right into the gapping I require, and I can step on them occasionally. Latest play day, let's just say I thought I pulled my 9 iron for an uphill 127 yard shot I figured was playing 135, flushed it, and as I was cleaning it, realized I hit the PW... 15 feet short of the pin dead on line. Cool. I have even had a few back up on the green. I guess new grooves really do work for you. Feel wise, I get the random clunk from a groove low, which doesn't matter as there is so much weight down in the bottom of the club, the ball just flies lower but just as far. I can live with that. They have a nice meaty sound. Need to work on getting a little more height. Other than that, in the bag for many years to come. 8,9,PW with Tensei AV Blue shaft. Loft, lie, length, all standard. Get them while they are hot.

I too am looking forward to everyone else receiving their clubs to see if what I am seeing is odd or everyone gets the same results. I am really curious if higher swing speeds brings out more of the clubs potential. The stock shafts seemed kind of limiting so it will be good to see if other shafts change the characteristics of the club. I am still waiting on the 4 hybrid for which I have high hopes. Also, once we are all testing, perhaps the MGS daily email concerning forum topics will include the test so we have more readers with questions. I will be testing the loft change tomorrow. 0600 tee time. Can't wait.

073023 Ok, so this was odd. Thunderstorms last night. Additionally, it’s Sunday so not much maintenance crew and someone must have left the sprinklers off. First and third hole were DRY. Gloryoski. One down wind and the other up wind. Drives were 244 and 264. Ya, it’s fun to play in AZ when it’s dry and hot. FYI, the second hole is a par 3. Unfortunately, the rest of the course was watered so everything was wet again, and the average suffered. It also seemed for a while we were chasing a wind into us on every hole. Two drives on holes into the wind and very wet fairways went less than 200. C’mon man! Driver was again straight and low. Overall average was again 220 yards. Kind of sure what this club was doing at this point. Decided I was not waiting to play with the adjustability feature. On 18, I added a degree of loft from stock 9.5 to 10.5 degrees to fix the low flight. I wanted to do this here so I wouldn’t be hitting it cold on the first tee next time out. Much better window for one shot. Height was about where my Callaway hits. A solid 230 yards, uphill and still dead straight. Expecting some better things going forward. 3 wood average was 194 which is getting better. This included an exquisite cut 3 wood around a tree downhill that went 210. That was fun. Good to see that although the club is very straight, one can still hit a cut. I am going to go back to the stock 15 degrees as it is starting to get hit in and getting higher. We will see what flies better. Sadly, I need to gain 16 yards to feel it’s as good as my current Epic 3 wood. Bonus, our group played in 3 hours. Ok, that’s not unusual. Bigger bonus, found new looking True Soft, Tru Feel, and a speckled Vice Pro that the wife wants to try plus a Srixon for a buddy in the group. I watched the MGS video on how the ball test for 2023 was conducted and in the lightening round the boys universally seemed to be against found balls. Set 6 other balls loose with our catch and release program. BTW, what happens to all the test balls? The Beak Memorial golfing society would accept all nearly new Pro V1 (x) and Vice Pro + balls available. Just saying. Lacking a bonus. Greens were really slow and I missed 7 birdie putts within 10 feet. Short. Dead in the hole. My other buddy in the group made 3 birdies. Yaa. Good on you mate.

