I have a blended MB/HMB setup and the one thing I HATE about it is the different finishes on the club heads. The MBs look incredible, but they make the HMBs look so lackluster when they’re next to one another. I get that you may want to differentiate the two, but if the entire premise is blendability just make the finishes uniform. IMO.
I went down and hit all three of the mp-20 clubs yesterday.. and honestly all three feel super soft. I felt that the hmb was actually a little softer and quieter than the MMC. Thats why I elected to blend with the MB in the shorter clubs and HMB in the long irons.
@@steviewonder2492 , no. From talking to the fitter, and watching the different reviews of the MB vs HMB, and it seems the HMB is just more forgiving, and not something super long. Which is awesome. I've played game improvement irons and there's 2 sweet spots on them, and if you happen to catch that super small spot, the ball goes 15+ yards farther! Plus game improvement irons are TOO forgiving and I didn't get feedback and couldn't learn, imo. I switched to players irons and my handicap has come down. Now I'm addicted to feel and feedback. The MB's are perfect, but I could use a little help on the long irons and the HMB just matches. I hit both 7i and the feel and feedback felt similar enough. I pick my set up on Monday.
Great review again Michael. As someone else has said, comparing the same iron number (6 MB v 6 HMB) would be an interesting reference. I’ve been using MP5’s for the last 2 years & seriously thinking of changing to these 👍🏻
Interesting the gapping worked out well despite the 6* loft gap. I ordered the MB’s strong to match the loft gapping but might need to do some bending as part of the gapping....my current HMB mid irons certainly go further than my previous 716MB’s.
I think the recommended lofts for combo sets is to duplicate the lofts from the SEL (lefty) set. Luckily these clubs are easily bendable if you end up with a weird gapping due to blending.
I will definitely try the MB, they are truly beautiful clubs! I would perhaps go for blended set with HMB as 2 and 3-iron. Since I'm not making a living as a professional golfer I prefer the true feel and honest response from pure blades over to much help HMB and even more "game improving" irons. Will be interesting to see how the feel in comparison to the Ben Hogan Ft.Worth irons.
FYI: When you order a combo set from Mizuno, they will match up the loft, so that you get an even split of yards between the clubs. So in this case, there would not be a 6 degree split.
Just looking on the Mizuno web site and when you blend MB with HMB at 6/7 they say the 3,4,5,6 are standard loft and the 7,8 are 2deg strong and the PW is 1deg strong. You may want to check the loft of that MP-20 7iron. 👍🏼
@@MichaelNewtonGolf thanks for the reply on the old video mate. Be interesting to know what the blend is like for you if you put 2 extra deg on that 7iron? I’m not a consistent enough striker to ever see the difference just wondering why mizuno recommend it when your gapping looks spot on. 👍🏼
Just the info I was looking for! Currently play mp54 4-6. MP4 7_Pw and S18 wedges. These are the first set to tempt me for a while! Are you going to game these? Would you say this blend is spot on? Better than MMC.? Great vids by the way.
I've been researching these clubs for a blended set. The HMB's are designed to blend and help the MP20's or MP20 MMC. The HMB's are stronger than the MB's and exactly the same loft as the MMC. Mizuno is suggesting the break between sets to be either between the 4 and the 5 iron (5 or 3 degrees diff 6 to 7 iron) or the 7 and 8 iron (6 or 4 degrees diff). The MMC does not come in a 3 iron. The HMB's also hold together as a complete set as well. It's certainly interesting as you have shown in another vlog how the distance between the same club with the MB and the HMB is something like 3 yards
I am considering 4i 22*, 5i bent to 26* then MB 6i at 30*. This bending makes the lofts consist gaps and the bounce also increases constantly. If the change over is at any other iron number then it won’t work if loft and/or bounce gaps matter but real test is distance gap but in fitting you usually only get to hit a 6i so not sure how you blend with 100% confidence when you can’t test that gap, you can only make an educated guess based on 6i numbers.
