Utility clubs - which are also called hybrids, wood-irons or iron-woods - are intended as replacements for long irons. They combine the best elements of fairway woods and long irons into one club whose goal is to be easier to hit and whose purpose is to be used off the fairway, out of the rough, out of sand or other poor lies.
Utility clubs should provide the distance of a fairway wood or long iron but with a higher trajectory than what you'd get from a long iron so that the ball gets airborne, flies high and lands soft.
The clubs achieve this by using the low profile and weighting of fairway woods to help get the ball in air, while avoiding the digging (divot-taking) nature of irons. In general, they are shorter in shaft length than fairway woods, providing more control.
Some of the innovators in the utility club category include Kasco, Tour Edge and TaylorMade.
Kasco's K2K E-Spec utility clubs (read review) came on the market in 2003 and have been a huge hit despite their MSRP of $399. The high price is a result of what Kasco calls "Super Hyten," a super-maraging steel twice as dense as titanium. Lower-priced steel versions are also available.
Other popular brands include Tour Edge's Tour Iron-Wood, a rare utility club that in appearance is more like an iron than a fairway wood. It is designed for better players who want to work the ball.
The Perfect Club (read review), despite its infomercial originals, has been popular with critics. TaylorMade's Rescue Mid is a fine update of the company's Rescue Club, one of the first utility clubs to gain acceptance on the PGA Tour.
Adams, Kasco, TaylorMade, Tour Edge and Wilson are among the companies now offering full sets of clubs in which utility clubs are substituted for long irons. Rather than getting 3-iron through PW, these sets include two utility clubs and 5-iron through PW.
Utility clubs are here to stay, and golfers can look forward to many more choices to come.
