Equipment editor James Savage gets the full Mizuno fitting treatment using all-new Swing DNA software…
Equipment: Mizuno JPX900 irons fitting using Swing DNA
All brands do things a little bit differently but we’re often asked how a Mizuno irons fitting works.
With all golf equipment we believe the custom-fitting process it vital to getting the right gear for your game.
With a Mizuno irons fitting, the brand pride themselves on their dedicated service and their quick turnaround of product for the consumer.
What’s especially good about the new Mizuno JPX900 irons is that there are more shaft options than ever before. You can basically have any shaft you want without paying extra.
The idea of a ‘stock shaft’ isn’t really a thing when it comes to the Mizuno JPX900 irons whether you are looking at the Hot Metal, Forged or Tour heads.
Mizuno have over a dozen Performance Centres where you can have a Mizuno irons fitting using their unique Swing DNA fitting system.
I wanted to go and see head pro James Whitaker to get the full Mizuno experience for a JPX900 irons fitting and see how it all works.
In the Performance Centre James has all the Mizuno iron and wood heads in a variety of loft and lie angles and more shafts than you could shake a stick at. (Not really sure what that means, but trust me, he’s got lots of shafts).
He’s also got the Swing DNA shaft which links to a brand new app to gather all the necessary data.
After asking about all my golfing inabilities, the app suggests the JPX900 Hot Metal head is probably going to work best for me. After already hitting the three JPX900 products prior to my visit, I knew this was the right answer.
So James then pops a JPX900 Hot Metal 6 iron head on to the Swing DNA shaft and asks me to hit three shots.
The Swing DNA shaft shows:
Clubhead Speed: How fast the clubhead and shaft are moving during the swing.
Tempo: How quickly the player transitions from the backswing to the downswing.
Shaft Toe Down: A measure of the bowing of the shaft in a downward direction during the downswing.
Shaft Kick Angle: The amount of shaft forward bending during the downswing motion.
Release Factor: How and when the clubhead and shaft are releasing during the downswing motion.
The app then picks out the top three shafts based on the data. It lists a load of other shafts but thinks the Dynamic Gold AMT, KBS Tour S and Project X LZ 6.0 will work best.
We then take the three shafts and the Hot Metal 6-iron head over to the hitting area and test them out using Trackman 4.
There’s an optimiser feature on the Trackman which basically tells you what you should be getting out of your swing in terms of ball speed, carry distance etc…
It’s a great feature when trying to find a shaft that’s working best for you. The right shaft should improve your efficiency and offer optimum launch and spin conditions for your swing speed and the way you deliver the club.
My problem when it comes to irons can be high launch and high spin.
After working through the shafts it was only the Project X LZ 6.0 where I was hitting shots with the numbers close to the optimum range. The other two felt a little bit like hard work for me.
I felt this shaft would actually allow me to improve as I get used to it a bit more.
If not happy with how the three selected shafts are working, you can just work down the list of other shafts which have been recommended on the app.
During a Mizuno irons fitting James said he uses the app recommendations as a starting point and will use his knowledge and experience to try other options where he feels necessary.
Anyway, so after deciding on the Project X shaft we then went through lie, length and grip requirements. We also go through the set make up which for me would be 4-PW.
All the information is fed back into the app and when we reach the end, James can send all the information over to Mizuno along with a copy for me.
The turn around time is 5-7 working days which is pretty cool considering all the clubs will be hand-built and packaged before being sent to James where I would then be able to collect them.
A Mizuno irons fitting is a very simple yet scientific process and can give golfers peace of mind that they are getting golf equipment that is going to work for them – which is what it’s all about.
To view a full list of the Mizuno performance and fitting centres: http://golf.mizunoeurope.com/custom-fit/performance-centres/
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This fitti g does mot consider how he square his club head with different heads/shafts. Looking at the numbers, i am nit convinced that the fitted clubs fits James at all. He is hitting balls quiet low with all three shafts and obviously a lot shorter than he is expecting. Also looking at his pronounced out to in swing, a lot lighter shaft would suit him, like xp 95 regular in my opinion.