This year was an awesome year for the Mizuno Japan camp. Lots of changes starting early with their new runbird logo that has been used forever on their Judo and Baseball gear. It will take a little time for some to get used to but IMO it looks great. Ok so you guys already know about all their new USA stuff that is also available in Japan but lets just go over some of their Japan only product as its to die for. They have a new ENDO Forged JPX E500 Iron that is the talk of the town, Mizuno has added some new shaft options for their custom ordered drivers and irons, they also have 2-3% market share on the JPGA tour using the Quad Series Triax Weave shafts, these are sold shaft only and some players are using it in Titleist drivers and other OEMs. Way to go Mizuno entering the carbon shaft arena. The new JPX Ti Face Iron is their mens game improvement iron that features a beta ti face with multiple tungsten weighting devices within the head. A big deal now and why Mizuno is more popular with better players now days is the fact that they offer custom order driver lie angles for players. This is a big deal for some as your driver lie angle being fit actually improves where you hit the ball on the face and that will equal to more distance. Its not about contact with the ground more so contact with the ball and the angle the head comes in at. New JPX woods and an MOI driver with about 5000 moi but its not the same MOI as other companies been using this version is measured from the top to bottom of the face instead of heel to toe. Mizuno has a new 4 layer ball! Thats right four layers this is the next generation of ball technology seen today, Only several other brands are doing similar, Tourstage X-01R4 and the XXIO DC Ball.

Enjoy the Mizuno Pics, many more to come over the next couple of days!



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Is it just me, or is Mizuno making a major mistake not bringing the JPX line to USA.

One would think there would be a market for these products in USA.

How about the MP425 craft that thing would be a HIT in the USA, custom lie and face angle its a 5 piece forged Ti driver!

But the issue is actually price points, these drivers dont cost the same as your normal usa market drivers to produce.

Chris,

What is the availability of these irons?

As great as our products are, there is no market in the US for such high-priced clubs. JPX would go the way of "Tour Stage". Serious price and recognizability issues'. As for the the Craft 425, I'll keep my mouth shut. What a driver to "personally" own though (IMG:http://www.tourspecgolf.com/forum/style_emoticons/TSG_Smileys/tsg_smilie_laugh.gif)

This post has been edited by Big Mack: Feb 26 2007, 12:24 PM

You'd be surprised to find that they really are close in cost/price. Miz had to eat part of the cost just to introduce the last 2 drivers in the US. The real reason the Craft 425(460?) won't be coming here is a long and stupid story.

This post has been edited by Big Mack: Feb 26 2007, 12:29 PM

That's a shame because it really looks like a solid driver; much better than any Mizzy here in the states. What is the pricepoint for one anyway? You can really order it with lie/face angle adjustments? That's slick because I'm flat everything as many 5'7 players are but try to forget about the "custom fitting" aspect when working with my driver which is probably the industries dirty little secret because the driver is so long we would benefit the most from proper lie adjustments to be honest. Can someone show us a few more close-up profiles (topline and face) of this sweet driver. How doe's it compare to the X-drive or the Epon?

This post has been edited by BigBen: Feb 27 2007, 06:10 PM

Everything cost money, a certain type of weld, or material or process, tech or finish. If you and I were looking at a price list with all options or a labor report of how long or how many steps it takes to build an MX500 vs the MPcraft you would indeed see a difference in price per finished club.

It means they paid more up front for tooling and design time vs per club head but add the quad 6 + the headcover, and I doubt its all that close to the price of the MX500 in the end. Still it shouldnt retail for 85,000 yen but amount of pieces ordered is different also, Japan market doesnt produce as many so with some of their Japanese models there are no volume price adjustments. The picture painted by Mizuno usa is that their clubs are forged by Mizuno, thats not exactly true, the Mizuno brand has exclusives with a particular factory that produces most of their MP series clubs or the ones marked Grain Flow Forged, other models are made everywhere from taiwan to endo and some in china. Each OEM uses a large variety of manufactures at different prices. Japanese factories can sometimes run 35% more expensive than in China. Sometimes the tooling is created in one place, the billets purchased elsewhere, its forged in another location sent over to taiwan to be finished then to its destination for assembly other times all done in one spot.

These JPX irons are 1020 non grainflow forged with tungsten inserts made in smaller numbers. Whatever the case Mizuno rocks, they know quality beyond what the majority of OEMs use and im thinking about giving these irons a try.



Look at it this way, you have access to it and others dont. here are some profile pics, I have let mine go, she was a great driver, with great feel and distance but i cant get away from my epon. I still need to try the Mizuno MOI driver through.

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Not to get off point with these beautiful Mizzy's but I have been told it does not make a difference for lie and face angle for a driver because the ball is tee'd up at impact. I always wondered if that was true because frankly, I would think proper lie/face angle is important for a driver.

Lie angle is important with all clubs in the bag, including the driver and putter. In a very simple and brief explanation, the lie angle affects the direction of the ball flight, whether, teed-up or not. I won't get into the rest, so someone else can chime in. And Chris, I'm with you. I was just talking about the head itself. There is not a chance we could compare prices if you included the Japanese Miz shafts.

Hey everybody, it's been awhile. I've been so busy the last year that golf had to take a back seat. It's good to be back and the new site and new clubs are outstanding.

I'm a little lost? Are we saying that the Craft 425 is really not any better than the MX-500, or is the Craft a sweet a** club.