Do you wish you had more versatility from your golf clubs?
If you’re an experienced golfer, you’d know that this sport leads us to tricky situations more than we’d like to. Sometimes, you might need the forgiveness of a hybrid and the speed of a long iron at the same time.
This is where the best utility irons come into play.
What to look for in a UT iron?
Hollow body designs: Hollow designs allow more power and speed to generate through various inserts and weights that improve the CG of the club.
Loft degrees: It’s important to be mindful of what angle of the loft best suits you. This comes from a lot of practice and time invested in the sport so if you’re unsure of what’s good for you, anywhere between 19 and 25 degrees is optimal.
Weight: Make sure your clubs are lightweight. Heavier irons are hard to handle and offer less control which defeats the purpose of versatility that these clubs offer.
A quick note: Utility irons are clubs for professionals and experienced players. If you’re new to golf, you might need to educate about the differences and the basic nature driving golf irons to bring. For that, be sure to check out our buying guide below.
1- TaylorMade Golf P790 UDI Utility Club:
Why we love it:
Maximum versatility you can expect from a utility iron
Grooves carved on the face is some of the best we’ve tested
Exceptional at both driving and forgiveness
Sleek, minimal design
PROS
CONS
UDI clubs are fairly compact
The brushed aluminum look might look sleek, but is bound to get scratches easily
Generous forgiveness
17-degree loft
Graphite shaft
Taylormade is a professional’s favorite. Tiger Woods, Dustin Johnson, or Matthew Wolff, all swear by the quality of the company’s driving irons. Taylormade extends its expertise in making golf clubs, and we find them to really excel with their utility irons.
We start our list off with the P790 UDI shot club which, by far, is easy on the best utility irons you can get right now.
The club is incredibly versatile and works incredibly well as both a driver and a long iron. It achieves that by creating the head with a 17-degree loft, giving it a whole lot of forgiveness.
The body of the club is a forged hollow, which means it’s sculpted right from a block of steel but with a hollow center. This void is filled with their “Speed foam”, which helps dampen vibrations but also, the hollow head allows a boost in distance. This overall works in creating a seamless strike while also giving more ball flights and distance.
The UHX is another promising utility iron that gives maximum versatility to any player on the golf course. The design approach to this club closely follows that of P790 UDI. It has the same forged hollow body design in its head. In this void, a resin is inserted which fills the space. As we discussed earlier, this seemingly insignificant edition actually helps greatly in boosting ball speeds and distances. Pair that with a large face with huge grooves and an 18-degree loft, this club works starts working like most hybrids.
The one thing that stands out is its V-shaped sole which is a result, also shapes the head in the same manner which allows for better handling, turf interaction, and overall speed at impact.
The King Cobra is one of our best utility-driving irons picks since the quality you get from these clubs is absolutely phenomenal. They might share the same design and specifications but Cobra tends to put their spin on things and most of the time, they come out with something special.
This one, like any utility, doubles as a long iron and a hybrid.
Cobra kept the body of the club forged with a hollow construction in the head. This works the same physics, which is filling the void with an insert that doubles the speed of the ball. This insert wraps around the sole and completes the void which results in a bigger sweet spot. With this, you will not mishit a golf ball ever again.
To increase stability, a 66-gram tungsten weight is placed in the sole which helps increase CG.
Other notable specifications include multiple driver loft degrees, synthetic rubber grip, and a solid steel shaft.
The staff model utility driving iron is a simple, unmistakable club which nails all the basics and functionalities that one expects from versatile golf driving irons. The club has an amazing background, to begin with. The Staff Model was originally just a prototype made to fill the requirements for professionals on the PGA TOUR. The prototype turned out to be so promising that the company prompted the prototype to mass production right after the event.
The iron really shined with its design and face design which closely resembled a driving iron. With various loft degrees customization and huge forgiveness, it worked great for golfers wanting more versatility out of their club.
The hollow body design in the head provided them with more distance and launch speeds. The high-strength C300 steel face with its large grooves further extends the distance and speed a ball goes after impact.
Lastly, there’s a small weight added to the sole of the club. This helps in lowering the CG while also adding to the inertia of the club swing, which increases striking speeds and results in smoother swings.
Grooves allow a consistent spin from fairway to rough
None
A perfect tool for professionals
Multiple variants available
Lightweight
Srixon omits all the flashy features that arguably do little help in the golf course and instead sticks to the basics. The Z U85 is a series of a minimally designed, forged club with a hollow body which allows more forgiveness and longer ranges. The overall shape and profiles of the club resemble the one you’d see in a long iron club and the size of a hybrid. The shape enables golfers to maneuver the club in a way they’d like. A faster ball speed for a more loft concentrated shot, or sometimes a combination of both.
