Most of the golf clubs played by most of the world’s golfers make use of relatively new technologies that allow manufacturers to move weight around in the head as a way of enhancing forgiveness. In irons, these methods replaced forging, which was how metal clubs were made back to their earliest days. Over the last few decades, forged irons still found adherents, especially better players who appreciated their solid feel. But the clubs’ small heads and even smaller sweet spots didn’t suit those who want the help more modern designs offer.
Many companies have tried to marry the soft feel of forged with the advantages of production processes like investment casting. One leading maker of premium clubs, Miura Golf of Japan, has been trying especially hard to bring the two together. Its newest offering—Limited Edition Series 1957 irons—proves that such harmonizing can work, and work well.
The Series 1957—the date refers to the year company founder Katsuhiro Miura began building and designing clubs, at age 16—is a forged club that uses a cavity-back design to spread weight out toward the head’s perimeter. The irons are very forgiving: Off-center hits don’t suffer much in distance or direction and don’t feel as if you’ve smacked a metal pipe into a boulder. In fact, the forged feel every golfer craves is evident on all but the worst shots, and even then the results—visible, audible, and tactile—are not too bad.
To aid game improvement, each cavity has a central weight bar that changes size from club to club, precisely positioning weight and center of gravity. As a result, shots easily get into the air. In the tradition of the finest forgings, the heads are elegant and small (by modern standards), their top lines clean and narrow. Some players may need time to get used to the compact look of the clubs at address, but the good results should easily trump any psychological hurdles.
Fine craftsmanship does not come cheap: $275 per iron. But all Miura clubs come with custom-fitting, as finding the right shaft is vital to the golfer’s happiness, especially those unfamiliar with forged clubs.
Miura Golf traces its roots back hundreds of years to the artisans who forged samurai swords. Just like those blades, the Series 1957 irons are high-quality tools and works of art, both aesthetically and effectively pleasing.
