50 Words or Less
The Miura CB-301 irons are purported to be the longest forged Miura iron yet. Strong lofts. Good feel. Forgiveness is underwhelming.
Check out the new Miura CB-302 irons HERE
Introduction
When you say, “Miura,” most people think of words like feel, soft, or forged. “Distance” is pretty far down the list. Miura hopes to change that with the CB-301, the iron they claim to be their longest fully forged offering ever. We tested it to see what makes it unique from other Miura irons.
Looks
The Miura CB-301 has the exact address profile that I envisioned when I think of a more forgiving forged iron. Its top line is substantially thicker than other Miuras like the MC-501 (review HERE), but its still slightly thinner than average. The 301 has a blade length and sole width that are comparable to most game improvement irons.
The one aesthetic complaint I have is the offset. It’s not that there’s too much offset – the amount is typical for a GI iron – but the shaping is not as smooth as I’ve come to expect from Miura.
Sound & Feel
Miura has set the bar for feel very high, and the CB-301 comes up a bit short. When you hit a pure shot, the feel is excellent – soft and rewarding. Anything less, however, feels surprisingly hard.
While the harder feel on mishits isn’t pleasant, it does make the feedback from the CB-301 crystal clear. It’s easy to tell through your hands exactly where the ball met the club face.
Performance
Distance is the feature that Miura highlights with the CB-301, so we’ll start there. As you can see in the spec sheet below, these irons have lofts that are strong by Miura standards. Since loft is the main factor in distance, it’s unsurprising that the CB-301 did produce high ball speed and solid distance.
Miura also touts the forgiveness of the CB-301, and on that claim I would pump the brakes a bit. The CB-301 is more forgiving than Miura’s blades, but it’s not as easy to hit at the IC-601 (review HERE). In comparing them to the CB 1008 (review HERE), I didn’t find much difference. With both irons, very small mishits end up in good spots, but you can lose significant distance without making a terrible swing. If you’d like a little forgiveness, the CB-301 is fine, but it doesn’t compare to modern, multi-material GI irons.
Back on the positive side, the CB-301 does offer players a lot of shotmaking freedom. Overall, these are still relatively slim irons, so good ball strikers will be able to look down on them with the confidence to attempt creative shots. If you have the skills to control your trajectory and shot shape, the CB-301 won’t hold you back.
Conclusion
For the player who wants to “regain distance” with their irons but also wants a fairly traditional look, the Miura CB-301 fits the bill. The lofts are pretty strong which leads to good ball and distance. Just make sure that your ball striking is good enough; these irons are not built to forgive poor swings.
Miura CB-301 Irons Price & Specs
Matt Saternus
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Hi Matt,
I’m playing at the moment with PP9003 sn and I like those a lot. Feeling and feedback is excellent and it is very forgiving and easy club to hit. I also own CB501, but I think those are a bit too demanding for me (hcp 13). How would you compare CB301 and PP9003sn in forgiveness?
Br Ari
Ari,
I think the 301 is probably comparable to the PP9003 in forgiveness. I don’t think there’s a big gap in either direction.
Best,
Matt
I hit these in my fitting this weekend and I was VERY impressed with the feel and performance, they were softer than the Mizuno MP 20 by little bit and they were long. I am not sure I want to spend the extra on them over Mizuno but, they would look awful nice in the bag.
I want to bring my personal experience with miura cb 301: these irons were so sexy that i could not resist to try; i tried, and, i falled in love completly: soft feel, good forgiveness, amazing look on the bag. After 6 months of use all sounds ok but…. one day you just realize that despite your flight is good, the accurancy is good and the distance is acceptable, you want more and you go for another fitting for hollow constructions irons. Once you try them (i am talking about family of pxg 0311 p, p790, ping i 500, etc) you understand that despite the look, the feel and the numbers of the Miura CB 301 are really good, you can get with your same swing not good numbers, but amazing numbers equal to much more distance, same accurancy, same spin, less misses, less effort in swinging…. in your opinion what should be my choice now?
Freddie,
The question is, are you playing golf to enjoy the clubs you have or to shoot your best scores? If it’s the latter, you need to play the best irons.
-Matt
Thank you Matt. Actually you are absolutly right. I did fitting at PXG for the 0311p and now i completly understand and agree with your review of the 0311p. Actually i think PXG ticks both box of enjoying the clubs you have and shoot the best scores.
What Miura irons are comparable to equivalent of the P770s?
There is no Miura iron that features the technology that the P770s have.
-Matt