Mizuno Long Game - 2023 Forum Review

[russtopherb]

Unboxing video is up! 

 

[Swood1994]

Just finished my unboxing video but will have to post it tomorrow! Dad duties are calling. 

All I can say is WOW! These clubs look even better in person than they did during the fitting. Something about an unboxing and taking plastic off a new golf club that brings the little kid on Christmas morning out of me. Cannot wait to get these clubs out on the course and behind the ball!

[GolfSpy_APH]

Not the biggest fan of how the crown looks on the Mizuno, but super excited for all of you to get these in play and see how they perform!

[vandyland]

These are just some throwaway pictures since it is hard to photograph inside at night. I will try to get some glamour shots this weekend outside. Initial thoughts are that the hybrid looks very “players-y” and sits very square and looks small. The driver looks nice and some beautiful subtle touches, quite the opposite of my cobra currently. The fli hi is slightly bigger than my current utility but the black is "slimming." Also, the headcovers are very high quality. I think they immediately "glow up" the bag. I normally use custom headcovers but these might have to stay! Everything feels very high end and sleek..I will say the driver seems a little "too pretty." I am worried about marking it up, haha!

 

Edited August 17, 2023 by vandyland

[GolfSpy_BEN]

4 minutes ago, vandyland said:

These are just some throwaway pictures since it is hard to photograph inside at night. I will try to get some glamour shots this weekend outside. Initial thoughts are that the hybrid looks very “players-y” and sits very square and looks small. The driver looks nice and some beautiful subtle touches, quite the opposite of my cobra currently. The fli hi is slightly bigger than my current utility but the black is "slimming." Also, the headcovers are very high quality. I think they immediately "glow up" the bag. I normally use custom headcovers but these might have to stay! Everything feels very high end and sleek..I will say the driver seems a little "too pretty." I am worried about marking it up, haha!

 

The woods are very nice to look at, but that Fli-Hi utility is a certified banger .

I look forward to hearing how they work for you.

[vandyland]

9 minutes ago, Ben Joest said:

Fli-Hi utility is a certified banger

And it is actually going up against a Callaway Apex Forged UT 21* so not dissimilar from what you have going on in your bag.

An interesting note, the Fli-Hi is actually 1 inch shorter and .5 degrees weaker than my callaway apex UT so I would expect it will be a tad shorter, which is fine. The UT crowds my hybrid a little sometimes so this *could* be better gapping and it has a slightly wider sole so it may be easier to hit off the fairway (I don't use my UT much off the fairway currently). 

Also the driver (as noted previously) is 45" so it is .75 inches shorter than my current setup which is, again, fine. I used to play a 44.5" driver so this is like coming home (again). Interested to see ball flights this weekend and thinking the best way is to dive right in a just put these all in the bag without thinking much about it. 

[russtopherb]

Initial range session

I went to the range at my local muni this morning to give all of the long game clubs their initial swings. As I mentioned in my main post, I'm keeping everything at the fitter's recommended lofts/settings to start, and then if needed I'll gently adjust from here.

After warming up with some wedges and 8 irons, I needed to let the big dog eat. Here it is at address before hitting the first ball.

I'm a REALLY big fan of how that crown looks at address. It sets up nicely and I dig the alignment aid (yes it's not 100% centered, this was for photos only, not my actual setup to swing ;)) I took some swings and actually found the driver wanting to fade ever so slightly, which was in contrast to my fitting, where it wanted to have a bit of a draw. Messing around with tee height & ball position got things working even straighter. Here's my first 5 shots of the day:

All pretty centered, and I attribute the higher/lower to me messing with the tee heights. I'll say this - aside from the very first ball, all of them would have been playable on the vast majority of driver holes I normally play. The sound of this driver outside is NICE. Just a solid "thwack" without any ringing or hollow tinniness. It's a great sound. I did catch one low heel later on, and the sound difference was noticeable - I knew it wasn't a solid hit without even seeing the ballflight, which was low but pretty straight.

