When Mizuno announced the JPX 925 Forged irons just a day ago, the absence of a JPX 925 Tour iron was notable.
But turns out the company had another option coming down the pike. On Tuesday they announced the new Mizuno Pro S-3 irons, which start a completely new family within the Mizuno Pro line.
Here are three things to know about the player’s irons.
Since its introduction in 2017 with the JPX 900 series, the JPX Tour line of irons has served as the elite-level ball striker’s iron in a family of irons typically designed for players who need a technology boost for performance.
That was intentional, said Mizuno’s head of product, Chris Voshall. At that time, Voshall said the JPX line was only about a third of the company’s sales, the rest were predominately the Mizuno Pro line (then known as MP), which had and still has a cult-like following in the gear world. Mizuno was known as a company for better players, not necessarily a company focused on the types of players the JPX line caters to.
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Voshall said the company looked at how they can bring exposure to the JPX family through the Tour.
“We were paying good money to PGA Tour players who were playing something that doesn’t really speak to the masses,” Voshall told GOLF. “So that’s where the idea became, let’s give some more visibility to the JPX family by giving it a model that could be promoted on Tour.”
Thus the JPX Tour line was born by taking a club that could have been a shallow cavity iron in the Miznuo Pro line — thin topline, thin soul, compact head, one-piece grain flow forging — and branding it as JPX.
The timing was perfect for Mizuno, as Nike exited the hard goods space in late 2016 and kicked off the era of the gear free agents, and many former Nike athletes chose to game the JPX Tour line, most notably Brooks Koepka, who won his first four majors with JPX Tour 900 and JPX Tour 919 in the bag.
Fast forward eight years later and Mizuno has nearly doubled its irons market share and the JPX family makes up nearly three-quarters of the company’s irons sales, said Voshall. The JPX Hot Metal line has performed so well for middle-handicappers, Voshall said it essentially lives on its own.
“We saw that as an opportunity that we don’t necessarily need that [Tour] model to help bring visibility to JPX because it’s there,” he said. “It’s just established now.”
With that opportunity, Mizuno sought the chance to establish a new Mizuno Pro Signature family that lives within the Mizuno Pro line. The first release is the Mizuno Pro S-3 shallow cavity iron.
After a meeting with the Mizuno Tour staff two years ago, the feedback was that since players were using irons that don’t have the technological advances that go into clubs for the masses like the JPX line, the Tour players had to change irons too often, Voshall said. For the last several years, Mizuno has been doing alternate-year releases between the JPX and Mizuno Pro lines.
The new Mizuno Pro Signature series irons are designed to cater to the most elite ballstrikers and live on for about a four-year life cycle. The Mizuno Pro 24X line isn’t going away either, and the new Mizuno Pro S-3 will slot into the lineup somewhere between the current 241 blades and the 243 cavity-back irons.
Eventually, Voshall said the Signature series will grow to include more player’s irons that are simple, one-piece forged constructions in different shapes.
Mizuno isn’t messing with any of the technology that goes into their iconic Mizuno pro feel.
The Mizuno Pro S-3 uses Mizuno’s Grain Flow Forging process from 1025E Pure Select Mild Carbon Steel and features a copper underlay that has been present since the Mizuno MP-20 to further soften the feel.
As this is an iron designed for elite players, shaping was carefully considered to ensure a thin topline and sole in a short blade length to increase workability for shot shapers. Straight lines were also a priority to give the iron a modern look.
The Pro S-3 irons also incorporate Mizuno’s Triple Cut Sole to enhance turf interaction by slightly beveling the leading edge and hard-cutting the trailing edge to make for a quick and clean exit.
“The Mizuno Pro S-3 irons embody the heritage of why so many professionals and accomplished players have fallen in love with Mizuno,” Voshall said. “Designed with only two objectives, feel and control, the Mizuno Pro S-3 will raise the bar for those demanding the ultimate in precision and feedback.”
Mizuno Pro S-3 irons will be available for preorder on Jan. 24 and arrive at retail two weeks later on Feb. 6. They will cost $200 per club.
$200
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