{"id":259,"date":"2012-04-03T01:15:39","date_gmt":"2012-04-03T01:15:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/daviddesmith.com\/?p=259"},"modified":"2012-04-03T01:15:39","modified_gmt":"2012-04-03T01:15:39","slug":"the-gospel-according-to-mizuno","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/daviddesmith\/golf\/equipment\/259\/the-gospel-according-to-mizuno","title":{"rendered":"The Gospel According to Mizuno"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Mizuno MP-60 irons<\/p><\/div>\n

What is it about forged irons that inspires such spiritual devotion in serious golfers? It\u2019s true that they tend to be prettier \u2013 shinier \u2013 than your average cast club. A well-made forged iron, in the eyes of an enthusiast, is something akin to an exquisite piece of jewelry. But looks aren\u2019t everything \u2013 even to a devoted player. There has to be more. And in the case of some clubs, there most definitely is.<\/p>\n

One company that has consistently set the standard for forged irons is Mizuno. If you\u2019ve ever hit a forged Mizuno, you know that there\u2019s a decided difference in the feel, sound and consistency of their clubs \u2013 especially when compared to your average cast irons. Where does that difference come from? It\u2019s a matter of the metal that\u2019s used to make the clubhead \u2013 and the process by which that metal is turned from a rod of molten 1025 steel into the oh-so-sweet 6-iron that feels just like true love when you strike it right. And there\u2019s the small matter of a patent, too.<\/p>\n

Mizuno was founded in 1906 as a sporting goods company. At first, its niche was baseballs and athletic wear. But by 1933, Mizuno was making golf clubs, the first Japanese company to do so. Since then, Mizuno has gone on to become one of the favorite clubmakers of professionals and amateurs alike. Seve Ballesteros played them. Nick Faldo played them. Luke Donald ascended (and recently re-ascended) to his World Number One ranking playing Mizuno irons. Even Tiger Woods was a Mizuno man once upon a time. Tiger played Mizunos during college and continued to use them after he turned pro, despite being under contract with Titleist. In fact, during his first Masters win in 1997, the irons in Tiger\u2019s bag were forged Mizunos. And I\u2019d wager that a lot more pros would have played Mizunos over the past 40-odd years if they hadn\u2019t been bribed by other club manufacturers to endorse their brands instead.<\/p>\n

Forged Vs. Cast<\/strong><\/p>\n

As Masao Nagai, Mizuno\u2019s Director of Global R&D explains, forged clubs like the ones Mizuno makes are made very differently than cast irons. Cast irons are made by pouring a \u2018liquid\u2019 metal (usually an alloy comprised primarily of stainless steel) into a mold, letting it cool, then breaking the mold and finishing the clubhead. It\u2019s been compared to making ice cubes. One of the downsides of casting with stainless steel alloys is that when the metal is poured into the mold, it invariably traps small bubbles inside \u2013 just as you\u2019ll find in ice cubes. That\u2019s one of the reasons why cast irons tend to have a different sound than forged clubs when they strike a ball. That air that\u2019s trapped inside dampens the sound vibration. It can also create inconsistencies in the playing surface of the club. Cast alloys also don\u2019t have the \u2018grain flow\u2019 found in Mizuno\u2019s forged clubheads. With cast clubs, the grain in the metal gets randomized in the casting process, something that would be heresy to Mizuno\u2019s way of looking at things.<\/p>\n

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Forging in action<\/p><\/div>\n

You could try to make a cast iron with a mild carbon stainless steel like the kind Mizuno uses, but the high viscosity of that sort of steel means that it wouldn\u2019t take to the molding process well.\u00a0 Manufacturers would have a hard time making sure the molds were entirely filled with such a material.\u00a0 You could also try to use a stronger stainless steel, like a 17-4 stainless for example, and that would have some benefits. The 17-4 stainless is very strong \u2013 twice as strong as the mild carbon steel used to make Mizunos and other forged irons \u2013 so you could in theory design clubs with thinner cavity backs. But the hardness of this kind of steel makes it difficult to work with. It will crack or break easily when hammered. And it wouldn\u2019t offer the feel that a softer steel, one made with less carbon, imparts.<\/p>\n

