Beakbryce

Okay, I just have to ask. People are linking to other people on the forum. On my computer it shows up with the forum name with a brown background. I used to teach computer software like MS Office, figure it has something to do with the link button on the toolbar, but can't make it work. Please someone enlighten me. Old dog needs new trick.

Pretty sure they are following the test so a response as to viability should be forthcoming. If not, we will ask when they indicate we should rap it up. I read their rules and I wasn't planning on selling it. They do suggest an option of sending the clubs to another tester that they had in mind for the original test which I was going to suggest as there is no way I foresee playing this driver. This wouldn't be any different. They might wish totally new testers. But they would still have that option after the switch if the other clubhead doesn't work out.

I'm betting it hasn't ever been done or even suggested. Actually, I was kind of being humorous when I suggested it but what the heck, I'm a gamer. Don't think this is too much of a spoiler alert, I'm certainly not going to play this driver. I'm not sure what their objection would be though other than they may have a self-imposed limit on how long the initial test should go. Ours has already dragged on a bit waiting for club delivery. Pretty sure they just want as complete a test as possible so their decision were we to ask could go either way. However, they did suggest follow up comments every once in awhile if the clubs are kept as gamers so there's that opening. I am going to be playing a lot in September so would have plenty of time to work on additional testing.

Thank you for the clarification. I know, long weekends always require more work, sometimes defeating the purpose. I hope you are able to golf some of the days.

When I had wood woods I played the ball a little further back and hit push draws that ended up where I was aiming. Could swing as hard as I wanted because it would result in a slightly bigger push and slightly higher hook spin. Loved that shot. When I received my Callaway original Big Bertha, I couldn't play it far enough back to not hit it off the planet uncontrollably in either direction so had to redo my swing. Fought a hook for years. Anyway, wondering if the X would result in the same swing. My new Rogue ST irons are working with that old swing. Slightly from the inside resulting in a bit of a push and a bit of draw. I know they are jacked lofts, I hit an 8 iron Tuesday that was at least 10 yards farther than any other 8 iron I have ever hit. Maybe because it is an 8.5 iron compared to my Steelheads? Getting a chuckle out of my buddies' reactions. They are working remarkably well filling the yardage gaps between my Vokeys and my hybrids.

I'm sorry, did you mean it is to easy to turn right to left or left to right? If it is draw biased, it should be right to left as your misses are left. Just making sure.

I agree completely. This club loves to be hit straight and is consistent in yardage. It's a winner. I was getting higher flight until I went with higher loft on my Big Bertha 19 4 hybrid which didn't change my required yardage. Both clubs about the same now in yardage and flight. 180 full on and 170 choked up. The Mizuno is a fun club to hit as the head is smaller, forcing a tighter swing, which has helped my entire game.

We could always swap!

Cool. If your Vanquish shaft is 45.75 to 46" then your test should provide some insight on the swingweight changes with the longer shaft mentioned by Mizuno as a reason they opted for the shorter shaft.

I don't feel like the Lone Ranger anymore...

One last go with the Mizuno clubs. Driver: tried stock on front 9 and plus 2 on back side. Made little difference to yardage. Shots straight enough to play. 211 yard average. 3 wood: finally hit one over 200 yards. 210 downwind but still. Average was dismal at 183. Hit the 4 hybrid 3 times on par 3 170 yards, choked up, which is what it was to the pin. Played from a couple of different tees to make it 170. On a par 5 hit it 179 off a little mound with the ball above my feet. This club is money!

Ya, we left Perth and were headed toward Kenya when they took the hostages. We diverted to head to Iran but then we were told to stand down and make our Mombasa port call. I was in unofficial "hack" in Mombasa and didn't get off the ship which meant that when we once again headed to off Iran, I spent a long time on the ship. Good times. Loved the flying though. After several months we pulled into Cubi and that night the last thing I remember was 6-8 White Russians set up for consumption. We slept that night under the palm trees next to the O'club. I have Recoil shafts in my hybrids, how do you like them in your irons? I just got some new Callaway irons dirt cheap with Tensei shafts and was going to switch them out to the Recoil shafts if they didn't work. So far the Tensei shafts are bang on for me so no need to switch.

There is a good chance that we met. Most of my time on the Midway was 78-80, mostly the hostage taking when the Midway was the first carrier up there. We shared the "Rock" ready room so if he was with them then we were at the least co-located. I live in the Phoenix area. We used to go at least once a year to North Island for vacation but haven't been since Covid. We would spend one day at Miramar golf course.

awesome review. The numbers really help. I have heard of the issues with ios so am holding off until that is reported to be better. The different numbers reported in the various modes would also be a software issue I am sure they are working on.

That's good to know. I was thinking of getting one of these fr my back porch and setting up a simulator. I have an Apple phone. While I have shades on my back porch, I am in AZ and it can get hotter than 90 out back. I appreciate this feedback.