I use the Mizuno JPX 919 tours right through to 4 iron ,If I was using these I would probably swap out the 5 and 4 iron blades with the HMB ,but I would seriously hit them all first on a launch monitor to see if I needed to .I practice a lot with longish irons ,like with everything get fitted first ,gear is expensive these days .Those irons do look nice ,although I prefer the more satin dull look of the JPX range .
I got fitted yesterday day got 4-6 hmb and 7-pw mp20 I just ordered the lofts on the 7-pw to be strengthened to match the hmb loft gaps of 4 degrees Hoping that will help my gapping out. Will have a couple weeks to see how they are then go back for gap testing. Was sadly only able to hit the 7 iron as that’s all the fitter had. Was due to go to Titleist for a fitting of the T100s but it really pisses me off wharf and grip is a upcharge With them and I’ve played mizuno mp18 and 919 tours and never been upcharged On shaft and grip. Well done on that mizuno can’t wait to get mine
Would be interested to see how you got on with your gapping. I have done the same with MB’s 2* strong to match the lofts of the HMB. A little concerned about compromising the bounce by doing that but can always bend and adjust loft and lie to suit once I do the gapping session.
That’s the thing with stronger lofted irons nowhere left to go at the 5-4-3 iron. I like that mizuno keep there’s sensible but would still like to see 4 degree loft difference all the way through.
Hi Anthony, Mizuno will match up the off-set, lie and loft when you order a combo set, so that you get even yards and can swing them the same way with all the clubs. I currently have MP-18 combo set, with 2-3 MMC Fly-hi, 4-5 in MMC, 6-7 in SC and 8-P in MB and it works just as you would expect.
I had a Mizuno combo set in the past, and it is not easy to get it to work smoothly in the transition. I think you need a good clubmaker to get it right. There are weight and offset differences between the two versions of the clubs. The lies have to be adjusted. The loft ranges are different. Otherwise you have to hit the blades one way and the cavities another. One might say that the differences are small, so why be that precise? But the thing is, if one goes through the trouble and expense of getting a combo set in the first place, then one might as well do it as well as possible.
Hi George, don't know when you got a combo set, but today Mizuno will match up the off-set, lie and loft when you order a combo set, so that you get even yards and can swing them the same way with all the clubs. I currently have MP-18 combo set, with 2-3 MMC Fly-hi, 4-5 in MMC, 6-7 in SC and 8-P in MB and it works just as you would expect.
@@stiwigabrielcourage7634 That's great. Back then, for me, combo sets were not sold as such. You had to do it yourself. I never bought new Mizunos, so it wasn't too expensive. I was able to get really good shape used ones. I know the blades were MP-33s, and I recall the cavities were MP-27s. I went to a clubsmith and we adjusted them. I had tour-flighted Rifles in them. I like to fool around with golf clubs, so it was actually kind of fun to see what worked.
Jacob Hedrick I did the fitting at a golf store not fitting studio, and it looked like I would have needed a degree stronger on the MB‘s. think that is what Mizuno suggests for blending, but I also read on various threads that some people don’t make any adjustments. I recently moved to a place too cold to golf right now, which is why I haven’t bought them yet. As of now, I’m planing to buy them in spring after getting back into the golf rhythm. I like the idea of this blended set but think that for these sets a professional fitting might be necessary.
Looked at most of the on-line reviews. I play 5i-PW in the irons and much as I like the MMCs I think the performance of the HMB renders them almost redundant. Before watching the video I thought the lofts of the MBs might need to be strengthened a degree, but the video showed this is probably not necessary. Not being as good a golfer as Michael I would play 5i-7i in HMB and then have 8i-PW in MB.
I did not expect these results. The HMB has all the tech vs the MB but performed subpar IMO in comparison. Your HMB video had the 7i at the same carry as the MB but less spin. What is the value of the HMB If the blade performs just as well with 2 degrees less loft?
Max Imilian I was just about to write the same thing. A 7 iron MB would go just as far as the HMB bass on these numbers, but you would think with more spin. Surely the idea of HMB is not just extra forgiveness, but also a bit more distance as a trade off for less spin?
