At a glance
- TG Rating5 out of 5
- Owner RatingNot yet rated
- RRP£135.00
- Mizuno Jpx 919 Review
- Mizuno Jpx 919 Ironsrunlasopa Driver
- Mizuno Jpx 919 Forged
- Mizuno Jpx 919 Combo Set
The New Mizuno JPX 919 Irons Review GolfBox Posted by GolfBox on 29th Aug 2018 Mizuno's JPX iron range has been at the forefront of a Tour-led revival of sorts for Mizuno, with a surge in popularity of. Mizuno JPX 919 Forged. Price: $1,300 BUY NOW Set: 4-GW Our take: The JPX 919 Forged irons are designed to fit a wide variety of players. Heads are Grain-Flow Forged, but they have boron infused. Mizuno continues to make great irons with multiple options depending on your ability. The Mizuno JPX919 line can work for every golfer. You could make a combo set if you want more forgiveness as you get to the long irons. Buy the Mizuno JPX 919 Hot Metal Irons customized to fit your game. All shafts, lengths, lie angles and grips Mizuno offers to choose from. Stock or custom options available to get exactly what you are looking for! The Mizuno JPX 919 Hot Metal irons are Mizuno's latest addition to a long line of the world's best iron sets.
Luckily for Mizuno, JPX 919 Hot Metal is a combination of the two. The iron is anchored by a high-strength Chromoly 4140M steel alloy that allowed for a 360-degree undercut, multi-thickness face.
What we say...
Mizuno's latest JPX919 Forged Irons are the company's most versatile and fastest forged iron yet
The big golf brands reckon ultimate endorsement comes from tour players using their products without being paid. Especially if they’re a big name who’s winning big events.
Related: Mizuno JPX921 irons revealed
When Brooks Koepka won the 2017 US Open with a set of Mizuno JPX900 Tour irons – and no contract – the Japanese company was obviously delighted. When he defended his title this year and captured the US PGA Championship, with the same irons, it was the icing on the cake.
Related: Tested - Best Forged Irons 2020
The JPX range has been a huge success on tour and in pro shops, but it’s two years old now – so they’re being replaced by, in our view, some of the best-looking irons Mizuno has evermade. They’re called JPX919, and this is what you need to know about them…
The 919 Forged has a tough act to follow – Mizuno say its predecessor (the JPX900 Forged, used by Nick Faldo) was their biggest-selling forged iron... ever. Like the Tour it has HD forging, which improves feel for shots hit low in the blade, which wasn’t in the original.
Mizuno’s engineers have developed a clever reverse-milling technique (going through the sole) which allows them to thin down the face to maximise ball speeds from a larger area. Like the Tour there’s an “open heel” which Mizuno say lets vibration waves out, to further improve feel and feedback. There’s also an extra degree of loft on each of the 4, 5 and 6 irons as players believed the original 900’s landing angles were quite shallow.
Mizuno JPX 919 Forged Review: First hit
We’ve seen some Mizuno irons in our time, but putting all three new JPX919 models together with the current MP18s (three irons) has to be the best iron line-up Mizuno have ever produced. The 919 Forged is gorgeous. It has a slightly larger head and decent sized cavity which inspires confidence, while a small amount of offset keeps a clean, inviting look at address. The data (below) stacks up behind everything Mizuno says, too.
Key numbers: How do they compare to JPX919 Tour and Hot Metal?
What Mizuno say:
A new reverse-milled clubface, CNC-milled from the sole up creates a larger area of minimum face thickness, making the streamlined JPX919 Forged Mizuno’s fastest ever forged iron. The weight removed from the face allows a lower, deeper centre of gravity making it easier to flight long and mid-irons. Mizuno’s trademark workability and elevated Grain Flow Forged HD feedback ensure the JPX919 Forged is also Mizuno’s most versatile iron.
Like the JPX919 Tour and JPX919 Hot Metal the JPX919 Forged features a durable Pearl Brush finish and stability frame, open at the heel to enhance stability, launch and loft-appropriate flight apex for soft-landing approaches. The Forged model is Grain Flow Forged HD (High Density) from a single billet of 1025B mild carbon steel in Hiroshima Japan for unmistakable Mizuno feel, with a trace of Boron infused into the billet to make it 30% stronger and allow greater design possibilities in a forged head. The overall package is one of “balanced performance” with the JPX919 Forged offering the ultimate blend of ball speed, stability and feedback within a more refined playing profile.
