Equipment
Spotted: Mizuno MP-18 Fli-Hi driving iron
Mizuno’s new line of MP-18 irons — the company says they’re coming out in September, according to a recent Facebook post — have been popping up all over the place in the last few months. We’ve seen Jhonattan Vegas bring the MP-18 muscle-back models to several tournaments (including the Masters), we’ve seen an “SC,” or split-cavity MP-18 model pop up on the USGA conforming list, and we’ve seen the Mizuno itself tease the irons.
On Wednesday, we spotted a Mizuno MP-18 “MMC Fli Hi” 2-iron in the bag of Shawn Stefani at the 2017 RBC Canadian Open.
Could this year be the return of Mizuno’s Fli-Hi driving irons to the market, or is this simply a one-off or Tour prototype made for players such as Stefani? With the “MP-18” stamping on the club, it’s more likely to be the former, but we’ll find out soon enough.
Based on the photos from the RBC Canadian Open, it appears that Mizuno has put some sort of plug (tungsten?) in the toe. We’ve seen this design in driving irons from other companies, and it’s typically used to help properly position center of gravity in the club to optimize spin rate and forgiveness.
Related
This week, we have our Tour Photographer, Greg Moore, on the ground at the OccuNet Classic at Tascosa Golf Club in Amarillo, Texas, for the 14th event of the 2026 Korn Ferry Tour season. With that, we see some great things in the Lead Tape Report as we roll into Amarillo.
Joel Thelen
Monday Qualifier, Joel Thelen is in the field this week. He has played on the Korn Ferry Tour for a full season in 2023, and he is back in action this week. A couple of clubs caught my eye this week in his bag.
First off: His trusted Titleist 816 H2 hybrid. This club came out in October of 2015, and it still remains strong in the bag. Also, take a look at this Odyssey White Hot OG 7, putting a capital S in the 7S model. This custom neck has some impressive lean for an arm-lock-style putter. The bottom of the putter is covered in tape for optimal weighting.
Mitchell Meissner
Taking a look at Mitchell Meissner’s bag this week, we have some great lead tape coverage. Top to bottom working from fairway metals, irons, and wedges. We can see on the short irons and wedges that there is tape at the base of the grip, adding a little counterbalance. Along with that, some tape on the short irons and wedges as well. Moving to his putter, he rolls the Odyssey 7 Bird putter. Meissner putts left-handed and strikes the ball right-handed.
Bud Cauley had >14 clubs in his bag when photographed prior to the Memorial Tournament.
Driver: Titleist GTS2 (8 degrees)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Black 6 X
3-wood: Titleist GTS3 (15 degrees, B1 SureFit setting)
Shaft: Mitsubishi Chemical Tensei 1K Pro Red 70 TX
7-wood: Titleist GTS3 (21 degrees, D1 SureFit setting)
Shaft: Mitsubishi Chemical Tensei 1K Pro Red 80 TX
Irons: Titleist U505 (3), Titleist 620 MB (4-9)
Shafts: Fujikura Ventus Black HB 8 X, True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue
Wedges: Titleist Vokey Design SM11 (48-10F, 52-12F, 56-14F), WedgeWorks (60-K*)
Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S400
Putters: Scotty Cameron Tour Prototype, Scotty Cameron GOLO 6.3 Prototype
Grips: Golf Pride Tour Velvet Align
Ball: Titleist Pro V1
In our forums, one user has offered up a prompt for the true sickos, inviting fellow forum members to share every set of irons they’ve ever owned. As to be expected, this is a lengthy forum topic.
@Lamosteve began:
Can you name every set of irons you’ve owned? Here’s mine
Spalding Dots
Spalding Eclipse
Ram Lazer FX
Lynx Parallax
Mizuno EZ Comp
Ben Hogans
Cleveland CG Red
Taylor Made R9s
PING i20
PING iE1
Taylor Made M6
Our members in the forum have been offering up their own collections. Here are a few posts from the thread, but make sure to check out the entire discussion and have your say at the link below.
- macedan: “Started with a hand-me-down Golden Bear set from my brother when I was in high school, never really played more than once a year or got into the game until about summer of 2017. First purchased a set of Cleveland CG4’s (I actually really miss this set sometimes, soft & not terribly large for a GI iron), moved into Nike Vapor Fly’s by the end of the year. Those lasted until spring of 18 when I decided I wanted new, so I traded them in for TM Rbladez. Honestly, although I liked the Rbladez, poor decision on my part, I think this was really about the only time so far that after a week or two I was kicking myself for not staying with what I had. Rbladez stayed with me until late last summer when I switched to P790’s and (knock on wood) I am hoping this will be my longest lasting set.”
