Review: Mizuno Pro 221 Irons
Published on 06/29/2023 · 3 min readCurated Golf Experts share their experience with using the Mizuno Pro 221 Irons. Note that experts are not sponsored by any brands; these are their honest opinions.By Curated Experts
Nate Cox, Brady Maag, Chris Casey, Vincent P. and Christopher Thompson
8 photos
The Curated Take
4.0/5
The Mizuno Pro 221 Irons, designed for advanced golfers, excel in workability, feel, and sound, offering unrivaled ball control and immediate shot feedback. Their forged blade style, while less forgiving, rewards precise center-face strikes, yielding consistent yardage and trajectory. While not optimized for distance, these irons provide excellent turf interaction, striking aesthetics, and launch control, enhancing confidence in high-skill players. The soft, satisfying feel and sound at impact further contribute to a refined playing experience.
Ideal for
- High workability
- Consistency in ball flights and yardages
- High feedback
- Penetrating flight
- Impeccable control
- Incredibly soft feel
- Slim topline
- Forged
- Stunning finish
Not ideal for
- Not forgiving
- Not as much distance as other irons
- Unforgiving on mishits
- Requires precise ball striking
- Not meant to be the longest irons on the market
Workability
My natural shot shape when I hit the ball well is about a 3-5 yard fade, and honestly, working a draw for me is usually pretty uncomfortable. Still, compared to...Read more
Forgiveness
Blade-style players' irons are truly a high-risk, high-reward type of club. For an advanced player who consistently strikes the ball out of the middle of the face and likes to...Read more
Feel
The first shot I hit with the Mizuno Pro 221 irons off of turf was incredibly satisfying. Squaring it up right out of the center honestly feels like I miss...Read more
Sound
Something about a beautiful forged iron made from a single block of metal just creates an incredibly satisfying thud. Something about the sound of these irons and how great they...Read more
Launch
Being able to flight the ball low when I want to is very important to me. There is the obvious scenario of playing the ball into the wind that this...Read more
Distance
It shouldn't be surprising that I don't nuke these irons by any stretch of the imagination. Like most blade irons, these clubs have weaker lofts than many game improvement irons...Read more
Expert Reviews of the Mizuno Pro 221 Irons
Brady Maag The Mizuno Pro 221 Iron Set is good for a highly skilled player looking for every premium quality that iron can offer. The Mizuno Pro 221 lacks in forgiveness but has an unmatched feel, workability, and sound. The player will be able to get instant feedback on every shot and be able to stick the ball nice and tight to those pins.
Chris Casey These irons are great for people looking for a great-looking blade that is very workable and has the best feel of anything out there. They have very little offset with a small blade length, and the forged feel is the best-feeling face of any blade out there. The darker grey finish on the face is great for reducing glare from the sun.
Nate Cox I am a Minnesota golfer, which means in the (long) offseason, I get rusty. I tested out these irons in one of my first range sessions back from the brutal winter, and let's just say I could tell I was hitting blades when testing the Mizuno Pro 221s. I don't necessarily say that in a bad way, either. I am around a 4 handicap golfer, so hitting the ball in the center of the face is not foreign to me. I consider myself a good ball striker. Hitting the ball out of the center of the face provides an unmatched feeling. Soft and controlled. Controlling my ball fight and trajectory is incredibly easy, given the workability. That said, they are blades, and the forgiveness of these irons is no different. Off-centered hits lose a lot of distance and speed, making flights hard to control. For the advanced player, these irons would be a dream. They are workable, consistent on solid strikes, and provide really great feedback both in terms of feel and sound.
Vincent P. The Mizuno Pro 221 Irons are some of the best irons on the market. These irons are incredibly workable due to their forged nature. As a result, they have an incredible feel, like cutting through butter. These irons best fit the better player who really wants to get the most feel out of their irons. A player would get these because they value a slim, compact iron that has the ability to provide them with the best shot shaping.
