Mizuno White Fang

[Jiggered]

Flicking through an old copy of Golf Monthly (April 1987) I came across a two page spread for Mizuno White Fang woods and irons.

 

I've never seen or heard of these before, were they a short-lived product?

 

They're described as using "space-age" materials, irons made with steel, graphite and ceramic.

Woods made from "interwoven long continuous carbon fibre" with peripheral weight distribution.

 

They're described as costing more than ordinary clubs so I wonder if the price was what killed them off?

 

Appearance wise the irons have a black gloss finish to the back of the head and the ceramic face, the woods are also gloss black but what surprises me for a so called space-age product is the insert which looks just like a classic fancy face club.

Shafts on irons and woods look to be gloss black.

 

I can find very little on the internet, a couple of links below:

https://twitter.com/hashtag/NothingFeelsLikeAWhiteFang?src=hash

 

 

 

Has anybody played these and what were they like?

[deejaid]

Never heard of them but they hey look pretty sweet. Here are a few pics I grabbed.

 

 

[Jiggered]

Nice pictures, for such a distinctive looking club I'd have expected them to be more well known.

[Chris122]

I vaguely remember a period around early-mid '90's when Yonex produced all carbon 'woods' and Daiwa(?) an iron similar to that Mizuno,all graphite apart from the sole plate.I sold Mizuno equipment until '96 and cannot remember them but as I can't remember what happened at 4pm today it doesn't mean a lot.

Strange how these things go because I used to sell heaps of Mizuno 'Monster' drivers which nobody now seems to have heard of!

[No_Catchy_Nickname]

I think a golfing friend of mine used to play something similar to these until fairly recently. Perhaps his were the JDM version. His had a funny numbering system, so they don't go 3i, 4i, 5i and so on, but show two numbers that are seemingly unrelated, like "11/37". He explained to me once, but that was a couple of years ago now, and I don't rightly remember it.

[Fellaheen51]

I vaguely remember a period around early-mid '90's when Yonex produced all carbon 'woods' and Daiwa(?) an iron similar to that Mizuno,all graphite apart from the sole plate.I sold Mizuno equipment until '96 and cannot remember them but as I can't remember what happened at 4pm today it doesn't mean a lot.

Strange how these things go because I used to sell heaps of Mizuno 'Monster' drivers which nobody now seems to have heard of!

 

Upon viewing the White Fangs, brought to mind the Yonex ADX 200 irons from the 90's. Would hazard a guess that they are of similar vintage and were Mizuno's response to the Yonex. Thrifted one ADX awhile back (for the mint Neumann leather grip). Would have thought that by its design and construct, might be a pleasant iron to hit. It wasn't. Perhaps the White Fangs are better.

 

 

 

Edit add: Diawa had the Exceler woods. Heads that were of similar size and shape to wood woods, but made out of composite (graphite?) materials. Metal sole plates, an insert that was made out of some type of "space age" material that had swirls in it. The graphite Whisker shaft was even whipped at the hosel. They looked like this:

 

 

[No_Catchy_Nickname]

Fellaheen,

Mizuno also brought out carbon graphite drivers in the 80s, with the Vanguard in 1982, and the Vanguard LX in '83, though they may have been Japan-only releases.

In fact, I had a graphite carbon 3w in the late 80s that I bought secondhand. I hit some great shots with it, too, but it eventually snapped at the hosel.

I can't remember what make it was, though. After it broke, I bought some persimmon Maxfli Australian blade woods (3 & 5), going to persimmon when everyone was going to metal!

[deejaid]

I remember those Yonex irons. Early 90’s I believe a friends dad had those. I remember they were very pricey.

[Swingingk]

The text in the first link claims "White Fang" in Europe and "Black Turbo" in the states. I see a few examples on the bay.

 

These have to be one of the most techy irons ever. If I have this right these are almost all carbon fiber re-enforced plastic mated to a steel sole with some kind of presumably metal "Gravity Weight" behind a ceramic stiffener plate all molded inside? Is the ceramic plate the face? And the face is somehow infused with silicone carbide?!? From the section view it looks like the ceramic part is deep inside. Man, these things make PXG stuff seem like vanilla. Incredibly interesting. Thanks for posting this!

[Blade Junkie]

I have the driver ... only ever played one round with it ... not sure why as I remember it being easy to hit and going a bit further than the persimmons generally do. I guess, subliminally, we don't want to have it too easy in the classic genre :)

 

 

[Jiggered]

That's great BJ, I like the way that they've made it look like an old school club with the back weight and fancy face even though it was probably cutting edge at the time.

[BIG STU]

My wife has one of those ladies composite Mizuno drivers. The head is about the size of a standard persimmon. She picked it up in our shop years ago. All she knew it was blue and pretty. Yep it is still in her bag and is ok for her no more than she plays

[No_Catchy_Nickname]

I think a golfing friend of mine used to play something similar to these until fairly recently. Perhaps his were the JDM version. His had a funny numbering system, so they don't go 3i, 4i, 5i and so on, but show two numbers that are seemingly unrelated, like "11/37". He explained to me once, but that was a couple of years ago now, and I don't rightly remember it.

