One thing that hasn’t changed over the past 25 years is the Miura family continues to strive to make the perfect golf club. It’s a never-ending challenge that they recognise they will never achieve but at the same time it’s what drives them with the chance to make something that is totally unique and perfect.
Contrary not only to the golf industry, but any industry that’s operating a business, Katsuhiro Miura designs golf clubs to perform first and sell second.
But that’s the Miura family’s mantra. It’s not about introducing a new golf club every year, it’s not about fuelling the manufacturing of a golf club so that they can keep the economy going.
As Bill Holowaty, the company’s CEO, says: “We won’t introduce a new club until we can improve upon the one that’s already there.
“As far as blade irons are concerned their appearance really hasn’t changed too much over the years. If you were to look at our muscle-back irons and go back to our MB-001 or before that we had what we call the tour back. The appearance from a distance would be identical but there are some changes within the clubhead that certainly account for and enable the production of a golf club that outperforms its predecessor.
“With the 101 I go back to a trip that the Miura family made several years ago to Korea. I was there with Mr Miura and his son and at that point in time Mr Miura must have spent a good hour on the range with KJ Choi. He watched KJ hit balls. He actually got down on his haunches right next to him, literally two feet from where he is hitting balls.
“He is listening to the sound and he is looking at the divot pattern on the ground and he’s watching the ball flight. The listening part is extremely important. He tells me many times that he is able to discern the contact that that ball is making with the club and how that is impacted by the design of the club, the leading edge and bounce angle of the iron, and how it travels through the turf.
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“Not only with Choi’s swing but with all golfers’ swings there is a slight difference, so trying to improve on that ball on face contact is a significant part of always trying to improve a club, so that’s always happening.
“We have Abraham Ancer on the PGA Tour playing Miura clubs and numerous players on the Korn Ferry Tour, European players, and LPGA players and their feedback also fuels the desire to see how we can improve not only this blade model but all models.
“In the case of the Miura MB-101 I don’t think the Miura family were looking to improve it. They weren’t looking to launch a new blade iron because the performance of our MB-001 was so strong, but the Miuras are continually working with top amateurs and professionals who are providing feedback in terms of playability.
“So essentially the idea was that with the MB-101, in its infancy, Mr Miura was looking to improve the performance recognising feedback from golfers, especially top golfers.”
