I would be a real horse’s ass if I didn’t start this article by saying I’m a lucky guy, and I know it. I count my blessings every day; I’ve got a wonderful family that supports me while I spend the bulk of my time traveling around the world hitting a little white ball and then putting that experience into words.
It’s not all travel; often I get the chance to test out a variety of new golf equipment ranging from golf balls, rangefinders, training aids, and of course golf clubs. As a passionate amateur, I’m always looking for something that’s going to give me an edge in the Sunday morning game with my buddies.
So last October, when presented with the idea of putting PXG and Miura to a head-to-head challenge, I jumped at it. Let me tell you a little about my game, over the past several years my handicap has ranged between 14-18, with my average score around 90. To sum it up, I had always been on the borderline of using “players clubs” however, I had never taken the leap and ditched my game improvement irons.
PXG Fitting
That all changed when I picked up this assignment. The first step was a proper PXG club fitting. The experience was spectacular. Blake Finley PXG’s Master Fitter for the North Florida region spent several hours working with me on the range with a Trackman to help find the perfect combination. After spending a few hours with Blake, I not only had confidence but the evidence that the PXG 0311 P GEN2- “Players Irons” were the right clubs for me.
To be honest, I was still a little shocked and giddy; six years ago, I was getting back into the game after going 20 years without swinging a club. I was a 30+ handicap and never thought I’d be worthy of a “Players Iron.” I mean I had a hard enough time keeping it in play with game improvement irons, so why would I. Fast forward 6 years, I’m a golf writer and playing a couple of hundred rounds a year and down to a 16ish handicap, heck I even won the most improved golfer award at my club along the way.
PXG 0311 P GEN2
Alright enough about me, a few weeks after the fitting, a full set PXG 0311 P GEN2 irons showed up at my door. So, on November 1st, 2018, I put the PXG clubs into play, Christmas came early that year.
I did a full fitting with Blake, I not only got irons, but I also opted for a PXG 0811XF driver and a 0311X driving 3-iron. Outside of my wedges, 3-wood, and putter, I had a completely new setup.
As you can imagine, I couldn’t be more excited, and quickly noticed just carrying PXG clubs provided me with some SWAGGER! My playing partners always took notice, and even the guys at the clubs, basically everyone had the same question, “Are they worth the money?”.
Long story short, we’ve all heard of PXG, they have spent a ton of money marketing themselves as “the best golf clubs you can buy, PERIOD!”. Parsons Xtreme Golf (PXG) founded in 2014 by billionaire GoDaddy founder Bob Parsons who’s love for golf and desire to get more out of his golf equipment led to him starting PXG. With Bob’s deep pockets, no expense was spared. Virtually overnight PXG reinvented the golf club industry by developing revolutionary patented technology and only using the world’s finest materials. PXG was instantly crowned as the Rolls Royce of the golf world, with a price tag to match. See the fitting sheet, but the total package they outfitted me for totaled a whopping $5,350. I opted to keep my wedges and 3-wood, so that brought the price of the irons (including 3-driving iron) and driver down to a mere $4,050.
You’re probably thinking, that’s a lot of money. Hell yeah, that’s a lot of money, I mean you can get a full set of clubs from any of the big boys, Ping, Titleist, Cobra, TaylorMade, etc. for $2000 or less. So, I don’t know about you, but I was expecting big things from my new PXG clubs.
Unfortunately, the results didn’t stack up. As time went on, my handicap index continued to creep higher and higher (15.5 index on 11/1/2018 to a 16.0 index on 4/1/2019). On the positive side, I loved the feel of the clubs. Never using forged irons, the ball contact and feel was completely different from all the game improvement irons I had previously used. When I hit a good iron, I could feel it, hear it, and damn near smell it. Before getting my hands on these clubs that was a feeling reserved only for my driver or 3-wood, that feeling of knowing you just hit it on the screws and absolutely crushed it.
The PXG 0311 P GEN2 irons had given me a bounce in my step, upped my rep, but did little to improve my game. I still found myself struggling to break 90, same as before I upgraded to the PXG lifestyle. I wouldn’t say I played worse; I didn’t play any better. The best thing PXG did was provide me with the confidence that my equipment was top-notch, but all that ended up doing was taking away my main excuse when I hit a bad shot. All in all, my experience with PXG was a good one. The fitting was first class, the clubs made me feel like Boss Hogg, and for the first time, I was playing forged irons and experiencing what it feels like to hit a great iron shot!