 

Just a follow up to this post: I saw the golfing friend tonight and asked him about the clubs. He said they were called Mizuno Vanguard, and the shafts and heads were made entirely out of carbon. Also, the head was solid, not hollow, so they were basically carbon blades. The funky numbering I mentioned was the distance (in metres) a player with a 40m/s swing speed could be expected to hit the ball. That surprised me, because although Japan uses the metric system for most things, they measure golf course distances and driver and iron shots in yards (however, putts are measured in metres and centimetres!).

The Mizunio site says that these were the world's first carbon heads, though I am not sure if they mean for woods or irons or both.

Anyway, looking at the picture, they appear to be identical to the White Fang/Black Turbo, so I guess Vanguard was the name for the Japanese domestic market.

 

[Jiggered]

Watch this space!

Set of White Fang woods secured. :)

[Jiggered]

Delivered today! 1, 3, 5 and 7 woods.

I love the look of these, graphite technology in a vintage fancy face style. :)

There's a bit of wear on the faces (looks like a previous owner had issues hitting the ball out the toe!) but otherwise condition is pretty decent.

Shafts are a lovely dark bronze colour; "Techno Flex 5780" whatever that is!

 

Does anybody remember seeing or using these?

 

I was so excited that I nipped out this evening for a few quick holes and they played very well. Sounded not at all unlike a persimmon, which was nice.

Distance wise was hard to say as I was using an old Wilson Blue Ridge ball from the 70s or 80s but the driver was going over 200 yards on a good hit.

 

[Tommix]

Here’s the Mizuno Europe Timeline site . White Fangs were still selling in 1990 according to this .

Fyr for a lot of the models tap on the blue square and you get a picture

https://golf.mizunoeurope.com/irons-timeline/

More info

https://mizunoforum.com/threads/white-fang-woods.26222/#lg=post-136204&slide=0

[No_Catchy_Nickname]

Nice pickup. They look a bit different from the graphite 3w I used back in the late Eighties. Mine had a burgundy-coloured graphite head, and may have had a steel shaft. I don't rightly remember.

[Jiggered]

> @"No Catchy Nickname" said:

> Nice pickup. They look a bit different from the graphite 3w I used back in the late Eighties. Mine had a burgundy-coloured graphite head, and may have had a steel shaft. I don't rightly remember.

 

When the light is good these are actually a very deep bronze on the crown, I'll try and get a better picture. The shafts are also a dark bronze shade.

[No_Catchy_Nickname]

> @Jiggered said:

> > @"No Catchy Nickname" said:

> > Nice pickup. They look a bit different from the graphite 3w I used back in the late Eighties. Mine had a burgundy-coloured graphite head, and may have had a steel shaft. I don't rightly remember.

>

> When the light is good these are actually a very deep bronze on the crown, I'll try and get a better picture. The shafts are also a dark bronze shade.

 

I don't think my 3w was a Mizuno. Perhaps a Yonex? It was so long ago, I can't recall, but I DO remember it was a Burgundy-coloured head and the insert was black (I'm not sure if it really was an insert or just painted that colour). I also remember it was a lot of fun to hit, felt really solid, and I was devastated when it snapped at the hosel. I even remember which hole it happened on, the 16th, and I do remember that I caught it heavy, which was why it snapped. In fact, I got that club very soon after starting golf, so it must have seen more than its fair share of the Yorkshire soil as I duffed my way around the course.

[Jiggered]

Here's a picture of the 3 wood in the sunlight, it's flecked with almost metallic bits that shine as you move it in the light, although they don't show at their best in the picture.

 

 

[No_Catchy_Nickname]

Now that is certainly different from my old 3w. I hope it hits well. Crikey, talk of these graphite woods takes me right back to my early days of golf when pure strikes were few and far between but nevertheless I knew no fear!

[Muzzadee]

I remember them well. I was 16 at the time and used to drool over the advert in golf monthly. From memory they were hugely more expensive than any other club on the market. I seem to think they were carbon fibre. Oh those days.

[Hesstle]

https://twitter.com/johndiegoreilly/status/1599484881356337154?s=46&t=BJ1otokq6H8-aIVoCWQb2w

 

evening all 

 

 

I just posted a few pics of the set I own

[Jiggered]

12 hours ago, Hesstle said:

https://twitter.com/johndiegoreilly/status/1599484881356337154?s=46&t=BJ1otokq6H8-aIVoCWQb2w

 

evening all 

 

 

I just posted a few pics of the set I own

 

 

Nice!

How do they play?

[Hesstle]

I have never gamed these irons, I came across them one evening whilst picking up a 2nd hand putter from someone on the internet, they were also up for sale so I picked them up too. 
 

I do remember taking one to the range after picking them up and from what I recall it was not a nice feeling at impact, I could feel the vibration off the face (but that could have just been myself not hitting out the centre of the face, but it was pretty much every shot so unlikely. I have a broken rib atm so when I’m back fit again in a month I will take them back to the range and see how they really perform