Play 07/27/23 If anything, the course had even more water than I have seen in 20+ years. Heat wave is playing crazy with golf courses in the area. Drive distance average for the Mizuno driver was 217. Long drive 230 and short 191. Ball flight again straight. Have made some initial impressions for this club. It’s not hard to hit. Ball goes straight. I did find out a couple of things. I checked the clubhead mid round and was hitting ¼ inch on the toe side. Kind of disconcerting as I hit mostly in the middle of my clubs. Started addressing the ball on the toe side of center and had center hits after that. A review of the yardages didn’t really show a distance advantage for hits right in the center and slightly off center. Kudus to Mizuno, the Cortech Chamber leads to a very large sweet spot and shots still go straight with the off center hits. I’m not sure why lining up center didn’t result in a center hit. Guess it could be a difference how the shaft unloads on the downswing or maybe an optical illusion when lining up. When I got home I decided to measure the club faces. Measuring across the hitting area toe to heel resulted in 4 inches for the Callaway and 4 3/8 inches for the Mizuno. Huh. I went to my putting green and stood behind the clubhead and ball and lined up the Mizuno logo directly behind the center of the ball and then slid around to the address position. Uereka, the ball FOR ME looked to be on the heel side. So somewhat of an optical illusion. Mystery solved. This brings up feel and sound. I didn’t feel the toe hits and I feel everything with my Callaway driver. I know this can be a function of clubhead and shaft or both. I just question why you would build a club shaft combo that has zero feedback. The hit itself is just dull. I can't feel the shaft either. I hope the other testers have a different experience. As for sound, even after the fitting, range work, and the first time playing, I couldn’t remember the sound. Decided that would be a focus for today. Well, the sound is even more muted than the logo. It’s there, just not memorable. Not really a plus or minus for me but I know some people want the feel and sound to reflect their effort. Mizuno irons known for sound and feel so clearly the woods are a work in progress. Still hitting in the 3 wood. One bright spot was a tee shot with the 3 wood that went 215 downhill and dead straight. I absolutely felt like I killed it on a second shot on a par 5 uphill only to measure it at 176. Landing area was doubling as a swimming pool so there was that. I half expected there to be ducks and maybe a turtle in there! I have taken to swinging this daily on my patio hitting mat in an attempt to get the shaft hit in. Later.

Play 07/25/23 Nice and hot for playing conditions. We have a heat wave going in the Phoenix area and the course was soaked. This affected the distances a little bit. There also wasn’t a lot of wind. I played from the tees measuring 6035. The other set of tees we play is 5605. Because of the elevation changes, the courses play longer than the stated yardage. The other info about playing here is we are about 960 ft msl. I have kept some stats over the last couple of weeks. Playing Falcon Dunes, driving distance over 6 rounds with my Callaway Epic was 224 with a long drive of 265, downhill, with a good amount of wind, and a short drive of 196 in to a soaked fairway, uphill, lots of wind into. Average distance on the East course (6147 yards) at Pebble Creek was 220. This course is level and the extremes for drives not as much. Long drive of 235 and short of 207 mostly affected by 10-15 mph winds in the afternoon. I bet everyone reading this can’t wait to get to 70 years old and smash drives! Not. Average drive distance for the Mizuno today was 219.7, effectively also 220! Consistency at its best. Long drive of 237 and short of 190. Drives were straight. My shots included slight pulls, dead straight, slight pushes, all depending on ball position but straight as an arrow. Missed one fairway, remembering again our fairways are generous This was the 190 yard drive that went in to a tree. Overall flight was low. Teed the ball higher but flight stayed lowish. Average 3 wood with my Epic was 210. It’s like a skittish colt though in that is very much an area weapon. I would much rather hit my 5 wood if I am aiming at a target. This 3 wood shines off the tee though and is straight when hit off a tee so it stays in the bag. The Mizuno 3 wood didn’t perform well. Even though I set it at 16 degrees, it isn’t easy to get the club in the air. Still needs a bit of hit in so won’t say much else at this point. Average, based on 4 hits was 190. Ball flight was unerringly straight. I expect more out of this club.