Another downside of the casting process in general is that it\u2019s not conducive to creating consistently flat surfaces. When you turn liquids into solids, there\u2019s always some degree of shrinkage \u2013 and the casting of clubheads is no exception. It may be minor \u2013 or even within so-called tolerances \u2013 but it\u2019s there. When the metal cools, it invariably deforms.<\/p>\n

Cast clubs are also more prone to warping during manufacturing. Because the thickness of the iron\u2019s head decreases from bottom to top, the sole cools more slowly than the top of the clubface; when the top of the club has already become solid, the bottom is still cooling. This can promulgate a pulling or stressing of the metal, which in turn can lead to warping.<\/p>\n

There are, of course, many excellent cast clubs \u2013 including some made by Mizuno. And for your average amateur, the differences may not be that immediately noticeable. There are even some PGA pros who play cast irons (although they are very carefully made and inspected before being put into tournament use). But most of the game\u2019s better players will tell you that the consistency and feedback of a forged club makes a real difference. And many of them will go on to tell you that there\u2019s something extra special about the feel of a Mizuno iron.<\/p>\n

Fanatic About Forging<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Mizuno's "Grain Flow" forging eliminates welded hosels<\/p><\/div>\n

Where does this special feel come from? It starts with the metal itself. To make a Mizuno iron, the company begins with a 10-inch billet of 1025e \u201cPure Select\u201d steel that has been made for Mizuno at the renowned Chuoc forging house \u2013 the same Hiroshima-area supplier that Mizuno has been working with to produce superior steel for decades.\u00a0 Mizuno is the only club manufacturer that Chuoc creates this special steel for. The \u201c1025\u201d means that there is 0.25% carbon in the steel, the optimal amount in Mizuno\u2019s opinion to provide workability, durability, strength and feel without brittleness. The \u201cPure Select\u201d designation denotes that the forging process has been further optimized to reduce the presence of unwanted elements in the steel, including such nasties as phosphorus and sulphur.<\/p>\n

According to David Llewellyn, Golf Club R&D Manager for Mizuno, Mizuno\u2019s tolerance levels for impurities in its steel are \u201csix times more stringent than the industry standard.\u00a0 And the fewer impurities there are in the material, the more consistent the clubs will be from set to set \u2013 and the more resistant to material fatigue stress they will be, too.\u201d<\/p>\n

So there\u2019s a material difference between Mizunos and other forged irons.\u00a0 But Mizuno then takes the science of forged clubmaking a step farther with its patented \u2018Grain-Flow\u2019 forging process.<\/p>\n

\u201cGrain structure is really at the heart of what we do, forging-wise, and what our patent\u2019s all about.\u201d Llewellyn said. \u201cWe believe that you get the best feel when you have the longest, most continuous, tightly packed grains from the end of the hosel to the end of the toe.\u201c<\/p>\n

Just like a piece of wood, steel has a grain \u2013 a natural flow in the fibers that make up the material. And as in wood, the grain acts to strengthen the material and to give it more consistency and durability. In Mizuno\u2019s clubs, this grain flow is maintained all the way through the finished head \u2013 from the top of the hosel to the toe. Think of it as using the \u2018whole grain.\u2019 Unlike other manufacturers, who mill and grind the heads with little or no attention paid to grain \u2013 or those who weld their hosels to their faces \u2013 Mizuno irons are crafted from one piece of steel that has the grain running all the way from one edge to the other \u2013 \u201clike a baseball bat,\u201d said Llewellyn.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou start with the grain all aligned in one direction,\u201d continued Llewellyn. \u201cAnd we want to keep it aligned as it goes through the primary forging hammer presses, and then as it\u2019s moved into the precision forging process, the hydraulic presses\u2026 everything we do in the process \u2013 the way we prepare the billet, the way it\u2019s bent and stretched before forging, the way we design the mold so that the metal can flow properly and so that the excess metal can flow out in a certain manner \u2013 it\u2019s all to help enhance the grain and give us long, uniform metallic grains all the way from the hosel to the toe.\u201d<\/p>\n