From there I moved on to the 3w, which was lofted up to 17* at the fitter's recommendations. At address:

Again, just solid looks all around at address. This one took me a little longer to dial in tee height and position in my stance, I hit some stingers (yeah let's call them that, sure) but once I teed up just slightly higher and put the ball a hair back in my stance I saw the exact ballflight I want out of this club. Sound is solid, and I just love how stable the Kai'Lai shafts feel. Off the deck... well, let's just say that I know my limitations and after 4-5 balls I knew this would be a tee-only club for me without more work. And I'm 100% OK with that.

SIDE NOTE: No distances are being noted here, as the range balls are a mish-mash of Srixon and Pinnacle range balls that aren't exactly new, with a bunch of "found" balls from the course that range from old Top Flites through Snell MTBs. I'll get distances Saturday on the course.

From there, I moved on to the hybrid. I have a 5h in the bag now, and haven't had a 4h for a few years now, as it resides in my son's bag. My first impressions are that it's definitely a smaller head than I'm used to looking down at, but nothing that made me think "aw man I don't know if I can hit this".

Ballflight was far better than I was anticipating at the stated 22* loft, but I may go up by a degree just to get a bit more height on it. When the balls hit, they rolled out plenty. I'd prefer a bit of a softer landing if possible, which may work with a higher loft, as I want a specific distance out of this if possible (195-200ish) vs as much distance as I can get. I just don't want to run into gapping issues with my 5h, but like I said - once I get out on the course I'll be able to be a better judge of how things will work. Aside from one ball that I pulled right out of the range onto the 3rd fairway (no one was there thankfully) due to just a poor swing overall, I found this hybrid to be very consistent. Hitting off of a tee gave me a much higher flight vs off the turf, and I don't know how often I'd opt for the hybrid over the fairway wood if I'm on the teebox so it's more about optimizing it for hitting off the deck.

Oh and these Lamkin ST+2 hybrid grips? I am in LOVE so far. Not a lot of time with them obviously, we'll see how they do in humid conditions, but just 45 mins on the range had me thinking about regripping my irons with them. Solid feel and grip, just enough tack and very comfortable.

Any questions, feel free to fire away! What do you all want to know so far?

[vandyland]

35 minutes ago, russtopherb said:

Any questions, feel free to fire away! What do you all want to know so far?

How do you think the hybrid looks sitting at address? Does it seem open/square/closed to your eye? 

Also, what is your typical ball flight (fade/straight/draw) with longer irons/hybrids and what was the ballflight you were seeing with the Mizuno? It sounds like it was coming out a tad lower than you expected but what about direction/curve? Was it what you expected or was it a little more fadey or draw-y?

[Swood1994]

2 hours ago, vandyland said:

the hybrid looks very “players-y” and sits very square and looks small.

 

1 hour ago, russtopherb said:

it's definitely a smaller head than I'm used to looking down at, but nothing that made me think "aw man I don't know if I can hit this".

This was also something I noticed right away with the hybrid BUT in a good way. Something about the smaller head gives me a better feeling of working the ball into pins vs with my Rogue St Max hybrid the face is very tall and almost give an Iron-esque look at address and with a hybrid that look gives me a forgiveness and high flight feel.

Excited to see how this one in particular performs.

Edited August 17, 2023 by Swood1994

[russtopherb]

14 minutes ago, vandyland said:

How do you think the hybrid looks sitting at address? Does it seem open/square/closed to your eye? 

Also, what is your typical ball flight (fade/straight/draw) with longer irons/hybrids and what was the ballflight you were seeing with the Mizuno? It sounds like it was coming out a tad lower than you expected but what about direction/curve? Was it what you expected or was it a little more fadey or draw-y?

To me the hybrid looked pretty neutral at it's stated loft with no changes. My big miss for YEARS with hybrid was a hook that went off the face of the planet, so I'm very nervous when I see even a hint of a closed face on a hybrid. I didn't get that feeling at all over the ball at address, it felt very neutral to me.