Prior to range testing I wanted to play with the adjustability. One added point for adjustability. Adjusting wrench provided. Options appear to be a 2 degree plus or minus from base setting. I am deducting two points for their adjustable setup for the simple reason that the shaft and therefore the grip is rotated when the loft is changed. Why is this important? If you have a “reminder” grip with a rib down the back, rotating the shaft and grip means the reminder is anywhere but where it should be. This may require grip replacement for any setting other than standard. The Callaway implementation does not require shaft rotation. For testing I am leaving at 9.5 loft but may play with it after a couple of weeks. Range Information I went to Valley Golf Center in Avondale. This is a golf shop and driving range. Valley golf is about 50 years old. I used to come up here when I was stationed in Yuma in the mid 80's as it is a really cool store. If you live in the Phoenix area, you should definitely check this place out. The driving range has Trackman info at every station. https://valleygolfcenteraz.com/ Paul Smith, a PGA Professional, showed me how to set up the trackman data center, which was really nice. He also checked on me once in a while to make sure the testing was going as planned. Everyone I have ever worked with at this store has been most pleasant and informative. Testing conditions were 100 degrees with wind basically into at 5-10 MPH. Pretty ideal. Well, except that that’s too hot to be beating balls. Play in yes, beat balls no. Callaway 3 Wood I only hit 3 balls because this corresponds to real world numbers I have been recording over the past few weeks. Mizuno 3 Wood I hit 5 balls but the first 2 were wonky while I was trying to figure out the best ball placement. These numbers practically the same as my 3 wood. They were better than the fitting session where the highest ball speed with the 3 wood was 117. Callaway Driver I had never put my driver on a trackman so these numbers are interesting. I have been charting my drives on 2 different courses using Titleist AVX and Pro V1X and my average drives were 222. Part of the discrepancy in total yards is probably the wet fairways I play early in the morning when the course is soaked. Mizuno Driver Chucked 5 drives while I worked with tee height and getting the feel of the club. I wish the trackman reported spin. The launch angle in the bay at PGA Superstore during fitting was right at 14.5 with 2400 RPM spin. Probably tee height and range ball difference. For testing purposes tried a couple at 7.5 degrees and a couple at 11.5 degrees, the extreme range of adjustment. As expected, the 7.5 setting resulted in a slice and the 11.5 in a nice draw. That’s the numbers. I question the launch angles as they aren't close to the results at PGA Superstore. Maybe I’m just consistent, but the numbers aren’t remarkably different for either the Callaway VS Mizuno drivers or 3 woods. The Mizuno clubs both went pretty straight with maybe a 5 yard fade on a couple of hits. Deducted a point because they just aren’t workable at this point. Most might say dead straight isn’t really a deterrent though. Based on these tests, I set the 3 wood up at + 1 or 16 degrees and left the driver at the stock 9.5 degrees. I gave the clubs on initial testing also 8 out of 10 points because they were easy to hit dead straight but not workable and the adjustability results in the shaft grip combo not conducive to reminder grips.

INITIAL THOUGHTS Box as you can see was the usual sturdy club shipping box with Mizuno logos. Cool. I am used to opening the long side of the box as I mostly receive Callaway boxes. Unable to do this with the Mizuno box because of an absurd glue job so the clubs were unceremoniously slid out one end. No problems. No glorious picture though. There was a piece of cardboard that kept the clubs separated which was kind of cool. Clubs sheathed in plastic, easily removed. So far so good. Inspecting the clubs, the driver grip was in plastic and both clubheads as well. Found the serial numbers and registered the clubs with Mizuno. Disturbing that you can’t register a club without providing a birthday. Anybody else born on the Marine Corps birthday? Me either, but easy to remember. Deducted a point for the registration process because of this requirement. The driver is bigger looking than I am used to. Didn’t notice it during the fitting, but side by side with my Callaway it looks bigger. The shape I believe would please most everyone. I started with wood woods so I prefer the perfect “D” shape and the Mizuno is a little elongated, more like a closed, sideways “U”. The graphics on the bottom are colorful enough and not distracting. The 3 woods look virtually the same. I’m super impressed with the look. Aiming cues. I know preferences for an aiming cue are all over the map. I like the bold arrow on the Callaway. The Mizuno has its logo on the top of the club but it is severely muted. It’s as if they wanted to please everyone. Look, if you want an aiming aid there it is, but if you don’t want one, it’s so light you won’t even notice. I’m deducting a point because I feel this is worthy of change. Mizuno is trying to break into the wood category so put it out there! Color, snazzy graphics! Shafts are both Mitsubishi Kai’li and are very colorful. I liked the blue and white coloring. Both clubs came with a Lamkin Universal 2021 grip. I couldn’t find it on their website but visually it looks like the ST+2 hybrid 360. Time will tell how it holds up in 100 degree + heat. I give the clubs 8 out of 10 because of the registration problem, the logo is dull, and there is nothing to distinguish their look from other drivers and 3 woods.

Arrived! Nice box. Watching the Open so... all I can do to contain myself until later.

Just walked in from golf with the message that a parcel from Mizuno arriving today. Looks like it's on!