“A deeper, wider milling across the back of the face allows the JPX919 Forged to transfer more energy to the ball than any previous Grain Flow Forged iron,” says David Llewellyn, Director of Golf R&D at Mizuno. “None of that would have been possible without that small addition of Boron into our steel billets, which gives that additional strength needed to reinforce the face.”
READ NEXT
Mizuno JPX919 Hot Metal Iron Review
Mizuno JPX919 Tour Iron Review
Product Information
RRP: £135 per club
Availability: 4 - GW
7-iron loft: 32°
Shaft options:
KBS C-Taper & C-Taper Lite
True Temper XP115, 105, 95
True Temper Dynamic Gold
Mizuno Jpx 919 Review
Nippon NS Pro Modus Tour 120, 105
True Temper AMT Tour White
Project X LZ (steel and graphite)
Project X LZ Tour (graphite)
UST Recoil 95 (graphite)
Related Equipment Reviews
The Mizuno JPX919 family debuted last fall with three members (and recently added a fourth). I compared launch monitor results from a few range sessions with 7-irons in the Hot Metal, Forged and Tour models. My findings are below, but first let’s take a look at what goes into these irons.
Technology and Appearance
JPX919 Hot Metal
The JPX family’s most forgiving is a good looking game improvement club. Sure it’s got a bit of a dad-body thing going—the topline and the club’s overall shape are just a tad thick—but compared to other offerings in the category, the 919 Hot Metal is a sharply dressed hunk of Chromoly.
The Hot Metal gets its name from that Chromoly 4140M it is cast with. Mizuno says that Chromoly 4140M is a highly resilient material that helps it craft a multi-thickness face that improves ball speed and feel.
A one piece “cupped geometry” is designed to enhance feedback, while the open heel frame is said to improve stability and launch for optimal ball flight. Mizuno tweaked the sound ribs from previous models to better produce satisfying vibration patterns at impact.
JPX919 Forged
The JPX919 Forged most neatly aligns with the better player distance-iron category, though its slightly oversize frame and ample cavity give it a good dose of game improvement qualities, as well.
A bit of boron added to the steel that the club head is forged from increases its strength by a whopping 30%, allowing a thinner face design and other advantages.
Mizuno takes advantage of that strength by using CNC milling to create a larger area of minimum face thickness. Read that “bigger sweet spot which promotes more consistent ball speed and, hence, distance.” This milling also lets Mizuno reposition weight from the club face to lower and deeper in the head (note the “pocket channel” on the back of the clubface) to enhance launch conditions in the mid and long irons.
Mizuno Jpx 919 Ironsrunlasopa Driver
The frame of the club head is designed to provide strength, launch and distance, while also promoting the sound and feel players expect from a Mizuno club. Speaking of feel, the 919 Forged are (duh) forged from 1025E mild carbon steel to produce the feel that has earned Mizuno a devoted following over the years.
The Forged comes in a set that covers a lot of ground with lofts ranging from a 22° 4-iron to a 46° PW (not to mention a 51° GW) providing a nice compromise between distance/game improvement lofts and those of more traditional better-player irons.
JPX919 Tour
As you’d expect, the 919Tour is designed to be, by far, the most workable and better-player-appealing of the JPX line. In some ways it looks less forgiving than the MP-18 SC, Mizuno’s popular better-player cavity back. The top line of the club is a very bladelike 4.6mm on the 7-iron. Butter knife, anyone?
The matte gray finish of the club makes it stand out from the other JPX models, but you’re not very likely to mistake it for its brethren anyway. The 919 is more compact and streamlined version of the 900 Tour. Unlike many brand, the “tour” in its name is not hyperbole. This club is being played on the PGA Tour and other major tours worldwide.
Mizuno uses a process it calls “Grain Flow Forged HD (High Density) to craft the 919 Tour from a single billet of 1025E Pure Select mild carbon steel. Mizuno is known for its forgings that its devoted followers say produce some of the softest and purest feel you can get from golf clubs.
Mizuno’s Stability Frame found in the other JPX models carries over to the 919 Tour, as well, providing enhanced launch to help shot achieve a loft appropriate apex for soft landing son the green.
Performance and Conclusions
What do you want from an iron? Are you a social golfer, primarily concerned with laughs and just getting around the course in a respectable score? Or are you driven to spend a lot of time working on your swing and getting better? Maybe you’re a combination of the two. No worries. Mizuno has you covered.