With longer clubs off the deck I tend to have just a hair of a fade - straight flight with a gentle fall off to the right as the ball is coming down. In fact, that predictable flight lent itself to the best shot of my last round, a HyWood shot off the deck to a protected green. So far I'm seeing the same with the Mizunos. The ballflight is a bit lower than I would like as someone who hits the ball low anyways, but the expected little fade I've had for years with longer clubs was still there. 

As I mentioned, in my fitting driver was a draw but on the range was a fade but I'm totally fine with that, as it tends to be my actual ballflight when I really go after it. I think a combo of nerves and being inside during the fitting had me holding off a bit, but after one range session I'm seeing what I normally see when it comes to ballflight, which is good because it's how I gameplan around the course.

[Swood1994]

13 hours ago, GolfSpy_APH said:

Not the biggest fan of how the crown looks on the Mizuno, but super excited for all of you to get these in play and see how they perform!

It reminds me of a cross between the TSR & Rogue St Max drivers. the high gloss/carbon I think takes some getting used to because I feel like we all just came off of the previous model years of matte crowns rogue st/sim2/ping g425.

For me it will be an adjustment as I've gotten used to that stark contrast of the Paradym front crown and the blue carbon chassis.

Edited August 17, 2023 by Swood1994

[Swood1994]

My Unboxing Video is up! Similar to some other testers I really want to do these clubs justice and get them outside for pictures on grass. Luckily I'm going out to play 9 holes tonight!

[Beakbryce]

So thankful you have your clubs now. Really going to work towards the settings that work for the rest of you just to make sure I am giving them their all. Next time I play with them will be Sunday.

Had my Epics out today and had a solid outing. Haven't put them in excel yet but had a 251 yarder which for me is as solid as it gets. That was on a par 5 that has the cart path coming across the fairway with barranca just beyond. I was 3 inches from the cart path so glad it stopped. Also my shots today were generally higher so not sure what that was about. Conditions were also a bit drier. Under 110 today so not as much water put on the course this morning. I feel pretty happy with my Epic driver average of 220-225 because Arcos reports 5-10 handicap 70+ years old average at 204. 

I am going to try the upright plus one setting on the Mizuno driver and 3 wood. Leaving the 4 hybrid as is until I feel it is hit in and then make changes as needed.

I am hoping the driver and 3 wood are as long or longer for you than your current club which may mean the Cortech Chamber is better with faster club speeds which would be useful to know.

 

[Beakbryce]

4 hours ago, russtopherb said:

Messing around with tee height & ball position got things working even straighter. Here's my first 5 shots of the day:

All pretty centered, and I attribute the higher/lower to me messing with the tee heights. I'll say this - aside from the very first ball, all of them would have been playable on the vast majority of driver holes I normally play. The sound of this driver outside is NICE. Just a solid "thwack" without any ringing or hollow tinniness. It's a great sound. I did catch one low heel later on, and the sound difference was noticeable - I knew it wasn't a solid hit without even seeing the ballflight, which was low but pretty straight.

 

Love those hits. Nice way to start! 

[Swood1994]

3 minutes ago, Beakbryce said:

So thankful you have your clubs now. Really going to work towards the settings that work for the rest of you just to make sure I am giving them their all. Next time I play with them will be Sunday.

Had my Epics out today and had a solid outing. Haven't put them in excel yet but had a 251 yarder which for me is as solid as it gets. That was on a par 5 that has the cart path coming across the fairway with barranca just beyond. I was 3 inches from the cart path so glad it stopped. Also my shots today were generally higher so not sure what that was about. Conditions were also a bit drier. Under 110 today so not as much water put on the course this morning. I feel pretty happy with my Epic driver average of 220-225 because Arcos reports 5-10 handicap 70+ years old average at 204. 