Rather walk than ride. However, like a lot of others on this topic, I live in AZ and I am not walking in the heat. For exercising in the summer just as soon jump on my bike. Besides, get 2.5 to 3 miles walking even when riding. It,s not like you have to park next to a tee or green. Give it some space and you can still get in some steps.

Best clubs for most folk is what could be reliably played for years. So I will start with Ping Eye 2. I also had 1-PW with a Wilson R-90 sand wedge. At the time I didn't test any club set as reliable as that set. I played those clubs for 15 years. What changed my mind? Callaway X-12 and then Steelheads that were an updated version of the X-12. Wood wise, I hit a lot of buddies woods when I started but my set of Palmer Precision woods were as good as I could afford. I ruined them. A buddy, burgeoning club maker, said he would put in the "new" technology fiberglass shaft and if I didn't like them, he would put the steel shafts back in. Hated them. Went back in a week but he had already sold the iron shafts with some Golfsmith heads to someone else... It didn't end well. I really liked my GBB original wood set. My wife got them for me as a retirement present when I left the Marines. Now I can't imagine anything better than my Epic driver. I have hit the Stealth and wasn't enamored with it. Going to test the Mizuno offering pretty soon so will see if they can replace what I have. Putters. I really regret letting my Bullseye putter go. I am sure there is nothing about it that matches today's putters technology wise, but I had fun hitting puts from both sides. I have hit a lot of clubs at Demo days. The Mizuno and Titleist irons have been universally fun to hit.

I like listening to C&W. If I am out with the wife playing and we run out of things to talk about, will tune to the local C&W station on my radio. That being said, in my regular group, one player hates music on the course. I don't even take the radio. Life's to short to worry about trivial stuff.

Not sure why I haven't seen this before but I am all in. Half a year to complete the cycle. Added myself to the spreadsheet.

That setup sounds like it will result in quite the tussle. It will be interesting to read the comments for both our threads on how new generation Mizunos fair against both old and new generation Callaways. This should be fun.

