- Updated: January 4, 2023
Best Driving Irons (2 Iron) of 2023
Driving irons, also known as a utility iron or 2 iron, give golfers unhappy with a hybrid or fairway wood an accurate and low spinning option that they can control the ball flight of like a regular iron.
In our opinion, the best driving iron of 2023 is the Titleist U-505 Utility Iron. It combines beautiful bag appeal with dozens of premium shaft options and a ton of Tungsten weighting to increase consistency on ball flight.
1 |  OUR TOP PICK | Titleist U-505 Utility Iron |
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2 |  ALTERNATIVE | Mizuno Pro Fli-Hi Hybrid Iron |
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3 |  ALTERNATIVE 2 | TaylorMade Stealth DHY |
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Finding a driving iron that inspires confidence can make the game far less stressful and more straightforward.
Keeping the golf ball low under trouble, finding the center of a hazard-lined fairway, or having a defense against windy conditions becomes more manageable with the 8 best driving irons on our list today.
8 Best Driving Irons of 2023
- Titleist U-505 Utility Iron (1-4 Iron Options)
- Mizuno Pro Fli-Hi (Plays & Looks Great)
- TaylorMade Stealth DHY (Game Improvement Technology Built-In)
- Callaway X Forged UT (Soft Feel & Forgiving)
- Ping G425 Crossover (Highly Forgiving)
- 2021 TaylorMade P790 UDI (1 Gen Old = Huge $ Savings)
- Srixon ZX Utility Iron (For Better Players)
- Wilson Staff Model Driving Iron (YouTube Player Verified)
1. Titleist U-505 Utility Iron (1-4 Iron Options)
1 Iron | 16° Loft | 40.25″ Length
2 Iron | 18° Loft | 39.75″ Length
3 Iron | 20° Loft | 39.25″ Length
4 Iron | 22° Loft | 38.75″ Length
The Titleist U-505 was designed to allow players to reclaim their long-iron games. Input from Tour Pros and all-new technology enables the U-505 to offer the explosive launch of a utility club but the look, feel, and sound of an iron.
Titleist offers the U-505 in 1, 2, 3, and 4 iron loft options and uses the HZRDUS Smoke Black RDX Hybrid shaft as their stock graphite option.
If you don’t like the HZRDUS option, Titleist goes above and beyond competitors by also offering literally dozens of other premium shaft options from 11 different top shaft manufacturers. (Graphite Design, Nippon, autoFlex, etc.)
The U-505 utility iron offers what Titleist calls “Max Impact 2.0.” This is the combination of a new core support design, a reconfigured hollow body construction, and a thinner forged L-Face makes the golf ball fly off the face.
High-density Tungsten weighting is just behind the club face creating an extremely powerful yet stable driving iron.
Check out our full in-depth on course review of this club here.
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2. Mizuno Pro Fli-Hi Hybrid Iron (Plays & Looks Great)
2 Iron | 16.5° Loft | 39.75″ Length | Right Hand Only
3 Iron | 19° Loft | 39.25″ Length | RH Only
4 Iron | 21.5° Loft | 38.50″ Length | RH Only
The Mizuno Pro Fli-Hi Hybrid Iron is available in 2, 3, and 4 iron loft configurations but is only available for right-handed players! (Sorry, Lefties)
Like we’ve seen with other premium brands, Mizuno offers their Pro Fli-Hi Hybrid with an 80-gram “HZRDUS Smoke Black RDX Hybrid” graphite shaft as standard or the “True Sports Project X U” as a steel shaft option.
The fully blacked out “Ion Plating” featured on the Fli-Hi Hybrid Iron head and the matching black shaft makes this driving iron the best-looking selection on our list from a bag appeal and overall looks aspect.
The Pro Fli-Hi from Mizuno is their first iron to feature a “MAS1C Steel Face,” a high ball speed face material generally reserved for Mizuno’s fairway woods!
A bendable “431 Stainless Steel” body combined with the “MAS1C Steel Face” and 21 additional grams of Tungsten weighting produces a reliable, consistent ball flight.
Lastly, Mizuno went beyond many competitors in the driving iron manufacturing game by applying “Harmonic Impact Technology” (HIT) when creating the Pro Fli-Hi to provide an excellent feel and sound at impact.
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3. TaylorMade Stealth DHY (Game Improvement Technology Built-In)
2 Iron | 17° Loft | Right-Handed Only
3 Iron | 19° Loft | RH/LH
4 Iron | 22° Loft | RH/LH
5 Iron | 25° Loft | Right-Handed Only
The TaylorMade Stealth DHY (standing for “Driving Hybrid”) serves as a beautiful option for tight tee shots or reaching a Par 5 in two with ease. Designed to potentially take the spot of some of your long irons or even your hybrid, the Stealth DHY has a mid-to-low ball flight, launch, and spin for more rollout.
