Mizuno Pro's S-1 irons are as pure as the driven snow

When one thinks of the old adage 'nothing feels like a Mizuno', a muscle back iron from the Mizuno Pro line will almost certainly be the club that jumps front of mind to complement.

Up until now, the Mizuno Pro 241 has represented the purest distillation of what makes Mizuno the benchmark for clean-looking, pure-feeling irons. The muscle-back design and bladed profile toe the finest line between complete control and playable forgiveness, allowing the best golfers to extract the utmost out of their game with an uncompromising focus on precision and workability.

Now the successor to the 241, dubbed the S-1, is here, providing what the Japanese brand hopes will be an even more refined entry into a line that is now regarded as the standard bearer for purity in the golf club market. 

It's fair to say that the S-1 doesn't upset the apple cart in delivering what most have come to expect from Mizuno Pro's muscle-back irons in recent years. Quite frankly, it doesn't need to. As was the case with the cavity-back S-3 irons unveiled earlier this year, the look of the S-1 remains as crisp and minimalist as ever before, while the upgrades to the tech engineered into each club are evolutionary, rather than revolutionary.

Even so, the further refinement of the features of the 241 will, Mizuno hope, make the new Pro S-1 the purest-feeling and most workable irons Mizuno have ever made. Each club is forged in the company's Hiroshima factory from a single billet of 1025E Pure Select Mild Carbon Steel, using a further refinement of Mizuno’s now-famous Grain Flow forging technique. 

Called Grain Flow Forged HD, it creates the tightest-grain, highest-density head of any Mizuno iron, putting maximum weight behind the ball for that pure feel the S-1 is so famous for.

An incredibly thin layer of copper has been included underneath the face to soften the impact section ever so slightly, helping the irons produce a buttery-soft feeling on impact without compromising durability or feedback. Further refinements to the Channel Back Design move the centre of gravity lower and closer to the middle of the face, providing more launch compared to the 241 and further amplifying the crisp sensation that rewards a well-struck shot.

Developed with even more input from tour professionals, the new S-1 also refines the shape of the S-1 sole that lends the club its name, providing flatter camber, a sharper leading edge and an additional degree of bounce to aid forgiveness on shallow swings and allow aggressive swingers to attack the ball without fear of digging.

The Mizuno Pro S-1 Irons ($215/£215/€265 per club) will be available for pre-orders on August 28, with an on-sale date scheduled for September 11.