MP-54

Golfmagic was afforded the luxury of taking a first look at the new Mizuno MP-54 iron at Bearwood Lakes Golf Club on Friday.

Having sampled the sexy looking MP-4, it was onto the MP-54 - an upgrade on the MP-53 and MP-64.

While I believe the MP-4 iron will target a small crop of Tour professionals and better players - I'm not even sure Luke Donald will transfer from MP-64 to MP-4 - I feel like the new MP-54 will cater for a wide range of abilities.

MP-54 has that better player appeal - which let's face it, will strike accord with just about everyone playing this game - but is packed with game improvement performance.

The MP-54’s modern, classic appearance is created through a unique marriage of Computer Aided Design and traditional craftsmanship. This craftsman approach led to the MP-54’s modified hosel blend that creates the illusion of less offset for greater left-to-right workability.

With the MP-54s, I notice a milled cavity out the bottom in the 3- to 7-iron and then the set becomes a solid muscle design from 8-iron to PW. I enjoyed enhanced feel and maneuverability with the shorter sticks and an abundance of forgiveness on off-centre hits and high launch with the longer ones.

Similar to the new MP-4, with the classic Mizuno clubhead, narrow topline and eye-catching running bird design in chrome finish, but what I like about these babies is that you get a little more help with your ball striking.

Where the MP-4 places a premium on the golfer behind the stick, MP-54, for me at least, feels much easier to get the ball airborne and much easier to strike solid on a consistent basis - particularly with the long irons aided by the milling cavity that provides greater mass behind the sweetspot.

MP-54 sounds extremely sweet off the face, too, and delivers exceptional distance control across the range.

The MP-64 irons were one of our top-rated irons for 2013, but even for some of Mizuno’s staff players they’re still smaller and less forgiving than they’d like, which is why Mizuno has crafted the MP-54.

Forged from 1025E Pure Select Carbon Steel to help create the soft, solid feel Mizuno irons are renowned for, the 54 is a slightly larger iron than the 64. MP-54 irons have longer blade lengths, thicker toplines, a little more offset and a thicker sole than the MP-64 and MP-4 irons.

Their most important characteristic, however, is the 16g of weight that Mizuno removes from the cavities of the 3-, 4-, 5-, 6- and 7-irons. All of this discretionary weight was repositioned in areas that give the MP-54 irons a higher peak trajectory and more forgiveness than Mizuno’s smaller-sized irons.

Verdict

Fantastic bag appeal, standard Mizuno feel and tremendous forgiveness and high launch to get excited about with the long irons.