Bridgestone Irons are Back!

We haven’t featured a Bridgestone product on this page for three years. And that was a ball. Fact is, while the Japanese tire and golf equipment company has been building its golf ball business in the U.S. since the early 1970s – it partnered with Spalding in 1972, launched its successful Precept brand in 1990, began sponsoring a WGC event in 2006 (the same it began offering ball-fitting) and, in 2018, signed Tiger Woods as a brand ambassador – it hasn’t released a golf club in this country for six years. It introduced the Tour B JGR Driver and Tour B JGR HF1/Tour B JGR HF2 irons in America in September 2018, and they were the last clubs Bridgestone bought out on this side of the Pacific.

The Tokyo-based company has continued to build clubs for the Japanese market but announced its return to the U.S. club market last week with the launch of three good-looking irons – the 220 MB, 221 CB, and 222 CB+, and the BRM2 wedge.

All the new clubs are forged and very much aimed at the better player. The forging takes place in the Endo Forging Foundry in Niigata, 200 miles north of Tokyo, where Endo makes its own clubs (Epon brand) and has made many of the game’s best-forged clubs for OEMs including Titleist, Srixon, Callaway, NIKE, and Ben Hogan.

The most demanding of the three iron sets – in the sense that it requires you to hit the sweet spot if you are to get a halfway decent result, is the 220 MB, a gorgeous, single-piece forged, muscle back designed only for the most precise of ball strikers. The lofts are fairly traditional, its top-line and sole narrow, and the offset minimal. The ‘Tour Groove Design’ features a very precise .02mm groove that Bridgestone says will make the spin you impart more consistent, and the compact clubhead together with the forged construction will more or less guarantee a sensational feel when you hit the middle of the clubface. The 220 MB may put seasoned Bridgestone loyalists (are there any Bridgestone club loyalists still out there?) in mind of the equally attractive J33 forged blade which came out in 2005.

The 221 CB is likewise forged from a single piece of stainless steel but has a cavity back. It, therefore, has a slightly higher Moment of Inertia (MOI) than the 220 MB making it a notch more forgiving. The leading and trail edges of the sole have some relief to help the club get through the turf smoothly, and the 4 and 5-irons have dual pocket cavities which lower the Center of Gravity (CG), helping you to launch the ball a little higher. ‘Gravity Control Design’ positions the CG a little higher as the club gets shorter keeping the ball on a flattish trajectory even with the shot-irons.

The 222 CB+ is the most forgiving of the three but still a fairly compact, forged design aimed at single-figure handicappers. The Pocket cavities are present throughout the set, not just the 4/5-irons.

The BRM2 Wedge is another beautiful, forged club but, unlike most wedge families which offer several lofts and grinds to ensure there’s a wedge that fits your swing and course conditions, it only comes in three lofts and two grinds. What does make it interesting, however, is its groove pattern which is modeled on Bridgestone tire treads with seven rows of micro-channels between each groove. This helps remove moisture helping you create some greenside spin even in the wet.

220 MB
$1,050 (4-PW)
Lofts – 4/23˚, 7/33˚, PW/46˚
Shaft – N.S. PRO Modus 3 Tour 120
221 CB
$1,050 (4-PW)
Lofts – 4/22˚,  7/32˚,  PW/46˚
Shaft – N.S. PRO Modus 3 Tour 120
222 CB+
$900 (5-PW)
Lofts – 4/NA, 7/31˚,  PW/46˚
Shaft – N.S. PRO 950 GH Neo

BRM2 Wedge
$150/club
Lofts – 52˚, 56˚, 58˚
Bounce – 52/8, 56/8, 58/8, 58/12
Shaft – N.S. PRO Modus 3 Tour 120

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