Gear: Mizuno JPX 921 Forged irons
Price: $1,399 (4-GW)/$175 per club with Nippon N.S. Pro Modus 120 shafts and Golf Pride MCC +4 grips
Specs: Grain flow forged 4120 Chromoly
Available: Sept. 17
Recreational golfers have aspired to hit Mizuno blades for decades because they have a clean, classic look and legendary feel. In reality, even fairly accomplished club players need some forgiveness built into their clubs, and a little extra distance is almost always welcome. With the release of the new JPX 921 Forged irons, Mizuno’s latest offering in the better-player distance category tries to deliver the performance those players need in a club that looks like something a Tour player might use.
The JPX 921 Forged is the first fully forged iron from Mizuno made from Chromoly. Mizuno has used the material in irons before because it is extremely strong, but the Chromoly in the 921 Forged is softer and more forgeable. Still, it is stronger than the boron-infused 1025 carbon steel used in the previous generation of JPX Forged irons. That let Mizuno make the faces thinner and the pocket cavity behind the hitting area slightly wider. The result: The sweetspot is larger even though the new irons are smaller.
Removing more mass from the face and the pocket allowed Mizuno to redistribute weight to the perimeter of the head and boost stability.
At address, golfers will see a thin topline, less offset and a slightly shorter blade length than the previous version of the JPX Forged iron. The sole is modestly narrow, and the flashy blue color that debuted 10 years ago with the first JPX irons is gone, replaced by chrome and black for a more elegant look. Some players may not even notice the pocket cavity in the back of the head.
While the long and mid-irons are each 1 degree stronger lofted in this edition of the JPX Forged, they are still comparable to the lofts found in most better-player irons, with a 5-iron at 24 degrees and a 9-iron at 40 degrees.