Mizuno MP-S ball reviews

[PaulOHagan]

This is the place to post all Mizuno MP-S ball reviews from the 20 people who will receive samples this week (18/03/13). After forum members have had the chance to fully test the balls out the best review will be selected by us and the winner will receive six dozen Mizuno MP-S balls as a prize. We are looking for creative, interesting and informative feedback.

 

[john0]

My overall opinion of these new Mizuno balls is that they are very easy to lose - obviously my Postman has lost them as they still havent been delivered :smirk:

 

[scratch]

This is the place to post all Mizuno MP-S ball reviews from the 20 people who will receive samples this week (18/03/13). After forum members have had the chance to fully test the balls out the best review will be selected by us and the winner will receive six dozen Mizuno MP-S balls as a prize. We are looking for creative, interesting and informative feedback.

Paul

Can you publish a list of the 20 people please?

 

[diesel75]

This is the place to post all Mizuno MP-S ball reviews from the 20 people who will receive samples this week (18/03/13). After forum members have had the chance to fully test the balls out the best review will be selected by us and the winner will receive six dozen Mizuno MP-S balls as a prize. We are looking for creative, interesting and informative feedback.

Well I guess I will go first, as I was one of the lucky ones! I have been playing premium titleist balls for 20 years, and have never really been tempted to try another ball. However... I am a massive Mizuno fan and was very glad to now have the chance to match the ball with my irons. I played today, although perhaps not ideal conditions as it didn't get above 1 degree with a nice freezing wind, but hey this is England...

[table="width: 600"]
[tr]
[td]Feel:[/td]
[td]Nice soft feel and great control around the greens[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]Ball Flight:[/td]
[td]Seemed to be a touch lower than my usual ProV1 but very solid and not much deviation.[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]Spin:[/td]
[td] Very good, plenty of backspin with my short irons.[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]Distance:[/td]
[td]Very good[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]Durability:[/td]
[td]This is perhaps the most impressive, after 18 holes it still looked brand new, just one mark after I hit a cart path with a driver.[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]Looks:[/td]
[td]Fantastic - it has Mizuno stamped on it![/td]
[/tr]
[/table]

Overall I was very impressed, In fact I think I have been converted...

 

[DelB]

Just back from a weekend away with the family and came back to a card from the post office saying that they had attempted to deliver something to me and could I go and collect it. Did so this morning and was delighted and surprised to find half a dozen MP balls in the packet! Now, if this snow would just sod off, I'd be happy to put them to the test!

 

[patricks148]

Well I guess I will go first, as I was one of the lucky ones! I have been playing premium titleist balls for 20 years, and have never really been tempted to try another ball. However... I am a massive Mizuno fan and was very glad to now have the chance to match the ball with my irons. I played today, although perhaps not ideal conditions as it didn't get above 1 degree with a nice freezing wind, but hey this is England...

[table="width: 600"]
[tr]
[td]Feel:[/td]
[td]Nice soft feel and great control around the greens[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]Ball Flight:[/td]
[td]Seemed to be a touch lower than my usual ProV1 but very solid and not much deviation.[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]Spin:[/td]
[td] Very good, plenty of backspin with my short irons.[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]Distance:[/td]
[td]Very good[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]Durability:[/td]
[td]This is perhaps the most impressive, after 18 holes it still looked brand new, just one mark after I hit a cart path with a driver.[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]Looks:[/td]
[td]Fantastic - it has Mizuno stamped on it![/td]
[/tr]
[/table]

Overall I was very impressed, In fact I think I have been converted...

Durability i found was terrible, i played 18 holes with one on Saturday and it looked like it had been chewed by the dog. quite a few cuts from wedge shots, but it could also be the fact our greens are heavily sanded and i mean like putting on the beach.

I intended to us one at CS on sunday but forget to take any of the mizuno balls with me.

So I'll have to wait till i play some where the greens are firmer and not as sandy to do my full review.

 

[bladeplayer]

My overall opinion of these new Mizuno balls is that they are very easy to lose - obviously my Postman has lost them as they still havent been delivered :smirk:

I just laughed out load in a totaly silent office when i read this 10/10 johnO .. thank you

 

[daveyc2k2]

I will provide my review once the weather improves a bit so that I can really test them properly. As with the current conditions it isn't really a fair test.

 

[Deleted member 1418]

I will provide my review once the weather improves a bit so that I can really test them properly. As with the current conditions it isn't really a fair test.

Same here. Was looking forward to using them at Woburn on Thursday but unfortunately that meet is cancelled. Next opportunity will be Hindhead in a couple of weeks; or at The Grove at end of April.