Christopher Thompson The Mizuno Pro 221 iron is great for an advanced iron. Low handicappers with very confident ball striking will be rewarded with one of the best-feeling irons on the market. The blade style gives great results from consistent center face strikes. Perfect for consistent yardages and taking your iron game to the top level.
Review Ratings
Workability
5/5
Nate Cox gave 5 of 5 stars. My natural shot shape when I hit the ball well is about a 3-5 yard fade, and honestly, working a draw for me is usually pretty uncomfortable. Still, compared to other clubs I have tested, I am far more comfortable with the Mizuno Pro 221 irons when it comes to working the ball from right to left. Any golfer that is looking for a club that is easily workable will love these irons.
Forgiveness
2/5
Nate Cox gave 2 of 5 stars. Blade-style players' irons are truly a high-risk, high-reward type of club. For an advanced player who consistently strikes the ball out of the middle of the face and likes to work the ball in either direction, the positives can far out way the negatives. The feel of a forged iron made from a solid block of metal is amazing. Still, there is very minimal technology in the clubs to improve forgiveness, making them demanding clubs that can penalize players if they don't strike it well. In the case of the Mizuno Pro 221 irons, this is the same as what I experienced.
Feel
5/5
Nate Cox gave 5 of 5 stars. The first shot I hit with the Mizuno Pro 221 irons off of turf was incredibly satisfying. Squaring it up right out of the center honestly feels like I miss the ball (in the best way). The soft and raw feedback I get from contact with the clubface and feeling the irons slide through the turf like butter gets me excited about these irons. I feel like I can tell exactly where off the face I hit it, and I know exactly how the ball will respond if I make a good swing.
Sound
5/5
Nate Cox gave 5 of 5 stars. Something about a beautiful forged iron made from a single block of metal just creates an incredibly satisfying thud. Something about the sound of these irons and how great they feel inspires confidence, which is important when an iron can be as punishing on mishits as these irons can.
Launch
4/5
Nate Cox gave 4 of 5 stars. Being able to flight the ball low when I want to is very important to me. There is the obvious scenario of playing the ball into the wind that this is beneficial for, and there are a lot of moments with my low irons where I flight the ball lower to take off-spin. For this reason, I needed to find something that allowed me to flight the ball how I wanted without feeling like I was fighting it. The Mizuno Pro 221 irons provide that for me.
Distance
3/5
Nate Cox gave 3 of 5 stars. It shouldn't be surprising that I don't nuke these irons by any stretch of the imagination. Like most blade irons, these clubs have weaker lofts than many game improvement irons designed with distance in mind. These have weaker lofts than some other players' irons as well, but it isn't a secret that these clubs aren't meant to improve one's distance; they are designed with feel and workability as the main goal. I never notice myself crushing these irons in terms of distance, but I am okay with that.
FAQs
What was your favorite moment with this gear?
Nate Cox My favorite moment with these irons came after I had pulled my driver left on a slight dogleg left long par 4. I had about 170 yards to the hole, but the only way I could get to the green was to sling a low draw around trees down the left side. For a player that naturally hits a little fade, I pulled a 5 iron and tried my best to get the ball slinging from right to left. Much to my chagrin, I pulled off the shot and ran it up to about 12 feet with a great look for a birdie.
Why did you choose this product?
Nate Cox When it came to selecting new irons, I wanted to look for something that caught my eye. For a feel player like myself, I feel more confident in a visually pleasing club to me. The Mizuno Pro 221 irons definitely check that box, especially in the stunning blue ion finish.
What is the value for the money versus other options?
Nate Cox The Mizuno Pro 221s sit at a competitive price point compared to other blade-style player irons on the market, and they definitely perform competitively to other similar irons on the market. Japanese metalwork has historically been phenomenal and the feel of these forged irons is no different, so the value for money compared to other blades on the market is good.
What do you love about this product?
Nate Cox I love knowing what to expect from these clubs. I know it will provide me a soft feel off the face, and I know how the ball will react if I put a good swing on it.
Nate Cox
Golf ExpertBrady Maag
Golf ExpertChris Casey
Golf ExpertVincent P.
Golf ExpertChristopher Thompson
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