Most golfers will know that Mizuno are probably about the best in the business when it comes to their iron offerings. Speaking of which, I’ve just reviewed their brand new M-13 and M-15 irons for 2026, and they were both excellent.
However the driver market is something that you feel like they’ve never quite managed to crack, especially over the last few years. The ‘big four’ of Titleist, Callaway, Ping and TaylorMade all prove to be much more popular when it comes to the big stick.
Once again, the Japanese sports brand are trying to change things this year with their new JPX One metal lineup, promising new levels of ball speed thanks to a brand new material which they are calling ‘nanoalloy’. Sounds fancy…
Who Is It Aimed At?
There are two models in the new JPX One driver range, the JPX One and the JPX One Select, both offering quite distinct performance profiles. Mizuno say “JPX One features a slightly larger footprint for a higher stability and straighter ball flight.” Essentially what this means is that it’s the slightly more forgiving of the two models.
Therefore it is the more versatile of the two models, aimed at a wider range of golfers. If you like to see a large head behind the ball to give you more confidence, swing your driver below 105mph and aren’t the most confident of ball strikers, the chances are the JPX One will be for you.
The Tech
The JPX range is one that many golfers will already be familiar with, across both drivers and irons, but this is the first time they have used nanoalloy.
Developed in collaboration with a material specialist called Toray, it uses ‘microscopic polymer dispersion’ to make a face which alters its elasticity at impact. This means it can store and release more energy at impact than traditional constructions, providing better ball speeds.
It pairs with an updated version of their Cortech face, which is up to 0.35mm thinner than in previous generations. This provides a 15% larger sweet spot than previous generations, and Mizuno say that in robot testing, the JPX one was able to outperform competitors in both ball speed and carry.
There are two different drivers offered by Mizuno in the new range. The JPX One has a larger footprint and offers more stability with a straighter flight. The JPX One Select is more compact, and comes with a neutral to fade bias.
Mizuno JPX One Driver Review
Looks
The first thing I noticed when I took the headcover off this driver was the distinctive Mizuno blue face – it really stands out and is very un-Mizuno-like in my opinion. Golfers will naturally compare the standout nanoalloy face to TaylorMade driver faces of late, but here is something about the way the face sits in the head that I don’t like the look of. The rounded shaping in the heel and toe areas just doesn’t look very premium.
Then there’s the crown – Mizuno have used blue crowns in the past, notably very loudly on the ST180 Driver, which was maybe a bit too much for a lot of golfers.
With the JPX One however, I actually really liked this return to blue, as it was so much more subtle, it wasn’t as overpowering and coupled with the carbon-effect, glossy finish I thought it looked great.
In general the driver’s design is smart, with a pretty simple and uncluttered look on the sole. It really reminded me of the latest Titleist GT drivers, which is never a bad thing.
The shape of the head was really nice behind the ball, providing a good level of confidence without feeling too big or stretched out. The more compact JPX One Select looks awesome too if you’re looking for something a little bit smaller.
Clean, premium, contemporary and uncluttered – a great combination, if only that face looked a little better…
Feel
When it comes to feel there are two main words that spring to mind – fast and forgiving. For any golf club, but especially a driver, that’s a pretty good combination.
Mizuno are obviously pretty excited about their new nanoalloy technology, which you can see written on the toe area of the face. It looks more like a carbon face but actually felt more like a standard titanium face. The only thing I would say that if anything, it was a slightly softer feel than I expected, but I did enjoy hitting it, I thought it felt great, offering plenty of feedback.
Performance
So the JPX One looks good, and feels good, but how does it actually perform? Can it live up to their claim of more ball speed?
I tested the JPX One in a 10.5 degree head, using the Tensei Blue 65g stiff shaft.
First things first, I was really impressed by the ball speeds that this driver generated. As a general rule, I usually see ball speeds in the early 150s (mph) with driver, and the average with my Callaway Elyte Driver is 154mph.
The JPX One produced an average ball speed of just a shade under 154mph, which was really impressive. I even had one shot up at 158mph which is about as fast as I have ever seen in my time testing golf clubs.
I said earlier that the driver felt fast off the face, and the proof was in the numbers too that the potential for extremely fast ball speeds are there.
However I was disappointed by the overall distances produced, especially considering these speeds. I was averaging 252 yards carry, with nearly 262 yards total distance. This is around 10 yards lower than my average with the Elyte driver.
One of the reasons for this is that the driver was spinning a bit too high, at 3200rpm on average. I think a shaft which was lower-spinning, and a lower lofted head, could’ve produced some really good results considering the impressive ball speed.
One thing that did impress me was the overall consistency of the driver – I was producing the same nice draw pretty much every time. This gave me a consistent miss just left of the target line, which felt really repeatable.
Mizuno JPX One Driver Verdict
Mizuno have made some big claims with their new driver range and I have to say I was impressed overall. It seems like a step-up in terms of the story, technology and looks of their driver, and I saw some ball speeds which really were impressive.
Unfortunately from my testing it seems like another year of near misses in the distance department for Mizuno. The ballspeeds just didn’t equate to the distances I’d be looking for. It must be said that with a proper fitting I think I could’ve seen some better overall results, really putting this driver amongst the big boys.
The new JPX One Driver comes with an RRP of £529 which is pretty punchy, meaning that they are going to be competing with some of the big names in the game.
It’s great to see that Mizuno have elevated themselves into the picture when it comes to driver, and given the overall package the JPX One should definitely be on your testing list for 2026.
Would I Use It?
I’d be really keen to play around with a couple of different loft and shaft settings, because the potential for really good numbers is there. It’s definitely in the conversation.