Average golfer wouldn’t strike as consistent as him, hence where the use of a more forgiving club comes into rescue towards longer iron. This way is easier to put together a combo set with correct gapping. This is what I learnt from that Mizuno staffer on TXG anyway, which does make a lot of sense to me.
Cameron Loveless Cameron Loveless maybe you should ask Mizuno for further questions, I’m not knowledgeable enough, sorry. Just sharing what I heard from their staffer in another video explaining their concept in designing the clubs and how their put in effort to make sure players across skill levels can have a combo set suits their ability with the correct relative distance gapping. Looking at the table chart they achieved that perfectly. One thing I noticed is HMB 6 iron has similar peak height and decent angle to MB 7 iron. Maybe that’s how they dialled back the HMB distance by diving it more trajectory?
Jeff Lin I think a lot of people will read/hear “hollow body” and then want to compare them to P790 and Ping i500. And will be expecting them to fly longer than they do. Having said that, if Mizuno has purely designed them to be more forgiving so you can perfectly blend them with MMC or MB then I actually applaud them for not getting into a “distance race”. Could hurt their sales though... and that would be a shame
I’m a massive Mizuno fan, but I don’t quite get the point of mizuno making it this way.... Based on your numbers Michael, a 7 iron MB would go just as far as the HMB, but (you would think) with more spin. Surely the idea of HMB is not just extra forgiveness, but also a bit more distance as a trade off for the lower loft/lower spin?
I get how they think, but at the same time the SC was the most sold from the MP-18 line, and still they drop it from this line up. I feel that they have been influenced too much on the hype of the P790, i500 etc. They already have the hot metal and the hot metal pro in their other line up.
Not so sure about the gapping. Your independent reviews of mb (7i 169) and hmb (7i 174) suggest a gap of 15 yards in general once you get used to them, not the 10 yards averaged in this review. That would be exactly as expected with the loft differences and a bit much in my view..
Well thought out video. The 7 to 6 iron will probably be the point at which most players who are considering a blended set will be looking at, including me!
How adjustable are the HMB? Can you bend them to adjust for lie and loft? Or does the hot metal not allow you to do so? And how do they compare to your Wilson blades?
very encouraging... I preordered the pw-6 in the MB and got the HMB 3-5. I am play at a 5 hcp and cant wait to put these in the bag
Have the HMB 5-PW with the MB 6-PW arriving tomorrow. Will worth through the gapping and see where I end up making the transition with gapping.
Update?
Brilliant work Mike..... I play the MP-18 SC's and I am looking for that exact combo of MB and HMB..... keep the great work going mate!!!!
“Battle of the hollow body irons” please Mike!
Ping i500 vs TM P790 vs MP20 HMB’s?
I have a blended MB/HMB setup and the one thing I HATE about it is the different finishes on the club heads. The MBs look incredible, but they make the HMBs look so lackluster when they’re next to one another. I get that you may want to differentiate the two, but if the entire premise is blendability just make the finishes uniform. IMO.
really? I also have the combo set and never noticed any huge differences in the look.
I went down and hit all three of the mp-20 clubs yesterday.. and honestly all three feel super soft. I felt that the hmb was actually a little softer and quieter than the MMC. Thats why I elected to blend with the MB in the shorter clubs and HMB in the long irons.
Perfect! I got fit and ordered a split set, just like this. 4-6 HMB and 7-P MB. Can't wait! Great review.
Me too !
Just what I got fitted. I wanted the mmc in there for fun, but MB and HmB makes it a better combo for me
John Kay will you adjust lofts on the MB?
@@steviewonder2492 , no. From talking to the fitter, and watching the different reviews of the MB vs HMB, and it seems the HMB is just more forgiving, and not something super long. Which is awesome. I've played game improvement irons and there's 2 sweet spots on them, and if you happen to catch that super small spot, the ball goes 15+ yards farther! Plus game improvement irons are TOO forgiving and I didn't get feedback and couldn't learn, imo. I switched to players irons and my handicap has come down. Now I'm addicted to feel and feedback. The MB's are perfect, but I could use a little help on the long irons and the HMB just matches. I hit both 7i and the feel and feedback felt similar enough. I pick my set up on Monday.
