Mizuno JPX One Driver Review

Mizuno's identity in the golf world is intrinsically linked to the feel and tradition of its forged irons, a reputation that is decades old.

However, the brand’s metalwood journey, which has been quietly stretching back decades, seems to have reached a significant new landmark with the introduction of the JPX One family. This new line signals Mizuno's intent to translate its core values of precision and material science into the demanding driver category.

I was eager to test the JPX One driver, positioned as the more forgiving, ‘core’ model of the range, to see if Mizuno’s cutting-edge material science could translate into a performance driver for the everyday player, and to see how it compares to some of the best drivers in the game.

The JPX One Driver is introduced as the world's first to feature Nanoalloy face technology, developed in collaboration with materials specialists Toray.

This material is designed to produce a face that dynamically alters its elasticity under impact, claiming to store and release more energy than traditional titanium. This breakthrough pairs with a newly engineered CortechFace, up to 0.35mm thinner than previous generations, expanding the high-speed rebound zone by over 15% versus the previous ST-Max 230 model.

Unsurprisingly, from Mizuno, the looks of the JPX One driver are absolutely fantastic. As soon as I took these drivers out of the box, I loved the overall aesthetic and vibrant colorway.

The new bright blue face gives more than a visual hint of the hugely popular TaylorMade Qi10 driver, looking modern and fresh, and is a great aesthetic success. With this model, I particularly loved the large footprint and rounded profile at address, which offers plenty of confidence, sitting large and squarely behind the ball.

The stock Golf Pride Tour Velvet 360 grip Mizuno has selected for the JPX One line is an absolute triumph, too! The merest hint of cord on top of an otherwise silky soft rubber makes it one of the nicest stock grips I have ever held, providing an immediate sense of premium quality and control.

However, the subjective experience of striking the ball was where things started to unravel a little for me personally. I desperately wanted to love this driver because I was so enamored with the looks (superficial, I know), but I just didn't love the impact feel. It felt a little clunky and slightly harsh to me, although I did enjoy the somewhat muted, dull acoustic.

Even when I struck it in the geometric centre of the face, I just wasn’t getting a feeling through the hands that resonated with me at all, and it obviously didn’t fare any better when I met with the resistance of a heel or toe strike. However, feel is entirely subjective, and other players may appreciate the impact sensation more than I did.

Despite my issues with the feel, in my testing, the stability and forgiveness on offer were genuinely impressive. Mis-hits maintained their directional integrity well, showing that the expanded Cortech face and overall MOI design are working nicely in unison to keep the ball in play.

However, the central issue for my game was speed and spin. I just couldn't generate anywhere near the ball speed I wanted to see from my clubhead speed input.

For context, Mizuno only sent me a 10.5° head in this model as opposed to the 9° in the Select head, so you would expect some ball speed differences based on that; however, I obviously lofted it down to as close to 9° as possible to compare like for like.

Whatever I did, though, I found that I was consistently 2-3 mph slower than my established ‘gamer’ drivers. I tested and re-tested, even trying some different shafts, but I just couldn’t get much higher than a 1.43 smash factor (ball speed divided by clubhead speed), which is fairly low on efficiency.

Studying the data from my Foresight Sports GC3 launch monitor, as a high-speed player, I also found a little too much average spin to make it a playable option, resulting in a flight that was just a touch floaty and susceptible to wind conditions. However, the added spin could be of great benefit to some more moderate speed players to enhance carry distances.

The Mizuno JPX One is a driver built with a supremely high-end aesthetic and ground-breaking material science, representing a significant technological undertaking. While I loved the overall aesthetic and the premium grip, and recognized its strong stability, the inability to generate sufficient ball speed and the high spin profile made it unsuited for my game.

However, for the golfer with a moderate swing speed who prioritizes a high, stable launch and forgiveness in a visually stunning package, the JPX One could be a good option.

The JPX One driver is available at an RRP of $600/£529.