It must be great to be Luke Donald.
All the time you are out playing golf, Mizuno are beavering away bringing together all the best bits you like from current and previous irons. They then spend vast amounts of time and money to design and forge bits of steel and then bring them halfway round the world just for you to give a verdict after 30 minutes on range.
Then they listen to what you say and go do it all over again.
Thankfully for both parties, the latest result of this process sees one of the best forged blades Mizuno has done to date in the MP-15.
The memories that were drawn upon from the diamond muscle in the MP-64 and the titanium Ti-muscle from the MP-59 come together in a mid-sized head to offer a great combination of feel and workability, with a little more forgiveness than before.
This is achieved by a 10 gram titanium insert in the muscle on the back of the iron that replaces 38 grams of steel to increase the Moment of Intertia (MOI) of the club and make it 10% more forgiving than the MP-64.
Now forgiveness in blades is a little bit relative, but every little helps and they did seem a little more stable to me on the range than the MP-64, but it is not like I was suddenly bulleting everything straight.
The muscle on the back is a lot chunkier than the MP-64 and it certainly feels like there is a lot more to the MP-15 iron than before, plus I fell it also enhances the looks too.
The lighter titanium on the back did change the feel a little. Compared to the MP-15, the denser mass of the steel diamond muscle on the back of the MP-64 gave a 'meatier' feel at impact and I preferred that. However that is the trade off for the titanium msucle giving more forgiveness in this set up of a 'cavity back blade'.
Having the titanium insert does gives the feel of technology within the club, which is an achievement for a blade. The look and sound is everything you would expect from a modern blade, so if you have used Mizuno MP irons before you are not going to be disappointed with these.
Like previous Mizuno blades it was very easy to shape shots left and right as well as high and low, so if you have some Bubba in you then the MP-15s will help you show off those skills.
If you find things hard going with some of the longer irons, you can blend the set with the Mizuno MP-H5 irons that have slightly more forgiveness create a little more ball speed. They are good option, especially in the 4 or 5 iron upwards as our Mizuno MP-H5 Iron review explains in more detail.
The subtle camber on the sole helps the MP-15 go through the turf easily and as well as any Mizuno iron I have used in the past.
Are these for you? Well, as a blade I think these are one of the best models around. They have more of a 'wow' visual look than the MP-64s and whether you prefer the lighter feel at impact or not will be up to you.
Whilst the extra stabilty and forgiveness is great they are still blades and you do need to have some inherent skill to get the most from them and I mean very low single figure handicaps.
There are so many alternatives these days for single figure players as manufacturing processes improve and even within the Mizuno stable, the MP-15, MP-H5 and JPX850 Forged offer a varity of combinations.
So if you are thinking of investing in blades then a visit to a Mizuno fitter is highly recommended to see which model gives you the peformance you are after.
If they are for you then you won't be disappointed and neither will Luke and his R&D pals.