John Kay awesome! Enjoy them!
Be interesting to see how far you carry the mb 6 iron
Great test! I definitely would consider this. Thank you Michael!
I would split at the 7/8 as that is where the hmb no longer has tungsten. Seems the most logical to me
Agree
So 7/8-PW MB
HMB 3-6/7
Great review again Michael. As someone else has said, comparing the same iron number (6 MB v 6 HMB) would be an interesting reference.
I’ve been using MP5’s for the last 2 years & seriously thinking of changing to these 👍🏻
I actually went 3-9 in the HMB and then MB in the PW plus T20 50deg GW. Worked out really well and all in Modus 3 120S
Interesting the gapping worked out well despite the 6* loft gap. I ordered the MB’s strong to match the loft gapping but might need to do some bending as part of the gapping....my current HMB mid irons certainly go further than my previous 716MB’s.
I think I’d start hmb at the 7i. I need to try these
I think the recommended lofts for combo sets is to duplicate the lofts from the SEL (lefty) set. Luckily these clubs are easily bendable if you end up with a weird gapping due to blending.
F. Pena lofts are still 4 apart all the way through.
SEL. That doesn’t seem to make sense. Strange.
I will definitely try the MB, they are truly beautiful clubs! I would perhaps go for blended set with HMB as 2 and 3-iron. Since I'm not making a living as a professional golfer I prefer the true feel and honest response from pure blades over to much help HMB and even more "game improving" irons. Will be interesting to see how the feel in comparison to the Ben Hogan Ft.Worth irons.
FYI: When you order a combo set from Mizuno, they will match up the loft, so that you get an even split of yards between the clubs. So in this case, there would not be a 6 degree split.
Can you provide a link that discusses this process? Thanks!
Thanks so much! Exactly the info I needed!
Just looking on the Mizuno web site and when you blend MB with HMB at 6/7 they say the 3,4,5,6 are standard loft and the 7,8 are 2deg strong and the PW is 1deg strong. You may want to check the loft of that MP-20 7iron. 👍🏼
Both these lofts are as standard as if your buying them individually 👍
@@MichaelNewtonGolf thanks for the reply on the old video mate. Be interesting to know what the blend is like for you if you put 2 extra deg on that 7iron? I’m not a consistent enough striker to ever see the difference just wondering why mizuno recommend it when your gapping looks spot on. 👍🏼
Just the info I was looking for! Currently play mp54 4-6. MP4 7_Pw and S18 wedges. These are the first set to tempt me for a while! Are you going to game these? Would you say this blend is spot on? Better than MMC.? Great vids by the way.
I've been researching these clubs for a blended set. The HMB's are designed to blend and help the MP20's or MP20 MMC. The HMB's are stronger than the MB's and exactly the same loft as the MMC. Mizuno is suggesting the break between sets to be either between the 4 and the 5 iron (5 or 3 degrees diff 6 to 7 iron) or the 7 and 8 iron (6 or 4 degrees diff). The MMC does not come in a 3 iron. The HMB's also hold together as a complete set as well. It's certainly interesting as you have shown in another vlog how the distance between the same club with the MB and the HMB is something like 3 yards
I am considering 4i 22*, 5i bent to 26* then MB 6i at 30*. This bending makes the lofts consist gaps and the bounce also increases constantly. If the change over is at any other iron number then it won’t work if loft and/or bounce gaps matter but real test is distance gap but in fitting you usually only get to hit a 6i so not sure how you blend with 100% confidence when you can’t test that gap, you can only make an educated guess based on 6i numbers.
Great video. Thanks!
Glad you liked it!
I use the Mizuno JPX 919 tours right through to 4 iron ,If I was using these I would probably swap out the 5 and 4 iron blades with the HMB ,but I would seriously hit them all first on a launch monitor to see if I needed to .I practice a lot with longish irons ,like with everything get fitted first ,gear is expensive these days .Those irons do look nice ,although I prefer the more satin dull look of the JPX range .