I am going to try the upright plus one setting on the Mizuno driver and 3 wood. Leaving the 4 hybrid as is until I feel it is hit in and then make changes as needed.

I am hoping the driver and 3 wood are as long or longer for you than your current club which may mean the Cortech Chamber is better with faster club speeds which would be useful to know.

 

I had my driver at +1 upright at the fitting but I think to start I'm going to leave everything at standard. putting myself in the shoes of the average consumer I think most people are leaving their driver/woods as is off the rack. Once I'm comfortable with the clubs (shouldn't take too long) i'll start messing with the adjustments.

[Beakbryce]

russtopherb: That was a cool idea to photo the heads as it shows them to perfection. I like it!

Going in my bag of tricks for sure.

[russtopherb]

13 minutes ago, Beakbryce said:

russtopherb: That was a cool idea to photo the heads as it shows them to perfection. I like it!

Going in my bag of tricks for sure.

Unfortunately the 3w sole pic was blurry and I didn't realize it until after I hit it on the range this morning, so I didn't post it. But I'm glad the rest came out good.

[Preeway]

8 hours ago, vandyland said:

These are just some throwaway pictures since it is hard to photograph inside at night. I will try to get some glamour shots this weekend outside. Initial thoughts are that the hybrid looks very “players-y” and sits very square and looks small. The driver looks nice and some beautiful subtle touches, quite the opposite of my cobra currently. The fli hi is slightly bigger than my current utility but the black is "slimming." Also, the headcovers are very high quality. I think they immediately "glow up" the bag. I normally use custom headcovers but these might have to stay! Everything feels very high end and sleek..I will say the driver seems a little "too pretty." I am worried about marking it up, haha!

 

I love my FliHi 3-iron. Solid driving iron for 230-240 yards. Wasn’t a big fan of the look of the driver but I’ve heard great things about their performance. Looking forward to seeing your reviews. 

[vandyland]

Hoping to get some updated numbers today. Getting on trackman during lunch and will for sure get baseline driver vs mizuno driver. I also have the driving irons as well but I think priority is driver. If I can get 10 good strikes with both drivers then I will move on to the driving irons. Unfortunately the trackman is indoors so I won't get any feedback on turf interaction today with the driving iron. Before I get in there and get seduced by the results I am aiming for:

On good strikes
Clubhead speed around 105-108 (anything over that is me chasing numbers generally)
Launch Angle: 12 - 16 degrees
Ball Speed: 150+
Spin Rate range from 2000 - 2600 
Carry distance minimum: 260 yds

The mizuno is about an inch shorter, there is likelihood that clubhead speed will be slightly slower so if it keeps up, distance wise, with my longer shafted Cobra but strike consistency improves along with launch/spin conditions, I think that is a winner. My hypothesis is that it should be lower spinning because it has more weight forward so there is a fear that it might be too low spinning but we will see. I hit a few knuckleballs in my fitting but that was with a different shaft (and also, I am not a pro golfer so who doesn't hit a few knuckleballs?) 

If there is an issue with the Cobra, it is that I can get some high spinny (like 3200 rpm+) misses that go high right. Lately I haven't had many duck hooks or low spin misses so maybe I should be careful what I wish for. 

[Swood1994]

Hear is my photo dump for the thread! I'll be choosing some good ones to put in first impressions and unboxing. If Mizuno made clubs that can't quite keep up with my current gamers based on performance I can at least say they made some very good looking club heads. They are very classic in design with subtle hints of historical Mizuno styling.

Edited August 18, 2023 by Swood1994

[Shrek74]

39 minutes ago, Swood1994 said:

Hear is my photo dump for the thread! I'll be choosing some good ones to put in first impressions and unboxing. If Mizuno made clubs that can't quite keep up with my current gamers based on performance I can at least say they made some very good looking club heads. They are very classic in design with subtle hints of historical Mizuno styling.

Great photos! I love their look and that blue accent. My only complaint is the high gloss. I find the matte finish tends to be better outside in the sun. But regardless, they are perdy!

