Mizuno irons & the left handed issue

MPX

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JPX919 Hot Metal Pro 4-PW (C Taper Lite stiff), T20 wedges chrome - 50 / 56
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ST-Z driver, ST200x 3wood, ST200x 5 wood
#1
Just wrote another apology / explanation to a left hander. Thought it might be a good idea to write something we could point to that sits in a public place.

Everyone at Mizuno would love to offer every iron model in leftie. Unfortunately there aren't enough left hand golfers (just 5 -10% of all players) to spread across 6 models. So we offer 3 of those 6 models in left handed. Last year we chose MP-18 SC as our leftie offering - a very similar player segment to the 919 Tour, hence the reason for offering the 919 Forged and 919 Hot Metal in leftie this time.

The MP-18 SC picked up just about every award by the golfing media as the 'players iron' of 2018 - so hopefully that was a good choice.

The leftie situation gets even tougher at the low hcp end of the player spectrum. We have 2 challenges - firstly less than 30% of regular golfers play off a single digit hcp (taking that particular leftie group down to a max of 3% of the golfing population). Secondly the Mizuno #grainflowforged process is vastly more expensive to set up than other manufacturers cast process. There's a minimum number of sets we'd need to produce / distribute to meet a similar cost / price as the right handed option.

Gives us 3 options.
1. To sell the left handed players models at a much higher price (which is clearly unfair).
2. Attempt to select an offering to cover most golfing needs (MP-18 SC, JPX919 Forged, JPX919 Hot Metal).
3. Raise the price of right handed irons to cover the increased production costs of offering all models left handed (we think they are already expensive enough).

None of these are perfect scenarios - but picking 3 models from within the 6, without an overload of low hcp offerings appears to be the most balanced approach. There’s a very good leftie (or rightie) range of irons in those 3 models.

Hope that at least demonstrates that we're not 'anti-leftie'. Not a scenario we're 100% happy with - as we know it's leaving some people disappointed. Constant discussion as to which models we should select as the leftie options.
 
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RobCH

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JPX 900 Forged 5-PW, JPX FliHi 4, T7 50, 54, 58 wedges. Odyssey Tank putter
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GT180 driver & 3 wood, JPX 900 3 Hybrid
#2
Good idea, MPX, and a very clear and reasonable explanation. I'm not sure it will convince the hard-line "Mizuno hates lefties" brigade, though, because it's dealing with rational argument rather than the emotional. Have you ever thought about setting up a "you choose" poll /discussion group for lefties as part of your NPD process, to push the choice of LH clubs (and the later fallout) more onto the users?
 

MrK20

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#3
I think this is a very good explaination as to why there is a limited offering. Being a righty, it really makes you appreciate the choices that you have.
I still think though, that whilst having a GI Option for lefties is good, maybe there should be more of a Focus on the better Player that is a lefty. For example having the 919 HM as the GI Option and then 919 Tour/MP 18 MMC + MP 18 MB would be a Option to cater more towards the better Player. But I guess that would make many People who would game the 919 Forged upset.
It is probably a very hard decision that lots of market Research goes into. I'm just happy that I'm not the one who has to make that decision.
 

PaulBoy

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#4
MPX, I also agree with the posts that your post is very clear & explains the situation perfectly - I can still remember my father telling me that when he was at school left-handed people were basically forced to change from left-handed - This was a bit of a shock to me & my brother, who are both left-handed - When it came to golf however, we obviously copied my dad & played right-handed (allegedly ideal in terms of swing mechanics etc)
Back to the Mizuno position: Do you know what the situation is in Asia? - Mizuno there has different ranges of clubs for sale, do they only offer a similar number of clubs in lefty, or are you offered more (or less) in lefty in Asia / away from Europe?
 