This \u2018grain-flow\u2019 process has been patented by Mizuno, and if you ask players who swear by Mizunos why they love them so much, chances are they will point to the feel and consistency that this process results in.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you have long, continuous grains, the head is going to vibrate longer and basically give you more feedback,\u201d said Llewellyn.\u00a0 \u201cMore feel and more feedback. Players say that it\u2019s like you can actually feel the ball compress \u2013 \u2018melt\u2019 is another word they use \u2013 on the face. As opposed to other clubs that may produce a clickier sound, where you know you\u2019ve hit it solid, but you really don\u2019t feel the ball compress.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Mizuno's JPX Pro irons<\/p><\/div>\n

This Mizuno forging story isn\u2019t just a tale of better clubs that are only for better players. The technology Mizuno is using has allowed the company to expand its use of the grain-flow forged materials and processes into designs that are in fact game-improvement clubs \u2013 like its JPX 800 Pro irons.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not sitting around comfortable with where we are right now,\u201d said Llewellyn. \u201cIt\u2019s an ongoing process of trying new materials, new heat treatments, trying to enhance the grain structure further, doing player testing \u2013 both internally and out on tour \u2013 and making use of our simulation tools. In terms of feel, it\u2019s been tough to beat our 1025e grain flow forged steel. But in terms of playability, with the engineering simulation tools we have now, we can make very forgiving forged irons with heads that vibrate correctly and produce a very solid feel, and at the same time we can push the envelope and make forged irons that are as forgiving \u2013 if not more forgiving \u2013 than some of the cast irons out there. We\u2019ll put the JPX 800 Pro up against quite a few of the middle-handicapper irons out on the market right now in terms of overall forgiveness and playability. The simulation tools allow us to move weight around without losing feel. We\u2019re also looking at multi-material construction. Our MP-59 is a perfect example of a shallow-cavity design that plays like a full-cavity design. We forge a lower density titanium into the center of the muscle, and that gives us more discretionary weight for toe-heel weighting.\u201d<\/p>\n

It costs two-to-three times more to create forged clubheads the way Mizuno does than it costs to manufacture your average cast clubhead. But for many players, including Mizuno staff pro Luke Donald, it\u2019s worth it.<\/p>\n

The Gospel Truth<\/strong><\/p>\n

Donald, who recently regained his World Number One ranking after his sudden-death victory at the PGA Tour\u2019s Transitions Championship, is being featured in a new marketing campaign for Mizuno that the company calls \u201cThe Iron Truth.\u201d In it, Mizuno \u2018preaches\u2019 that accurate iron play, not bombed drivers, is the key to scoring well. (Something Donald demonstrated nicely with his pin-seeking shot from the rough during the only playoff hole he needed at the Transitions.)<\/p>\n

\u201cGolf loyalists continue to be annually coerced by the industry\u2019s aggressive advertising campaigns to believe that a better driver is the answer to their golf woes,\u201d a Mizuno press release on the new campaign stated. That\u2019s why, Mizuno says, it unveiled its Iron Truth campaign \u2013 \u201ca marketing campaign built around the paramount importance of superior irons and iron play in every golfer\u2019s ongoing quest to improve their game.\u201d<\/p>\n

At this refreshingly different campaign\u2019s microsite, www.theirontruth.com<\/a>, you can read \u201cThe Ten Truths,\u201d which add up to an interesting (and ecclesiastically adorned) polemic on the value of irons and iron play. Among these ten witty truisms are:<\/p>\n

\u201cThe best player in the world isn\u2019t decided by who\u2019s longest off the tee.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNowhere on your scorecard do you write down how far you drive the ball.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe most important club in your bag is eight clubs.\u201d<\/p>\n

The site also features Donald in a series of short, gospel-music-themed videos entitled \u201cThe Gospel According to Luke,\u201d where Donald underscores the importance of iron play to scoring. The campy music takes the campaign concept a step too far in my opinion, but there\u2019s no doubt that Donald is the perfect poster boy for the message.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a lot of truth to what the campaign says. Because while you may use your oversized (if not over-hyped) driver 14 times in the course of a round, you\u2019ll be reaching for your irons a lot more.\u00a0 And how often you have to reach for them may depend, in part, on what kind of irons you\u2019re reaching for. So if you haven\u2019t hit a Mizuno forged iron recently, you just might be doing yourself a favor by trying one out this season. There\u2019s a reason why they get so many gold awards in golf magazine club tests: they perform. You may not hear angels sing every time you swing one of them, but Mizuno goes to great lengths to make them something special. And that\u2019s the gospel truth.<\/p>\n

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