Mizuno Pro 221/223/225

[chisag]

On 2/7/2022 at 1:35 PM, bens197 said:

I suppose I'll go look   Just look.  Only going to look.

 

... "223 was the best feeling iron in the lot"?!?!? What happened to only going to LOOK at the 223's.  

 

[bens197]

28 minutes ago, chisag said:

 

... "223 was the best feeling iron in the lot"?!?!? What happened to only going to LOOK at the 223's.  

 

I mean...I looked...I also swung as well...what can I say...

[bens197]

So a quick (not really) review and (not so) brief story on the 223...

I really was looking to get into the 223 but wanted to be sure it was THE best iron of the sample.  We started with the Mizuno shaft optimizer while hitting a 921 tour head.  A few swings later and the suggested batch were: 

1) Dynamic Gold X100

2) Project X 6.5

3) $ Taper X

I have no experience with 2 or 3 and plenty with the DG, and quite honestly I wasn't very surprised.  My tempo and swing really match up well with the Dynamic Gold.  At this stage however, I really want a club that feels better as long as it performs...

So that was our starting point.  My fitter knew what I was playing and has known me for 20 years so we have a good basis of my game and how I play.  Irons have always been my achilles heel and of all the parts of my game, an iron fitting is something I need to help close that gap.

I hit a half dozen shots with my PTx Pro 7 iron to establish a baseline.  From there we had several heads to work with.

Mizuno Pro 223

Mizuno Pro 225

Mizuno JPX Tour 921

Srixon ZX7

Callaway X Forged UT

First priority was shaft.  The DG was what I'd come to known, solid, not remarkably responsive and steady.  Pretty much the pair of daily dad shoes you wear around the house, for grocery shopping and staring at your house from the front lawn.

The $ Taper was harsh.  Perhaps I don't have the chops for this shaft but it just did not mesh with me.  Shorter in distance, thin and abrasive feel and quite honestly just not something I loved.  My presumption is this is more for a strong and aggressive tempo player who wants something more solid with a lower priority on feel.

The Project X was the biggest disappointment.  It wasn't harsh, just very meh.  I was actually thinking this could be a winner from the optimizer and help me bring spin down a little bit.  Not so much.  It felt awful and didn't really rock my world.

A couple shafts down was the Modus 115 in an X.  I took one swing and it was the perfect harmony.  The performance of the DG with the feel I am accustomed to.  The feel was great, gross weight was nice but the numbers were spot on.  

The photo below has my numbers compared between DG and Modus.  We prioritized what was important for my game and the data was supported by feel and results.  

From that point we agreed the Modus was THE shaft.  Now it was time to figure out which head to proceed with.  Took several swings with each and each had their own positives and negatives.  The 223 had the looks and the feel and gave me that confirmation bias I was looking for...but I wanted to be sure.

225...Not what I hoped for.  Numbers were not better, not longer and quite honestly did not feel great.  My intention going into this was a 4 & 5 with the 225 and the 6-P would be 223.

Mizuno JPX Tour 921...Good, just not better than the 223.

Srixon ZX7...LOOKS phenomenal. A nice throwback to the older days with squared edges and clean looks.  The design team did a phenomenal job with these irons on first glance. They fell short for me with feel and performance.  Quite honestly, it doesn't feel amazing and the numbers were slightly below the 223 in performance.  I could easily game these but they were not better than the 223's.  

Callaway X Forged UT...dude.  This was a random shot in the dark.  I am not a Callaway guy and haven't thought much of playing them.  We put them in a Modus 120 X and I gave a few swings.  A more rounded profile that Callaway is known for yet a very pleasant club to look at.  Feel...pure love.  Absolutely phenomenal.  If I were swinging blind, I would have a difficult time differentiating between the UT and the 223.  For anyone who is a Callaway fan and hasn't given these a shot in the past year, you should.  I had to stop and take break to reset because these were serious contenders.  When we got back into it, my bad swings were still better with the 223...and after 45 minutes of swinging for the first time this season, there were some bad swings and they were more prevalent with the Callaway.

After one hour of swings, it was clear that the Mizuno Pro 223 was a better club than what I already have in my bag.  

So they're on order...Mizuno Pro 223 4-PW, Nippon Modus 115 X with Lamkin ST Hybrid Calibrate grips.

Should be here in 3-4 weeks.

Thanks for hanging around...the photo is the difference between DG and Modus shafts with the 223 head.  