MPX

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JPX919 Hot Metal Pro 4-PW (C Taper Lite stiff), T20 wedges chrome - 50 / 56
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ST-Z driver, ST200x 3wood, ST200x 5 wood
#5
MPX, I also agree with the posts that your post is very clear & explains the situation perfectly - I can still remember my father telling me that when he was at school left-handed people were basically forced to change from left-handed - This was a bit of a shock to me & my brother, who are both left-handed - When it came to golf however, we obviously copied my dad & played right-handed (allegedly ideal in terms of swing mechanics etc)
Back to the Mizuno position: Do you know what the situation is in Asia? - Mizuno there has different ranges of clubs for sale, do they only offer a similar number of clubs in lefty, or are you offered more (or less) in lefty in Asia / away from Europe?
Asia seems to break up in lots of different ways from a golf market perspective - some follows the Japan line up, other parts seem more influenced by the western range. From my limited experience, 'leftie' never seems as big an issue in the Japan market. I couldn't tell you why.
 

LOS

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#6
From my limited experience, 'leftie' never seems as big an issue in the Japan market. I couldn't tell you why.

Histoically most lefties in Japan were coerced into using their right hand so there probably was never a "problem. However this has been changing and we will probably find that there will be an increase in the number of Japanese requiring left handed cluns.

https://japantoday.com/category/features/kuchikomi/lefties-finally-getting-their-due

"
For more than 40 years, August 13 has been observed as International Left-handers Day, a day meant to promote awareness of the inconveniences faced by left-handers in a predominantly right-handed world. This year, reported the Nikkei Marketing Journal (Sept 18), Twitter was abuzz with comments about how hidari-kiki no hito (southpaws) -- who constitute an estimated 10% of Japan's population -- are finally getting their due.


It wasn’t always that way. In fact, a survey found that a shockingly high percentage of both males and females in Japan were subjected to efforts to “correct” them of the habit during childhood. As many as 80% of male respondents between the ages of 40 through 79 said that they had experienced efforts to change their behavior. It was only from about 40 years ago that parents gradually became more tolerant. From 1989, the start of the Heisei Era, the percentage of children undergoing correction steadily began to drop -- although still around 60%. Still, old habits die hard and even around 30% of male respondents in the 15 to 19 age bracket said they had been on the receiving end of attempts to coerce them into favoring their right hand; the figure for females, around 50%, was even higher.


The happy news is that of late, more companies have begun waking up to the potentials of marketing to left-handed customers, with a range of new products that run the gamut of everything from office supplies and stationery to musical instruments, sports equipment and even vending machines."
 

MPX

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JPX919 Hot Metal Pro 4-PW (C Taper Lite stiff), T20 wedges chrome - 50 / 56
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ST-Z driver, ST200x 3wood, ST200x 5 wood
#7
Histoically most lefties in Japan were coerced into using their right hand so there probably was never a "problem. However this has been changing and we will probably find that there will be an increase in the number of Japanese requiring left handed cluns.

https://japantoday.com/category/features/kuchikomi/lefties-finally-getting-their-due

"
For more than 40 years, August 13 has been observed as International Left-handers Day, a day meant to promote awareness of the inconveniences faced by left-handers in a predominantly right-handed world. This year, reported the Nikkei Marketing Journal (Sept 18), Twitter was abuzz with comments about how hidari-kiki no hito (southpaws) -- who constitute an estimated 10% of Japan's population -- are finally getting their due.


It wasn’t always that way. In fact, a survey found that a shockingly high percentage of both males and females in Japan were subjected to efforts to “correct” them of the habit during childhood. As many as 80% of male respondents between the ages of 40 through 79 said that they had experienced efforts to change their behavior. It was only from about 40 years ago that parents gradually became more tolerant. From 1989, the start of the Heisei Era, the percentage of children undergoing correction steadily began to drop -- although still around 60%. Still, old habits die hard and even around 30% of male respondents in the 15 to 19 age bracket said they had been on the receiving end of attempts to coerce them into favoring their right hand; the figure for females, around 50%, was even higher.


The happy news is that of late, more companies have begun waking up to the potentials of marketing to left-handed customers, with a range of new products that run the gamut of everything from office supplies and stationery to musical instruments, sports equipment and even vending machines."
I guess that explains it.
 
