Mizuno Ups Driver Game…Again

Can the Japanese firm ever earn as good a reputation for its metalwoods as it has for its irons?

By Tony Dear

There’s still much to cover in major product launches from the beginning of the year and the PGA Merchandise Show, and one item we haven’t covered yet but which certainly warrants your attention is Mizuno’s new ST190 driver which appeared on shelves and became available online last week.

The Japanese sports giant is barely holding down a place in the top ten among manufacturers in terms of driver market share, and while the ST190 probably won’t thrust Mizuno into the top five, it very well could emerge as the company’s most successful driver yet.

Already in the bags of Mizuno staffers Luke Donald, Lucas Glover, Keith Mitchell, and Chris Kirk, the ST190 has attracted a good deal of acclaim with numerous reviewers calling it the best-looking driver Mizuno has ever made, and one even calling it the best-looking driver he’s ever seen, period.

The most striking aspect of the club is its color. That’s not to say black is a very distinctive color among drivers, of course, rather it’s a significant shift away from Mizuno’s more familiar blue which has characterized its drivers of late – the GT180, ST180, and JPX900.

The ST190, and its more tech-heavy sibling – the ST190G, are, in a word, sleek. The tag line is ‘The Dark Art of Distance’ and it fits the glossy, black, titanium body and carbon composite crown well.

Good looks are a good start, certainly, but what else does the ST190 offer?

To be honest, the ST190 isn’t a great deal different, in tech terms, than the ST180 it replaces. It possesses the same forged SP700 titanium face with CoreTech design which creates a different thickness in various parts of the face to maximize COR. The combination of SP700 ti face and CorTech design create what Chris Voshall, Mizuno Golf’s Brand Manager, insists is a driver’s most important asset – ball speed. “When we are creating a driver, the top priority is always ball speed,” he says. “The face material and design along with Wave Technology ensures greater ball speeds across the entire face.”

The Wave Technology he talks about resulted in what Mizuno calls the Amplified Wave Sole, which debuted in the ST180 and whose geometry enables the clubface to compress and rebound at impact for a greater COR.

In addition, the lighter-than-titanium carbon composite crown allowed engineers to redistribute weight low in the head to lower the CG and facilitate a higher launch, adds Voshall who says the new drivers are a result of four years’ worth of investment and research. The back weight, present in this club’s predecessor, is here too and was made possible by the weight-saving composite crown. Its position increases the club’s MoI, stabilizing the head on off-center hits. And the Quick Switch Adaptor, located in the hosel and which allows players to increase or decrease loft by two degrees, is likewise present and correct.

It is in the ST190G where the major changes have occurred. The SP700 ti face with CorTech design, Wave Sole, hosel adjustment mechanism, and carbon crown are all part of the same impressive tech package present in the ST190, but the face angle adjuster that was part of the GT180 has been removed altogether. And the central four-position Fast Track system has been replaced by two sliders either side of the Wave Sole ridges allowing you to position two seven-gram weights so as to promote a draw or fade, or a higher or lower trajectory.

ST190
Shafts – Fujikura Atmos Blue 5S, Atmos Red 5R, Atmos Red 5R2, Atmos Red 6R, Atmos Black TS 6S
Lofts – 9.5°, 10.5°
$400

ST190G
Shafts – Fujikura Atmos Blue 5S, Atmos Red 5R, Atmos Red 5R2, Atmos Red 6R and Atmos Black TS 6S
Loft – 9°
$500

For more information, visit mizunousa.com.

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