- JimmyC59: “MacGregor Jack Nicklaus Triple Crown. Palmer The Standard. Still play these.”
- jgrzask: “Tommy Armour 845u
Mizuno MP-32
Mizuno MP-33 (2 sets)
Bridgestone J33cb – still own
Srixon i-302 (2 sets) – still own
Tourstage X-Blades – still own
Mizuno Hot Metal – still own
Nike Forged Blades – still own
Titleist 714 AP1 – still own
Cobra Forged SS – still own”
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Bud Cauley WITB 2026 (June)
Bud Cauley had >14 clubs in his bag when photographed prior to the Memorial Tournament. Driver: Titleist GTS2 (8 degrees) Shaft: Fujikura...
Hannah Green WITB 2026 (June)
Driver: Titleist GTS3 (10 degrees, D4 SureFit setting) Shaft: Mitsubishi Chemical Diamana RB 53 S 3-wood: Titleist GT3 (15 degrees,...
Asterisk Talley WITB 2026 (June)
Driver: TaylorMade Qi4D (9 degrees) Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Blue 6 S 3-wood: TaylorMade Qi4D (16.5 degrees) Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Blue...
Brianna Do WITB 2026 (June)
Driver: Callaway Quantum Triple Diamond (9 degrees) Shaft: KBS PGW 3-wood: Callaway Elyte Titanium (15 degrees) Shaft: KBS PGW 5-wood:...
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waterfallmagazine.com
Oct 29, 2020 at 5:52 am
https://waterfallmagazine.com
I do accept as true with all the ideas you’ve presented for your post.
They are really convincing and will certainly work. Nonetheless, the posts are too quick for starters.
May just you please lengthen them a bit from subsequent time?
Thanks for the post.
eric
Aug 1, 2017 at 10:27 pm
I was going to get a set of the sc18’s, but after seeing the mp fli hi is only available in RH I have to continue the mizuno boycott. I wish they would just stop making left handed clubs altogether, mizuno should be dead to all lefties.
Joe Perez
Jul 28, 2017 at 9:53 am
I still have my 2, 3 & 4 from the previous iteration of this club. I wish Mizuno would go down as far as a 5 iron replacement with them.
Tom
Jul 28, 2017 at 9:31 am
Not necessarily. If the center of mass favors the heel side of the face, then a tungsten plug would be a way to bring that more toward physical center while also increasing the MOI of the toe side. You may see faster ball speeds across the face as a result. A plug in that spot may have the added benefit of “offsetting the offset” so to speak. This may help remedy a draw bias while increasing forgiveness. Its placement also makes me wonder if they were trying to bring the center of gravity up from the bottom. The MP-25 is designed differently because it sports completely different playing characteristics, i.e. less bottom-side mass, a taller face, a different blade length, etc. I imagine too much weight in the toe on something with less mass would introduce the kind of consistency issues of which you speak. I think what you’re getting at is the issue of OEM’s talking about “advances” in the placement of the center of gravity when it’s merely a byproduct of what kind of output a certain shape or design calls for. Ball flight too low? Move weight low and back. Too much draw bias? Move weight to the toe. The point is that different designs call for different weighting to different portions of the clubbed.
Chopper
Jul 27, 2017 at 3:28 pm
I bet you are a lot of fun at parties.
JGOLF
Jul 28, 2017 at 6:05 pm
I love it! Great response!
Ben Rudy
Jul 27, 2017 at 10:08 am
Please let this be released, I’ve been looking for an updated version of my old Fli Hi
Beefhouse
Jul 27, 2017 at 11:52 am
On sale here – https://www.tourspecgolf.com/mizuno-pro-fli-hi-driving-iron.html
Barry
Jul 26, 2017 at 7:17 pm
Nicely written article
mr b
Jul 26, 2017 at 4:57 pm
is that a hot melt port? looks awesome.
Hmmm
Jul 26, 2017 at 7:03 pm
My 712U’s have the same plug. You certainly can’t remove the plug and put hot melt glue inside. That is the opening to the space between the face and the backside of the club and it’s injected with some sort of engineering polymer to get the feel/performance where they wanted it. Fairly common with driving irons these days as you can add forgiveness without making it super bulky (think of the original Fli-Hi’s)
Ryan Barath
Jul 27, 2017 at 9:05 pm
The plug IS access to the inside of the head that does allow for hot-melt to be added. It can be done at the factory level or through later customization and then easily plugged again. Most if not all driving irons (PXG exception) are hollow and not filled with a polymer… How do I know this? I’ve work on and added hot-melt to dozen of driving irons.
Ryan