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#8
MPX,

The issue is you have four players irons (blade, mmc, hmb, and jpx919t) and you gave the lefties the hardest ones to hit. Last year, MP18-SC was also the hardest one to hit according to the Maltby ratings. It is a very unforgiving cavity back. Its 2019, can we just get one model that is a players iron with some technology? You have three of them (mmc, hmb, and jpx919t). Chris Wood for pete sake has the MMC in a 4 and 5 iron. You think I have better ball striking than him?

If I had to guess, we get the mp18-sc and now the mp-20 blade because they are the cheapest to produce. Reminds me of getting offered the Newport 2 every new Scotty model release.

In the future can we have a different model every year? We don't mind playing older models.

2019 - blade/919f/hot metal
2020- JPX920T then skip 920F or Hot Metal
2021- MMC skip blades

etc. etc.

I am positive this won't happen though. We will get the 920F and 920 Hot Metal cause its the Newport 2 effect. We get the same models every two years like we always have.

Do you know the sales of the AP2/P790/i210 in lefty compared to the Mizuno's MP18-SC? Maybe you guys just keep picking the wrong model to make lefty if you are looking for higher sales. How wouldn't a full set of HMB sell more than a blade set? I'd guarantee you HMB/MMC sales will destroy your blade sales. Blades have to be the lowest seller for all manufacturers yet you gave the lowest seller to the 5-10% left hand market. What do you expect?
 

HAIRY ESSEX BLOKE

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#9
All I can add is I am feeling lucky to be right handed and am now almost wetting myself waiting on the MP20's please hurry up........
 

DennisMiller

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#10
I guess golf is sort of like guitars. I'm right handed, but when I took up guitar, I considered learning to play left handed because my left hand isn't very flexible. It was slammed in a car door when I was 5 and I figured maybe I'd fret notes more easily with my right hand.

A salesman at the music store said I should reconsider because out of 2000 guitars they had in stock, they might have 25 left handed guitars. He said my selection would always be severely limited.

Sounds the same about golf clubs. I can't remember seeing any left handed clubs for sale at Planet Golf. The only ones I know are parts from the various fitting club sets.
 

Back.spin

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#11
Just wrote another apology / explanation to a left hander. Thought it might be a good idea to write something we could point to that sits in a public place.

Everyone at Mizuno would love to offer every iron model in leftie. Unfortunately there aren't enough left hand golfers (just 5 -10% of all players) to spread across 6 models. So we offer 3 of those 6 models in left handed. Last year we chose MP-18 SC as our leftie offering - a very similar player segment to the 919 Tour, hence the reason for offering the 919 Forged and 919 Hot Metal in leftie this time.

The MP-18 SC picked up just about every award by the golfing media as the 'players iron' of 2018 - so hopefully that was a good choice.

The leftie situation gets even tougher at the low hcp end of the player spectrum. We have 2 challenges - firstly less than 30% of regular golfers play off a single digit hcp (taking that particular leftie group down to a max of 3% of the golfing population). Secondly the Mizuno #grainflowforged process is vastly more expensive to set up than other manufacturers cast process. There's a minimum number of sets we'd need to produce / distribute to meet a similar cost / price as the right handed option.

Gives us 3 options.
1. To sell the left handed players models at a much higher price (which is clearly unfair).
2. Attempt to select an offering to cover most golfing needs (MP-18 SC, JPX919 Forged, JPX919 Hot Metal).
3. Raise the price of right handed irons to cover the increased production costs of offering all models left handed (we think they are already expensive enough).

None of these are perfect scenarios - but picking 3 models from within the 6, without an overload of low hcp offerings appears to be the most balanced approach. There’s a very good leftie (or rightie) range of irons in those 3 models.

Hope that at least demonstrates that we're not 'anti-leftie'. Not a scenario we're 100% happy with - as we know it's leaving some people disappointed. Constant discussion as to which models we should select as the leftie options.
Hi I’m left handed. I really struggle to get equipment, even when getting fitted often the fitter doesn’t carry left hand test clubs and it feels like we are pushed towards what’s available rather than what might suit us. Where would you recommend getting fitted in North Yorkshire? Also what irons in the latest range would suit a mid low handicap golfer, I play off 11, ball striking is okay but not too draw by any means.