 

[scratch]

I bought some of these but as you didn't send me any freebies I'm not going to write a review :ears:

 

[DelB]

First time out today for five weeks and used one of the Mizuno balls in question. First impressions are good and I even managed to keep the same ball in play until I stuffed it into the gorse on the approach to 16.
54 holes of golf to come on Friday and Saturday this week, so will write my winning epistle then. :thup:

 

[thecraw]

I bought some of these but as you didn't send me any freebies I'm not going to write a review :ears:

I found one and used it for 11 holes, feel ok but as durable as a cream egg. Worse than the FG Tour. Wouldn't buy a box put it that way!

 

[MashieNiblick]

Hope it is Ok to post even though I was not one of the lucky 20.

I played 18 holes with a new MP-S at the weekend and I agree with Diesel that the durability was good. Interesting that Craw and Patricks thought otherwise.





Must be the way I caressed the ball around with my buttery soft Mizunos.

Or maybe I just don't hit it hard enough!

Overall I liked it. Feel was good - not too soft not too firm, decent distance off the tee and wedges and short irons, when struck well, stopped pretty quickly even though the greens were quite firm.

 

[One Planer]

I’ve had the chance to play the Mizuno MP-S ball courtesy of GM and Mizuno for a couple of rounds now. I’ve been comparing the Mizuno ball to my usual ball which is a Titleist Pro V1. Mainly because I’ve been playing the Pro V1 for over a year now and see it as a good yard stick to compare the Mizuno to.

Here’s my review.

Out of the Box:

Packaging wise, I’m not sure if I prefer the Mizuno sleeves over the Titleist. The Mizuno packaging is very clean and minimalistic when compared against the Titleist packaging. The look of the sleeve design gives them impression that Mizuno wanted people to be impressed by the packaging as much as the ball and gives their product a very high end feel.

Looks:

Comparing the two balls, I prefer the look of the Titleist. The Mizuno ball, isn’t terrible to look down on but when you have to stare down at a large “MP” stamped in the middle of the ball it seems a little over the top when you compare it to the branding on the Pro V1. If Mizuno had put the Mizuno branding with the ball number in a similar fashion to the Titleist, with a smaller MP-S on the side (Where the Titleist has the “Pro V1” and in a similar fashion) it would look much better. On the looks front, the Titleist wins.

Feel:

I know this is topic is incredibly personal, but here’s my take. When comparing the two balls off various clubs, I found with the driver and woods, the Mizuno ball felt noticeably firmer compared the Titleist, I’m not going to say the ball is hard, but it’s not as soft as the Pro V1. With irons and wedges, I would liken it to my experience with Callaway’s premium line in so much as, again the ball performed really well, but felt firm and, if anything, a little clicky off the face. The putter, again was firmer than the Pro V1 and, again, a little clicky.

Performance:

The Mizuno MP-S ball, in my opinion, is a pretty solid ball and good, all round, performer, my first round out with one I shot 80. Despite a slightly firmer feel the ball plays really well off all clubs. I haven’t found a noticeable loss in distance with any club and may have gained fractionally with the driver and fairway woods. The flight of the ball is pretty much the same as the Titleist, if anything, maybe a touch higher with the driver and fairway woods but that could be down to the quality of my strike. Greenside, for me it’s pretty much a dead heat between the Mizuno and Titleist. Both produce plenty of green side spin and offer good control, with, perhaps, the Titleist just edging it but only due to its softer feel.

Durability:

With both balls having a urethane cover durability is never going to be great. I would have to say that the Mizuno fairs on par with the Titleist in this area. I don’t have the fastest swing speed so I tend not to cause too much damage to the ball I use, however, I don’t think the Mizuno ball will hold up well against a faster swing speed than mine. You can see in the picture a few chips and scuffs that have been caused by my slow’ish (Low 70’s MPH with a 6 iron) swing speed. For someone that swings the club around the mid 80’s MPH mark and higher, I doubt these balls would last much over 18 holes due to cover damage.

As I said above, with both balls having soft covers they are going to scuff and both seem to perform similarly in this area for me. I think I could get 2 or 3 rounds from the same ball (Mizuno/Titleist), obviously if I didn’t lose it, before it would have to be replaced and retired to the practice bag. Someone with a faster swing speed would probably have to replace every 18 holes.

In another area where the Mizuno ball fares, quite a bit, better than the Titleist is keeping its colour. Normally with a Pro V1, towards the end of a round, the ball has lost its pristine white colour which has been replaced by an almost grey/yellow colour. The Mizuno after a full 18 holes, and a few encounters with trees held its colour pretty well and hadn’t discoloured to anywhere near the level that I’ve become accustomed to with the Titleist.