[RickyBobby_PR]

1 hour ago, bens197 said:

The $ Taper was harsh.  Perhaps I don't have the chops for this shaft but it just did not mesh with me.  Shorter in distance, thin and abrasive feel and quite honestly just not something I loved.  My presumption is this is more for a strong and aggressive tempo player who wants something more solid with a lower priority on feel.

The Project X was the biggest disappointment.  It wasn't harsh, just very meh.  I was actually thinking this could be a winner from the optimizer and help me bring spin down a little bit.  Not so much.  It felt awful and didn't really rock my world.

The $ taper in stiff is one of my favorite shafts, not sure how the s compares to x.

the px shafts even for some fast swingers I know don’t have any feel and if you are having a bad iron swing day they just aren’t going to load. I’ve had the 6.0 in pxg gen2 and was fitted to them  or the dg s300 amt. I’ve been tempted to try them in 5.5 to see if they are better in a softer flex

[hartrick11]

1 hour ago, bens197 said:

So a quick (not really) review and (not so) brief story on the 223...

I really was looking to get into the 223 but wanted to be sure it was THE best iron of the sample.  We started with the Mizuno shaft optimizer while hitting a 921 tour head.  A few swings later and the suggested batch were: 

1) Dynamic Gold X100

2) Project X 6.5

3) $ Taper X

I have no experience with 2 or 3 and plenty with the DG, and quite honestly I wasn't very surprised.  My tempo and swing really match up well with the Dynamic Gold.  At this stage however, I really want a club that feels better as long as it performs...

So that was our starting point.  My fitter knew what I was playing and has known me for 20 years so we have a good basis of my game and how I play.  Irons have always been my achilles heel and of all the parts of my game, an iron fitting is something I need to help close that gap.

I hit a half dozen shots with my PTx Pro 7 iron to establish a baseline.  From there we had several heads to work with.

Mizuno Pro 223

Mizuno Pro 225

Mizuno JPX Tour 921

Srixon ZX7

Callaway X Forged UT

First priority was shaft.  The DG was what I'd come to known, solid, not remarkably responsive and steady.  Pretty much the pair of daily dad shoes you wear around the house, for grocery shopping and staring at your house from the front lawn.

The $ Taper was harsh.  Perhaps I don't have the chops for this shaft but it just did not mesh with me.  Shorter in distance, thin and abrasive feel and quite honestly just not something I loved.  My presumption is this is more for a strong and aggressive tempo player who wants something more solid with a lower priority on feel.

The Project X was the biggest disappointment.  It wasn't harsh, just very meh.  I was actually thinking this could be a winner from the optimizer and help me bring spin down a little bit.  Not so much.  It felt awful and didn't really rock my world.

A couple shafts down was the Modus 115 in an X.  I took one swing and it was the perfect harmony.  The performance of the DG with the feel I am accustomed to.  The feel was great, gross weight was nice but the numbers were spot on.  

 

Thanks for this - always great to hear shaft comparisons that are in the same neighborhood as mine even if impressions vary greatly. I have been trying to love the X100 and Project X (regular and LS) since they seem to be most readily available shafts without upcharge (I don't like Modus 120x feel and don't get along with regular KBS Tour or C Taper  either, which are the other stock offerings from most of the big OEMs); The X100 and the LS have come closest to unseating my $ Taper 130s; interestingly I found the regular Project X 6.5 to be harsher than the $ taper 130 or LS. I sit at 93-94mph with the 7i and have an aggressive transition FWIW.

Without doing a full fitting yet I have tried at various points over the last few months: T100, ZX7, i59, Wilson CB, Apex Pro, 770, X Forged, & MIM Tour, they all delivered in many ways, but nothing that screamed BUY (ZX7 with the X100, and X Forged with LS 6.5 were closest - agree with you 100% that the X forged are buttery soft but I think I have an anti-Callaway bias or just don't agree with the way their offset appears, not sure).

I finally got to hit the 223 with my gamer $ Taper 130s this past weekend and almost cancelled my fitting because it seemed like a perfect pairing. I'm going to stick with the fitting and see if data matches up with my impressions/biases, but the 223s with black $ tapers and the icon ferrules are like 80% in the bag lol.

[bens197]

19 minutes ago, RickyBobby_PR said:

The $ taper in stiff is one of my favorite shafts, not sure how the s compares to x.

the px shafts even for some fast swingers I know don’t have any feel and if you are having a bad iron swing day they just aren’t going to load. I’ve had the 6.0 in pxg gen2 and was fitted to them  or the dg s300 amt. I’ve been tempted to try them in 5.5 to see if they are better in a softer flex

It’s clearly popular and was interested in seeing how it would work…it clearly didn’t but that’s how it goes. 