Four different loft options are available in the TaylorMade Stealth DHY, and a premium “Aldila Ascent” graphite shaft is standard with purchase.
The Stealth DHY has a larger, wider, more rounded sole than its predecessors and gives a “Game Improvement” look at address while still looking extremely sleek in the golf bag.
This upgraded sole design makes turf interaction a little more playable from various conditions, like a standard hybrid would be.
The Stealth DHY is made with a 405 Stainless Steel “Forged Hollow Body Construction,” which TaylorMade engineers say creates a flexible face with a large sweet spot for more distance, playability, forgiveness, and feel.
This “Hollow Body” on the DHY is filled with a new “SpeedFoam Air,” which is 69% lighter than its predecessor, allowing more weight to be redistributed around the club head.
Lastly, like we’ve seen on many TaylorMade irons in the recent past, the Stealth DHY features a “Thru-Slot Speed Pocket” on the sole that provides increased face flexibility while preserving ball speed and distance on low-face strikes.
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4. Callaway X Forged UT Iron (Soft Feel & Forgiving)
18 Iron | 18° Loft | Right-Handed/Left-Handed
21 Iron | 21° Loft | RH/LH
24 Iron | 24° Loft | RH/LH
Players looking to either replace a few of their long irons to get better separation and distance control or someone looking to replace a more lofted hybrid in search of a more piercing ball flight will both love the Callaway X Forged UT.
The Callaway X Forged UT utility iron has three different standard loft angle specifications and comes standard with a “True Temper Project X U” as a stock steel shaft and the “True Temper HZRDUS Smoke Black 80” as their stock graphite shaft.
Callaway has implemented the use of an “AI Flash Face with Cup Design” said to help reduce the variance in spin for off-center hits.
A mild 1025 Carbon Steel and hollow body construction used in the creation of the Callaway X Forged UT irons creates a very soft feel.
Callaway is using Metal Injection Molding (MIM) in the external cavity of the club, which allows them to place the center of gravity and swing weight precisely.
This launch and spin-optimizing technology, combined with a slightly longer blade length and marginally broader sole, help make the Callaway X Forged UT iron a more forgiving club in the driving iron category.
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5. Ping G425 Crossover (Highly Forgiving)
2 Crossover | 18° Loft | 40.38″ Length
3 Crossover | 20° Loft | 39.75″ Length
4 Crossover | 22.5° Loft | 39.13″ Length
On the tee or off the ground, Ping’s G425 Crossover is designed to bring golfers yardage-gap-filling, long-iron-type performance by delivering more distance and forgiveness at the same time.
Ping offers the “Alta CB 70 Slate” or the “Alta Distanza Black” as their stock graphite shafts. Ping exceeds competitor’s standards by offering three “No-Upcharge Shaft Options” from premium manufacturers like Mitsubishi, Aldila, and Pings’ own shafts.
Included with the purchase of a Ping Crossover is an “Arccos Caddie Smart Grip” (available in four sizes and colors) that gives players more insightful and analytical knowledge about how their club is performing.
New to the G425 Crossover is a thinner face and a redesigned “internal geometry of the club head” that delivers faster ball speeds for maximum distance.
Additional Tungsten toe and shaft weights expand the club’s perimeter weighting (boosting MOI), making the G425 Crossover one of the most forgiving driving irons on our list.
Lastly, Ping’s water-repelling “Hydropearl Finish” not only looks great with its dark finish but also creates a more consistent environment for contact in all conditions.
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6. 2021 TaylorMade P790 UDI (1 Gen Old = Huge $ Savings)
2 Iron | 17° Loft | 40″ Length | Graphite Shaft
The new-ish, 2021 TaylorMade P790 UDI is an update to their already popular previous line of “Ultimate Driving Irons.”
It is most certainly more designed for off-the-tee use.
The 2021 P790 UDI is only offered in a 2 iron specification with 17° of loft and comes with a “Project X HZRDS Black Smoke Black RDX” graphite shaft as stock.
New to the updated P790 UDI is the use of “SpeedFoam Air,” like we saw in the TaylorMade Stealth DHY. The use of “SpeedFoam” saves 3 grams of overall weight, which is repositioned in the club to give it better launch conditions.
A new 8620 Carbon Steel used in construction is thinned out in strategic areas allowing for an incredibly low CG location for more forgiveness.
Also, on the Stealth DHY, the P790 features a “Thru-Slot Speed Pocket” underneath the face on the sole that promotes extra flexing in the face for maximum distance and ball speeds.
