Mizuno first introduced Boron Steel into their irons with the JPX850 Forged and I have been telling anyone who would listen that these were one of the standout irons over the last two years.
Now their time has come and the replacement Mizuno JPX900 Forged continues to use the stronger Grain Flowed 1025 Boron Steel to deliver faster ball speeds from a forged head.
The real difference is in the face which now uses a variable face thickness instead of a consistent one and this saves 21.5g of weight.
This weight is then placed around the edges of the PowerFrame chassis to increase the MOI and make the club more resistant to twisting and more forgiving on off centre hits.
You can see this in the back of the head where the bottom of the chassis is more U-shaped in the JPX900 than the V-shaped JPX850.
Like before the cavity in the back gets smaller as you go down the set until it is completely closed in the wedge.
Aside from the matt finish to the head there are very few other differences and that is a good thing because the previous model was pretty much perfect. The JPX900 is a perfect blend of feel, forgiveness and style that will appeal to single figure players who play blades, right up to mid-handicappers who prefer a forged iron.
If you were being really picky you might find the 4-iron gives a slightly more hollow sound due to the larger cavity, but it still performs very well. For others it may be worth considering swapping in the JPX900 Hot Metal 4-iron for that extra forgiveness and higher launch angle.
At address the generous mid-sized heads give lots of confidence and the slightly more compact heads in the 8-iron to 50° GW give the JPX900 Forged round out the better player look.
The sole features a cambered grind with a bevelled leading and trailing edge that skips through the turf very easily and plays a little thinner than it looks.
The flight is medium to high with a good level of penetration and decent spin on landing which all better players will approve of.
There is a choice of shafts through the Mizuno Swing DNA fitting service and the stock shaft is the True Temper Project X LZ in steel or graphite that is light at 115g and performs very well indeed.
To me this is the style of head that makes the best use of the stronger Boron Steel in Mizuno's range and going forward will still be one of the irons to beat in the market.
The combination of looks, forgiveness and feel mean that former blade players, or any MP players who are feeling they need a helping hand, can move up to the JPX900 and get everthing they want in a single club.