Callaway X Forged UT irons (2021) Review

The Callaway X Forged UT irons are hollow-body utility clubs aimed at the better player seeking a long-iron alternative.

Callaway has taken its 2018 Callaway X Forged UT iron and given it a technology-packed upgrade for 2021. A confidence inspiring, hollow-body provides better golfers with a go-to utility club from the tee or fairway.

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Callaway have packed their best technologies into the four-piece design to create the ideal club for golfers seeking a genuine long-iron alternative without wanting to turn to a bulge-and-roll faced hybrid.

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The AI-designed Flash Face Cup creates high ball speeds and consistent spin across the face for that required distance. External MIM’d tungsten weighting ensures the centre of gravity is precisely located to provide the easy, high launch and stable trajectory you’d expect from a utility iron. With light, standard and heavy weight options, the clubs can be fitted perfectly to your needs.

The 2021 X Forged UT also features a longer blade length and wider sole than a traditional long iron, aiding forgiveness and providing control.

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Forged from 1025 mild carbon steel, the hollow-body construction combines with Callaway’s proprietary urethane microspheres to create the impressively soft feel that better players demand. Expect to see this in plenty of tour player’s bags.

Available in 18º, 21º and 24º, Callaway’s new offering comes with either a Project X U shaft, designed specifically for stability and control in utility clubs, or a Project X HZRDUS Smoke Black HY, a player’s graphite shaft designed with low torque for those who like to swing aggresively.

All of the clubs include Golf Pride’s Z grip for a firm feel and exceptional traction.

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The technologies used in the Callaway X Forged UT iron

• 4 piece-multi-material construction
• 1025 Forged Hollow Body
• 17-4 Flash Face Cup
• External MIM’d Tungsten Weighting (light 12g, standard 17g, heavy 22g)
• Urethane Microspheres

What Callaway say: Dr Alan Hocknell, Vice President of Research and Development, explains the thinking behind the new X Forged UT iron.

“We really want to give better players the opportunity to hit clubs that involve the most energetic of our technologies applied to irons. So, in the long part of their bag, they still have many of the same goals as amateur and average players and that is to launch the ball high and consistently with great speed and still be able to land it predictably with a steep landing angle that still holds greens.

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“The feedback that we have from better players is that this is the part of the bag where they are accepting of the Face Cup technology and all of its benefits for speed, launch angle and the slightly modified spin rate. They are interested in the technology that’s made available by putting tungsten weight in there and the use of urethane microspheres to control the feel response.

“Essentially, a lot of the technologies you’d see in our other irons have all been packaged up in this utility iron in a form that suits the eye of the better player as a genuine long-iron replacement and alternate tee club.

“The design goals for the average player irons focus more on optimising performance from all over the face, particularly in our Big Bertha B21 iron (read our review here). Players miss a lot in the low heel and low toe a lot with irons and hit them a little bit thin.

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“But here we’re talking about a more advanced player who has a more consistent, more centred delivery and more exacting requirements out of these irons, whether it’s off the tee, out of the fairway or even out of the light rough. Because of that we have to make sure spin consistency is something we prioritise in the list of optimisation variables that the AI analysis is working with.

“For better players who don’t want to go to a hybrid that might have bulge and roll on the face and look unfamiliar to them relative to the rest of their irons, this is a genuine alternative as an easy launching, long-iron replacement.”

Golf club specs: Callaway X Forged UT iron 2021 options

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• X Forged UT (2021) price: £229 (steel or graphite)
• Available from: October 29, 2020
• Lofts: 18º, 21º, 24º
• Stock shafts: Steel - True Temper Project X U 5.5 (Reg flex -105g), 6.0 (Stiff fle - 110g) and 6.5 (X Stiff flex - 110g, custom fit only). Graphite - True Temper Project X HZRDUS Smoke Black HY (Reg flex- 80g, Stiff flex - 81g, X Stiff flex 81g, custom fit only).
• Stock grip: Golf Pride Z Grip (50g)
• More information: www.callawaygolf.com