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Mizuno T22 Wedge
Today, Mizuno Golf unveiled a new wedge line, the T22. While Mizuno’s buttery-forged irons cause much of the golfing public to view Mizuno as the iron company, many of these same golfers do not approach Mizuno’s other club offerings with the same adoration. It’s tragic, as having such a myopic view of Mizuno could cause you to miss some of the best wedges in the marketplace.
The sad irony in the Mizuno story is that, for a run of years, its success in the iron category, left it pigeon-holed as only iron company. It’s the classic beloved actor who wants to be a musician story. People want actors to only be actors. It’s tough for fans to accept recategorization, especially when the excellent actor proves to be only an average musician.
With every non-iron release, Mizuno must prove to the golfing consumer that they are more Jamie Foxx than Lindsay Lohan.
The truth is that Mizuno is one hell of a wedge maker, having one of the most impressive Most Wanted Wedge pedigrees. In 2017, the Mizuno T7 wedge placed first overall, then the S18 and T20 wedges placing second overall in 2018 and 2019 respectively. It’s shocking (shocking, I say) that a company known for producing the best forged irons in the business would also produce the best forged wedges. Yes, that was sarcasm.
Even if they have flown under the consumer radar a bit, Mizuno’s recent wedge offerings mandate that we take a serious look at the new T22 wedge.
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The Mizuno T22 Wedge Specifications
Material: Grain Flow Forged 1025 Boron steel Face: Quad Cut Milled grooves Finishes: Denim Copper, Satin Chrome, and Raw Grinds: S-Grind, D-Grind, C-Grind, and X-Grind Loft Range: 46° to 60° Stock Shaft: DG Tour Issue wedge Stock Grip: Golf Pride Z-Grip Full Cord 60R Dexterity: RH and LH (Satin Chrome only for LH) MSRP: $159.95 Availability: October 14, 2021Mizuno T22 Key Features: Tour Preferred Profile
One of the things that you will notice when you place the new T22 wedge next to its T20 predecessor is that the T22 is smaller. This is by design. Mizuno took suggestions from their tour players to heart and built a wedge with a more compact footprint.
Some of the change is physical, and some is optical. The modified teardrop shape is more compact overall and the transition between the hosel and the face was refined to reflect the tour-desired look. The beveling of the back of the topline is technically a physical alteration, but its purpose is to make the toprail of the T22 appear thinner.
Mizuno T22 Key Features: Finish Options
While I was initially quite distressed at the lack of a Blue Ion finish option, the new Denim Copper finish quickly chased the blues away. As with the MP-20 irons, the copper finish comes from copper plating and not a copper PVD coating. To avoid that new-penny glare, an additional layer of black ion coating completes the “denim” look.
Though it’s not apparent out of the wrapper, the chrome wedge also has a layer of copper under the plating. As your wedge wears, it’ll be like finding another layer of candy as you lick your way through a lollypop.
Mizuno T22 Key Features: Quad Cut HydroFlow Grooves
Like 1970’s funk, grooves are the key element for wedges. If your grooves are junk, you’ll not be boarding the mothership with George and Bootsie. I’d argue that Mizuno’s groove design is the component that separated Mizuno from the Most Wanted competitors.
Naturally, the groove story is really a story of spin. You get some additional spin resulting from the way Mizuno positions mass in the clubhead, of course. But at the end of the day, it’s the job of the grooves to spin the ball and the grooves are invariably what gets the attention.
The T22 wedge features Mizuno’s patented Quad Cut HydroFlow grooves. Though the 2010 square groove ban is now ancient history, one of the lasting effects of that ban was an onus on companies to find new ways to boost spin.
Mizuno has addressed this in a couple of ways with the Quad Cut HydroFlow grooves. First, the groove angle changes progressively as wedge loft changes. This ensures that the ball hits the edge of the groove with the same enthusiasm regardless of which loft of wedge you are hitting.
The fact that these wedges are made with 1025 Boron steel also influences the groove story. The addition of boron increases the durability of the steel. With a wedge, this translates to less damage and dulling as you play, ultimately keeping your wedge sharper and spinning longer than non-boron wedges.
Not to groove gush, but the HydroFlow part of the groove story is worth revisiting as well. The geometry of the groove causes water to be less of a spin-killing issue. Yes, I have data. If you look at the performance of the Mizuno T20 wedge in the 2019 Most Wanted Wedge test, adding water reduced the T20’s spin numbers from 6844 rpm (dry) to 5356 (wet). If you compare this to other wedges in the trial, the majority of the other wedges lost over 50% of their spin when wet. Only PING’s hydropearl finish proved more water resilient than Mizuno’s grooves.
More Than Just An Iron Company
Mizuno makes amazing irons, but they are much more than just an iron company. Their metalwoods, putters, and especially wedges are all top performers as well. MyGolfSpy has used the term “brand agnostic” for years. Mizuno really shows us why this view toward gear is so important.
If you only brand-fan your bag, you could easily miss out on the best gear for your game. Don’t only play TaylorMade for your woods, Mizuno for your irons, Vokey for your wedges, and Scotty Cameron for your putter season after season. For at least the past half-decade, Mizuno has produced some of the best wedges in the market, and I expect the T22 to follow this trend.
Find out more at mizunogolf.com
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