Miura CB-301
Then came April Fool’s Day, I had to double-check, but the box on the front door did contain a complete set of Miura CB-301 irons. Unfortunately, I didn’t get a chance to experience the Miura fitting process, but we did build the clubs using the exact specs from my PXG fitting back in October. As I said, I’m a lucky guy. Out with the PXG’s and in with Miura’s!
To keep the comparison as close as possible, I kept my bag the same just swapping out the irons and ditching the 3-iron hybrid for a standard CB-301 4-iron. Quickly, I noticed a difference in pretty much all aspects. I’ll start with appearance, both PXG and Miura have a distinctive look to them. I’d consider appearance a toss-up, but gun to my head I give PXG the edge. PXG’s with their perimeter weighting around the clubhead does a little something extra for me. Also, the SWAG factor goes to PXG, when you pull up at the bag drop with a set of PXG’s everyone’s looking twice. Pulling up with a set of Miura’s everyone’s wondering how the hell to pronounce the name, over the past four months, I’ve gotten good at teaching people how to say Mi-UR-a!
In the Bag
So pre-game, the clear edge goes to PXG. However, when clubface meets the ball, oh boy, that special feeling I got hitting a good PXG iron was only amplified with the CB-301’s. The PXG’s were my first introduction to forged irons, but the CB-301’s take it to another level. While not as forgiving as the PXG’s the Miura’s were more playable. What does that mean? If I hit a bad shot, I was penalized more with the CB-301’s but if I was in a tight spot like behind a tree and needed to work the ball left-to-right or right-to-left I could.
Feel & Control
In general, I just found it much easier to control the ball with the Miura CB-301 irons. Guess what; the numbers proved it as well. I started playing the CB-301 irons four months ago in April, at the time my handicap index was 16.0. Four months later, my handicap has been on a steady decline, and now I’m down to my lowest index ever, 13.0. I’m consistently breaking 90 and feeling great about my game, even if nobody is taking note at the bag drop anymore.
Miura
As a golf writer, I’m typically on top of all things golf, so Miura was no secret to me, they’ve been discretely making the world’s finest forged golf clubs since 1957. Miura golf clubs are designed and constructed in Japan by master craftsman Katsuhiro Miura and his family; each club individually made using Miura’s patented forging process. For years Miura never sponsored any golfers, yet its clubs have been used to win major championships around the world. In fact, in the early ’90s, major club manufacturers such as TaylorMade and Titleist would turn to Miura to build sets for their superstars under their label.
Things changed for Miura back in 2017 when they got their very own billionaire investor. Howard Milstein, the CEO of the largest privately owned, family-run bank (New York Private Bank & Trust) acquired the rights to distribute Miura Golf in the U.S. and abroad. Katsuhiro Miura and his family’s involvement with Miura would remain the same, but Milstein having seen the success PXG had selling ultra-premium equipment to masses couldn’t resist investing in Miura and marketing the product line on a larger scale.
In February, Miura signed Abraham Ancer as its first-ever PGA TOUR ambassador. Ancer who had switched to Miura 5005 irons well before any partnership; was quoted as saying, “I just wanted to play the best-forged irons available.” Ancer is working closely with the Miura development team to create a new tournament cavity iron that is set to debut in 2020. The new irons will have similar characteristics to the Miura 5005 irons just with less offset. Miura is projecting that this new iron will be the best-selling iron Miura has ever introduced. Bottomline stay tuned, if you didn’t already know about Miura, you do now, and you’re sure to be hearing and seeing a lot more of Miura on TV and the golf course.
Heads Up Comparison
And The Winner Is ….. MIURA!
You can’t argue with the results, while the PXG clubs looked great in the bag and got me plenty of attention from playing partners they didn’t help my game. On the other hand, the switch to Miura was a complete game-changer. I dropped three strokes on my handicap, and now I’m trying to break 80 versus 90. Special thanks to both PXG and Miura for helping us with this article, both are great companies, but when you look at my results, it’s hard to ignore Miura is the clear winner!