I got fitted yesterday day got 4-6 hmb and 7-pw mp20
I just ordered the lofts on the 7-pw to be strengthened to match the hmb loft gaps of 4 degrees
Hoping that will help my gapping out.
Will have a couple weeks to see how they are then go back for gap testing.
Was sadly only able to hit the 7 iron as that’s all the fitter had.
Was due to go to Titleist for a fitting of the T100s but it really pisses me off wharf and grip is a upcharge
With them and I’ve played mizuno mp18 and 919 tours and never been upcharged
On shaft and grip. Well done on that mizuno can’t wait to get mine
Would be interested to see how you got on with your gapping. I have done the same with MB’s 2* strong to match the lofts of the HMB. A little concerned about compromising the bounce by doing that but can always bend and adjust loft and lie to suit once I do the gapping session.
That’s the thing with stronger lofted irons nowhere left to go at the 5-4-3 iron. I like that mizuno keep there’s sensible but would still like to see 4 degree loft difference all the way through.
Hi Anthony, Mizuno will match up the off-set, lie and loft when you order a combo set, so that you get even yards and can swing them the same way with all the clubs. I currently have MP-18 combo set, with 2-3 MMC Fly-hi, 4-5 in MMC, 6-7 in SC and 8-P in MB and it works just as you would expect.
Stiwi Gabriel Courage cool I’ll have to ask about it in my fitting Monday 👍🏻
I had a Mizuno combo set in the past, and it is not easy to get it to work smoothly in the transition. I think you need a good clubmaker to get it right. There are weight and offset differences between the two versions of the clubs. The lies have to be adjusted. The loft ranges are different. Otherwise you have to hit the blades one way and the cavities another. One might say that the differences are small, so why be that precise? But the thing is, if one goes through the trouble and expense of getting a combo set in the first place, then one might as well do it as well as possible.
Hi George, don't know when you got a combo set, but today Mizuno will match up the off-set, lie and loft when you order a combo set, so that you get even yards and can swing them the same way with all the clubs. I currently have MP-18 combo set, with 2-3 MMC Fly-hi, 4-5 in MMC, 6-7 in SC and 8-P in MB and it works just as you would expect.
@@stiwigabrielcourage7634 That's great. Back then, for me, combo sets were not sold as such. You had to do it yourself. I never bought new Mizunos, so it wasn't too expensive. I was able to get really good shape used ones. I know the blades were MP-33s, and I recall the cavities were MP-27s. I went to a clubsmith and we adjusted them. I had tour-flighted Rifles in them. I like to fool around with golf clubs, so it was actually kind of fun to see what worked.
As a higher handicapper that loves Mizunos I'm thinking HMB's 4-7 and MB 8-PW
I would prefer MB PW-8 MMC 7-5 and HMB 4iron to blend into a 5 wood.
Johan Envall that’s what I thought as well. But I just did a fitting and turns out the mmc seems a bit obsolete for me. P-7 MB, 6-3 HMB.
Stefan Koch did you have to adjust lofts or did the different flight characteristics make it to where the lofts could stay standard while blending?
Jacob Hedrick I did the fitting at a golf store not fitting studio, and it looked like I would have needed a degree stronger on the MB‘s. think that is what Mizuno suggests for blending, but I also read on various threads that some people don’t make any adjustments. I recently moved to a place too cold to golf right now, which is why I haven’t bought them yet. As of now, I’m planing to buy them in spring after getting back into the golf rhythm. I like the idea of this blended set but think that for these sets a professional fitting might be necessary.
Looked at most of the on-line reviews. I play 5i-PW in the irons and much as I like the MMCs I think the performance of the HMB renders them almost redundant. Before watching the video I thought the lofts of the MBs might need to be strengthened a degree, but the video showed this is probably not necessary. Not being as good a golfer as Michael I would play 5i-7i in HMB and then have 8i-PW in MB.
Careful to take into account his strike diffs.
