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Spotted: Mizuno MP-18 Fli-Hi driving iron

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Mizuno’s new line of MP-18 irons — the company says they’re coming out in September, according to a recent Facebook post — have been popping up all over the place in the last few months. We’ve seen Jhonattan Vegas bring the MP-18 muscle-back models to several tournaments (including the Masters), we’ve seen an “SC,” or split-cavity MP-18 model pop up on the USGA conforming list, and we’ve seen the Mizuno itself tease the irons.

On Wednesday, we spotted a Mizuno MP-18 “MMC Fli Hi” 2-iron in the bag of Shawn Stefani at the 2017 RBC Canadian Open.

RBCCanadianOpen-1021x580

Could this year be the return of Mizuno’s Fli-Hi driving irons to the market, or is this simply a one-off or Tour prototype made for players such as Stefani? With the “MP-18” stamping on the club, it’s more likely to be the former, but we’ll find out soon enough.

Based on the photos from the RBC Canadian Open, it appears that Mizuno has put some sort of plug (tungsten?) in the toe. We’ve seen this design in driving irons from other companies, and it’s typically used to help properly position center of gravity in the club to optimize spin rate and forgiveness.

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12 Comments

12 Comments

  1. waterfallmagazine.com

    Oct 29, 2020 at 5:52 am

    https://waterfallmagazine.com
    I do accept as true with all the ideas you’ve presented for your post.
    They are really convincing and will certainly work. Nonetheless, the posts are too quick for starters.
    May just you please lengthen them a bit from subsequent time?
    Thanks for the post.

  2. eric

    Aug 1, 2017 at 10:27 pm

    I was going to get a set of the sc18’s, but after seeing the mp fli hi is only available in RH I have to continue the mizuno boycott. I wish they would just stop making left handed clubs altogether, mizuno should be dead to all lefties.

  3. Joe Perez

    Jul 28, 2017 at 9:53 am

    I still have my 2, 3 & 4 from the previous iteration of this club. I wish Mizuno would go down as far as a 5 iron replacement with them.

  4. Tom

    Jul 28, 2017 at 9:31 am

    Not necessarily. If the center of mass favors the heel side of the face, then a tungsten plug would be a way to bring that more toward physical center while also increasing the MOI of the toe side. You may see faster ball speeds across the face as a result. A plug in that spot may have the added benefit of “offsetting the offset” so to speak. This may help remedy a draw bias while increasing forgiveness. Its placement also makes me wonder if they were trying to bring the center of gravity up from the bottom. The MP-25 is designed differently because it sports completely different playing characteristics, i.e. less bottom-side mass, a taller face, a different blade length, etc. I imagine too much weight in the toe on something with less mass would introduce the kind of consistency issues of which you speak. I think what you’re getting at is the issue of OEM’s talking about “advances” in the placement of the center of gravity when it’s merely a byproduct of what kind of output a certain shape or design calls for. Ball flight too low? Move weight low and back. Too much draw bias? Move weight to the toe. The point is that different designs call for different weighting to different portions of the clubbed.

  5. Chopper

    Jul 27, 2017 at 3:28 pm

    I bet you are a lot of fun at parties.

  6. Ben Rudy

    Jul 27, 2017 at 10:08 am

    Please let this be released, I’ve been looking for an updated version of my old Fli Hi

  7. Barry

    Jul 26, 2017 at 7:17 pm

    Nicely written article

  8. mr b

    Jul 26, 2017 at 4:57 pm

    is that a hot melt port? looks awesome.

    • Hmmm

      Jul 26, 2017 at 7:03 pm

      My 712U’s have the same plug. You certainly can’t remove the plug and put hot melt glue inside. That is the opening to the space between the face and the backside of the club and it’s injected with some sort of engineering polymer to get the feel/performance where they wanted it. Fairly common with driving irons these days as you can add forgiveness without making it super bulky (think of the original Fli-Hi’s)

      • Ryan Barath

        Jul 27, 2017 at 9:05 pm

        The plug IS access to the inside of the head that does allow for hot-melt to be added. It can be done at the factory level or through later customization and then easily plugged again. Most if not all driving irons (PXG exception) are hollow and not filled with a polymer… How do I know this? I’ve work on and added hot-melt to dozen of driving irons.
        Ryan

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Whats in the Bag

Rasmus Højgaard WITB 2024 (April)

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  • Rasmus Højgaard what’s in the bag accurate as of the Zurich Classic.

Driver: Callaway Ai Smoke Triple Diamond (10.5 degrees)
Shaft: Mitsubishi Tensei 1K Blue 60 TX

3-wood: Callaway Ai Smoke Triple Diamond Prototype (16.5 degrees)
Shaft: Mitsubishi Tensei 1K White 80 TX

Utility: Callaway Apex UW (21 degrees)
Shaft: Mitsubishi Tensei AV Raw White 85 TX

Irons: Callaway Apex Pro (3), Callaway X Forged (4-PW)
Shafts: KBS $-Taper 130

Wedges: Callaway Jaws Raw (52-10S, 56-10S, 60-06C)
Shafts: KBS Tour 130 X

Putter: Odyssey Ai One Milled Eight T DB

Grips: Golf Pride MCC

Check out more in-hand photos of Hojgaard in the forums.

 

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Whats in the Bag

Rory McIlroy WITB 2024 (April)

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  • Rory McIlroy what’s in the bag accurate as of the Zurich Classic. 

Driver: TaylorMade Qi10 (9 degrees)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Black 6 X

3-wood: TaylorMade Qi10 (15 degrees)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Black 8 X

5-wood: TaylorMade Qi10 (18 degrees)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Black 9 X

Irons: TaylorMade Proto (4), TaylorMade Rors Proto (5-9)
Shaft: Project X 7.0 (4-9)

Wedges: TaylorMade MG4 (46-09SB, 50-09SB, 54-11SB), Titleist Vokey Design WedgeWorks (58-K @59)
Shafts: Project X 6.5 (46-54), Project X 6.5 Wedge (60)

Putter: TaylorMade Spider Tour X3
Grip: SuperStroke Zenergy Pistol Tour

Ball: 2024 TaylorMade TP5x

Grips: Golf Pride MCC

Check out more in-hand photos of Rory McIlroy’s WITB in the forums.

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Equipment

Spotted: Nate Lashley’s Ping PLD “Wolverine” putter

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Ping PLD putters have been a very common site on profesional tours. Pros seem to gravitate toward the PLD line’s custom options and precision milling. We have seen the PLD line expanded over the years, but we haven’t seen too many, if any, large mallets.

This week we spotted a PLD putter in Nate Lashley’s bag that has a similar look to the old Ping Wolverine head shape. This putter is a large mallet with the famous “claws” on the outside and oval center that housed the alignment aid.

Nick’s putter has the PLD logo on the back but also looks like it might have an insert installed on the face. It is hard to tell but at the address picture, it looks like the face is a lighter material than the rest of the putters. The putter is center-shafted and should be face-balanced with a high MOI for stability and forgiveness on mishits. The sole is completely milled and has no markings of name or technologies that might be present in the head. A single white site line is on the top of the putter for alignment.

Nick’s putter is finished off with a chrome steel shaft and a Super Stroke Zenergy Flatso 2.0 grip in black and white.

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