In the realm of golf clubs, particularly with irons, there is one name above all others. That name is Miura. Miura irons have always been a unicorn in golf. They are renown for their beauty, ease of use and unmistakable feel. They are also quite rare and famously (or infamously) expensive, which adds to their mystique. Everyone speaks reverently of them, but few know the brand’s real story and the level of commitment that it takes to produce a golf club of this quality.
Miura’s history is deeply rooted in this tradition of excellence, creating a unique ancestry in the manufacturing of steel golf clubs. Katsuhiro Miura began making golf clubs in 1957 when he began working with Morita Golf. It was here that he learned the art of making golf clubs; how they were forged, ground and adjusted to fit the golfer.
In 1960, Miura-san joined Kojima Iron Works Ltd. where he learned the science and technique of processing metals. From there he joined Kyoei Golf Industry Ltd. in 1970. Here, he learned about the forging technique and its impact on an iron’s feel and performance. For the next seven years, Miura-san dedicates himself to refining his craft, which fuels his passion to create the best forged irons in the industry.
In February of 1977, Miura-san establishes Miura Giken. Although it is seen as a bold move, Miura-san manages to create strong relationships with other Japanese manufacturers—including Kyoei Golf where Miura Giken establishes its satellite location. By subcontracting for other equipment companies, the factory cements a reputation for quality and reliability, which remains intact to this day.
Miura produced the first Miura-stamped golf club appropriately named the Craftsman’s Spirit. Although Miura Giken produced this club in small numbers, the company’s main business was still producing large quantities of equipment on behalf of other companies. This means there was little time to work on producing irons under the Miura brand.
In 1990, Miura-san discovered he could not manipulate the grain structure of the club head by using the current techniques. Believing the manufacturing process was fundamentally flawed, he approached the forging company with a modified plan, but his ideas were rejected.
It was at that point that Miura-san decided that in order to improve the manufacturing process, Miura Giken needed to take complete control. This would mean reinventing how club heads are made, including designing proprietary machinery. Miura-san’s pursuit for perfection had begun.
He established the company’s forging division in January of 1991. Word of this quickly made the rounds of the industry and top equipment companies start reaching out to Miura-san. He made the decision to produce one model for each OEM company, which includes producing clubs for professionals under contract with these companies.
In May of 1997, the factory moved to its current location in Himeji, Japan. By having the forging and finishing process under one roof, Miura-san is able to oversee all aspects of production. This allows Miura-san to increase OEM production while continuing to expand the Miura Giken lineup.
In 2002, many manufacturers moved production of their golf clubs out of Japan in an attempt to lower their costs. OEM production declined and subsequently stopped altogether in 2003, although the custom work they farmed out to Miura Giken continued. While this might be a disaster for some companies, Miura-san saw this as an opportunity for the family to focus on the Miura brand.
In 2004, Miura-san worked tirelessly to build Miura into a global brand. Although Miura Giken was very well known in Japan, the rest of the world was unaware of Miura and their marvelous golf clubs. He traveled the world for the next six years, speaking to dealers and promoting the Miura brand tirelessly.
Miura-san retired as the president of Miura Giken and transitioned into his current role as the company’s chairman. The company continues to grow under the stewardship of his sons, Shinei and Yoshitaka, but Miura-san is far from leaving the business altogether. He still occupies the last chair of the grinding process; his are the last hands to handle the iron heads before they make their way to production. Those hands were christened, “the hands of God.”
What is it, really, that makes Miura irons so special? In these days of forged “players game improvement irons,” ball speed has become king. Feel and control seem to have taken a back seat in a golfer’s priorities of what they want to see in their irons. In this age, Miura irons seem like dinosaurs. Beyond the proprietary forging techniques, there is no new tech here. So, what warrants the reverence that the company enjoys?
Let’s examine their forging process.
The flaw that Miura-san found in the forged iron manufacturing process was that given the one-piece forging process that all other companies use was that forging the clubhead and hosel in one piece tended to leave voids in the grain structure. Miura’s solution was two-fold; instead of striking the head twice in the forging process, Miura strikes their heads three times to make sure there are no voids in the clubhead’s grain structure.
Second, Miura postulated that forging the clubhead and hosel in one piece bent the grain structure upwards towards the shaft, which could cause the voids that he so fastidiously sought to eliminate. To avoid this eventuality, Miura forges their irons in two pieces; the head is forged as described above and the hosel is manufactured separately, then joined to the clubhead by a process called spin forging.
Spin forging takes the CNC-milled hosel and joins it to the clubhead by spinning the hosel at speed while under heat. The process attaches the hosel and clubhead without affecting either’s grain structure. The iron heads are then hand ground and polished to the most exacting tolerances. No head passes quality control without passing Miura-san’s inscrutable hands and eyes. The scorelines and other markings are all pressed into the clubhead to maintain the integrity of the club’s grain structure.
The result are the tightest tolerances in the industry. Each clubhead is the correct weight so that when the club is assembled, hardly any effort is put into matching the individual irons’ swing weights. The density of the grain structure provides an incredibly dense, butter-soft feel at impact. This consistency carries over into the clubs’ performance. You might lose some ball speed because of the lack of distance-enhancing technologies, but you gain consistency of trajectory and distance control, something all good ball strikers crave. It is this feel, consistency and control that have elevated the reputation of Miura irons to that of legend. They are quite simply the best irons in the world.