Mizuno JPX850 range packed with technological breakthroughs

By: Owen Davies | Wed 13 Aug 2014

Mizuno have announced a raft of new technical breakthroughs in what they have called ‘a year of innovation’ with the new JPX850 line. The line boasts a number of technical and manufacturing breakthroughs for the Japanese manufacturer – all industry firsts, aimed at increasing ball speed and distance.

Arguably the most impressive and surprising is the introduction of BORON within Mizuno’s revered Grain Flow Forging process. The introduction of Boron (JPX850 Forged) has allowed Mizuno to increase the strength of its Forged material, allowing its R&D team greater design freedom – and ultimately more distance from iron to iron.

There is also a timely re-introduction of Mizuno’s Fast Track sliding weight system in the JPX850 driver. Having introduced Fast Track back in 2007, Mizuno has proved to be a step ahead of its competitors having introduced their own sliding weight systems in the last 12 months. The new Fast Track sliding system works back from the face – allowing golfers to dramatically change their spin rates. Mizuno’s research unveiled that optimising spin rate was the quickest way to increase overall driving distance.

The Shockwave sole is a new take on increasing ball speed from the face of the smaller headed hybrids and fairway woods. The corrugated effect allows the entire head to flex on impact – delivering an additional energy source to the clubface.

“It’s rare to have so many breakthrough technologies at one time,” commented Tetsuya Kanayama, Senior R&D Manager. “Normally golf equipment evolves with incremental changes. So we are incredibly proud to unveil these breakthroughs and help golfers hit the ball further than ever before.”

New range technology and specifications:

JPX850 Driver - Next generation FAST TRACK

In 2007 Mizuno introduced a sliding weight system called Fast Track – to alter a driver’s draw/fade tendency. Mizuno has now evolved this breakthrough technology to also be able to customize spin rate and launch angle in the JPX-850 – helping all swing speeds achieve maximum possible total yardage.

The piercing blue JPX-850, first seen on tour in April 2014, uses twin 8-gram weights which can be located on either the central sliding rail, or two lateral slots. With 10 unique settings, players of all head speeds can dial in their perfect launch and spin.

In combination with Mizuno’s Quick Switch shaft release system, the JPX850 also offers lofts from 7.5 to 11.5 within one head for the ultimate in adjustability.

The piercing blue JPX850 head is a compact, powerful 440cc and utilizes a Hot Metal face and Rebound Crown to maximize balls speeds.

New Fast Track : With 10 unique flight settings (4 neutral, 3 draw, 3 fade)
Rebound crown: Rounded flexes at impact for explosive distance
Quick Switch: 8 loft settings from 7.5-11.5 degrees.

“The genius of the new Fast Track is that it adds the dimension of launch angle and spin rate. Now we’re truly in control of maximizing all aspects of their ball flight off the tee.”
Chuck Couch – VP Product Management.

Mens – Left and Right handed
Ladies – Right handed only
Standard Shaft – 2014 Fujikura Orochi
RRP £349 - General Release Feb 2015

JPX850 Fairway wood - Shock Wave Technology

The JPX850 marks a new generation of better player fairways woods – maintaining a generous, hittable size with low penetrating spin rates and high workability.

The primary characteristic of the JPX850’s Shock Wave sole is to enable the entire club head to contract and expand on impact – delivering an additional energy source to the clubface. The additional mass also lowers the head’s centre of gravity, maintaining high ball speeds directly off the turf.

There is a 4 degree range of loft adjustment possible within each fairway head (3/5/7) through the use of Mizuno’s Quick Switch shaft adjustability.

Shock Wave Technology: Enables entire head to flex for increased ball speeds.
Waffle crown: Saves weight for a low spinning COG effect.
Quick Switch adjustability: Allows 4 degree of loft movement per head
Low COG: Maintain high ball speeds from low on the face

“The Shock Wave sole overcomes the size limitation of fairways and hybrids - by enabling the entire head to flex. It’s a hugely improved way to increase ball speed without the downside of moving the sweet spot too high up the face.” David Llewellyn – R&D Manager

Mens – Left and Right handed
Ladies – Right handed only
Standard Shaft – 2014 Fujikura Orochi
RRP £219 - General Release Feb 2015

JPX850 Hybrid - Shock Wave Technology

The JPX-850 marks a new generation of distance generating hybrids.

The primary characteristic of the JPX850’s Shock Wave sole is to enable the entire club head to contract and expand on impact – delivering an additional energy source to the clubface. The additional mass also lowers the head’s centre of gravity, maintaining high ball speeds directly off the turf.

The profile at address leans towards the neutral lines preferred by Mizuno’s professional players.

Shock Wave sole: Enables entire head to flex for increased ball speeds.
Low COG: Ball speeds highest from low on the face to match impact point.
Waffle crown: Saves weight for a low spinning COG effect.

“The ShockWave sole overcomes the size limitation of fairways and hybrids - by enabling the entire head to flex. It’s a hugely improved way to increase ball speed without the downside of moving the sweet spot too high up the face.” David Llewellyn – R&D Manager

Mens – Left and Right handed
Ladies – Right handed only
Standard Shaft – 2014 Fujikura Orochi
RRP £179 General Release Feb 2015

JPX850 Forged Introducing BORON Forged

After 6 years of development - the introduction of Boron to Mizuno’s Grain Flow Forging process enables the JPX850 to overcome the distance limitations of traditional forged irons.

Mizuno’s new material is 30% stronger than its traditional 1025E steel billets – allowing for a thinner face and extreme ball speeds. The result is an incredible iron that combines Grain Flow Forged precision and feel with the ball speeds of a modern distance iron - unachievable before BORON.

The thinner BORON face is strategically reinforced by a Power Frame cavity – allowing it to flex over a wider area.
A shorter top edge to the frame helps maintain the recognisably solid Mizuno feel.

Boron Forged: 30% stronger than traditional 1025E steel
Power Frame: Enables entire face to flex for increased ball speeds.
CNC Milled pocket: on 4-7 iron to increase launch angle.
Harmonically tuned: Short top frame edge controls vibration

“It took 6 years from the start of our development work with BORON Forging to get to this breakthrough point. This is distance generated by genuine technology, rather than just cranking lofts or using longer shafts. It used to be that you had to give up a little ball speed to play a Forged iron ……..Boron Forged gives the best of both worlds.”
Chris Voshall – Senior Engineer

Mens – Left and Right handed.
Ladies – Right handed only
Standard Shaft – 2014 Orochi graphite & XP115 steel.
RRP £100 per iron (steel shaft) - General Release Sep 2014

JPX850 Iron - Explosively solid

The JPX850 breaks all the normal rules of golf equipment – with a face that flexes past the competition limits placed by the USGSA and R&A on drivers.

The breakthrough in ball speed and distance is achieved through increasing the flexible portion of the clubface. A reinforced frame around the clubface makes it play effectively larger, without increasing its size.

Equally as important, the framework ensures ball speeds are consistently high across the entire clubface and that high COR is not created at the expense of feel or control.

Power Frame: Enables entire face to flex for increased ball speeds.
Harmonically tuned: Short top frame edge controls vibration
Dual Relief Zone Sole: Cut away back edge plays effectively narrower
Reverse set flow: Long irons feature longer blade length than pitching wedge

“Simply increasing ball speed is not our goal – making it happen within a manageable head size is the real challenge. With the Power Frame we were able to take ball speeds to a completely different level – but keep it hand in hand with a nice feel and a level of workability.” Tetsuya Kanayama, R&D Manager.