Swing Slower For More Distance? I Golf Monthly
In this video, Joel Tadman tests the three new Mizuno JPX923 Hot Metal irons on the launch monitor and the course at Longcliffe Golf Club to see how they perform. Interestingly, Mizuno has added a new High Launch model this time around and so Joel does a little experiment to see if golfers with slower swing speeds will actually get more distance from an iron with weaker lofts. Watch to the end to find out if this is the case.
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00:00 Now it's always an exciting time when Mizuno launches new irons, especially within that
00:04 JPX franchise where they have models to suit every type of player. But for 2023 there's a
00:10 brand new model that Mizuno say will help golfers with slower swing speeds hit it further. It sounds
00:16 counterintuitive but it's really addressing the need for game-improved irons to provide a more
00:22 playable and optimum ball fight. The trend I've seen with lofts getting stronger, even at my swing
00:28 speed, I struggle to really flight the ball in these game-improvement, super game-improvement
00:32 clubs and Mizuno say they've combated that with the launch of this new JPX range, specifically
00:38 the JPX 923 Hot Metal High Launch. As you can see I've got three Hot Metal irons here in front of
00:43 me. It's a split launch this time so you're gonna have to wait until February next year for the
00:47 Tall and the Forge, which are the two models that admittedly would probably be more suited to my
00:51 swing speed and my handicap. But I want to put these irons through their paces. The Hot Metal,
00:56 the Hot Metal Pro and the Hot Metal High Launch in this JPX 923 range to see exactly what they're
01:02 all about but even more specifically if I swing them slower can I get even more distance out of
01:08 that Hot Metal High Launch than I can the other two models. That's what we're here at Long Cliff
01:12 Golf Club to find out. Now if you want to find out about the technology in each of these specific
01:17 heads go to the Golf Monthly website there's a story there you can read all about that. We're
01:20 not going to cover that in this video but what we are going to talk about is the concept behind
01:25 the changes that Mizuno have made with these irons versus the previous 921 range in that JPX
01:30 franchise. So Mizuno as we know they have that shaft optimizer technology where in three swings
01:36 they can identify what shaft a golfer needs for their irons and from all those different swings
01:41 they've captured over 350,000 swings there were a couple of trends that really stood out and that
01:46 has really helped shape and influence the design of these new irons. The first is the fact actually
01:51 that golfer swing speeds are quite slow average was about 82 miles an hour with the 7-iron and
01:56 that has led to the introduction of this High Launch model which we've covered already but the
02:00 second trend was that golfers tended to present quite a lot of shaft lean at impact and that's
02:05 resulted in a change in the bounce and the camber to these clubs so you'll notice there's a lot more
02:09 bounce and camber to these clubs to give you a little bit more forgiveness through the turf
02:13 if you do tend to deal off the club into impact and get that leading edge quite sharp into the
02:18 ball so it gives you a little bit more margin for error Mizuno say on your strike. So those are the
02:23 two key trends that Mizuno have incorporated into this range I'm going to hit some shots here into
02:27 this beautiful par 4 down here the 10th hole at Longcliffe Golf Club. I've got the launch monitor
02:32 the full swing kit launch monitor going to capture some data we're going to assess the ball flight
02:36 assess the feel the sound everything about these clubs and then we'll feedback afterwards so
02:40 without further ado let's hit some shots see what they're all about. Oh it's much higher
02:47 so
02:57 well so I've really enjoyed my testing session on the full swing kit launch monitor with
03:11 the three new JPX 923 hot metal irons and I've also thrown in the JPX 921 hot metal iron as a
03:18 comparison which we're going to touch on now so I'll flash up the data on the screen you can
03:23 click pause and peruse at your leisure but there were some trends that I noticed during the testing
03:28 from the data that we got the first being that I love how the spin is pretty high for what is a game
03:33 improvement iron range where we see lofts been stronger spin coming down the fact that these
03:38 clubs are spinning close to 6,000 rpm we've sort with the prior generation and that's been
03:43 continuing to this one so that's going to help players keep the ball in the air for longer and
03:47 get more stopping power into greens so that's the first thing that I really observed across all three
03:51 of the new irons so coming on to numbers worth pointing out that the the hot metal and the hot
03:55 metal pro in this 923 range is half a degree stronger than where we were in the 921 but
04:00 looking at the numbers actually it wasn't necessarily getting anything more out of this
04:04 new version both were carrying similar in the hot metal starting with the hot metal iron both were
04:09 carrying around about that 170 range but what I did notice was the ball flight was a little bit
04:14 higher so even though it's stronger in loft actually the ball was launching a little bit
04:17 higher and it was flying a little bit higher too notice that testing here on this hole at long
