Mizuno JPX 825 Pro Irons Review

As many golfers know, Mizuno Golf is best know for designing some of the best forged irons in the world. First building their reputation by manufacturing muscle back blades, Mizuno grew to expand their line into forged cavity backs and forged game improvement clubs. The new JPX line is geared for the average player, the player that needs more help with forgiveness and getting the ball in the air. The JPX 825 Pro is the best of both words, combining Mizuno’s pure forged sound with updated forgiveness. Let’s take a closer look.

Technology
Mizuno packs technology into a forged iron like no other. While the Mizuno JPX 825 is not forged and most definitely in the game improvement category, extreme toe-heel weighting, hot face, wide sole, the JPX 825 Pro is in a category of it’s own. Technology from it’s game improvement cousin but with the appeal of a players club. In designing the 825 Pro, Mizuno made some changes from it’s predecesor, the JPX 800 Pro, which has similar features to the 825 Pro but with a bulkier construction. One of the updates for the 825 Pro from the 800 Pro is the milling process. For the 800 Pro, Mizuno milled the back of the blade to increase the COR (coefficient of restitution). With the 825 Pro Mizuno went to what they call a T Slot Milling which according to Mizuno golf club engineer Chris Voshall, “Takes a lot of meat out low and allows us to make the sole wider in order to push the CoG (center of gravity) back and down.” This allows for 17 grams of discretionary weight to be used for extreme toe-heel weighting.

The topline of the 825 Pro has also been updated with a 45* bevel across the topline. According to Mizuno, this bevel allow them to beef up the topline in terms of actual measured thickness from the face making the topline more rigid and improving feel. The bevel also makes the topline appear thinner to the player at address. A common theme with this club, the benefits of some really cool engineering with a players club look.

There is a flow throughout the set, from long irons to short irons. The JPX-825 Pro 4-7 irons feature what Mizuno calls a milled pocket cavity to move weight low and further back in an effort to help player launch their long to mid irons. Something most of us really appreciate! Then from 8-Gap Wedge it’s a solid full cavity design and a much more compact look than the 800 Pro irons. The thinking behind this being that even though it’s a JPX iron, players still have the ability to control the flight of their shorter irons.

Utilizing Harmonic Impact Technology (HIT), Mizuno engineers designed an incredibly strong cavity frame that allows a thinner, more reactive face for increased initial ball speed while maintaining an unbelievably solid feel at impact. The sole is still narrow by game-improvement standards and engineers came up with what they call a tour confirmed triple cut sole design that provides relief of the leading and trailing edges for ideal turf interaction and solid ball striking from any lie on the course. Just further confirms with what we (Erik and I) like to see in iron and wedge designs. Bounce is your friend, a healthy radius to the sole is your friend.

The sole is exceptionally narrow by game-improvement standards, which further suggests the JPX-825 Pro is more tweener that classic game-improvement, but nevertheless, it should add a bit of curb appeal for the lower handicap golfer. For the higher handicap guy, the noticeable offset should help to inspire confidence, even if it does so at the expense of some better players.
Marketed to players with 6-18 handicaps, the JPX-825 Pro Irons feature heel-toe weighting and a more reactive face, characteristic of typical game-improvement irons.

For thousands of years, the forging process has been employed to create some of the world’s finest swords, weapons, and tools. One of Mizuno’s most important technologies is their Grain Flow Forging process, which you normally find in the MP line. A single piece of high-quality 1025E Pure Select Mild Carbon steel billet is carefully heated before beginning the shaping process with a 1000-ton hammer press. This process aligns the grains in the metal and avoids microscopic air bubbles that can form during typical casting processes. According to Mizuno this is what enhances their club head’s feel and feedback. This soft feel reduces unwanted vibrations.

A recent addition to Mizuno Golf has been custom fitting shafts for players. Mizuno says that nothing will improve your game more quickly than a set of clubs matched to the unique nuances of your swing. Mizuno’s Performance Fitting System is the only club-fitting method that fuses the expertise of professional Mizuno fitters with exclusive Shaft Optimizer technology. Matching the right shaft to your swing can be very important and have an effect on a few aspects of your shot, distance, control, ball flight, trajectory and feel. What many golfers usually do is simply selected a popular shaft that might be a mis-fit for their swing. Mizuno says that every aspect of your swing is considered when fitting each club.