I did not expect these results. The HMB has all the tech vs the MB but performed subpar IMO in comparison. Your HMB video had the 7i at the same carry as the MB but less spin. What is the value of the HMB If the blade performs just as well with 2 degrees less loft?
Max Imilian I was just about to write the same thing. A 7 iron MB would go just as far as the HMB bass on these numbers, but you would think with more spin. Surely the idea of HMB is not just extra forgiveness, but also a bit more distance as a trade off for less spin?
Average golfer wouldn’t strike as consistent as him, hence where the use of a more forgiving club comes into rescue towards longer iron. This way is easier to put together a combo set with correct gapping. This is what I learnt from that Mizuno staffer on TXG anyway, which does make a lot of sense to me.
Jeff Lin let’s ask the question more directly: why isn’t the club with 2 degrees less loft and less spin NOT going further? It defies logic
Cameron Loveless Cameron Loveless maybe you should ask Mizuno for further questions, I’m not knowledgeable enough, sorry. Just sharing what I heard from their staffer in another video explaining their concept in designing the clubs and how their put in effort to make sure players across skill levels can have a combo set suits their ability with the correct relative distance gapping. Looking at the table chart they achieved that perfectly. One thing I noticed is HMB 6 iron has similar peak height and decent angle to MB 7 iron. Maybe that’s how they dialled back the HMB distance by diving it more trajectory?
Jeff Lin I think a lot of people will read/hear “hollow body” and then want to compare them to P790 and Ping i500. And will be expecting them to fly longer than they do. Having said that, if Mizuno has purely designed them to be more forgiving so you can perfectly blend them with MMC or MB then I actually applaud them for not getting into a “distance race”. Could hurt their sales though... and that would be a shame
Curious why you blended the HMB's and the MP20 blade and shipped over the MMC's? 🤔
The mmcs dont offer the best of anything
Mizuno vs Titleist vs. Wilson blades battle pls!
I agree blending is what they want to do but offering a 3 iron in the MB and not in the MMC is counter to blending to me
I’m a massive Mizuno fan, but I don’t quite get the point of mizuno making it this way.... Based on your numbers Michael, a 7 iron MB would go just as far as the HMB, but (you would think) with more spin. Surely the idea of HMB is not just extra forgiveness, but also a bit more distance as a trade off for the lower loft/lower spin?
How does the HMB compare with the JPX-919 Hot Metal (Pro)? The HMB is 2 degrees weaker but otherwise why would you choose one over the other?
Looking at that combo myself, plan to weaken the HMP 7-5i by 1deg each! Read up on the mygolfspy article for sure, lots of nitty gritty detail there.
I get how they think, but at the same time the SC was the most sold from the MP-18 line, and still they drop it from this line up. I feel that they have been influenced too much on the hype of the P790, i500 etc. They already have the hot metal and the hot metal pro in their other line up.
I’d like to see some side by sides with the 620 mb .. blade length , shape , offfset
Not so sure about the gapping. Your independent reviews of mb (7i 169) and hmb (7i 174) suggest a gap of 15 yards in general once you get used to them, not the 10 yards averaged in this review. That would be exactly as expected with the loft differences and a bit much in my view..
Well thought out video. The 7 to 6 iron will probably be the point at which most players who are considering a blended set will be looking at, including me!
For weekend warrior i prefer 4- 6 hmb and 7 - pw MMC.
Good video. Lots of activity with folks reviewing the new mizunos. He says"a little bit" and "sort of" so often it's distracting.
If you have a combo set you adjust the loft so gaping there wouldn’t be any problem
GOT TO BE CAREFUL THO AS BOUNCE IS AFFECT WHEN ALTERING LOFTS.
I play 6-pw plus 3 wedges so most people like me use hybrids,why have they not launched new hybrids with these irons
How adjustable are the HMB? Can you bend them to adjust for lie and loft? Or does the hot metal not allow you to do so?
And how do they compare to your Wilson blades?
+-2deg adjustability
You are comparing a thicker 6 iron to a 7 iron blade...???
First!
That face on comparison the MB looks tiny
This is weird