Category: Clubs

I’ve been playing golf more than a decade now, and I’ve always been a huge fan of the fairway wood. Unfortunately, that’s because I’ve never been real consistent with my driver, so the fairway wood has been my go-to club off the tee on many occasions. Even though I recently started to hit my driver better, I’ll still pull my fairway wood multiple times per round.

A few years ago, I started hitting the Titleist 904F fairway wood. My game off the tee changed for the better because of it, and I’ve had a love affair with the club ever since. I knew it would take a solid fairway wood to replace my Titleist, and that’s where Cleveland comes into play.

I’ve had the original Cleveland HiBORE Driver in my bag for a year or so, and unlike most critics, I have thoroughly enjoyed it. I’ve hit it very well, and that has given me confidence in the Cleveland brand. With that in mind, I figured I’d give the new HiBORE XLS fairway wood a shot. Has it been solid enough to replace my Titleist 904F? Keep reading to find out.

For the record, the model I am reviewing is the 15° fairway wood.

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When the original HiBORE driver hit store shelves, I was among the first in line to pick one up. Frankly, it didn’t work out well. The driver was supposed to hit the ball high, straight, and long. My typical swing with the original HiBORE produced drives that flew wedge-shot high, very straight… and about as far as a 3-wood.

As it turns out, two out of three can be bad. That original HiBORE lasted two weeks in the bag. High and straight are good, but what fun is there in hitting a driver if you don’t get reasonable distance out of it?

I must not have been alone. Cleveland soon replaced the HiBORE with the HiBORE XL. Unlike most movies, in this case the sequel was far superior to the original. Now Cleveland has introduced the third rendition in the HiBORE trilogy. The HiBORE XLS is billed as the hottest, largest faced, and most forgiving yet. Great claims, but do they hold up?

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When I found out about Mizuno releasing a full cavity-back iron for their MP line, I must admit, I was pretty giddy.

I’ve long admired the MP line but knew I had no business playing any of them as I felt I just wasn’t good enough nor did I have the time to dedicate to practice enough to enjoy playing golf with them. No matter how nice a club looks, that beauty is not going to help you when your swing isn’t quite there.

Enter the MP-57 irons. Even though they are technically a full cavity-back iron, I was left to wonder when they arrived at my doorstep if they might still be a bit too much iron for my golf swing.

Read on to find out if a cavity-back iron could still produce that “buttery-smooth” Mizuno feeling while also providing a level of forgiveness for those of us who can’t dedicate hours at the range honing our golf swings.

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Despite being known for making great irons and wedges, Mizuno has languished a bit in relative obscurity while irons and wedges from Titleist, TaylorMade, Callaway, and others have sold several times faster than those from Mizuno. Despite offering a pure, forged wedge, Mizuno doesn’t get a lot of play in the U.S. because, among other things, they pay very few PGA Tour pros to play their wedges. Go ahead, name a PGA Tour player (besides Luke Donald) who uses Mizuno? I’ll wait.

Partly owing to the lack of advertising via PGA Tour caps, visors, and bags, and partly due to the fact that Mizuno has tended towards producing clubs for the highly skilled golfer, Mizuno irons and wedges have a certain mystique about them.

I’ve spent a few weeks playing Mizuno wedges, and I’m happy to report that what lies beneath the mystique are some good looking, versatile, playable, and great feeling wedges. Let’s take a look at the MP-T series of wedges from Mizuno.

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Scotty Cameron has pretty much held the same weight/length characteristics with his various Newport lines over the years with few exceptions. For the most part, the 33″ length was matched with a 350-gram head, the 34″ with a 340-gram head, and the 35″ getting a 330-gram head. Other than swapping shafts with a heavier head (or vise versa), you were pretty much stuck with whatever weight head came with the correct shaft length for your physical makeup and putting stroke.

For those of us who prefer a little more heft in our putter head and don’t want to use lead tape, the new Studio Select line fits us perfectly. The Studio Selects feature removable weights that let you fine-tune the weight that works best for you.

I’ve spent the last two years using a Studio Style Newport 2 and really like the softer feel of the insert, so even though the Studio Select Newport 2 looks similar, I was a little hesitant to give up the feel to which I’d become accustomed. Read on to find out if I ditched the insert and went all milled.

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Fresh off receiving a Silver in the 2008 Golf Digest Hot list, the new Black Carbon putters from Mizuno and putter maestro Bob Bettinardi are showing off new ways to provide an insert-like feel and softness while still using a one-piece construction milled face. By the looks of it, they have pulled that off beautifully.

I repeat, no insert. Oh, they still have the Honeycomb face milling you’ve come to expect from a Bettinardi putter but some additional face milling make these putters look a bit different from what you may have seen not only from Mr. Bettinardi but from anyone else making putters as well.

Read on to find out what this insert-looking, non-insert putter is all about.

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Mizuno has long been known for their forged irons for better players. However, that reputation has largely failed to carry over into the world of woods. Their previous driver offering for low handicappers (the MP-001) had a small, but loyal following (at the range one day, a guy with an MP-001 couldn’t help but come over to check out the MP-600). In fact, only 16 of the nearly 800 Sand Trap forum members who responded to a driver survey, or just over 2%, use a Mizuno driver.

Mizuno makes quality woods, but breaking the mindset of the golfing public can be difficult. To be fair, until this year, Mizuno had not released a new driver since the MX-500, so they’d been out of the limelight. But the fact remains, many golfers don’t even consider Mizuno woods when making a purchase. The MP-600 is here to say maybe they should.

Continue reading “Mizuno MP-600 Driver Review”