50 Words or Less
The Mizuno Pro 245 irons are a hollow body, distance iron packed with forgiveness and easy to launch characteristics. It is fully forged and comes in a compact head that resembles a muscle back blade.
Introduction
Mizuno Golf has built an impressive reputation over the years by crafting some of the most sought after irons on the market. This is largely in part because of their unique in-house grain flow forging process which produces that feel that players love. For 2024, Mizuno has updated the Pro Series irons, and we got our hands on a set to test. In this review, we put the Mizuno Pro 245 irons through the paces to see just how these stack up.
Looks
At first glance, the Mizuno Pro 245 irons look a lot like a blade. At address, the top line is thin. It is not quite as thin as the Mizuno Pro 241 but almost identical to the Mizuno Pro 243. The leading edge is slightly rounded with a small amount of offset.
In the bag, the Mizuno Pro 245 irons do not look like a hollow body iron at all. From a distance they could be confused with a blade like the Mizuno Pro 241 irons [review HERE]. Up close, you can see there is a bit more meat around the sole of the iron. While the sole is not any wider than the Mizuno Pro 243 irons, the 245s have a larger overall footprint.
The back has minimal branding with a naked Mizuno logo embossed close to the sole while “Mizuno Pro” and “245” are displayed along the heel and toe. The traditionally seen Mizuno numbers are etched in white right on the bottom of the toe of each club. A subtle but sleek design.
Sound and Feel
The Mizuno Pro 245 irons sound closer to a blade than I expected. Each strike delivered a consistently high pitched “tick,” and even when I missed the sweet spot, each swing still sounded solid. The Mizuno Pro 245 sounded just a touch louder than the Mizuno Pro 243 and 241 irons.
Feel in the Mizuno Pro 245 irons was as good as the sound. While the sweet spot is larger than the Mizuno Pro 243 and 241 irons, it still felt like every strike was perfectly on the screws. Feedback was less obvious as I really had to miss the face to find a different feeling. Poor strikes added some vibration through the hands but were more muted than I expected.
Performance
Two major pieces from my review notes were that the Mizuno Pro 245 irons are low spinning and had high ball speeds, especially compared to the other two MP series of irons. This is precisely what Mizuno set out to achieve with their hollow body iron option. This is a follow up to the Mizuno Pro 225 [review HERE] from two years ago, and is listed as the most forgiving option of the three Mizuno Pro irons for 2024.
Objectively, there are a few changes Mizuno made for this year. The first is an increase in the suspended tungsten to 46 grams in the Mizuno Pro 245 irons. This material improves the flexibility in the face, so it launches easily and ultimately produces faster ball speeds. This helped me get the ball up in the air quicker while my ball speeds jumped as well, almost three miles per hour over the Mizuno Pro 243 irons. This didn’t come as a surprise as any hollow body should pump out higher ball speeds than a players cavity back, but it was important to note.
The hollow bodied 245 also produced very low spin numbers to go along with its solid ball speeds. This is what truly set it apart from the Mizuno Pro 243 and 241. I assume some of this low spin can be attributed to the aforementioned tungsten as well. Either way, these are distance irons.
The second change is the increase in lofts and bounce angles. More specifically, the lofts in the scoring irons have been made stronger by one degree while the bounce angle was increased across the entire set. The loft “jacking” should come as no surprise to accommodate the higher ball speeds but the bounce angle is what really impressed me. The two degrees of bounce doesn’t seem like much, but it adds more forgiveness. During my testing, I had a few swings where I made contact just slightly behind the ball, and the bounce made it easier to glide through the turf and generate solid contact.
The only downside to the Mizuno Pro 245 is that the hollow body can produce some fliers. Using a seven iron, I created a dispersion pattern around the 185 yard mark but had one that eclipsed 210 yards. As much fun as that was, I need more consistency from my irons. Although I considered a fun combo set with the Mizuno Pro 243 irons [review HERE], there just was not enough performance benefit to swap the 245s in for the long irons.
Nonetheless, the Mizuno Pro 245 irons have the ability to create a perfect set for the right golfer all on their own. Mizuno offers a 2I through gap wedge in the 245s for right handed golfers and 4I through gap wedge for left handed players, a change for 2024. They retail for $200 per club and are offered with one of two stock shaft options – Dynamic Gold Mid 100 and Mid 115.
Conclusion
The Mizuno Pro 245 irons are perfect for the golfer who needs some help and distance but still wants something that looks great in the bag. The hollow body design offers distance and forgiveness inside a fully forged, compact head that mimics the appearance of a muscle back blade.
Support Plugged In Golf, Buy HERE
Visit Mizuno Golf HERE
Mizuno Pro 245 Irons Price & Specs
- Yale Golf Course Gets a Restoration - October 11, 2024
- The 2024 BMW Championship Recap - August 26, 2024
- The 2024 Olympic Golf Recap - August 4, 2024
4 Comments
Great review. Have a set myself and everything is true except the flyers…thankfully haven’t had one yet.
A note on shafts. Mizuno actually has something like 30 “stock” options, not just the 2 you listed. I have KBS C Tapers on mine. This is the type of club you’re getting custom fitted for so be sure to get the right shaft.
Likewise loving them , got fitted and have Accra 115i steel shafts. I can attest to the outlier / flyer – from a batch of 38 7 irons I averaged 164 carry / 175 total. A flyer carried 185 and totalled 202. ( TrackMan measured). Early days on the course – loving the loading from the shaft and enjoying the 15yd carry gain from my JPX 919 Forged ( PXLZ 6.0).
Zach and Matt,
Do you think the Pro 245 is as forgiving as the P790 and T200 irons or no? I know the spin numbers have improved on the P790 and the T200 is decent too. Do you think the Pro 245 needs to be bent a degree or two weak, depending on the player, to improve control and holding iron shots into greens to better match the P790 and T200 irons as far as spin and landing angle?
Thank you both for the always great reviews!
Joe
P.S. Have you guys ever thought about doing a Top 5 in each equipment category for a calendar year? Thanks!
Joe,
Last things first: no. From Day 1, we have promoted fitting as the only real way for golfers to find the best equipment for them. Publishing lists cuts completely opposite that. While I would say there are clubs that are objectively better at certain things than others, a list like that requires so many caveats that it’s not worth publishing.
To you questions about the Pro 245, I haven’t hit them, so I can’t offer any insight there.
Best,
Matt