In just a few swings, Mizuno’s Shaft Optimizer measures five aspects of your swing to determine your unique Swing DNA™. Your information is entered into Mizuno’s patented Shaft Optimizer software, which then recommends a shaft with performance characteristics perfectly matched to your individual swing.

Esthetics
All around the JPX-825 Pro is a step up from its predecessor, the JPX 800 Pro. The head is more compact, the badge has more of a serious players feel to it (The black with chrome accents in the cavity), and the sole grind is more pronounced. Mizuno did a great job with blending the progression of size and offset of the set. The long irons are a much larger head with some offset while the shorter irons get much smaller in size and offset. I like a satin finish, so I’m a fan of the way these irons looks. The overall not-too-big, not-too-small size appeals to a broad range of players. Both the game improvement crowd and players that play irons like AP2’s, i20’s. I recently had a low single digit handicapper ask me about these irons and he was trying to figure out whether to go with the 825 Pro’s or another club that would categorized as more of a “tour” iron. I told him what I thought, I knew what he liked, and he decided to go with the 825 Pro’s and he’s been loving them. I was initially a little surprised because he always told me he loved the look of a thin topline and had been a Mizuno muscle back player for a while. I would not categorize the JPX 825 Pro topline as thin, going to be thicker than what you’ll see in the MP line but it’s definitely more narrower than what you’d find on most clubs in their category, like a Callaway Diablo Forged iron.

The look of the badge, cavity and graphics are understated but still sexy. Previous offerings had cavity stampings that were more bold, less attractive to serious golfers. The JPX-825 Pros tone this down a bit. The black cavity graphics are are edgy, hinting at a technology theme but it doesn’t scream “Hey look at me!”.

As mentioned the soles are designed for great turf interaction and are wider then the irons you’ll find in the MP line. The soles aren’t so wide that they can be seen at address with the long irons, something that can be true of other irons in this forgiving-players-irons category.

Playbability and Feel
The JPX-825 Pros performed well when I took them on the course. The long irons are easy to launch high and the size of the head gives the golfers some confidence. The shorter irons, as advertised, can be flighted lower, through wind, or for those in between yardages. Compared to the previous set of Mizuno irons I reviewed, the MP-59 irons, there are a few things that stand out. The short irons perform similar, able to control shot trajectory and how far you want to hit it. Overall, the JPX 825 Pros do launch higher but do so without ballooning the ball. What I really love is how the irons glide through the turf. Long irons (4-7) employ an undercut cavity design (thankfully not visible at address) which helps with forgiveness and a hotter face for distance.
I didn’t find any groundbreaking distance gains, but the consistency was top-notch. The 8-GW have no undercut cavity and are extremely accurate, no doubt helped by the cleaner, scoring iron shape. You can score with these clubs, so get the putter ready.
The flight seemed a little higher to me in the long irons than my 800 Pros. That’s a good thing as it helps stop the ball on the green. I had no problems hitting these lower. Low punches, especially with the scoring irons, were spectacular. They flew low and stopped quickly and were fun to pull off.

We’ve all seen “Grain Flow Forged” proudly etched on the hosel of Mizuno forgings. They are some of the best feeling irons around. Feel is excellent and uniform with long and short irons despite the difference in the cavity designs. Somehow, these feel nicer than the JPX-800s they replaced.

These are more muted than a blade on mishits, but still provide great feedback at impact. If you flush one, you know it. Overall feel is excellent and uniform throughout the set. Not quite like a hot knife though butter, but very soft nonetheless. These are easily some of the best feeling clubs in the ‘players game improvement’ category.

On the golf course, the performance of the JPX-825 Pros has been nothing but consistent. The forgiveness is almost startling: my off-center, toe-end contact now leads not to wicked toe-hooks, but rather gentle — even controllable — draws. And these occasional off-center strikes do not lose much, if any, distance. Recent rounds, during which I corrected the contact issue, have proven the JPX-825 Pros to be about 5-10 yards longer than my previous irons, too. So I feel like I can swing easier and get the same or better results.

The JPX-825s’ workability was tested during my first round, when I found myself needing to hit a low, 160-yard semi-snap hook under tree branches and out over a pond to the green of the par-5 third hole of my home course. With my old blades, I knew I had the shot, but the JPX-825 Pros were so new, I didn’t know how they’d perform. (Heck, I’d only taken three swings with them so far). But I figured, “What the heck? What’s the fun of chipping out to the fairway?”

