Gear: Mizuno Pro 221 irons
Price: $187.50 each with Project X LS steel shafts and Golf Pride Z-Grip Full Cord grips
Specs: Forged 1025E mild carbon steel with a copper underlayer. Available in 3-iron through pitching wedge. Right-hand only
Available: Feb. 3
For the past several years, Mizuno’s muscleback blades have fallen under the MP umbrella in the United States, while the company’s home country of Japan has seen irons branded in the Mizuno Pro line. In some years there were subtle differences between the clubs made for the North American market and the Asian market.
For instance, the Mizuno Pro 118 designed for the Asian market had a thin layer of copper under the chrome finish, while a similar club made for North America, the MP-18, lacked the copper layer. Recently, however, they have been the same. Aside from the slight name difference, the MP-20 and Mizuno Pro 20 were identical.
For 2022, Mizuno is bringing the Mizuno Pro moniker to the North American market, and for golfers with powerful, repeatable swings who want more feel and control, the company is offering the Mizuno Pro 221.
Mizuno forges the 221 irons in a unique way that elongates the steel for a better feel. (David Dusek/Golfweek)
Each Mizuno Pro 221 is forged from a single bar of 1025E mild carbon steel using the company’s unique grain-flow, high-density forging process in Hiroshima, Japan. The steel bars are super-heated, stretched and pressed under high pressure (forged) into the head’s shape. After a second forging, the heads are ground by hand, sandblasted and polished. According to Mizuno, the advantage of this process is that the metal grains inside each head flow, uninterrupted, from heel to toe for better feel.
The muscle pad in the Mizuno Pro 221 is thicker. (David Dusek/Golfweek)
The engineers who developed the Mizuno Pro 221 removed some mass from the heel area and toe section, then made the back of the club, the muscle pad, slightly thicker behind the face. When Mizuno tested the Mizuno Pro 221 with tour players, the golfers said they heard a slightly more muted sound, which they preferred. That comes from the thicker muscle pad.
The Mizuno Pro 221 irons have a thin topline and the blade length has been shortened. (David Dusek/Golfweek)
The blade length of the 3-iron through 6-iron has not changed, but the scoring clubs in the Mizuno Pro 221, the 7-iron through pitching wedge, are more compact than the Mp-20. Mizuno found that this is the look that accomplished players want to see at address. Designers also beveled the topline more aggressively, to make it appear thinner. It is a trick on a player’s eyes, because while players want to see a thin topline, if the topline gets too thin, clubs tend to produce a “clicky” or “tinny” sound instead of the deeper sound skillful players want to hear.
The Mizuno Pro 221 irons have very traditional lofts (David Dusek/Golfweek)
With thin soles and very little offset, the Mizuno Pro 221 also has very traditional lofts. The 5-iron has 27 degrees of loft and the pitching wedge has 46 degrees.
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