Review: Mizuno MP-630 Driver
Traditionally Solid
Mizuno is best known for its forged irons and traditional looks and feel. They always have an eye for the classic design and player’s appeal. The Mizuno MP-630 driver fits that same mold. It’s looks and performance are geared for the traditional and players that demand the newest technologies for optimal performance.
The Mizuno MP-630 driver comes in two models, Fast-track and non-fast track. I’ve had many drivers with all the bells and whistles that offer multiple adjustments, but this time I just wanted just a simple, traditional, plain driver. Standard Tour Velvet grip and a beautiful white, black and red headcover complete this appealing package
The head shape itself is very classic pear shaped driver. At address it looks traditional with the solid black crown sans alignment aid. It does sit a touch open, which can be a visual preference of many good players. The face is tall with scoring lines from side to side. Personally I liked how this head sat behind the ball without an alignment aid, it was still easy to aim the clubface at the intended target. At 45” and weighing in at a D-2 it felt very normal in my hands.
The head offers a very traditional, solid, muted, almost persimmon like sound. It was much lower toned and quieter than many tin can sounding drivers on the market currently. While the muted solid sound is pleasant to the traditional player, the feel was still explosive. If you think in terms of baseball, it resembles the difference between a wooden bat and an aluminum bat. While the aluminum bat seems to spring off the face and the wooden bat just cracks the ball, so this driver really cracks the ball. Thankfully this head, while traditional in looks and feel, offered excellent forgiveness. I still may be in spring form, but I got good consistent results with this head. I hit soft fades drive after drive. Now I don’t work the ball much and don’t worry much about hitting the draw, but in comparison to other drivers I have hit, the MP-630 stock set-up is about as anti-left as you are going to find.
The stock shaft might have been the most impressive aspect of this club. It is a 64gram “Made for Mizuno” Fubuki. Now, 99% of the made for shafts in drivers are watered down versions of the original, but this one is actually a beefed up version of the 63gram Fubuki Tour. I’ve hit the original Fubuki Tour in the 63 and 73 grams shafts and the “Made for Mizuno” Fubuki I actually liked better. Mizuno had Mitsubishi beef up the tip section a little bit, thus lowering the launch, torque and tightening up the feel. I was honestly blown away with how good this shaft felt and performed. It maintained Fubuki’s low spin, and amazing carry distance, but dropped launch angle a little and firmed up the feel. I still got that surprising distance out of the shaft with better overall performance.
While Mizuno isn’t known for their drivers like they are their irons, don’t think for a moment they don’t know what they are doing. The MP-630 driver is traditionally solid. If you want a classic look, sound and feel, but still modern performance, this is the driver for you.
For more information: www.mizunousa.com/golf
Mizuno is best known for its forged irons and traditional looks and feel. They always have an eye for the classic design and player’s appeal. The Mizuno MP-630 driver fits that same mold. It’s looks and performance are geared for the traditional and players that demand the newest technologies for optimal performance.
The Mizuno MP-630 driver comes in two models, Fast-track and non-fast track. I’ve had many drivers with all the bells and whistles that offer multiple adjustments, but this time I just wanted just a simple, traditional, plain driver. Standard Tour Velvet grip and a beautiful white, black and red headcover complete this appealing package
The head shape itself is very classic pear shaped driver. At address it looks traditional with the solid black crown sans alignment aid. It does sit a touch open, which can be a visual preference of many good players. The face is tall with scoring lines from side to side. Personally I liked how this head sat behind the ball without an alignment aid, it was still easy to aim the clubface at the intended target. At 45” and weighing in at a D-2 it felt very normal in my hands.
The head offers a very traditional, solid, muted, almost persimmon like sound. It was much lower toned and quieter than many tin can sounding drivers on the market currently. While the muted solid sound is pleasant to the traditional player, the feel was still explosive. If you think in terms of baseball, it resembles the difference between a wooden bat and an aluminum bat. While the aluminum bat seems to spring off the face and the wooden bat just cracks the ball, so this driver really cracks the ball. Thankfully this head, while traditional in looks and feel, offered excellent forgiveness. I still may be in spring form, but I got good consistent results with this head. I hit soft fades drive after drive. Now I don’t work the ball much and don’t worry much about hitting the draw, but in comparison to other drivers I have hit, the MP-630 stock set-up is about as anti-left as you are going to find.
The stock shaft might have been the most impressive aspect of this club. It is a 64gram “Made for Mizuno” Fubuki. Now, 99% of the made for shafts in drivers are watered down versions of the original, but this one is actually a beefed up version of the 63gram Fubuki Tour. I’ve hit the original Fubuki Tour in the 63 and 73 grams shafts and the “Made for Mizuno” Fubuki I actually liked better. Mizuno had Mitsubishi beef up the tip section a little bit, thus lowering the launch, torque and tightening up the feel. I was honestly blown away with how good this shaft felt and performed. It maintained Fubuki’s low spin, and amazing carry distance, but dropped launch angle a little and firmed up the feel. I still got that surprising distance out of the shaft with better overall performance.
While Mizuno isn’t known for their drivers like they are their irons, don’t think for a moment they don’t know what they are doing. The MP-630 driver is traditionally solid. If you want a classic look, sound and feel, but still modern performance, this is the driver for you.
For more information: www.mizunousa.com/golf