Conclusion:

All in all, the Mizuno ball is a pretty solid all-rounder. Good distance off the tee, with good short game control. If I had to liken the Mizuno ball to another brand of ball I don’t think I could, which is a good thing for Mizuno as it’s pretty unique. If I were to try and compare it I would say it had all the playing characteristics of the Titleist Pro V1 but with a firmer feel of a Callaway. Having played the ball for a few rounds now, I do see it as a definite contender against the Titleist Pro V1.

Is it good enough overall for me to make the change, as Oasis would say, “Definitely Maybe”. Is it good enough for me to think about changing….. Yes.

Edit: forgot my scores. If I had to give the balls an honest mark out of 5, the Mizuno is a solid 4. Only marked down for the MP stamp being in (In my opinion) the wrong place and firm feel. Pro V1 gets a 4.5 and is only marked down due to it's early discolouring.

 

[Snelly]

A nice review Gareth. Good stuff.

I would not personally change from a Pro V1 if I was buying golf balls myself with my own money. In the past though, I have used Callaway Blacks and Srixon Z Stars as I have bought (purely because they were much cheaper) box loads of them for my company as giveaways to customers. Neither were as good as the Pro V1 really but they were still good balls.

I have also tried the Bridgestone and TaylorMade premium balls and again, thought they were good but still not as good as the benchmark - the Pro V1. I suspect after reading your very informative review that I would think the same about these balls. Pretty good but not quite better than a top-end Titleist. I might be wrong of course and will have a more informed view after I have found one and played a few holes with it!

My only other point is that I completely agree with you that Mizuno have dropped a right clanger in making the MP the primary branding on the ball. It should say Mizuno below the ball number and the MP should be on the side. A really silly marketing decision in my view.

 

[One Planer]

A nice review Gareth. Good stuff.

I would not personally change from a Pro V1 if I was buying golf balls myself with my own money. In the past though, I have used Callaway Blacks and Srixon Z Stars as I have bought (purely because they were much cheaper) box loads of them for my company as giveaways to customers. Neither were as good as the Pro V1 really but they were still good balls.

I have also tried the Bridgestone and TaylorMade premium balls and again, thought they were good but still not as good as the benchmark - the Pro V1. I suspect after reading your very informative review that I would think the same about these balls. Pretty good but not quite better than a top-end Titleist. I might be wrong of course and will have a more informed view after I have found one and played a few holes with it!

My only other point is that I completely agree with you that Mizuno have dropped a right clanger in making the MP the primary branding on the ball. It should say Mizuno below the ball number and the MP should be on the side. A really silly marketing decision in my view.

Can't argue with any of that :thup:

 

[AmandaJR]

Well today I plucked up the courage to finally test one of these balls. Actually it's more that my game is feeling fairly robust and consistent (ish...) enough to properly gauge the ball. I'm not (yet) committed to any specific ball and will pick from a range of 5 or 6 depending on my mood and what's in my bag. I'd like to commit to a ball though and have recently had a lot of useful information on here regarding the technicalities and even some Pro V1's to try (thanks Gareth :thup.

So I was unsure when to try the ball as my driver has been a bit erratic and I had concerns that a "tour" standard ball would exaggerate the fade spin/back spin my technique imparts and I'd lose distance and accuracy. The Mizuno was a delight off the driver though and stayed not only straight but about as far as I can hit it - albeit on firmer ground than we've had of late. Certainly with the driver though there was no excessive spin compared to a Soft Feel. I can also feel a tour ball is somehow heavy off the driver face - can't really explain it - but the Mizuno didn't have that and my confidence with it grew. The flight and distance with my irons was fine and I couldn't ascertain any difference from the usual balls I play and no more check with my favourite chip and run shots. I didn't feel it was clicky off the putter but was leaving some uphill putts a tad short so wondered if the softer cover meant I needed to hit them a tiny bit harder and did so and the results were good.

Sadly my ball found trouble on the 16th hole - my fault though, much as I'd like to blame something else! At that point there were no marks and scuffs on it but then I hadn't hit any trees or paths and don't swing hard enough with wedges etc to cause damage.

I like the look of the ball. Clean and simple and without fuss. The packaging needs work though as it is just way too bland.

Overall a thumbs up and will play another tomorrow so will add to my review if anything crops up worth of mention. Hopefully it will last 18 holes!

 

[Region3]

I've managed to play a few rounds with these balls now since the course dried out and made it a fairer test.

As a sort of disclaimer to what is to follow, I'm not sure how qualified the majority of the forum are to differentiate between high end balls. Yes, we all have our favourites, and form opinions of new balls when we first use them, but I think that how well we're swinging/scoring on any given day has at least as much of an influence on our opinion as any science about the ball itself.
I will describe what I felt about the ball, but no doubt others will disagree.

Anyhoo....

