Redefining the Value of Distance in Drivers Through Insights from Other Sports
In golf, the driver is the club used for the first shot on many holes. It is designed to send the ball farther than any other club, and for many golfers, gaining more distance can make the game more enjoyable and help improve their score.
Mizuno has been making golf clubs since 1933. Over the years, the company has continued to take on new challenges in driver development, introducing world-first technologies such as carbon heads in 1982 and titanium heads in 1990.
For this project, Mizuno engineers looked beyond golf and worked across different sports and product categories. By bringing together ideas from a wide range of equipment development, they explored new structures and materials to further advance Mizuno Golf’s distance performance. The result is the JPX ONE driver, which delivers the highest ball speed in Mizuno history.
Co-creation Across Sports
During the development process, Mizuno held workshops and discussions with engineers from other sports, including baseball. These conversations helped the team discover new possibilities by looking at materials and ideas used in different types of equipment. One important source of inspiration was Mizuno’s BEYONDMAX rubber baseball bat.
This project began before MIZUNO ENGINE, Mizuno’s innovation center for craftsmanship and product creation, was established. Even so, it became a project that naturally reflected the MIZUNO ENGINE approach: creating new value through co-creation across sports.
Inspired by BEYONDMAX
A key idea behind the new JPX ONE driver came from the rebound design of Mizuno’s BEYONDMAX rubber baseball bat. The concept is to use energy more efficiently while limiting unnecessary deformation of the ball. Applying this kind of knowledge from baseball and other sports to golf was possible because Mizuno develops equipment across a wide range of sports. A multi-rebound tester newly introduced at MIZUNO ENGINE also helped the team better understand how rebound works.
Multi-rebound tester
The material that made this idea possible in a golf club was NANOALLOY™. Created using Toray’s proprietary technology, NANOALLOY™ is a functional material made by finely dispersing multiple polymers at the nanometer scale. One of its characteristics is that it becomes softer at impact. For JPX ONE, Mizuno formed NANOALLOY™ into an ultra-thin 0.4 mm sheet and applied it to the surface of the clubface. This helps the entire face flex more effectively at impact and reduces deformation of the ball, helping to limit energy loss. The newly developed CORTECH Face, designed specifically for NANOALLOY™, also helps expand the high-speed rebound area.
A Design That Shows the Technology
With JPX ONE, NANOALLOY™ is not hidden inside the product. It appears visibly on the surface of the clubface, allowing golfers to see the technology for themselves. The blue-based color scheme, which is uncommon for golf clubs, also helps express the product’s innovative character at a glance. By making the function visible through design, Mizuno created a driver whose difference can be felt not only in the specifications, but also in the way it looks.
Bringing JPX ONE to Golfers
Mizuno took the time needed to improve every part of the product, from rebound performance and durability to mass production, cost and design. This meant revising the original launch timing by one year, but the team remained focused on bringing the product to a higher level of completion. In March 2026, JPX ONE was launched.
JPX ONE is more than a driver with a new material. It is a product made possible by Mizuno’s long-standing knowledge and technologies, built through decades of development across many different sports.
With JPX ONE, Mizuno offers golfers a new way to experience distance.