When I moved into my new house in 2016, there were no homes behind me. Also had a golf course view. Note: also! Anyway, I hit birdie balls off my back porch hitting mat until houses showed up after a couple of years. These things are awesome. Prodigal Duffer is right in that they are a pain to pick up. The goal was to hit them as close as possible so that it would minimize steps to pick up. The other question is what do they do to a clubhead? I had Callaway steelheads then and there was absolutely no damage to the club. I hit them every day that I didn't actually play. I had a dozen and while they are pretty chewed up, I never cracked one. They also make a weird noise. Cool but different. I had people walking the empty lots next to my house from the street to the back of my house to investigate the noise! Fun times. I give them a 5/5 because they work in a limited space and do show ball flight. While they are a pain to pick up, it's just more steps that we all need every day!

You might want to look at this club or search for low spin options in the driver test reported on MGS. The Mizuno is plenty low spin and at your reported 105, it should help.

Asked for and accomplished. Took both drivers out and hit both off of each tee. Conditions were: temp 108 high, mid 20's humidity, wind 15 with gusts (unknown as to how hi). Wowser. 4 days golfing in a row. 2.5 hour round, did not see a soul other than the marshal. I love it when it gets hot. You will note the goofiness with houses on either side where the tees hardly ever aim at the fairway. I know this is a designer trick but it's stupid! another reason I like the base course better. Hole by hole 1. Straight away hole with right crosswind. Callaway Epic (C): 217 center of fairway. Mizuno 230Z (M) 200 right rough. 2. Tee aims one down the right rough, downwind. C- 230 right rough. M- 222 left fairway. 3. Tee aims down the left rough, right crosswind. I generally hit a fade that can get close to this green. If the pin is anywhere but front, down the left requires a hit over the trap to get to the hole, so right side is better. Fairway slopes slightly right but right rough is a great play. C- 222 a cut to the right rough. M- 234 dead straight just in left side of fairway. Luckily the pin was in the front. Made the only birdie of the day here as the second shot was a flip chip. 4. Par 3 5. I don't like this tee shot. Visually, it sucks. Tee aims down the left rough and both balls dead straight into the rough. Wind was into and from the right. C- 210. M- 201 6. Tee again aims at left rough. I like a cut here. Wind was dead into. After I hit the second shot I had to make sure I changed clubs because both shots looked the same. Both balls hit dead center in the fairway, into the same 3 square yard mud pit around a drain and could be covered by a golf towel. 205 yards 7. Is a short par 4 with water left and long beyond both the green, which is offset left, and the fairway. One can go for it but I always hit 4 hybrid and chip which is what I did. I have hit to many drivers and 3 woods dead straight away and watched them go in the water straight from the tee. 8. Par 3 9. Tee aims down the left rough. From the tee I was playing there is a fairway bunker also left that I can carry. Wind left to right. C- nice cut that road the wind to the middle of the fairway 224 yards. M- nice cut that fell out of the sky for some reason and was in the grass above the bunker. Can't explain it. 195 yards. 10. Tee aims down the right rough. Wind died down for a minute. C- bombed dead straight into the right rough which was dry and not long. Lots of run. 248 yards. M- 210, center of fairway. I had hit the Mizuno first with a slight pull. This was a case where the fairway was an up slope and the Mizuno got caught short and the right rough was a runway. 11. Tee aims down the right rough. Wind back up and into. C- center of fairway 208. M- finished in right rough 194. 12. Tee aims at the left houses. I hate this tee. It's claustrophobic. C- right side fairway 215. M- center of fairway 214. 13. Par 3 14. Tee aims at the left houses but not claustrophobic close. I like this tee as this is a good place to ride the usual left to right wind and hit it close to the green. C- 209. M 213 15. This is a fun hole. There is a barranca that crosses the entire fairway from left to right with the tee aiming straight down the middle of the fairway. It is a red marked hazard and mostly filled with softball or bigger river rock with an area wide enough to drive a cart through. The hazard is about 230 yards from the tee. I hit 2 identical cool shots that were 2 yards apart on smaller pebbles in the cart drive through area dead center of the hazard. Both balls were resting on the rocks. Both shots were definitely "aim small, miss small" dead straight with nice trajectory for the wind. C- 239 M- 237 Really the best shots of the day. 16. Dog leg right that has the tee box aimed down the left fairway line. I aim at the right side of a fairway bunker and the M went dead on line. I pulled the C. C- 225 M- 222 17. Par 3 18. Par 5 with a tremendously wide fairway. Tee aims down the right side of the fairway. Managed to pull both drives to the left rough. C- 230. M-222 I thought this would be ideal conditions for the Mizuno. Low spin in 15 mph winds and a dry fairway. Still, C averaged 222 and the M averaged 213. This is in line with previous test for me. Head-to-head the M was longer twice which is not a good ratio. All the drives however were playable. Where to go from here? I'm tired. Playing tomorrow morning but will not be testing. Laying off until I see how everyone is doing and if there is something else to try.