[bens197]

6 minutes ago, hartrick11 said:

Thanks for this - always great to hear shaft comparisons that are in the same neighborhood as mine even if impressions vary greatly. I have been trying to love the X100 and Project X (regular and LS) since they seem to be most readily available shafts without upcharge (I don't like Modus 120x feel and don't get along with regular KBS Tour or C Taper  either, which are the other stock offerings from most of the big OEMs); The X100 and the LS have come closest to unseating my $ Taper 130s; interestingly I found the regular Project X 6.5 to be harsher than the $ taper 130 or LS. I sit at 93-94mph with the 7i and have an aggressive transition FWIW.

Without doing a full fitting yet I have tried at various points over the last few months: T100, ZX7, i59, Wilson CB, Apex Pro, 770, X Forged, & MIM Tour, they all delivered in many ways, but nothing that screamed BUY (ZX7 with the X100, and X Forged with LS 6.5 were closest - agree with you 100% that the X forged are buttery soft but I think I have an anti-Callaway bias or just don't agree with the way their offset appears, not sure).

I finally got to hit the 223 with my gamer $ Taper 130s this past weekend and almost cancelled my fitting because it seemed like a perfect pairing. I'm going to stick with the fitting and see if data matches up with my impressions/biases, but the 223s with black $ tapers and the icon ferrules are like 80% in the bag lol.

You’re welcome. 
 

You should definitely go ahead and book it. Worst case you’re good with what you’ve got but you’ll have that added knowledge and piece of mind. 

[edingc]

1 hour ago, bens197 said:

So a quick (not really) review and (not so) brief story on the 223...

I really was looking to get into the 223 but wanted to be sure it was THE best iron of the sample.  We started with the Mizuno shaft optimizer while hitting a 921 tour head.  A few swings later and the suggested batch were: 

1) Dynamic Gold X100

2) Project X 6.5

3) $ Taper X

I have no experience with 2 or 3 and plenty with the DG, and quite honestly I wasn't very surprised.  My tempo and swing really match up well with the Dynamic Gold.  At this stage however, I really want a club that feels better as long as it performs...

So that was our starting point.  My fitter knew what I was playing and has known me for 20 years so we have a good basis of my game and how I play.  Irons have always been my achilles heel and of all the parts of my game, an iron fitting is something I need to help close that gap.

I hit a half dozen shots with my PTx Pro 7 iron to establish a baseline.  From there we had several heads to work with.

Mizuno Pro 223

Mizuno Pro 225

Mizuno JPX Tour 921

Srixon ZX7

Callaway X Forged UT

First priority was shaft.  The DG was what I'd come to known, solid, not remarkably responsive and steady.  Pretty much the pair of daily dad shoes you wear around the house, for grocery shopping and staring at your house from the front lawn.

The $ Taper was harsh.  Perhaps I don't have the chops for this shaft but it just did not mesh with me.  Shorter in distance, thin and abrasive feel and quite honestly just not something I loved.  My presumption is this is more for a strong and aggressive tempo player who wants something more solid with a lower priority on feel.

The Project X was the biggest disappointment.  It wasn't harsh, just very meh.  I was actually thinking this could be a winner from the optimizer and help me bring spin down a little bit.  Not so much.  It felt awful and didn't really rock my world.

A couple shafts down was the Modus 115 in an X.  I took one swing and it was the perfect harmony.  The performance of the DG with the feel I am accustomed to.  The feel was great, gross weight was nice but the numbers were spot on.  

The photo below has my numbers compared between DG and Modus.  We prioritized what was important for my game and the data was supported by feel and results.  

From that point we agreed the Modus was THE shaft.  Now it was time to figure out which head to proceed with.  Took several swings with each and each had their own positives and negatives.  The 223 had the looks and the feel and gave me that confirmation bias I was looking for...but I wanted to be sure.

225...Not what I hoped for.  Numbers were not better, not longer and quite honestly did not feel great.  My intention going into this was a 4 & 5 with the 225 and the 6-P would be 223.

Mizuno JPX Tour 921...Good, just not better than the 223.

Srixon ZX7...LOOKS phenomenal. A nice throwback to the older days with squared edges and clean looks.  The design team did a phenomenal job with these irons on first glance. They fell short for me with feel and performance.  Quite honestly, it doesn't feel amazing and the numbers were slightly below the 223 in performance.  I could easily game these but they were not better than the 223's.  

