REVIEW: Mizuno MP-20 Irons

Over the past six weeks, I have had the opportunity to hit the Mizuno MP-20 irons for exactly 90 holes of golf. That being said, 90 holes was just enough to make some important observations in how these irons look, feel, and perform.

Believe me: there is no disappointment in any category. I do look forward to this winter where I will actually have the opportunity to put these incredible clubs on launch monitors and top tracers and what have you, because their on-course performance has been stellar.

The Mizuno MP-20 MMC iron.

Cosmetics

I don’t care what anyone else says, if you don’t like looking at a golf club, you will not hit it to its fullest potential, or yours.

The cosmetics of a golf club are a huge part of golf. How many times have we said to ourselves, or furthermore, heard a PGA Professional say “that shot just didn’t fit my eye” after hitting a poor golf shot? If a club that is in your hand for 30-40% of your shots per round doesn’t fit your eye, how do you expect that club to fit with a shot that doesn’t fit your eye as well? The Mizuno MP-20 irons checked all the boxes for me.

This review set consisted of a combo make up: 4-6 MMC, and 7-PW MB with standard loft and lie (which I may need to go a degree flat, but I believe Mr. GU’s wonderful wife let him buy a loft and lie machine…not the lie machine I said his ass needs BTW…so hopefully I can do some tinkering), and Project X 6.5 shafts.

Let me start with the 7-PW. These four golf clubs are the best looking irons I have ever seen, owned or otherwise. They have a beautifully thin yet smoothly rounded top line, perfect heal to toe balanced look, and the softest inset before an absolutely perfectly square clubface.

I’m telling you, in all the irons I’ve seen hit or owned, nothing compares. Many can place in a moderately close second, but these are the clear winner.

Additionally, the 4-6 MMC irons are everything I wanted to see in my longer irons. They feature similar top line to the MB’s, yet ever so slightly thicker, minimally wider sole, and again, the smoothest little inset before an incredibly square clubface. All this being said, there is not a single bad thing I can say about the cosmetics of these golf clubs. If you are good enough to play them, I guarantee you will agree with me that nothing compares to their look.

Feel

Feel is something I find tough to describe. Honestly, and I’ll probably revert back to this type of description later in the article, but sometimes things can only be described in an oxymoron manner, using two terms that essentially contradict each other.

So maybe the best way for me to describe these is by saying they are incredbly crisp/firm, yet incredibly soft. Not sure this makes sense, but firmly soft, or crisply smooth is about all I got.

Either way, the working word pulling the weight above is INCREDIBLE. Center hits feel as though the ball stays on the face for the perfect amount of time, and feel like the ball was compressed, not spun or jumped or just hit. This is an issue that I have with some of the drivers of recent years, as I feel some faces have gotten too firm, and I don’t get to feel the ball on the clubface as long as I would like. I’ve also experienced this with some modern iron designs.

With off-center strikes, what you would assume from a blade is still and always will be the issue: a little bit of a rocky feel. This feel in the MP-20 MB’s was not nearly to the degree of blade irons in the past, and especially not as much in the MMC’s.

The progression of the MP-20 combo set is fluid and pure.

Playability/Performance

I won’t totally lie to you and tell you anyone can hit these irons. Someone would call immediate bullshit (probably a couple people I know from this site), and that someone would be 100% correct.

What I can tell you is these Irons are more playable for an average golfer than they have been in the past. If I were recommending them to a playing level, I would say that they are for the golfer that is less than a 10 handicap, or at least trending in that direction.

The MB’s might lower that number a bit, but anyone that has gradually improved and is hovering in that 10.0 area, the MMC’s are a VERY good option. As I stated above, the slightest tiny little inset to a perfectly square face make these irons extremely workable. Whether you work the ball from left to right or right to left (Me = L2 R), hit it high or low (I’m the latter) these allow you to choose your shot and give you the ability to execute it.

Lastly…Sound

It’s rare to talk about the sound of a golf club that isn’t a driver. It’s even more rare to be talking about that sound of a driver being something other than ear-piercingly horrible. Sound plays an important part for all golfers, especially before making a purchasing decision.

I would assume that the majority of us have gotten to the first tee Saturday morning, watched as a friend or colleague you haven’t played with since last October hit their first tee shot with their new driver, and someone in the group blurts out “What the f@&% was that???”

One thing Mizuno has begun talking about more and stressing more is the pure sound of an iron. With the MP-20’s, they got it right.

I feel with irons we talk more about the sound of a shot than we do about the actual iron. We all know the sound of a pure struck golf shot and often times say “that sounded good”. And we all know the sound of a poorly struck shot from Fonzy when I’m not looking because for some damn reason I’m down $17 dollars on the tee of the par 3 12th to a 7-handicap.

Whatever…and after a confident drag from a cigarette I turn to him and say “Yeeesh, that didn’t sound good.”

The sound from the MP-20, MMC or MB (and here I go with these oxymorons again) is firmly muted. I wish I had the perfect words to describe the sound, but “perfect” might be the only way to describe it. Remember in Caddyshack when Carl Spackler is hitting the flower petals off pretending he’s at the Masters (and if you don’t, stop living under a rock)? The sound of the MP-20’s is that soft, but has this crisp character to it that is just music to any golfer’s ears. I don’t know exactly how to describe the sound other than pure, soft, and solid. Hearing that sound off the face just makes the club feel that much more perfect.

One final thing that I like about these irons is that they aren’t completely turned down to make the ball go farther. Yes, they are slightly stronger than the traditional lofts of history, but not to the level of some other companies equipment, and that I appreciate.

These irons are an absolute joy to have in my bag. Not only do they perform the way such a classic and pure iron should perform, but just looking at them in the bag brings a little smile to my face. Mizuno has always made a VERY good iron, but I have to admit, they topped them all with the MP-20 line.

(Adam Tatro is a former collegiate golfer and PGA club professional.)