The ball rocketed out from under the branches over the pond, never more than 6 feet off the ground, and bent exactly as planned, toward the front-right flagstick, coming to rest in the frog-hair, just below the pin.

Sold.

As for the feel, the JPX-825 Pros aren’t quite as soft as more traditional forged “player’s” irons. But they provide ample feedback to let you know immediately where and how well you’ve struck the ball.

I suppose you could say that it’s interesting that our high handicap golfer (the guy who games the JPX-800 Pro) feels like the JPX-825 Pro is a step backwards. I would actually argue quite the opposite. One of things I didn’t love about the JPX-800 Pro was that in my estimation, they didn’t quite live up to Mizuno’s reputation where feel is concerned.

It’s just an opinion, but I think the 825 Pros offer a softer, buttery, more what I’d expect from Mizuno kinda feel. It’s obviously not a night and day sort of thing to begin with, we’re talking about only needing incremental improvement anyway. That said, I’d argue that the JPX-825 Pro offers incrementally better feel than its predecessor, and should feel noticeably softer than other clubs in the game improvement category.

I happily tested a set of MP-59’s with KBS Tour stiff shafts. Before I ordered the set I made a trip to my local golf store to see what Mizuno’s Shaft Optimizer recommended for me. I have played the KBS Tours in previous irons and thought they were a good fit for me. After making several swings to find my unique swing DNA, the shaft optimizer software recommended the KBS Tours, a great start to this Mizuno experience. The KBS Tour shafts add a softer feel while not increasing spin. On a positive side note, the KBS Tours are a no up-charge option for the MP-59 irons.

The first thing I noticed with these irons are that they are an iron that offers a large amount of feedback. They sound awesome and you know the difference between a good and a great strike. Shots hit out on the toe or high on the club face don’t sound as compressed but the results are still very good . Mizuno lists the handicap ranges on their website for who they feel will most benefit from a set such as these and they do keep that number pretty low. For the MP-59 irons it goes from tour player to a 13 index. The Mizuno guide is fairly close if we are basing it on handicap equals ball striking. I would say the number is a little high, a 12 or 13 handicap will tend to struggle with these irons because the sole grind doesn’t allow for inconsistent contact and miss hits lose more distance than a club in the JPX line. Controlling your low point is a must with these irons. You can miss them off center but you better be hitting ball first otherwise you’ll end up with some embarrassing shots.

Specs
The JPX 825 Pro irons come stock with True Temper Dynalite Golf XP R300 and S300 shafts and Mizuno’s Golf Pride M-21 58 round grips.

Club    Loft    Length     Lie      Offset
----    ----    ------     ---      -------
4       23°     38.25"     60.0°    0.175
5       26°     37.75"     60.5°    0.165
6       29°     37.25"     61.00°   0.156
7       33°     36.75"     61.50°   0.146
8       37°     36.25"     62.0°    0.136
9       41°     35.75"     62.50°   0.26
PW      45°     35.50"     63.0°    0.116
GW      50°     35.25"     63.0°    0.106

Conclusion
Mizuno JPX-825 Pro Irons blur the line between game-improvement and players categories. These are not ground breaking, but rather an enhancement of the previous JPX-800 Pros. That’s a good thing for these who are all-round top performers. Solid, soft and deadly accurate. While the recommended handicap range is 6-18, you can bet there will be even better players putting these in the bag.

Yet on all but two occasions, the off-center contact that elicited this exclamation ended up far better than I had at first feared. And the fact that so little distance is lost on these shots is still a surprise.

These irons are as forgiving as any true “game-improvement” irons I’ve ever tested, yet provide feel and workability close or equal to most “player’s” irons. Such is their quality that they have even been spotted in the bag of at least one PGA Tour player (Charles Howell III).

The JPX-825 Pros don’t come cheap, with a typical street price of around $900, but if you’re looking to upgrade from a clunky set of high-handicapper irons or finally give in to the occasional need for added forgiveness, these Mizuno sticks should be high on your list of options.

Whether you make a visit to your local golf store for the MP-59’s or any other Mizuno iron, do yourself a favor and make sure you get fit on Mizuno’s Shaft Optimizer to find out what shaft will enhance your game. If they work for Luke Donald, Jonathan Byrd and Charles Howell they might be a great fit for you.