Callaway X Forged UT...dude.  This was a random shot in the dark.  I am not a Callaway guy and haven't thought much of playing them.  We put them in a Modus 120 X and I gave a few swings.  A more rounded profile that Callaway is known for yet a very pleasant club to look at.  Feel...pure love.  Absolutely phenomenal.  If I were swinging blind, I would have a difficult time differentiating between the UT and the 223.  For anyone who is a Callaway fan and hasn't given these a shot in the past year, you should.  I had to stop and take break to reset because these were serious contenders.  When we got back into it, my bad swings were still better with the 223...and after 45 minutes of swinging for the first time this season, there were some bad swings and they were more prevalent with the Callaway.

After one hour of swings, it was clear that the Mizuno Pro 223 was a better club than what I already have in my bag.  

So they're on order...Mizuno Pro 223 4-PW, Nippon Modus 115 X with Lamkin ST Hybrid Calibrate grips.

Should be here in 3-4 weeks.

Thanks for hanging around...the photo is the difference between DG and Modus shafts with the 223 head.  

Thanks for sharing your experience! Those Modus numbers look great.

The 223s have been on my must try list as well. 

[bens197]

16 minutes ago, edingc said:

Thanks for sharing your experience! Those Modus numbers look great.

The 223s have been on my must try list as well. 

Thanks Cody.  It ended up being a productive day and I was pleased with the results. If you make it out to try them please share what you find. 

[d.lama]

It's killing me that my 223's are caught in that ransomware attack - the irons are supposedly at Mizuno...somewhere.

[in4par]

Testing these along w PXG and others next week.  Looking forward to results. 

[FWiater]

Just a FYI to anyone who has Mizuno clubs on order. They were hacked with ransomware, and there may be a slight delay in your order because of all the computers being down. They are still building clubs and special orders.
Mizuno Hacked

 

[bens197]

38 minutes ago, FWiater said:

Just a FYI to anyone who has Mizuno clubs on order. They were hacked with ransomware, and there may be a slight delay in your order because of all the computers being down. They are still building clubs and special orders.
Mizuno Hacked

 

 

1 hour ago, d.lama said:

It's killing me that my 223's are caught in that ransomware attack - the irons are supposedly at Mizuno...somewhere.

Thanks for mentioning this.  

[John Bachman]

I just saw all three sets up close yesterday. I can’t comment on their performance but while they all look good I still like my MP20 MMCs looks better than the 223s. Everyone has their own preference so I’m just speaking for myself. 

Edited February 17, 2022 by John Bachman

[Bubbly Pop]

Yep, pre-ordered mine (225's) on Jan 3rd, still not here..................just........................waiting..........................

[Quigleyd]

I have a combo of the 225s and 221s. These irons are fantastic. The gap me be a bit larger than I like at transition. But hard to look past how clean and pure they are. 

[JY56]

I have been thinking on a new set of irons after about 6 yrs with my Callaway Apexes.  I had been told I could benefit from a heavier shaft by a pro during lessons a while back and was using XP95 S.  Miz website suggested the 223 for my player profile.  I tried a few others from different manufacturers before trying the 223.  Very happy with the 223 when I tried it and of course the feel is great, so much better to me than the new Apex and ZX5's that were also on my short list.  Tried at two different locations and both had me using Modus 115S.  I suspected with heavier shaft that I should go back to a regular flex due to my age but then the optimizer came up with Project LZ 6.0, X100 and Modus 115S.  I tried all 3 and liked the Modus the best and the numbers for launch, spin, descent were good so went with that.   One of the locations where I had tried them had 1 set in stock with the right shaft, the other place where I thought was the better fitter said there could be a few weeks wait, especially with the ransomware attack.  I've bought lot's there and he said I should pick up the set in stock at the other location.  Can't wait to get out with them once I am back home.

[hartrick11]

On 2/16/2022 at 10:17 AM, bens197 said:

You’re welcome. 
 

You should definitely go ahead and book it. Worst case you’re good with what you’ve got but you’ll have that added knowledge and piece of mind. 

Well I was surrounding the right answer but the fitting was still extremely helpful. I could have honestly gone with about 5 different setups and been more than happy but ended up in a Taylormade P series combo with $ Taper. The 223 with $ taper was the runner up, but the 770/MC felt like a bit better turf interaction for my swing. Guess I won’t be losing my Mizuno virginity just yet…someday!