04:22 cliff golf club was like one or two yards higher through the air which is a change that I like to
04:26 see given those stronger lofts then we move on to that the hot metal pro is actually this is the
04:31 club I got the most out of despite it being a slimmed down version of the hot metal actually
04:35 hit a little bit further than the hot metal definitely prefer the look of it it's got a
04:39 more compact look down at address whereas the hot metal iron in the 921 and 923 very similar really
04:46 comforting sparring a little bit of offset there thicker top line hot metal pro a little bit more
04:51 slimmed down so it definitely suits my eye as a lower handicap a little bit more and then we move
04:55 on to the hot metal high lodge now you might think well this club is weaker in loft it's two degree
05:01 two to three degrees weaker through the set than the hot metal in the 7-iron it's 31 degrees so
05:05 it's significantly weaker and as a result the testing I did a launch monitor and my speed
05:11 would suggest that it's not going to give me the distance compared to the other two models so it's
05:15 around about seven or eight yards shorter on average than the hot metal and the hot metal pro
05:20 but we know this club is not designed for a golfer like me it's designed for slower swing speeds and
05:26 so now we're going to do a little experiment where I'm going to test this hot metal high launch up
05:31 against the hot metal slow my swing speed down to 75 miles an hour and see actually by doing that
05:38 and switching into this new iron do you get more distance because I think if you do that's going
05:44 to suit an awful lot of players looking for a club like this okay so I'm going to start with the
05:49 jpx 923 hot metal going to hit three shots with each of that slower swing speed and see which one
05:56 gives us the most distance
05:58 okay it's a good hit swing speed 79 they only carried 115 yards
06:24 oh slightly slower that one 66
06:28 that's a good shot 70.5 121 okay let's move on to the hot metal so we're looking like we're averaging
06:43 around about 120 yards with the hot metal now we're going to try the high launch
06:51 oh I might have been a little heavy
06:56 swing speed bang on 75 112 carry I think I hit that a little bit chunky
07:04 that's a much cleaner strike higher flight much noticeably higher flight on that one
07:13 so that's really interesting swing speed of 71 or 70.6 carry of 125 so that's the
07:20 longest shot I've hit in this experiment so far and not the fastest swing speed by any means
07:26 again noticeably higher flight a good four or five yards higher 71 swing speed carry of 129 yards so
07:40 this experiment this little experiment has proved to me definitely that I think slower swing speed
07:45 golfers mid-high handicap golfers who struggle to get the ball in the air are really going to enjoy
07:50 what this hot metal high launch has to offer and they're actually going to get
07:54 a bit more distance out of this because your ball flight is optimized for your swing speed
07:59 so while these three jpx 923 hot metal irons are probably not aimed at me I've really enjoyed my
08:06 time testing these and there's three really key takeaways that I would offer to you in terms of
08:12 how these irons perform and the user experience that that you will expect the first being these
08:16 irons look absolutely fantastic I don't think they move it on a great deal in terms of looks
08:21 or performance versus what where we were with the jpx 921 in fact I think like for like models you're
08:28 not going to see huge gains you might see a little bit more distance from that stronger loft and a
08:33 slightly maybe higher ball flight as well from the technology they've packed into this club but
08:37 you're not going to see huge gains I don't think versus generation to generation but
08:40 the other thing that really stood out for me was the turf interaction so it's hard to pinpoint
08:45 exactly how it felt differently but it definitely felt different I think a little bit more give
08:50 through the turf so maybe you're not getting your my did I felt like my divots were a little bit
08:55 shallower a little bit smaller and I think your margin for error is a little bit greater if you
09:00 just catch the ground slightly heavy so that's the other thing I would kind of observe from
09:05 generation to generation I think the feel is absolutely fantastic these clubs feel hot but
09:11 they don't feel harsh or clicky they actually feel relatively soft but explosive at the same
09:16 time it's an interesting combination but through the set it's a very pleasing feel and I think
09:20 across all three of these hot metal clubs if you're a mid to high handicap there's definitely
09:24 going to be something for you even if you're maybe a single figure high single figure golfer I think
09:29 you'll really enjoy what this hot metal pro has to offer in terms of that visual package nice and
09:33 compact down behind the ball but gives really good speed good launch and good distance as well so
09:38 lots of like about this new jpx 923 range hopefully you've enjoyed this video if you do
09:43 click the like button down below and do comment on this video we'd love to hear from you which
09:47 are the you most excited to try within this new hot metal franchise if you're after those better
09:52 player irons you've got to wait till February but I think this hot metal irons from what we've seen
09:57 so far there's a lot to be excited about with this new jpx 923 range but that's all for me
10:01 from Longcliffe Golf Club I'll see you next time