Many thanks

Guy
 
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#12
I would love to also chime in here. Im a fellow lefty that has been playing golf for 20+ years (since a kid). I recently got the Mizuno MP-20 SELs and I absolutely love them!!! Can't thank Mizuno enough for bringing them out to us lefties. That been said, I hope the next version of the 919 Tour is made available to lefties as well, and I will gladly purchase them as well. I think that's the model that Koepka is currently using and the current ones look stunning. If Mizuno can make more offerings for us efties, (even at a higher price for us lefties), I dont mind at all.

In regards to this year's releases, I would have loved to have the option to try/buy the MMCs as well, but that's just a small complaint in a rather positive outcome for us lefties this year (unless for the guys wanting a full set of HMBs, they are out of luck)
 

Jasper

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#13
I am glad to have found an explanation for why Mizuno is not producing their better iron models in left handed. Though that does not lower my disappointment with them. I would have loved to give the MP-20 a try as a replacement for my MP-30's. And no, I am not going to try the SEL edition: a bladed 5 iron is just too unforgiving for me.

And apparantly these days also most of the drivers and woods model are not available in left handed anymore.
 

Toddydog

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#14
Registered a couple of days ago and still waiting for my post to be approved.
No response to request for an update.
Still trying to find a left handed Mizuno sand wedge for my son.
 
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Callaway XR16 10.5
#15
Just wrote another apology / explanation to a left hander. Thought it might be a good idea to write something we could point to that sits in a public place.

Everyone at Mizuno would love to offer every iron model in leftie. Unfortunately there aren't enough left hand golfers (just 5 -10% of all players) to spread across 6 models. So we offer 3 of those 6 models in left handed. Last year we chose MP-18 SC as our leftie offering - a very similar player segment to the 919 Tour, hence the reason for offering the 919 Forged and 919 Hot Metal in leftie this time.

The MP-18 SC picked up just about every award by the golfing media as the 'players iron' of 2018 - so hopefully that was a good choice.

The leftie situation gets even tougher at the low hcp end of the player spectrum. We have 2 challenges - firstly less than 30% of regular golfers play off a single digit hcp (taking that particular leftie group down to a max of 3% of the golfing population). Secondly the Mizuno #grainflowforged process is vastly more expensive to set up than other manufacturers cast process. There's a minimum number of sets we'd need to produce / distribute to meet a similar cost / price as the right handed option.

Gives us 3 options.
1. To sell the left handed players models at a much higher price (which is clearly unfair).
2. Attempt to select an offering to cover most golfing needs (MP-18 SC, JPX919 Forged, JPX919 Hot Metal).
3. Raise the price of right handed irons to cover the increased production costs of offering all models left handed (we think they are already expensive enough).

None of these are perfect scenarios - but picking 3 models from within the 6, without an overload of low hcp offerings appears to be the most balanced approach. There’s a very good leftie (or rightie) range of irons in those 3 models.

Hope that at least demonstrates that we're not 'anti-leftie'. Not a scenario we're 100% happy with - as we know it's leaving some people disappointed. Constant discussion as to which models we should select as the leftie options.
2 years after this post and I've just joined the forum; as a lefty, I appreciate this explanation. Ironically, there's a MP-18SC set for sale at the local GolfTown and I'm thinking of snagging them to replace my old MP-52's.
 

Cachecropp

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#16
I’m a lefty who joined this forum because I’ve played Mizuno for many years. (MX-23’s, MX-25’s, MP-32’s, MX-200’s, JPX-900’s) Despite forays into Callaway, Titleist and Ping I keep coming back to Mizuno. I’ve never had a problem finding LH Mizuno clubs and had no idea it was an issue. I was just on the Mizuno website and was ready to order ES21 wedges directly from MizunoUSA.com and found they aren’t available in LH. I was shocked. Now my long affinity for Mizuno is shaken.

