When it comes to pure bladed irons, no one does it any better than Mizuno. Their irons look and feel just about as good as any others on the planet, and every new iron range they release seems to continue their legacy.
Mizuno made the decision to change the name of their better-player line to Mizuno Pro (rather than just MP) when they released the Pro 22 range a couple of years ago, and on the face of it, the new Pro 24 line looks pretty similar.
The Pro 241 is Mizuno's forged muscle-back which has to go down as one of the best-looking irons we have seen in years. Can the performance match up?
Who Is It Aimed At?
As with all muscle-back irons, these are really reserved for golfers who are excellent ball-strikers and will generate plenty of speed, as they will not help you out very much if not. As a result, I could see them being used by tour professionals and some elite amateurs, perhaps in a combo set with slightly more forgiving long irons such as the Pro 243.
With a price tag of up to £200 per iron, you're also going to want to be a serious golfer or someone who has plenty of disposable income to buy these - they're an investment made to last.
The Tech
I think even Mizuno themselves would admit that there isn't a great deal of difference between the Pro 241 and the previous 221, with the focus being on smaller gains which came about as a result of conversations with the brand's tour staff.
The irons are Grain Flow Forged from a single piece of carbon steel at Mizuno's factory in Japan, and feature a microlayer of copper beneath the Nickel Chrome outer to enhance the feel of the head.
They have also focused on centring mass to deliver a softer and longer sensation at impact for better feedback.
This time around, there is more tapering to the upper section of the blade which helps to optimise trajectory - encouraging flighted long irons and penetrating short irons.
There's also a thinner topline, as preferred by tour players, which has been refined thanks to both weight movement in the head and adjustments in manufacturing, whilst the blade length has also been made shorter in the shorter irons.
To improve turf interaction, the bounce angle has been increased by a degree in the long irons and two degrees in the scoring irons.
Finally, the irons come with a new full satin brush, which is a reflective finish said to be in keeping with the modern appearance.
Mizuno Pro 241 Irons Review
Looks
This is just another fantastic looking iron from Mizuno. If you're picking purely on shelf appeal then the Pro 241 beats just about any other iron on the market in my opinion. I love the retro styling of the Mizuno Pro logo and the simplicity of the head design.
I prefer the new satin brush finish over the shiny finish of the 221 and this should help with reducing any unwanted glare from your clubs both in the bag and down by the ball - whilst also making the heads a little more durable too which is always a bonus.
Down by the ball you get the predictably compact look, with the topline being noticeably thinner to me than the previous 221 iron.
If you're hoping to gain a bit of confidence when looking down at the ball, these probably aren't the irons for you, as the 5 and 4 irons in particular are extremely thin!
Feel
As you'd expect, these irons do feel great when you hit them well, but you definitely know about it when you don't! The forged head, combined with that copper underlay, does produce a really soft feel at impact which almost makes it feel as if
the ball stays on the face for a fraction of a second longer than most irons.
Combined with this is a quiet, muted sound which is typical of a forged Mizuno blade and matches up exactly with what you'd expect from an iron of this size and construction - even when hitting indoors, I loved the sound and feel of these irons on a well-struck shot, the feedback in the hands at impact is exactly what you'd expect.
Performance
Distance, or lack of distance, was pretty much as you would expect from these irons considering the traditional lofts - the 7 iron measures at 34 degrees. Whilst the clubs look fantastic, they don't exactly pack a punch and you get out of it exactly what you put in, which is why you should only really consider using them if you're a very consistent ball-striker who generates plenty of speed and launch.
I was actually surprised by the consistency of my numbers from back to front during my testing. Usually the biggest issue with these irons comes when you mis-strike them, but I was pretty impressed to see that the difference between my shortest and longest shots was 10 yards with the 9 iron, 6 yards with the 7 iron and 7 yards with the 5 iron.
This might have something to do with the updated bounce angle in this year's models, and I definitely felt like the sole design was helping with turf interaction on a few occasions as it kept the club moving nicely.
They're not the most forgiving clubs in the world, but I found that they were definitely usable if you've got the speed, particularly in the shorter irons.
When it came to the longer irons I was struggling to generate enough speeds to keep the ball in the air, especially with a spin rate of just over 4000rpm with my 5 irons, which saw a distance drop-off of around 6 yards compared to the Pro 243 and 15 yards compared to the Pro 245.
Mizuno Pro 241 Irons Verdict
Testing a set of irons like these just makes you wish that you could use them, because they look so great in the bag and the feeling when you strike one properly is as good as anything on the market.
Just for a split second, you can almost imagine what it must feel like to be a Tour pro, until you thin the next shot and the stinging in your fingers brings you right back down to earth again...
In all honesty there's not a huge amount of difference between the Pro 241 irons and Mizuno's previous MB options, although I did find that the turf interaction was great and I slightly preferred the new finish to the last generation.
These are irons which are reserved only for a select number of elite golfers who can afford them, and if you're lucky enough to fall into that category, then you need to give them a try.
Would I Use Them?
I wish I could, but these irons aren't for me. Luckily Mizuno also offer the Pro 243 and Pro 245 which are much more suitable to us mere mortals, and I think I'd get better results with one of those models instead.
Mizuno Pro 241 Irons Pros and Cons
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