79 - The Big Dawg...

I’ve decided to buy a whole set of Mizuno clubs and I looked on with interest as the price of their MX-560 driver fell over the last few months. Originally it cost £300 but I found it at a number of online retailers for a lot less than that which tempted me more and more and in the end I took the plunge and bought it for just £78 delivered – an absolute bargain I reckon.

Looking through the magazines the reviewers love the MX-560. They praise it for being long and straight off the tee as well as mentioning over and over how easy it is to hit well. The only negative point is the noise it makes when you make a good connection – apparently it makes a really loud, high pitched ‘ting’ off the tee.

I read an article in Golf Whine Monthly about how certain drivers are so loud when they make a good connection that they can actually damage your hearing. Yeah right, a load of hysterical Daily Mail-esque bobbins I thought…until I tried my shiny, new driver at the range and ended up with a ringing in my ear like I’d been at the front of a music festival for three days.

A couple of half power warm up shots saw the ball fire off the club face into the driving range with a satisfying ping, no sign of the dreaded, deafness inducing racket reported. Safe in the knowledge that there was nothing to worry about I smashed the living daylights out of the ball and then had the ‘pleasure’ of having my eardrums almost explode from the metallic whine that came from the club head.

I now understand what the reviewers were talking about when they complained about the noise. It seems, in the confined space of the driving range bay, the problem is literally amplified making each shot a painful experience (and not just because my hideous slice is so bad that I’m debating teeing off at a 45* angle to the left of the fairway in the vain hope of taking my second shot from somewhere other than the rough).

Sound apart, the club is fantastic. The head looks massive at address but comparing it to other drivers it is about average size wise. I know that it shouldn’t really matter what a club looks like but I’m as shallow as a pygmy’s paddling pool so aesthetics are a big factor in whether I buy a bat or not. Thankfully the MX-560 is a hansom brute, finished in metallic navy blue (above) with a funky polished silver sole. The head cover is good too, more blue which I approve of…

It is one of the easiest woods I have used although my experience is a little limited if I’m being honest having only swung a handful of drivers in my short and frustration filled golfing career. The size of the head, coupled with the flexible shaft option fitted means that big, lazy swings produce an impressive amount of height and distance. With a bit of concentration I could even get the ball to fly almost straight on occasions!

Overall I’m impressed with the ‘Big Dawg’ and once I learn how to stop my tee shots from turning right off the face I think it will be a valuable weapon in my ongoing war with the game of golf.