The new Mizuno ST-G Titanium Fairway Wood wants to say one word to you. Just one word.
Titanium.
If you gleaned anything from the name, that shouldn’t be any kind of a surprise. The new ST-G Titanium fairway wood is a graduate-level dissertation on titanium.
But can all that titanium change the fortunes of Mizuno’s fairway woods? Mizuno has finished near the bottom in MyGolfSpy’s Most Wanted fairway wood testing dating back to at least 2018. For a company investing heavily in metalwood performance, it’s an unfortunate trend, to say the least.
Mizuno thinks there’s a great future in titanium and hopes you’ll think about it.
Will you think about it?
Mizuno ST-G Titanium Fairway Wood
The new Mizuno ST-G Titanium fairway wood isn’t replacing anything in the Mizuno lineup. The ST-Z 230 and ST-X 220 remain but the ST-G Titanium brings something a little different to the table.
And go to the head of the graduate class if you guessed the obvious. After all, it’s in the name.
The body itself is made from Ti-811 with a waffle crown that’s anywhere from 0.45 to 0.55 mm thin. The face is made from Mizuno’s SAT 2041 Beta Titanium, the same material used in Mizuno’s ST-Z and ST-X 230 drivers. Mizuno’s new ST-G driver uses a new Beta Rich Ti-LFS material in its face but that’s a different story.
The only thing that isn’t titanium is an 80-gram stainless steel sole plate and the eight-gram stainless steel screw used to hold it in place. The lightweight body combined with the heavy sole plate drives the ST-G 240 CG and sweet spot to levels that are damned near subterranean-low. That’s the recipe for high launch and low spin.
By comparison, Mizuno’s ST-X 220 3-wood features the same all-titanium construction but without the stainless-steel sole plate. That line’s 5- and 7-woods feature titanium heads with maraging steel faces. The ST-Z 230 fairway wood series features a carbon composite crown and a maraging steel face, again without the stainless-steel sole plate.
CORTECH Chamber
Mizuno introduced the CORTECH Chamber in its ST-230 metal wood series and the technology is included in the new ST-G Titanium fairway woods. The CORTECH Chamber is a channel on the sole, right behind the face to allow for more face flex, particularly on low-face strikes. What makes Mizuno’s tech somewhat unique is a 3.6-gram stainless steel bar suspended in a TPU material. The stainless-steel bar adds more mass low and forward which, when added to the 80-gram sole plate, is a recipe for potentially ridiculous spin reduction. Additionally, the CORTECH Chamber is designed to come out of compression faster than the face which adds what can be described as an acceleration effect, a recipe for ball speed.
Put them all together and you should have a fairway wood that launches high, doesn’t spin very much but has plenty of ball speed. Add those up and you should get some serious distance. Our testing shows previous Mizuno fairways haven’t been able to crack that code yet.
Who Is It For?
The compact head shape indicates the new Mizuno ST-G Titanium is designed for the better player. And the low-spin characteristics indicate it’s best used in the hands of a golfer with some swing speed.
In terms of comps, the ST-G Titanium’s closest kin appears to be the PING G430 LST, an all-titanium, low-spinning fairway wood. The G430 LST finished third overall in this year’s Most Wanted Fairway testing, earning top-10 scores for distance, forgiveness and accuracy.
Construction-wise, the PING and Mizuno are strikingly similar. Both have a 2041 Ti face and an 811-Ti body and both feature 80-gram sole weights to bring CG down for high launch. The biggest difference is that PING features a carbon composite crown while Mizuno’s crown is 811-Ti, albeit very thin.
Both fairways are designed for ultra-low spin with high launch. Low spin isn’t for everyone so a good fitting is obviously recommended.
Mizuno ST-G Titanium Fairway Woods: Specs, Price and Availability
The Mizuno ST-G Titanium fairway wood is available in 15- and 18-degree models for right-handers but only in 15 degrees for left-handers. The heads are adjustable up or down two degrees in loft and up or down a degree-and-a-half in lie angle.
As with its new ST-G 240 driver, Mizuno is offering two stock shaft options for righties. The mid-launch, mid-spin Mitsubishi Kai’ Li Blue 60 is the stock regular flex shaft while the Kai’ Lie Blue 70 is one of two choices in stiff flex. The other choice is the low-launch, low-spin HZRDUS Smoke Green RDX 70. Righties can also choose the HZRDUS in X-stiff.
The only stock offering for lefties is the Kai’ Li Blue 70 in stiff. As always, however, Mizuno does have a full range of no-upcharge shafts available through custom order.
The Lamkin Crossline Genesis Full Cord is the stock grip.
As one might expect with all-titanium construction, the Mizuno ST-G Titanium fairway comes at a premium. It will retail for $399.95. It hits stores Oct. 5.
For more information, visit the Mizuno website.
