Miura's new forged irons not just for elite players

• By Global Golf Post
• Jul 4, 2011 3:51 PM ET

Japan-based Miura Golf is best known for producing high-performance forged irons for better players. But company founder and chairman Katsuhiro Miura has long felt that golfers of all abilities can appreciate his clubs – and benefit from playing them. So, he set out to build an iron set that company president Adam Barr describes as “game-enhancing,” designed for better golfers but also for those lesser players who used to wonder whether forged irons really were for them.

As far as Barr is concerned, the new Miura PP-9003s are geared for both.

“The irons are aesthetically pleasing, have the great feel of forging and possess the technology that helps golfers of all handicap levels get the most out of their games,” he adds.

The initials “PP” stand for Passing Point, and Barr says that concept is born of Miura’s recognition of golfers’ lifelong steps to improvement. There are “passing points” in relationships when you pass from being an acquaintance to a friend, he explains, as well as when people move from novices to serious students, and from casual golfers to committed competitors.

In the view of Miura, which has been making forged irons for 44 years, golf clubs can have their passing points as well. And when they are taken to a new level, the thinking goes, they become more than just tools in a bag. They become friends in their own right as they also serve as stepping-stones for recreational players looking to take their games to the next level.

Working with his typically astute melding of functional design with artistic flair, Katsuhiro Miura created a wider sole with the PP-9003s for more effective turf interaction. But it is a sole with an elegant curve and shape that does not look oversized or obtrusive, even to the most discerning low handicappers.

In addition, he added offset throughout the set, but in a way that flows naturally into the clubhead to preserve what he calls a “confident” look at address as it also gives those players who need it enough help to ensure the clubhead is square at impact.

The perimeter weighting is as aggressive as it gets in club manufacturing, and Miura placed the center of gravity in these sleek sticks nice and low for a high, soft-landing ball flight that holds its line and does not balloon. He also made sure the weight and balance in each iron is consistent.

Available only in right-handed versions, the Miura PP-9003s are sold in sets that run from 4-iron through gap wedge.