Lastly, the extra 22 grams of Tungsten weighting added to the toe of the P790 UDI creates a super stable feeling club head through impact.
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7. Srixon ZX Utility Iron (For Better Players)
2 Iron | 18° Loft | 39″ Length | Right-Handed and Left-Handed Players
3 Iron | 20° Loft | 39.5″ Length | RH/LH
4 Iron | 23° Loft | 39″ Length | RH/LH
The ZX Utility Irons from Srixon were designed to give golfers of the “medium to better player” category an easier-to-hit alternative to long irons.
Srixon offers their ZX Utility Iron with a “UST Mamiya Recoil Graphite” as their standard graphite shaft option.
Srixon boasts “MainFrame Technology” in the construction of the ZX Utility irons. This is a variable-thickness face designed by AI that gives the club higher ball speeds across the face.
Additional “Hollow Body Construction,” like we’ve seen on many competing driving irons in this list, simply gives the ZX more forgiveness than typical long irons.
The ZX Utility irons also use multi-material construction. Premium high-density Tungsten is placed at the base of each ZX utility to lower the center of gravity and allow players to launch the ball high if they want.
Lastly, a forged “1020 Carbon Steel Body” along with the strategically thick/thin face create a very soft feeling and receptive club to hit.
If you’d like to read our hands-on and in-depth review of the ZX Utility Iron from Srixon, click here.
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8. Wilson Staff Model Driving Iron (YouTube Validated)
2 Iron | 18° Loft | 40″ Length | Right-Handed Players Only
3 Iron | 21° Loft | 39.5″ Length | RH
4 Iron | 24° Loft | 39″ Length | RH
The Wilson Staff Model driving iron was created initially as a prototype for PGA Tour professional golfers to provide utility, reliability, distance, and forgiveness.
The Staff Model driving iron comes stock with a “KBS Tour Hybrid” shaft as their stock graphite option.
“Hollow Body Construction,” as we’ve seen on tons of driving irons on our list, improves launch, distance, and forgiveness.
High-strength C300 steel is used in the club face creation to deliver greater ball speeds across the entire face.
By hollowing out the face, Wilson Staff engineers were able to add 7 grams of weight low in the sole of the club to boost forgiveness and launch angles.
Lastly, if you’re a YouTube golfing fan, you can check out one of the fastest-rising talents (Micah Morris) compare the Wilson Staff driving iron to the Callaway X Forged UT iron that’s also on our list!
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Features To Look For In Driving Irons
Shaft Options:
If you’re fortunate enough to live somewhere that does specific shaft testing for purchases like a driving iron, DO IT!
You’re already investing in a specialty club like a utility iron, so finding the shaft flex and brand that fits your specific swing speed and tendencies will just take your purchase up a notch.
After a shaft proper fitting, you can and will experience: More ball speed, more accuracy, more distance, and you will hit the ball straighter!
If having premium shaft options is something that piques your interest, consider the Titleist U-505 or the Ping G425 Crossover. Both of these driving irons offer “no-upcharge” premium shaft upgrade options at purchase (for the players willing to get fitted first).
Additional Weighting (Usually Tungsten):
Driving irons like the Mizuno Pro Fli-Hi, the Titleist U-505, the Ping G425 Crossover, the 2021 TaylorMade P790 UDI, or the Srixon ZX all feature additional head weighting from premium Tungsten that just feels amazing if you haven’t hit irons with Tungsten add-ons.
In my personal experience from playing P770’s for the last year and a half, something about Tungsten inside iron heads just makes the ball “stay put” in the air.
You can still work the ball if you want or need to, but having a “straight miss” is one of the best problems to have in golf, and Tungsten allows this to happen easier.
From the overall stabilizing aspects to being able to precisely place the center of gravity to make mis-hits less terrible, additional head weighting is a favorite feature we noticed in many new driving irons.
"Hollow Body" Design:
Our final favorite feature of the newest driving iron crop for 2023 is the incorporation of a “hollow body construction” process.
The Titleist U-505, the Stealth DHY, the Callaway X Forged UT, the Srixon ZX, and the Wilson Staff Model driving iron all feature their own version of the “hollow body” approach.
If you’re mainly distance-focused, try the Stealth DHY and Wilson Staff Model driving iron.
The Stealth’s “SpeedFoam Air” insert inside its hollow cavity should disqualify it from this category, but we’ll allow it since it’s such a performer.
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About The Author
Writers of Independent Golf Reviews
Independent Golf Reviews has tested and reviewed 1000+ golf products over the past 10 years. We use our experience and expertise to give golfers an unbiased insight on the market.
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