With Matt McIsaac at TPC Sugarloaf
If there’s one Mizuno bag to take note of, it’s probably the one belonging to Chris Voshall – Mizuno’s renowned product lead. So we went through his bag one club at a time – asking for the full explanation on each.
In the Bag / Chris Voshall
- ST-Z 220 Driver,
- ST-Z 3 and 5 wood,
- Mizuno Pro Fli-Hi (4),
- Mizuno Pro 225 (5-GW),
- T22 Weddges DENIM COPPER 53 / 58,
- Mzuno Pro 223 vs Mizuno Pro 225,
- Mizuno MCraft Putter
ST-Z 220 Driver
I’ve absolutely been trying to hit the ball farther. I started going to the gym a little bit more. I’m pretty regular with that and I got a little bit stronger with my lofts and I got a little bit hotter with the clubfaces too, so my clubs have evolved just because of my lifestyle.
Starting at the top end, I’ve got the ST220 Z. I wanted more of a straight ball flight, something that’s going to be really stable. This club has been fantastic for me so far. I also use the VENTUS Black, which is really, really good at knocking spin down. I’m recently a new father, which means I’m playing a little bit less golf than I used to. You can almost see a little bit of that in what I’m playing. My golf clubs now are a little bit more forgiving than they used to be. Go a little bit further than they used to do, with lofts that are a little bit stronger. I’m still playing to a low handicap, but there’s definitely been some evolution in there.
ST-Z 3-Wood & 5-Wood
Another thing that’s changed in my bag over the last couple of years, I used to just be driver, fairway and then long irons. I now have two fairways. Actually, I have a 3-wood and a 5-wood, both STZ both. These golf clubs have been amazing.
The 3-wood, this is a killer off the tee and the 5-wood was a killer off the ground. It’s almost like that combo has been so good that it really didn’t make any sense to carry the hybrids or the long irons I was carrying. For a number of years, I carried the MX700 fairway wood, which a super old one, but it was a 15 degree that I’d opened like three degrees, but it spun more than the current fairway wood does. I was having to play a super strong loft to get the spin rate right. Now with this STZ I can get the spin rate right with 15 degrees so it gets up, spins properly, doesn’t balloon, carrying much better. To get the spin down before I had super strong loft. Now I can play a 15 and even an 18 degree and they get up so nice but don’t spin so much and easy off the turf.
After my 5-wood, which is 18 degrees, it’s interesting because my lofts don’t vary that much because I’ve got a 19-degree four iron, Fli-Hi. It’s only a degree weaker than my 5-wood, but it’s shorter, it’s heavier and this is a true driving iron. The MizunoPro Fli-Hi has been really good because I’ve always been someone who when you get too strong a loft on something like this, I struggle to get it in the air because like I talk about my driver, I don’t spin it enough. But the Fli-Hi has been great because again, paired with a graphite shaft, that hybrid shaft helps kick it up and give it a bit more spin. This is really good for off the tee or off the turf. It’s actually a 4-iron bent a little bit stronger, so I made the head weight work just to make it work for what I’m trying to do.
Mizuno Pro 225 irons
Working my way to the irons, I have the MizunoPro Fli-Hi in 4-iron and then I have a 5-iron through gap wedge in the Mizuno Pro 225. To me they’re like game changers. These are awesome. They go high, they go long, they still spin enough and the feel is there. It’s interesting because in my bag I used to have a 4-iron and a 3-iron. Now I just have a 4-iron that’s strong and then a 5-iron. I gained a club to put the 5-wood in. But these have been awesome and I almost set this around with the new lofts, the CORs, everything like that. I used like 150 yards as my base yardage and I wanted a club that went exactly 150 yards and I base the bag around that.
T-22 Wedges
Leading on to my wedges, I always played 58, 54, 50 and then 46, so I had four degrees apart. But then all of a sudden now I’m connecting to a 40-degree nine iron, so everything got shifted a little bit. Now I’ve basically got two gap wedges, it’s interesting with the set matching gap wedge is something that I never thought I would like. It looks great, it looks really good. And that’s part of like the Mizuno Pro line. It looks really small, it looks really compact. But the sets, the short irons have gotten so small, so compact, so thin, it’s working now.
M-Craft 02 Putter
Under this head cover, a little Nashville themed head cover. I do have the original M Craft Number two – I like the black Ion. To me it’s just such a cool look, really sleeked out. I have it with some gold paint fills just to match this head cover as well. But to me this putter has been really, really solid, great feel to it. Good, traditional look at address. I mean, it’s just that typical plumber’s neck style. To me, this is a phenomenal putter.