For someone who generationally "digs it out of the dirt", this is a lot of info to absorb. I found it interesting that heel side hits mean the shaft is too long. I just never thought about where it hits on the face as something that is a fitting issue rather than a swing issue. Actually, I have hardly ever seen someone that hits it on the heel a majority of the time. I have a buddy that lines it up on the heel but doesn't hit it there as he is bent over a lot on address but on the downswing comes up and the added room from coming up has him hitting on the sweet spot. I think I am going to go back to lining the Mizuno logo up with the ball where I had slightly toe side hits at the first part of my testing and see if that helps distance. I will be out today hitting both clubs off the tee on driving holes and see which results in the more playable ball. I will be using 2 Pro V1X and I will alternate which club I hit first off the tee. I am also going to mark the balls with different colors and then switch which club hits which ball after 9 to minimize the possibility that one ball is longer than the other. I may also choke up on the Callaway at some point just to see the difference. I will try to post the numbers today but am playing later to minimize running in to groups that I would have to play through.

I think this is somewhat the same as I found although my findings were on the course. The standard works spectacularly well, the other choices leave a question mark in the back of one's mind. I also had balls going each way with the upright settings. The lower lofted setting didn't work for me because the flight shape was too low to get any yardage. I suppose with these findings that if you were to play on a windy day the lower loft setting would be playable without changing your swing to try to hit knockdowns. I was taken how your average and median were very close to the same number indicating a symmetrical range of data. I don't know what that means due to all the variables which can change in the swing but something must have been similar.

Looking forward to BKervin's test. My wife is extremely interested to read a lady testers comments. She currently has Cobra irons but would consider a fitting if they work out.

More swing thoughts. When I started playing golf I had a very long swing, past parallel. 10 years in I read Jim Mclean's article in Golf Magazine about the x-factor swing. I went from left toe out to parallel feet and a bigger turn of the shoulders but not the hips which brought my backswing to parallel. The swing emphasized the core muscle stretch and posting on the left leg. I may have misread the article a little as I really didn't move the hips much which is incorrect. I have corrected hip movement somewhat over time as more explanations and videos surfaced on the swing. I have played that swing for a long time. Despite being 71, I still reach parallel easily on the backswing. However, posting on my left leg is just out the window mainly due to my knee. The last few times I have again pointed the left toe area left and am trying to swing around the leg instead of posting on it. This allows for more hip movement, especially in the downswing. Shots are a bit more solid. Pain nonexistent, at least while I am playing! I bring this up because I am seeing a little more yardage with my woods, including the Mizuno driver. Average has improved with every round. Could be a bit of the club just getting hit in as well. Always trying something new.

That is cool to know. Sounds like a fun test if you have the equipment to check. I did notice during the testing that once I changed settings before play, I reacted to that first shots flight by changing ball position to try to optimize the next shot. Sounds to me like maybe my mind optimized what I saw of the club on the first shot and made decisions for me in the swing. No wonder I felt like a dog chasing his tail. If I knew my neighbors wouldn't mind the noise, I would set up a launch monitor/simulator on my back porch. I could test all this stuff. I would love to play the Old Course or Augusta every day. Problem is half the people around me need naps during the day! If I could just get them to coordinate the same hours... Just signed up for a later tee time tomorrow with no one closer than the groups starting an hour ahead. I should be able to hit both drivers and 3 wood for definitive numbers under similar conditions.

I think if you are talking irons it would be noticeable but with the driver, not so much. I moved it all over earlier and didn't really notice "upright" as much as I noted the face angle changes. I would be curious about the hybrid though. Since mine is working great I am hesitant to change that puppy. When I was wondering around the settings on my Epic, they have a draw setting that actually changes the lie. It didn't so much cause a draw as more of a pull. I guess left is good if you want left but I would rather it curved. I noticed with the Mizuno it was slightly right to leftish ball flight so more of a draw but not consistent. That was one of the reasons I went back to stock as that results in a straight ball for me and who can't play just straight? Nice conditions for this mornings round. Played the bigger lads tees at the base at 6035. Averaged 222 yards. Missed a few more greens but still managed a nice 76 (par 71). I may have to get a new putter, maybe left handed to retrain my hands!

I know sound is important, but I really can't remember the sound when I get home. I guess that is saying something. I will pay more attention. I haven't taken both out at the same time and hit both from the tee to really do a one on one. My Sun, Tue, Thur group is usually first or second off in the morning and playing 2 balls would just be wrong with the cavalcade behind us. This is a military course and the groups are expected to play in about 3.5 hours. I could do that at the courses in my community in the afternoon when it gets hot again as most people here won't play when it is above 110. I will pencil that in as an appropriate test. Generally, distance is a hard number from my Sky Caddie 400 or if I forget to "mark" the ball, the base course carts have GPS with driver distance. You are correct in that I have established landing areas from all the tees I play based on the last 20+ years and the Mizuno isn't reaching those areas. I generally wait to get a driver for several generations. I received the Epic in 2017. I haven't yet found a driver that is significantly longer or straighter, so it has spent some time in the bag. I generally play over 150 rounds a year so I know the landing areas well.