First Impressions
I've never been too bothered about what a golf ball looks like. If I was being picky I'd say I'd prefer the MP lettering a little smaller and understated, but it really didn't matter. I also don't use an alignment mark when putting so have no preference for certain types of lines around the ball.
When you first take one out of the box it immediately strikes you how tacky (sticky, not cheap!) the ball feels. It reminded me of another premium ball, but my memory is so bad I can't remember what make it was.
Marketing types might try to persuade us otherwise, but I can't see that a tacky feeling cover has any effect on the interaction between club and ball out on the course. If it does it's short lived, because the tacky feeling had gone completely after 4 or 5 holes of play.

Driving
Distance wise this ball seemed to perform similarly to other balls that I'd normally use. It felt quite hard to me off the driver which I guess is how they want the ball to perform. Off centre strikes or bad swings seemed to produce more sideways movement than I'm used to, but good hits are rewarded with a nice penetrating flight. Into the wind I was surprised how far the ball still went without ballooning, although I do hit the ball low to start with.

Approaches
The extra sideways movement that I noticed off the tee wasn't apparent with full iron shots. The ball still felt hard to me, but I'm sure that is a more subjective thing than actual fact.
The ball stopped quickly enough on the green without being too aggressive. Even mid-long irons stopped within 10-15' of landing, short irons around 3-6' and pitchmarks from wedge shots were within a foot or two from the ball.

Around the green
I didn't think I was going to like the MP-S ball around the greens after reading how much short game spin they are alleged to produce (I guess all ball manufacturers say that though) because I like chips shots that check a little on landing then run out a bit. I needn't have worried. The ball maybe grabbed a little more than I'm used to, but certainly manageable and not the spin monster I was expecting.
What did impress me though was how quickly the ball stopped from a lob shot. I don't normally expect a lot of spin from flops, maybe to roll 3 or 4 feet before stopping, but the Mizuno ball stopped within a foot or two and more than once left me a tap in rather than an opportunity to look stupid.

Putting
On the green the ball lost it's 'hard' feeling that I'd felt on full shots and actually felt quite soft and nice to putt with.


Durability
We've had very differing opinions of durability so far, and I have to come down on the side of 'not good'.
I don't normally scuff balls up very badly with wedges like some say they do, but the MP-S seemed to suffer more than usual for me. Usually, after one round a ball will still be good enough for me to play another competition with, but sadly these are consigned to provisionals and knock ups after 18 holes.
Also on the downside, a pet hate of mine is how dirt becomes increasingly more difficult to clean off as a ball gets older. Normally, a new ball just needs a rub with your thumb over dirty marks to make it look new again, then as the round goes on there becomes a point where that isn't sufficient and it seems like after every shot it needs water and a scrub with a towel to get the muck off. With every other ball I've tried that point is after maybe 12-14 holes. With the Mizuno it was about 6 holes. Possibly something to do with the feel of the cover?

Conclusion
Having tried most of the top end balls, I'd say the ball that this one plays most similar to is a Z-Star. I know there's a lot of love for Srixon's premium ball on here but there was just something about it I didn't like off the tee, and the Mizuno MP-S gave me that same feeling.
Would I buy them? I don't think so. I'd be happy enough to use one in a knock up if I found one in the rough, but at the same price point as most of the other premium balls my money is going elsewhere.
If there are plans for a less spinny version of the MP-S I think I might find that more to my liking, especially if they ditch the sticky feeling mud magnet of a cover.

Thank you to GM and Mizuno for the opportunity to test them.

 

[needmoreclub]

First impressions of the ball was good, simple but classy box (typical Mizuno), ball felt soft to touch and brilliant white in appearance.
After playing 4 rounds with these balls i've formed my opinions on what the ball does for me based on my moderate swing speed.

Firstly i personally found the ball every bit as durable as my usual Pro-v1x as in it did show signs of wear but nothing serious, it seemed to spin pretty well and on several occassions zipped away from the pin, chipping was easy as the ball behaved the same every time i chipped on to the putting surface.

The feel from the ball was strange, it felt firm with the woods and soft with the short sticks, it travelled well through the air with no loss of distance and on a good moderate ball flight from the tee, yet launched well when struck with the wedges and landed like a ninja on rice paper before ripping back towards me, although to be fair our greens are receptive at the moment.

I found the feel off the putter face was good as the ball came off the face the same every time and i could control it, the ball seemed to roll out easily.

The MP-S for me is up there with your Pro-v's Srixon's etc, would i use it? Yes, would i buy them? Yes.

Thanks GM and Mizuno for this opportunity.

 

[DAVEYBOY]

I will provide my review once the weather improves a bit so that I can really test them properly. As with the current conditions it isn't really a fair test.

This, ill start the fair test this weekend.