Utility irons (sometimes referred to as driving irons) have become pretty popular over the last few years. I’ve been curious about them myself, so I did a little research and created this article for you.
Thanks to @Sub70_Jay for getting one built for me! Let’s discuss here for those of you who have tried them out. As you’ll see in the article, they are not for everyone but can help certain golfers.
Due to my slower swing speed I’m not really a candidate for a driving iron. But even for those who are, I question whether adding a club that would be used at most a couple times a round is better than carrying a long hybrid that has more applications than just the tight tee shot.
That’s the main dilemma I explored in the article. For some players a utility iron can help compared to a hybrid, long iron, or fairway wood. As you’ll see I was not one of them!
This is a great article. I haven’t really thought much about putting a utility in my bag but I would be interested to see how I rate with one. Off the tee, for you anyway, it looks like it is a safe option for sure, and I wonder if after swinging it for a while if you end up gaining speed and distance with more confidence with the club. I feel sometimes with a new club you layoff or just aren’t completely comfortable so you don’t swing it as freely? I mean that might just be me because of how new I still am.
Other than a couple of practice sessions I have to see I felt very comfortable with the club off the tee. Where is was really different was on approach shots. As I said in the post, since I am low launch/low spin, hitting a 2-iron equivalent off the deck is going to be harder for me. This is where the design of the club was working against me vs. my fairway wood/hybrid. I think this will be the case for most golfers when you get to much lower lofts.
The exception are higher speed players who can launch it higher with a lot more spin, they are the ones who might be able to hit the utility iron more effectively on approach shots. That being said, it’s interesting that Sub 70 is starting to offer these in higher lofts. It could help a lot of players as perhaps a 5, 6, or 7 iron replacement.
Thanks @jon! Good information.
I’m a higher launch/higher spin player so I’m intrigued by the driving iron as a possible replacement for my hybrid (wouldn’t ditch my 3 wood). I have a love/hate relationship with the hybrid as sometimes it can be really spinny. My only concern is how low of loft I’d need to go with the driving iron to compare to my ~17* hybrid and get same carry distances and is the forgiveness of the driving iron enough to offset the difficulty of hitting such a low lofted iron.
If you have thoughts on that last point from your experience that’d be helpful!
It’s tough to say - as you saw in Crossfield’s video and my own data, static loft is just a starting point. It sounds like what makes the hybrid a success for me and Mark is working against you (too much spin/gear effect).
It is possible a similar loft in the hybrid would work since less spin should help keep the ball down a bit. I think my main worry for the club with that little loft is on approach shots. Are you able to deliver enough loft at impact to get the ball in the air, and keep it there? Unfortunately, the answer is you won’t know until you try/test.
Thanks - how would you compare the difficulty of hitting the utility iron as compared to a standard 3 iron? (not thinking about the specifics, just ability to hit it/forgivness)
Read the article this morning and loved it.
I recently have been experimenting with a Cobra King Utility (the older version, about 2 years old). Got the “4 iron” version to take the place of a higher lofted hybrid (20-22 deg).
As mentioned, everyone’s swing is different, but so far, I’m pleased. I’m a high launch player, so even with the iron set to it’s lowest loft (21 deg), it’s still going pretty high and landing relatively softly. It’s almost like I’m hitting a super game improvement iron, but easier and without the crazy offset. I am playing the JPX 919 Hot Metal Pros (5-PW) for reference.
Still carrying a lower lofted hybrid for those longer shots and any shot from the rough where I want to advance as far down the fairway as possible.
Interesting article. I completely understand all the manufacturers producing these now as they are gaining (regaining?) popularity among the pros and plenty of people want to play what they play even if they don’t have the swing to match it.
On producing higher loft (like high 20’s to low 30’s) versions of them though, I think at that point you basically just have a game improvement iron (lower CG, higher MOI) simply by another name. I know a company like Sub70 is going to have significant differences in design, but I still feel like the most likely consumer of a high lofted utility iron is a player who really SHOULD be playing a SGI iron (at least in the mid irons), but refuses to do so out of pride.
in and apples to apples scenario like that, it’s likely because of the utility iron’s design you’re going to find it easier to hit
It makes sense for me to have on in my bag… I’m high launch, high spin, high swing speed.
I play a 22 degree sub70 699. It replaces a 4 iron. It carries around 220, which is a distance I don’t see often into greens. I’m fine hitting it into greens as it will mostly hit and stop.
It’s actually matched shaft wise to my hybrid.
Overall it’s more a direct replacement for a four iron than anything else… I use it as a tee club when I need a low stinger, a shot I can’t hit with my hybrid… I use it for punch shots and generic rescue shots.
The best shot I’ve hit with it thus far was a big fade around a tree out of the rough… I was about 220 out and just wanted to get as close as possible. The club was a perfect match for the shot.
The hybrid wouldn’t have worked out of the lie I was in and my driving iron has a little more forgiveness than my five iron.
I guess at the end of the day, I have the necessary profile to hit a driving iron. Rather than carry a second hybrid or regular four iron, I added it to the bag to give me another option at the top of the bag. It’s a niche situation for sure, but I needed a four and five iron to fill out my bag and figured some variety would be good.
I put a utility iron in the bag late last year and really like it. I’ve generally hit irons better, but always struggled with anything more than a 4 iron…and I really could only hit a 4i well off the tee. I was able to hit the newer utility irons well though and it was a good club more me even from the fairway. Later I tried a new 3h though and did a bit better with that. I think the larger head helped. Just built a new utility that’s more iron-like but larger to see if that is a further improvement as I still prefer seeing an iron at address. The 3h is seriously long though so giving that up may be tough unless the utility is super straight lol.
I’ve got a Lynx 16deg driving iron. The first time I used it I accidentally hit a push or it might have been a push draw over the trees guarding a dam. Got up to the lake to find I had carried it and was only 70m out. Since then I have been hit and miss with it. When I hit it now a good shot is a low hook that runs and runs. Currently it is out of my bag.
Having also recently purchased a utility iron, I have to say I’m not sure yet which I will use more often. I like the lower flight of the U off the tee, and have only used it a couple of times from the fairway so far, with mixed results. My hybrid results are also mixed.
I played a couple holes in cold weather this weekend, and thinned a 3U that killed my hands, so I’m thinking I might use the hybrid when temps are under 50
Great article, and really cool of Mark Crossfield to do that video.
I think I’m probably similar to Mark…hybrids just work for me. I owned a driving iron maybe 6 or 7 years ago. It was awesome off the tee, but was a total one trick pony. Just couldn’t get enough launch off the ground to make it work.
thanks! He was very generous to give me some of his time and I thought the video added a lot of value to the article
Fantastic article. The utility/driving iron is so intriguing to me, but I’m a bit like you. I can only see myself using it off the tee in very specific scenarios. While I think I’d like having one at my disposal, I can’t find a club in my bag that I’d be willing to permanently remove to make room.
I don’t think I’d ever hit it for approach shots. I’m very comfortable with hybrid and fairway wood, plus if I need something for a 250 or so distance, I generally want it coming in at a steeper angle of descent rather than running out.
I think there are many golfers who would benefit by adding one and it’s fantastic @Sub70_Jay offers such an affordable custom made option that performs as well as it does.
Thanks! I’ve seen a few golfers “stubbornly” put these in the bag because they refuse to try a hybrid and you can see where it holds them back on approach shots if it’s not a good match.
As much tech as there are these days, I think the article is an important reminder that you still need to fit your swing to your equipment and not vice versa.