Man, we’re having one hell of an extended release season, aren’t we? You’ve experienced a flurry of tremendous, even compelling, driver releases from just about everybody.
COBRA
Callaway 
PING
Srixon
TaylorMade
Titleist
What do they have in common? A lot but for the sake of this particular story, I wanted to call attention to the price point (as if you weren’t already painfully aware of that particular situation).
The cheap ones … they’re $550 The rest, well, those are $600 on the low end and $650 on the upper end.
It is what it is, but …
Look, I’m the last guy to bitch about the cost of golf equipment. It costs what it costs and if that happens to be too much for you, don’t buy it. As economic concepts go, that one is pretty simple to grasp. Besides, it’s not like you don’t have alternatives.
Kirkland, Tour Edge and direct-to-consumer brands like Sub 70 are all happy to let your foot through the door for considerably less.
But what if you want a current generation product from a brand with some Tour bonafides and a 100-year history of innovation?
Has Mizuno got a deal for you.
The backstory
Many golfers think of Mizuno primarily, if not entirely, as an iron company. I could write 4,000 words about the company’s iconic player’s iron designs. I could write a few thousand more on how the emergence of the Hot Metal franchise has made it a serious player in the game-improvement category.
If you’ve got the time, I could share my diatribe on how it’s an absolute travesty that the wedges don’t generate the same amount of buzz.
Anyway …
The point is that for all its history, reputation and strength in the iron category, Mizuno isn’t often top-of-mind in the driver category.
That notion was reinforced last summer when the results of a survey conducted by Mizuno suggested that while golfers trust Mizuno as an iron company, when it comes to the driver, golfers have some reservations.
I suppose that’s not entirely unfair.
It starts with the Tour
If you’re looking for an explanation, my best guess is you can pin it on the PGA Tour. Once upon a time, some of the best players in the world played Mizuno woods but decisions were made and yada, yada, yada … for the better part of the last two decades, Mizuno didn’t have a lot of metalwoods in play. Drivers weren’t typically part of player contracts and so, more often than not, Mizuno headcovers hid other brands’ drivers.
That’s changed in recent years with names like Keith Mitchell and Ben Griffin but with pay-to-play a lingering part of the Tour story, Mizuno struggles to capture attention approaching that of larger brands. It probably doesn’t help that golfers have long memories.
Whatever the reason, it often feels like everyday golfers need an incentive to give Mizuno drivers a fair shake.
And so, Mizuno is incentivizing you thusly.
No better time …
Heading into 2025, Mizuno has made the unusual decision to not just let it ride with its current ST driver lineup. The company has slashed prices by no small amount.
The ST-X 230, ST-Z 230 and ST-MAX are just $300, literally half the price of most competitors’ offerings. If the ST-G is more your speed, it’s only $50 more (that’s $350 for those of you who aren’t arithmetically inclined).
Mizuno says it has no plans to release a new driver in 2025 which means for $300 you can buy a current model driver without worrying about a replacement dropping next week.
To be clear, Mizuno isn’t exiting the driver category. What we’re hearing suggests those within the company believe Mizuno’s next driver is going to its most significant release in years but it’s not lost on anybody that golfers will need a reason to make the jump to Mizuno.
With that, the $300 price tag is meant to entice golfers to give Mizuno drivers a try now while simultaneously whetting their palate for what’s to come.
As it always does, the new year has brought with it a plethora of new driver options to choose from but despite not being among them, there’s no better time to try a Mizuno driver.
The post There’s No Better Time to Try a Mizuno Driver appeared first on MyGolfSpy.
