Mizuno has long been considered one of the foremost crafters of forged blades in the game, and regularly feature at the top of any best golf blade irons list. Looking to add to that heritage is the Mizuno Pro 241 iron, and I recently took it out for a spin.
From a shelf appeal point of view, it doesn’t get much better than these. The intricate hand forging detail, and the minimalist approach to branding are a thing of beauty. Small touches such as leaving the engraved Mizuno logo unpainted, just give a really classy feel to these irons. Aside from that logo, just a simple ‘Mizuno Pro’ wording adorns the back of one of the cleanest looking clubheads you will see.
The Pro 241 has most certainly been designed with shot shaping and feel in mind, and will be replacing the impressive Mizuno Pro 221 irons.
Mizuno say that the center mass on these irons delivers a longer lasting sensation through impact and that is something that has been confirmed with feedback from tour players. A new aggressive tapering on the upper blade has been designed to see trajectories remain consistent throughout the set by manipulating the CG. The idea is to provide more launch and flight with the longer irons and a more manageable, penetrating flight with the short irons.
Down behind the ball, Mizuno fans will rejoice as very familiar lines remain. I’ll be honest here and say that I have never been a massive fan of the Mizuno profile down behind the ball, and that remains in the Pro 241. I prefer a little more symmetry and I find that the transitions between the hosel, and both the top and leading edge, don’t suit my eye as well as some of the other best golf irons on the market. However, I will absolutely not mark them down for that, as this is just more of a personal preference than any kind of flaw.
In terms of performance, the Pro 241 irons are everything you would want them to be. Exceptionally soft at impact, producing a delightfully muted but crisp strike that I haven’t felt matched in any of my recent testing. Turf interaction is clean and the data numbers, while conservative, are very consistent. I tested the Mizuno Pro 241 irons on a Trackman 4 launch monitor using TaylorMade TP5x golf balls. The 7-iron comes in a very traditional loft of 34°, so I wasn't expecting vast carries.
With pure forged blades there is always the lingering knowledge that your mishits are not going to be flattered as much as if you were using some of the most forgiving irons, but I would say that the Pro 241 somewhat surprised me in that regard.
Whilst I could absolutely tell when I hadn’t ‘pured’ a shot, the punishment for doing so wasn’t as catastrophic as you might imagine. Sure, there was more ball speed drop off than with the Pro 243 model, but nothing too dramatic and dispersion was reassuringly tight also.
It is always nice when you can corroborate some of the claims of the manufacturer through your own testing and I have to say the CG refinements on the Pro 241 are a nice addition. I had no trouble at all launching the longer irons as high as I wanted, and I genuinely did notice the shorter irons moving on a more flighted trajectory, which is something better players are always striving for.
The Mizuno Pro 241 irons are the product to beat in the blade category for me. Whilst I may not be smitten with the profile behind the ball, the shelf appeal and genuine performance gains more than mitigate that. This is a Rolls Royce of an iron that will become one of the best irons for low handicappers, while tour players will almost certainly enjoy the overall performance package.
