This week, the PGA Tour headed across the pond to North Berwick, Scotland, site of the Genesis Scottish Open, where the two-week links golf swing of pro golf begins.
After this week, the best in the world jump across the Irish Sea to Northern Ireland for the Open Championship at Royal Portrush and a question we get often at GOLF is what clubs those pros will have in their bags for the trip.
As Johnny Wunder explained on this week’s episode of GOLF’s Fully Equipped, there’s really only one switch that pros are making for links golf anymore.
Titleist U505 Custom Driving Iron
An extremely versatile, high-launching utility iron that now looks and feels dramatically better.
U•505 lets you reclaim your long iron game. Drawing on Tour input, the refined design provides the high, explosive launch you expect from a utility, now with a remarkably solid feel and sound.
U•505 is the ultimate, high-launching utility. A new, cleaner design creates more confidence at address, while the refined Max Impact Technology, reengineered chassis and new Variable Bounce Sole all improve the feel and overall performance. It all adds up to a versatile utility that plays like an iron.
TOUR-VALIDATED LOOKS
With a shorter blade and shallow face, U•505 sets up the way Tour Pros feel a utility should. Now with an even cleaner design, there is nothing to distract you from hitting the exact shot and shape your playing position demands.
ENHANCED FEEL
With distance as a priority for a utility, engineering feel becomes a unique challenge. For U•505, Titleist engineers use a refined Max Impact Technology with added dampening in the polymer muscle badge to guide the frequencies created at impact into the ideal player range.
IMPROVED OFF-CENTER ACCURACY
U•505 features a more stable, reengineered chassis and a lower CG position to help maintain speed and stability on strikes made away from center. The new single taper face improves performance towards the heel for tighter overall distance dispersion.
EFFORTLESS TURF INTERACTION
Working with Tour Pros and the grind experts at Vokey Design, our engineers were able to further improve our Variable Bounce Sole by softening the trailing edge to allow the club to flow faster through the turf, even after contact. A scoring iron refinement for one of the longest clubs in your bag.
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“The only real change is that you’re going to see in any bags is the guys that don’t have utility irons or some sort of a long iron option are going to have them in there,” Wunder said. “That’s mostly what they’re going to be building this week. A lot of loft and light changes. You’re not going to see a lot of wedges getting swapped in and out.”
Wunder explained that there used to be a lot more wedge swaps a few years ago, but Tour reps and fitters have gotten so good that players typically travel with both a high-bounce and low-bounce lob wedge. Once they get to the UK, it’s simply about picking one as opposed to having a new one built and going through the whole testing process.
Mizuno Pro Fli-Hi 2024 Custom Utility Iron
The Mizuno Pro Irons are the result of a longstanding connection between Mizuno’s club engineers and the legendary Grain Flow Forging plant in Hiroshima, Japan. This unique relationship has enabled the creation of increasingly intricate designs flawlessly incorporated into the finished equipment. Every fraction of a millimeter and subtle curve has been meticulously considered, shaping the future of golf club technology.
KEY FEATURES OF THE MIZUNO PRO FLI-HI / TOUR LONG IRON:
Nickel Chromoly 4335 Hollow Body Construction
Internal Tungsten Weighting for elevated launch
Harmonic Impact Technology is applied to best match the vibration patterns
Increased bounce angle for improved turf interaction.
Offset face weld for greater shot shape adjustability
Black Ion Finish for a modern appearance
Available 2, 3 & 4 iron / RH and LH
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And for the pros that do add a long or utility iron to the bag, it’s also likely not a club that’s new to them that week. It’s probably a club they had built up previously and might even be one they carry regularly from week to week.
For example, Xander Schauffele will typically bring his 4-wood, Apex UW and Mizuno Pro Fli Hi driving irons and picks a combination of the four clubs to work with. Jon Rahm makes a similar decision between his Apex UW and Callaway Apex UT iron.
What you won’t see is the same high-lofted fairway wood craze you saw at the PGA Championship and U.S. Open.
Callaway Apex Custom Utility Iron
The new Apex UT Iron is designed to provide better players a powerful, yet versatile option off the tee when precision is paramount. The 455 forged face cup is engineered to provide exceptional distance while a revolutionary multi-material forged construction paired with our patented urethane microspheres delivers unmatched feel.
PURE POWER WITH COMPLETE CONTROL
The new Apex UT Iron is designed to provide better players a powerful, yet versatile option off the tee when precision is paramount. The 455 forged face cup is engineered to provide exceptional distance while a revolutionary multi-material forged construction paired with our patented urethane microspheres delivers unmatched feel.
ADVANCED FORGED PERFORMANCE AND POWERFUL PRECISION
The Forged 455 face cup provides exceptional distance, making the Apex UT’24 iron an incredibly powerful and workable option off the tee.
DYNAMIC SOLE DESIGN FOR ENHANCED TURF INTERACTION
Features a Dynamic Sole Design with a pre-worn leading edge to cut through the turf more efficiently, and trailing edge relief to ensure a clean exit. The result is an iron sole that maintains speed through the turf and promotes consistent contact on all shots. The new Apex Utility iron is a more compact shape than its predecessor with a slightly shallower face to promote a higher launch.
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“I don’t think you’re going to see a lot of 9-woods and all that stuff that we saw at the open and we saw it at Quail Hollow,” Wunder said. “I think a lot of that’s going to go because it’s the practicality of hitting something that high isn’t really needed there.”
Jack Hirsh
Golf.com Editor
Jack Hirsh is the Associate Equipment Editor at GOLF. A Pennsylvania native, Jack is a 2020 graduate of Penn State University, earning degrees in broadcast journalism and political science. He was captain of his high school golf team and recently returned to the program to serve as head coach. Jack also still *tries* to remain competitive in local amateurs. Before joining GOLF, Jack spent two years working at a TV station in Bend, Oregon, primarily as a Multimedia Journalist/reporter, but also producing, anchoring and even presenting the weather. He can be reached at jack.hirsh@golf.com.
