Need to hit a long ball off the tee that simply has to find the fairway?

By Tony Dear

Two other significant equipment introductions in the last couple of weeks prevented us from featuring a product we had a particular interest in, and very much liked the look of. Callaway’s X Forged UT irons were announced in the first week of the year, and are another nail in the traditional long iron’s coffin.

As a learned golfer, always searching for ways to enjoy the game even more than you do already, you’ve long been aware of the alternatives to cruel, antiquated, 22-degree 3-irons which all but the very best of players used to dread hitting. We have hybrids now to prevent the almost unavoidable hand-wringing that would happen after a poorly-struck long-iron, and which make any shot of 220 yards or thereabouts ‘do-able’ for many more golfers than used to be the case.

Good golfers who appreciate the look of a long-iron have had options for a few years too, ever since Callaway introduced the X Utility Prototype in 2013 – an attractive club that gave able golfers versatility off the tee. Other OEMs launched their own driving irons, most notably Titleist and Mizuno.

Now, Callaway has launched a set of five utility irons with lofts ranging from 18˚ to 30˚ that not only offer that extra alternative to fairway woods and hybrids for holes where hitting the fairway is an absolute must, but also, says Callaway, an extra level of forgiveness and control for approach shots.

The X Forged UT irons were created in response to some Callaway staffers’ inability to draw the ball consistently with the old Apex Utility. Two measures the company took to remedy this situation were to add a little offset and shorten the width of the blade. Callaway also sought to add a little technology and increase performance by incorporating Face Cup technology.

“The first iron to use Face Cup technology was XR which really pushed the boundary of COR in irons, and led us to #1 market share,” says Jeff Newton from Callaway’s Global Communications department. “Epic was a concept iron to learn how to combine massive amounts of tungsten with a Face Cup to both enhance the CG position with the high COR results. UT iron differs in that it has a forged body for soft feel, a Face Cup for maximum COR, and MIM (Metal Injection Molding) tungsten weighting which shifts the position of the CG away from the heel to a point nearer impact. That gives the X Forged UT a combination of the best in each technology.”

Phil Mickelson had the 18˚ club in his bag at the Presidents Cup and has also used the 21˚ model, while Ryan Blaum, Marc Leishman, Jonathan Byrd, Chase Koepka, and recent European Tour winner Chris Paisley are among the other Callaway players who have put the X Forged UT in play.

The beginning of the year and run up to the PGA Merchandise Show is a busy time for the golf equipment industry, obviously, so news of the Callaway X Forged UT irons was quickly overshadowed.

First came the appearance of TaylorMade’s M3 and M4 drivers (which we featured two weeks ago), and Callaway’s own Rogue driver and irons (next week) soon followed. We’re glad we found some space for it though.

$250/iron
18˚ and 21˚ available in right and left hand. 24˚, 27˚, and 30˚ in right hand only.
Project X steel shafts come standard.

Colorado AvidGolfer Magazine is the state’s leading resource for golf and the lifestyle that surrounds it, publishing eight issues annually and proudly delivering daily content via coloradoavidgolfer.com.

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