[russtopherb]

4 minutes ago, Shrek74 said:

Great photos! I love their look and that blue accent. My only complaint is the high gloss. I find the matte finish tends to be better outside in the sun. But regardless, they are perdy!

It was already pretty sunny out yesterday morning when I was at the range (see my pics earlier in the thread) and I didn't have any issues with glare at all. Now, being outside at 1pm is a different story - I'll see how things go over the coming weeks when it comes to the sun and looks at address.

[Swood1994]

14 minutes ago, Shrek74 said:

Great photos! I love their look and that blue accent. My only complaint is the high gloss. I find the matte finish tends to be better outside in the sun. But regardless, they are perdy!

I played yesterday at 6PM and didn't notice any crazy glare. but I will be going to the range at 2PM today and will be sure to take note of it. It seems to be a common concern so I'll report back with some pictures tonight!

[vandyland]

Photo dump from today as I wait for my trackman report to come through…I think the driver looks great behind the ball (don’t be fooled by the angle making the setup looked closed, it is hard to take address position photos!) I really dig the rounded profile on the driver and it is much better than the elongated Cobra profile. I don't mind the carbon top but I don't LOVE it. But yeah the shape is excellent. Early returns are the STZ absolutely drops spin which is great and I can still move it. 

Edited August 18, 2023 by vandyland

[Swood1994]

Here are some shots from the range. The club I usually go to had their member guest so I opted for one of the local public tracks unfortunately the range is extremely beat up. I did notice a little glare in the the top of the driver but nothing I couldn’t stand. 

 

I am absolutely falling in love with the Hybrid so far. It launches a little lower than my Rogue but I feel very confident with the Mizuno profile and am able to work it both ways with ease. 

[russtopherb]

9 minutes ago, Swood1994 said:

 

Solid strike pattern right there!

How are you liking the sound of the driver? I know that can be a very personal thing for some folks.

[Swood1994]

50 minutes ago, russtopherb said:

Solid strike pattern right there!

How are you liking the sound of the driver? I know that can be a very personal thing for some folks.

It’s funny you say that. When I took it out to play 9 last night I was not a fan. It felt dead and sounded muted. Today at the range was better but still not quite the sound I like. I prefer a slightly higher pitch “ting”. Not quite to a ping G425 max level but somewhere in the middle.

I liked your description of a solid “THWACK”

[Beakbryce]

1 hour ago, Swood1994 said:

It’s funny you say that. When I took it out to play 9 last night I was not a fan. It felt dead and sounded muted. Today at the range was better but still not quite the sound I like. I prefer a slightly higher pitch “ting”. Not quite to a ping G425 max level but somewhere in the middle.

I liked your description of a solid “THWACK”

That's about how I feel about it. It could be more exciting.

[Swood1994]

3 hours ago, vandyland said:

Photo dump from today as I wait for my trackman report to come through…I think the driver looks great behind the ball (don’t be fooled by the angle making the setup looked closed, it is hard to take address position photos!) I really dig the rounded profile on the driver and it is much better than the elongated Cobra profile. I don't mind the carbon top but I don't LOVE it. But yeah the shape is excellent. Early returns are the STZ absolutely drops spin which is great and I can still move it. 

Great Pics! I'll be curious  how much spin is dropped by the ST-Z. I noticed with the ST-X it's one of the first draw biased drivers that has turned my miss into a over-draw (borderline hook). Granted this could be me and my swing but I am normally a fader of the ball. Spin doesn't seem to be out of this world because when I catch one they are straight and knuckley (in a good way). I'm wondering if it is the driver head, my shaft choice, or both.

[Swood1994]

4 minutes ago, Beakbryce said:

That's about how I feel about it. It could be more exciting.

I like the ball flight and I find it very easy to find the middle but it will come down to the numbers. If they are a lot better than my current gamer then I just may be able to deal with the sound off the face.