[bens197]

9 hours ago, hartrick11 said:

Well I was surrounding the right answer but the fitting was still extremely helpful. I could have honestly gone with about 5 different setups and been more than happy but ended up in a Taylormade P series combo with $ Taper. The 223 with $ taper was the runner up, but the 770/MC felt like a bit better turf interaction for my swing. Guess I won’t be losing my Mizuno virginity just yet…someday!

Those 770’s are pretty great.

I hope they arrive soon

[Sluggo42]

On 2/16/2022 at 8:41 AM, bens197 said:

So a quick (not really) review and (not so) brief story on the 223...

I really was looking to get into the 223 but wanted to be sure it was THE best iron of the sample.  We started with the Mizuno shaft optimizer while hitting a 921 tour head.  A few swings later and the suggested batch were: 

1) Dynamic Gold X100

2) Project X 6.5

3) $ Taper X

I have no experience with 2 or 3 and plenty with the DG, and quite honestly I wasn't very surprised.  My tempo and swing really match up well with the Dynamic Gold.  At this stage however, I really want a club that feels better as long as it performs...

So that was our starting point.  My fitter knew what I was playing and has known me for 20 years so we have a good basis of my game and how I play.  Irons have always been my achilles heel and of all the parts of my game, an iron fitting is something I need to help close that gap.

I hit a half dozen shots with my PTx Pro 7 iron to establish a baseline.  From there we had several heads to work with.

Mizuno Pro 223

Mizuno Pro 225

Mizuno JPX Tour 921

Srixon ZX7

Callaway X Forged UT

First priority was shaft.  The DG was what I'd come to known, solid, not remarkably responsive and steady.  Pretty much the pair of daily dad shoes you wear around the house, for grocery shopping and staring at your house from the front lawn.

The $ Taper was harsh.  Perhaps I don't have the chops for this shaft but it just did not mesh with me.  Shorter in distance, thin and abrasive feel and quite honestly just not something I loved.  My presumption is this is more for a strong and aggressive tempo player who wants something more solid with a lower priority on feel.

The Project X was the biggest disappointment.  It wasn't harsh, just very meh.  I was actually thinking this could be a winner from the optimizer and help me bring spin down a little bit.  Not so much.  It felt awful and didn't really rock my world.

A couple shafts down was the Modus 115 in an X.  I took one swing and it was the perfect harmony.  The performance of the DG with the feel I am accustomed to.  The feel was great, gross weight was nice but the numbers were spot on.  

The photo below has my numbers compared between DG and Modus.  We prioritized what was important for my game and the data was supported by feel and results.  

From that point we agreed the Modus was THE shaft.  Now it was time to figure out which head to proceed with.  Took several swings with each and each had their own positives and negatives.  The 223 had the looks and the feel and gave me that confirmation bias I was looking for...but I wanted to be sure.

225...Not what I hoped for.  Numbers were not better, not longer and quite honestly did not feel great.  My intention going into this was a 4 & 5 with the 225 and the 6-P would be 223.

Mizuno JPX Tour 921...Good, just not better than the 223.

Srixon ZX7...LOOKS phenomenal. A nice throwback to the older days with squared edges and clean looks.  The design team did a phenomenal job with these irons on first glance. They fell short for me with feel and performance.  Quite honestly, it doesn't feel amazing and the numbers were slightly below the 223 in performance.  I could easily game these but they were not better than the 223's.  

Callaway X Forged UT...dude.  This was a random shot in the dark.  I am not a Callaway guy and haven't thought much of playing them.  We put them in a Modus 120 X and I gave a few swings.  A more rounded profile that Callaway is known for yet a very pleasant club to look at.  Feel...pure love.  Absolutely phenomenal.  If I were swinging blind, I would have a difficult time differentiating between the UT and the 223.  For anyone who is a Callaway fan and hasn't given these a shot in the past year, you should.  I had to stop and take break to reset because these were serious contenders.  When we got back into it, my bad swings were still better with the 223...and after 45 minutes of swinging for the first time this season, there were some bad swings and they were more prevalent with the Callaway.

After one hour of swings, it was clear that the Mizuno Pro 223 was a better club than what I already have in my bag.  

So they're on order...Mizuno Pro 223 4-PW, Nippon Modus 115 X with Lamkin ST Hybrid Calibrate grips.

Should be here in 3-4 weeks.

Thanks for hanging around...the photo is the difference between DG and Modus shafts with the 223 head.  

Ben, do you have the Ptx baseline numbers handy ? I’m curious of where they got beat…