Here we go. To everyone reading this test, I promise this will be my longest post but felt the need for this preliminary story line. My plan for testing while playing is to get some yardage numbers using my Sky Caddie SX 400. Since this is a 3 club test, I will be able to report straight up if they beat my present clubs. Of course, numbers aren’t the only determining factor, so reports on feel and playability will be judgement issues. Current clubs Woods purchased from Callaway golf pre-owned site in 2018. Hybrid also GCP purchased in 2020. Note these clubs are adjustable which really appeals to the golf nerd in me. I can't overestimate the Epic family line of woods and GBB 2019 hybrids adjustability. Ok, they don’t look new but between tweaking the loft and changing out the shafts, I never expected my game could still be as good as I have ever played at 70 years of age. Driver. GBB Epic, 9 degree. I love this club. Battle tested and not found wanting. Originally, ordered with a regular shaft as I thought I was getting old and needed one. Hated it. Ordered a firm, Hzrdus Project X T800 6.0 shaft from GCP and never looked back. Using the adjustability, have settled on 10 degrees, neutral, with the back weight about in the center. Low to mid trajectory that either skips like a stone on the wet fairways or tumbles down firm fairways. I play a lot in the morning and the courses are soaked. Takes a lot of water to keep grass green when it is 110 degrees or more. 3Wood. GBB Epic, 15 degree. If any club has a chance to be replaced, this might be it. Off the tee, awesome. Needs a great lie to hit off the deck with any hope of success. I took the regular shaft from the driver above, Hzrdus Project X T800 5.5, and stuck it in this 3 wood. Set at 16 degrees, neutral. BTW, I don’t need to hit it off the deck that often as the 3 wood shaft is in my 5 wood and that thing is a monster for me. 4 hybrid. Big Bertha 2019, 21 degrees. UST Mamiya Recoil ZT9 460/F3 shaft. A low flying 180 yard solid club. Set at 22 degrees, neutral. To beat this club, the Mizuno will equal the yardage and fly higher. I can always knock it down. I don’t need it to beat 180 yards as my heaven wood covers above that, 190 to 200 yards. This is what I know so far from the Mizuno web site about the clubs coming. Driver: STRAIGHT, STABLE AND LOW SPINNING. A straight bias driver with great stability on off center hits. Similar in look and character to the previous ST-Z. Boosted by the CORTECH Chamber to be faster from the face, spin less and deliver an incredible, solid sensation at impact. 3 Wood: STRAIGHT, STABLE AND HIGH LAUNCHING. A low spinning, high launching, adjustable fairway wood – developed hand in hand with our tour advisors, yet midsized and playable for all levels. Utilizing a high energy MAS1C steel face boosted by Mizuno’s CORTECH Chamber for exceptional ball speeds and powerful, solid sensation at impact. 4 Hybrid: STRAIGHT, STABLE AND HIGH LAUNCHING. A low spinning, high launching, adjustable hybrid – developed hand in hand with our tour advisors, yet playable for all levels. Utilizing a high energy MAS1C steel face boosted by Mizuno’s CORTECH Chamber for exceptional ball speeds and powerful, solid sensation at impact. A slightly larger, more playable footprint than its predecessor the CLK. The CORTECH Chamber encases a stainless-steel weight with elastomeric TPU, taking stress from the clubface and creating an additional source of energy. At the same time, it locates weight closer to the clubface to reduce spin rates, while contributing to a more solid, powerful sensation at impact. I have hit some Mizuno irons on club testing days here at my community and liked them. Ok, loved them. If I change irons, would test Mizuno and Titleist along with Callaway. My expectation for these clubs is basically the same for everyone testing clubs that are generations and years beyond what I already have, do they have the technology to be better. What would get me to change from my proven companions to these Mizuno clubs? Longer, straighter. I’m pretty ambivalent about sound and feel if longer, straighter happens. The Fitting I have never had a fitting, so wasn't sure what to expect. Traveled to my local PGA Superstore in Glendale AZ, where walk ins were encouraged. Beautiful store. Well stocked. My wife and I shop here for tennis stuff as well as golf. I am not a range rat. So 120 swings later… yup, I was tired. Notes from testing. I worked with Robert, a PGA Professional, who had a lot of history as an instructor, including a ton of actors from the 60’s and 70’s. He mentioned Bob Hope and James Garner, others as well. I could see why he was a pro, very easy to get along with and knew his numbers. I was very confident we would find something that excelled. I really enjoyed my time during the fitting. I hit the driver first and tried several different shafts. Started with a stiff shaft and there were a lot of shots going right. Robert then fit a regular shaft and I hit it well but then we looked at the Mizuno list and it wasn’t a stock shaft. We then tried a stock regular shaft and I really didn’t like it. Ball went nowhere. No feel. Jeez, maybe this test wasn’t going to work. Moved on to the 3 wood and hybrid and was hitting some pretty straight shots. For an old guy, distance was fine for both clubs. Robert wasn’t helping just me and became occupied in another bay. Picked up a driver sitting there with another conforming stiff shaft. I changed my setup, bringing the hands higher and started hitting some pretty good shots. I was well pleased with this last combo. Went with that one for the fitting results. My ball speed was around 120-125 and spin 2400. Launch angle varied a little as the tee height was not what I was accustomed to but the reported angles were in the pocket so figured it would work out with my 4 more yard tee while playing. The launch monitor didn’t indicate clubhead speed but utilizing smash factor of 1.3 to 1.5, that puts the clubhead speed in approximately the 84-91 mph range. The 3 wood was getting up there to 117 ball speed when I hit it well. Wouldn’t mind taking that to the course. Spin rate was also around 2400. The 4 hybrid dialed right in to 180 yards which is what I wanted. I carry 2 other hybrids that are 155 and 165 yards. I can choke up on my current 4 hybrid to hit it 170 or 175 which I hope to duplicate with the Mizuno. Results: Driver: STZ 230 9.5 degree, Kai' li blue 60 stiff 3 wood: 15 degree Kai'li blue 60 regular hybrid: 22 degree Linq 75 regular If you read this far, you will get a kick out of this. The wife asked why I didn’t have a launch monitor! Ah, ya, gotcha. Seeing one in the future. Have my eye on that sweet little new Rapsodo MLM2PRO Mobile Launch Monitor + Golf Simulator. I see myself and the wife on the back porch playing Pebble Beach and Augusta National. Good times.

Sorry to hear that. We will see what the time frame is for receiving the clubs and a report on how they arrive. Stay tuned for those reports. Hopefully the Pings will aid your game.