A couple cold weather range sessions yielded the following averages. As you can see, all of the Mizunos launched high with more than adequate distance (considering that both range sessions were in 30° weather). The loft of each model is 2° weaker in each model from left to right below, so you are looking at effectively a club’s difference in both loft and the corresponding distance. Spin was noticeably lower in the Hot Metal.
JPX919 Hot Metal
Boom! The Hot Metal is just plain fun to hit. There’s no harsh feel on less than stellar contact, and the ball still explodes off the clubface when you pure it. Surprisingly soft feeling for a cast club, the Hot Metal offers less feedback than its forged brothers, but you can still tell heel from toe hits. Anything in the vicinity of center contact tends to feel pretty similar. Since this club is aimed at mid-cappers and higher, that’s going to be just fine since at that level just making contact is more important than making perfect contact. We’re aiming at advancing the ball and getting it somewhere on, or at least near, the green, at this point.
The Hot Metal is a distance machine. I felt like I could almost swing as hard as I wanted to with impunity. As long as club face met ball, the Hot Metal generated ample distance and good direction. I generated a 12-yard vertical dispersion on good swings. That’s a lot, but compared to some clubs I’ve hit that seem to have extreme “hotspots” on the face, 12 yards is playable. If you shoot for the center of greens, plus or minus 14 yards is still going to have you putting most of the time.
This club is going to do good things for lots of golfers who just want to get out and play rather than spending time working on their game. Rather than Game Improvement, we should call this sector Game Enjoyment. The Hot Metal will be just fine with you pulling them out of the garage once a week or once a month for a round. Within reason, they aren’t going to punish you too much for not spending time with them. For a company known for its Forged offerings, the 919 Hot Metal is a very strong contender in the game improvement/distance category.
JPX919 Forged
Your relationship with the JPX919 Forged is going to be a little more time consuming but only a little. The Forged is a better fit for players who are going to visit the range, at least on occasion. There’s a fair bit of forgiveness here, but you won’t want contact to stray too far from the center of the club face.
When it comes to distance, the Forged is a little more than a half club shorter than the Hot Metal, but it also has about a half club higher loft so that’s to be expected. I found that the Forged likes to send the ball way up compared to its brethren (which are not low launching by any means). That’s going to be great for mid-cappers who may struggle to hold greens, but those who play frequently in the wind may want to take note.
JPX919 Tour
Comparing distances with the other 919s is not a fair fight for the Tour. The Tour 7-iron loft is 34° 32° in the Forged, and 30° in the Hot Metal. So if when you’re comparing the Tour’s distance to the Hot Metal, you are essentially comparing a 7-iron to a 6-iron (that just happens to be stamped with a “7”). The yardages I got bore that out. The Tour was around a club and a half shorter than the Hot Metal and almost a full club shorter than the Forged.
The Tour requires a good bit more precision than its two stablemates. You don’t have to be Brooks Koepka, but it wouldn’t hurt. A friend of mine who runs a golf shop likes to say, “Forget about that ‘JPX’ on the club, the Tour is an ‘MP’ in disguise” (referencing Mizuno’s better player line).
The Tour wants to be hit pretty close to center all the time. On the launch monitor, I experienced a noticeable drop in smash factor compared to the other two models, which attests both to the precision that the Tour demands and my less-than-precise early season swing. But if your swing is up to its demands, the Tour really delivers.
Mizuno Jpx 919 Forged
My best swings resulted in beautiful ball flights, a great sensation of compressing the ball and ample spin to stop the ball on the green. I would love to play this club all the time, but it’s probably not the best choice for me. While there’s enough forgiveness in the Tour to help you get around the course, you will need to make consistently good contact to truly score well (that or you better chip really well). The Tour is a demanding club, but if you have good ball striking and reasonable swing speed it could become your new best friend.
JPX919 Hot Metal Pro
Late to the party is the Hot Metal Pro, arriving with less offset and a lot of promise. This club could be a great solution for a wide range of golfers. Presumably, it will be as long and forgiving as the regular Hot Metal while providing a bit more shot shaping ability and will just look better for players who don’t like the look of an offset club at address. Kudos to Mizuno for offering a game improvement iron that should still appear to better players looking for more forgiveness and distance.
Mizuno Jpx 919 Combo Set
Mizuno has definitely upped its game with the 919 family of irons. There’s something here for nearly every golfer out there. High handicappers are going to get a lot of help from the Hot Metal. Solid ball strikers are going to find the workability and consistent ball flight and distance in the Tour. And those of us in between will find the Forged to be a good friend on the course.