Callaway was our main feature in the best driving iron 2019 round-up since the quality of the clubs was on another level. It has been the same since that if not better. The X Forged irons are promising clubs with multiple benefits and features that an experienced golfer would love. Callaway has placed their Flash Face Cup, which is their design backed with AI research, on the face of the club. They swear by their research that this design gives the perfect sweet spot, spin, and ball speeds than any other clubs out there!
The club is made from a forged 1025 mild carbon steel, with a hollow body construction. In addition to that, tungsten weighting is also placed at the sole of the club. All of this creates a lower CG with a smooth, pure feel with every strike of the ball.
Cobra makes some of the top-rated driving irons out there. And when you have that prime, it’s easy to bring pretentious features to hype up a club. The Utility One does none of that and actually happens to be the simplest club over here. For people that want a standard utility iron with countless customizations, this one is it. It follows the same design pattern for a typical golf driving iron: hollow, lofted, graphite shaft and large surface for forgiveness.
The main objective that this iron tries to achieve is accuracy. Although it follows the same design as most utility irons as discussed before, the GAPR does a few things differently. Firstly, their hollow heads don’t house the same ordinary inserts. Their in-house SpeedFoam technology inserts allow a sufficient amount of power to go through the ball. This means that the head does exactly how a golfer wants it to do. There’s a direct translation to golfers maneuvering into ball flights. This results in straighter, more accurate ball flights that go exactly where you’d intend to.
Other features include a smooth loft adjustability dial, a reinforced design for launch speeds, and a lighter overall weight.
If you’re completely new to the world of utility and you’re overwhelmed by all the driving iron reviews that we’ve covered so far, then look no further than this. UT irons can get pretty expensive which can bother a lot of people if they’re starting out with these. This is an impressive club that ranges between $60-$80. The shots from these although not at the level of the top-rated driving irons, it’s enough to make a novice feel the difference.
So don’t wait on it, get this driving iron for your next golf course games!
Sometimes, a long iron can be a little troublesome if you’re getting the speed you want but since they’re not overly forgiving, you tend to mishit a lot of balls. This is where hybrids come in, with their large surfaces with huge sweet spots to hit the balls on. But hybrids tend to sacrifice accuracy, so picking shots and being critical with your strikes become very hard.
This is where Utility Irons come in. They are made to become a complete middle ground between long irons and hybrid clubs. They tend to deliver high ball speeds but also offer considerable forgiveness that helps with accuracy. This versatility is brought with cleverly designing the clubs which mainly include a hollow forged formation with a lofted degree lift.
So to give a simple explanation: UT irons are a crossover between long irons and hybrids. They become a perfect club to keep when you run into tricky circumstances on the golf course.
The level of options these clubs bring makes them viable for experienced and professional players only. A novice player would find themselves scratching their heads with this so if you’re new to this, you might wanna check out the last product featured(or check out on some used driving iron deals).
Considerations to Make Before Purchasing a Utility Iron
Purchasing a utility iron might be challenging at times, so we urge you to choose one that is worthwhile. Here are a few things to consider when purchasing a driving iron.
Type
Determine which club from a utility iron, long iron, or hybrid would be ideal for you as a beginner. Each has its own set of advantages and disadvantages, but the hybrid is a little more adaptable because you can use it well in both light rough as well as around greens.
Some people, on the other hand, may want a profile more akin to an iron – and the utility iron is a fantastic choice in that situation. A player that has a long iron in their bag is probably a consistent striker.
Distance
A driving iron must undoubtedly provide considerable distance while maintaining workability. Both features are crucial since you need to cover the hole at the top of your bag and also need to be able to drive and move the ball with a driving iron.
Course
What sort of golf course do you enjoy playing on? We believe that this is a relevant question to ask when considering a utility iron because if you play on a links course, a driving iron is ideal for low strokes below the wind. On the other hand, if you play on parkland, a driving iron probably won't make as much of an effect in the bag.
Grapping
Knowing the range of each club in your bag is among the most crucial things to know. A driving iron will fit well, for instance, if you are aware that there is a significant space between your three-wood and the first iron. Therefore, you can determine the loft of the driving iron by understanding the gap you have to fill at the top of the bag.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do utility irons come with extra forgiveness?
Utility irons are much more forgiving than standard long irons because of their larger, hollow heads. For shots that are poorly hit, they still provide sufficient distance and precision. Furthermore, because of the increased sweet spot and lower CG, they are easier to launch and provide faster ball speed and a wider launch angle.
Does a utility iron serve as a substitute for other kinds of irons?
A golf club called a utility iron is usually used instead of a long iron, hybrid, or fairway woods. The utility iron has a long iron-like appearance, but its base or sole may be slightly heavier. This extra weight is used to assist a golfer with launching the ball and escaping a trickier lie.
What are the benefits of using utility irons?
For players with faster ball speeds, utility irons are typically a good choice. A utility iron is a better choice if a golfer frequently spins the ball more than usual because it can help to improve ball control while requiring less spin. They are also a very good option for a golfer who struggles with hybrids.
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