A super oversized iron is not what you would expect from someone like Mizuno, but that is what you get with the JPX EZ irons.
The heads are longer and the top line a little thicker than the JPX EZ Forged irons and the rounded style of the toe, cavity and topline give it a reasonably sleek look for a game improvement iron.
The length of the head is very similar to the Mizuno JPX825 iron and in terms of the range, the JPX EZ sits above them in terms of forgiveness. The cavity is deeper front to back and more weight is located in the sole as you can see from the image below.
The other main visual change is the shape of the sole, which if you compare to the JPX EZ Forged and the JPX825 is narrower a the heel and much wider at the toe end. The wider sole has a good camber on it and a similar grind on the
leading edge to the JPX825, but without the trailing edge grind.
This puts more weight in the toe of the club to make it easier to square the face up at impact, even if it does not make the JPX EZ look as sleek as the JPX825. What it does do is makes the irons very forgiving on impacts towards the toe of the club, which will make a big difference for hihger handicappers. We were deliberately lining the ball up on the toe and the strikes were just as good as if we had hit them out of the middle.
At address the large clubhead frames the ball well and the large cavity is well hidden. The classy lines of the club are continued with a small offset in the hosel that is subtle and not as great as similar irons in this category.
On the course the JPX EZ was easy to hit from a variety of lies and the trajectory was mid to high without ballooning and certainly lower than I was expecting, which is a good thing.
Mizuno place a lot of emphasis on sound as a measure of feel and their Harmonic Impact Technology (HIT) does a good job of modifying the sound frequencies to give the JPX EZ a lovely sound for a cavity back.
The standard set starts at 5-iron which at 25 degrees is almost a standard MP 4-iron loft so there is still plenty of distance available and you may not need the optional 22 degree 4-iron. The 4-7 irons are very steady and the Max Pocket Cavity delivers a wide sweet spot, but not quite as much feel as the short irons.
The 8, 9 and PW were more impressive as the Deep Pocket Cavity is not quite as wide front to back and the extra weight closer to the face gave just a little bit more feel and performance.
The sand iron is a bit chunky with a lot of bounce on the sole and at 55 degrees is 10 degrees more lofted than the wedge, which is too big a gap. Better to leave the SW out and have 50 and 56 degree versions of the excellent JPX wedges instead.
A lot is being made of the new looks and whilst we try not to judge clubs too much on these aspects, the darker non-glare bronze finish did look good even though it is not very Mizuno-like. However, maybe setting them apart is what Mizuno are trying to do with these irons, even if the orange flashes may split opinion.
Mizuno say this is for 'aggressive players', which brings up images of golfers who stand over the ball with the red mist descending as the knuckles go white before murdering the ball. I am not sure on that positioning as it is the golfer's technical ability that enables them to be aggressive rather than the club.
However if you were to say that they were Mizuno's most forgiving iron and a stepping stone to some of the other irons in the Mizuno range then that would be closer to the mark. Mid-range handicappers should probably go for one of the JPX825 models as they give a bit more performance and a little more classic styling.
For high handicappers the JPX EZ are good value for money as you get Mizuno design and quality with a load of forgiveness, especially if you just go for the six irons from 5-PW and then top up with a few JPX wedges.