I don’t know Mizuno’s budget for equipment setup, but assuming they sell $Millions in golf clubs, I have a hard time believing the cost to produce club heads (shafts and grips are the same) is that high. Also, sure, charge a higher price for LH clubs, why not? That’s better than pushing golfers away.

Ben Hogan was a lefty, but played right handed, like many. Phil Mickleson is right handed but plays left handed. 12-15% of the world is left handed but only 5-7% of golfers. Why do you think that is? Because they can’t find golf clubs easily or their mentor told them “you need to play right handed”. There is a very real theory that golf is best played left handed by right handed people. The LH percentage should be much higher in golf, like 20+%.

Look at professional ice hockey, where 60-70% shoot left handed. The motion is similar to golf. Most of them are right hand dominant. without the prejudice for right handed swinging like there is in golf, they’ve developed more left handed shooters.
 
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TLaFleur

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#17
Having grown up in Canada playing hockey through college I can assure you there is no program anywhere in Canada encouraging right hand dominant players to play left handed for the main purpose of shooting lefty.

The reason lefties are disproportional in hockey including Canada is because having your dominant hand on top of the stick instead of being the lower hand makes for better puck handling. It is often taught this way in Canada and many European nations to improve control of the puck. The shot becoming left handed is merely a secondary consequence of a dominant right handed player using their dominant hand at the top of the stick for the main purpose of superior puck control.

A hockey shot is no more similar to a golf shot than hitting a baseball or tennis ball is. They are all fundamentally different motions. There is no persistent issue in shooting a hockey puck of “swinging over the top” or leaving the stick face too open or closed at impact or other “swing issues” commonly associated with amateur golf swings.
 
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Titleist 913 D3 9.5 Hzrds Smoke 5.5 Black
#18
In my opinion golfers (left and right hand) that use blades are very traditional and do not look for the newest hottest marketing trend. Mizuno and Titleist blades have changed VERY little over the last say, 20 years and are merely tweeked slightly to give you a new model to promote and generate sales for the most part. Why don't you simply take your current MP20 (a fantastic blade!) and put the 3-pw in the line, and keep the 3 and 4 blades also not the hybrids, and leave them in the line for 10 years as a LH option. You don't need to change them every year and you would have arguably the best LH players iron in the industry. So many blade players just want a great looking, great feeling iron. Period. We don't care if it is a current model because they haven't changed in decades! Just my opinion.
 
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#19
In my opinion golfers (left and right hand) that use blades are very traditional and do not look for the newest hottest marketing trend. Mizuno and Titleist blades have changed VERY little over the last say, 20 years and are merely tweeked slightly to give you a new model to promote and generate sales for the most part. Why don't you simply take your current MP20 (a fantastic blade!) and put the 3-pw in the line, and keep the 3 and 4 blades also not the hybrids, and leave them in the line for 10 years as a LH option. You don't need to change them every year and you would have arguably the best LH players iron in the industry. So many blade players just want a great looking, great feeling iron. Period. We don't care if it is a current model because they haven't changed in decades! Just my opinion.
Exactly this. I just had a custom fitting with a small independant fitter and ordered the MP20 SEL irons only to find out they have sold out and are being replaced by the uglier Mizuno Pro irons in February 2022. Very disappointed
 
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#20
I wonder would it be a good idea, in advance of the next JPX line, for mizuno to run some sort of survey amongst left handed golfers. Use their social media channels and forums like this one to ask golfers what would they like to see? If they can only make one model in that line, in left hand guise, surely it makes more sense to produce the one that will sell the most. For example, for me, I'd be looking at the best jpx forged offering. I had zero interest in the latest one which was just a combo set of forged and tour. Actually felt kinda disrespectful offering that to us. I'm sure the hot metal pro would have sold quite well too, the regular hot metal was too chunky IMO. At least this way, whatever mizuno come out with, they can say that the majority were looking for this.......
 
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