Are my FAVOURITE clubs dead?

In this video Rick Shiels tests the 2025 Callaway UT APEX iron. Rick has been a big fan of Driving Irons in the past due to its workability hitting shot shapes. He has used a Callaway Driving Iron before so this could be a good fit for him.

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Hi I’m Rick Shiels, welcome to my channel RickShielsPGAGolf. This YouTube channel is designed to help you play better golf, also to help you enjoy your golf more!

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Brand new Callaway Apex UT driving irons. I’ve got two in the bag here. 20° and 18 degree. These look really cool. Really, really smart. What’s interesting at the moment are driving irons a bit of a dying breed because a lot of players now, even really good players, are using things like fivewoods, 7woods, 9woods, 11woods, hybrids. Like, who’s actually using driving irons these days? In this video, I’m going to give them a test. Hit some off the tea, hit some into the greens as well. Um, looks wise, these look so so good. I’m really impressed with the look. I’ve been a big fan of Callaway driving irons in the past. Um, and this is kind of a modified version with a few tweaks, but it’s made to look just so so good. Really like the looks. So, I’m actually going to start off with the 18 degree one here. Um, now tech-wise it’s built for players who demand precise, high ball speed, an alternative off the tea. Like a lot of players now for off the tea. There’s so many different options now. If you’re great with driver, fantastic. Mini drivers have become so popular now. A lot of people are using them again. Fivewood, seven wood, nine woods, etc. But there’s still a place for driving irons. I just I just feel like it’s getting smaller. I feel like the market is getting much much smaller because some players are iron players. They hit down and they compress it and can kind of work a driving iron. Other players can’t. And I would say the mass majority of players would suit a wood over a driving iron. However, we are going to still give this a test. Quite a small head design actually. It’s not massively overbearing. Quite a bit of offset which is unusual for a Callaway driving iron. So, I’m just going to hit this off the T off a par five fairway. This is where you want the driving irons to definitely be hitting the fairway. That’s nice. Just a little draw off that center line. And you just you want a driving iron to be automatic like that down the middle. 250 yards. Perfect. That felt really nice actually. That felt really good. You know what it weirdly feels more like and this is a a daff thing to say is it doesn’t feel as like powerful as a normal driving iron. It actually just feels like a two iron in the Apex lineup, if that makes sense. It feels more like it’s in keeping with the iron range as opposed to a new product that feels very different. I don’t know if that’s a good thing or a bad thing. It’s just an observation. It feels much more like an extension of the iron family rather than just being its own um kind of powerful driving iron. So, I’m kind of more used to that powerful driving iron feel. like it’s the sound, it’s the feel is much more in line with a an iron, a mid iron. I mean, they’re beautiful golf shots. Absolutely perfect. Not not complaining with any of those. 250 yards down the middle. Happy days. So, apparently this is Callaway’s most advanced multimaterial construction ever in a utility iron. And apparently using a flexible core design to promote more face flexure and ball speed. So, the kind of the way they’ve molded and it almost looks like a an extra section they’ve plugged onto the back of the driving iron. And then they’ve got this kind of squishy section here, which is obviously definitely giving a different feel. Like it feels softer, much more like a again like a mid iron. It’s it’s hard to explain that in any other terms. Um, they’ve got the AI face design for superior distance control and spin consistency. And it’s a multi-piece forged hollow body which offers a solid feel and sound. And I would definitely back that up. Pricewise for a single iron is £279. Punchy. I mean, you can get you can get a fairway wood, can’t you? For the same price pretty much. They’re the things you considering. It’s it’s either one of these or a fairway wood. Let’s hit one more of these 18° two irons. I’m just going to let’s just mess about with this one. Let’s try and play a little bit of a low stinger. Hold on. Hold on to that right side. Grab a piece. Yeah. use the contour. I want it to be in the first cut. Yeah, really good. Really happy with that. Okay, so I’ve now switched to the 20° um Apex UT iron. So, this is kind of more a strong three iron. That’s kind of a two iron the 18°. This is like a strong three iron. I’m going to try this shot. Now, this is into a par five, second shot into a par five, 240 yards away. I’ve got to get over water. Now, for me, the benefit of using a driving iron over a fairway wood or a hybrid, I’ve said this loads of times before, I always feel like I can really maneuver the flight with an iron. I can hit it low, I can hit it high, I can draw it, fade it, be a little bit more creative. With a hybrid, sometimes I feel a bit more restricted. And certainly with a fairway wood, like a sevenwood or a nine would I know you can hit them lower, it just doesn’t feel natural to me. I feel like I’ve got to really try and force it lower. So, let’s try and hit the four shots into this pin position. I think the low one is going to maybe get wet. I mean, look at that. I mean, that is gorgeous. [Music] That hurts. Must be a bit of wind. Must be a bit of wind I didn’t anticipate. I thought that was absolutely perfect. Oh. I’m going to have to move five yards closer to the green. I don’t think I couldn’t hit that any better. Let’s Let’s move Let’s move it to 235 away from the pin. Let’s try that normal one again. I was trying to bite off more than I could chew there. That’s nice as well. Really nice. That should be perfect distance. I mean, it’s a tiny green. I mean, that is like from front to back. That might only be 5 yards deep. Um, really nice. Lovely golf shot. Let’s try and hit a big fade into it again. This is where I feel like with a a driving iron. I don’t know why. I just feel like I can be a bit more creative. Oh, slightly towed it. I’ve got the shape. Be interesting if that gets over. No, Rick. I’ve just towed it. Let’s go for that one again. Come on. Good solid strike with that fade. It’s trying. It’s trying. Oh, it’s just covered. Kind of got the shape. Let’s try with a big high draw. This one’s my my wheelhouse. I’m going to try and hit a really super super high one. Oh, so good. Really big high draw in there. So good. Again, we’ve played the low one off the tea, so I feel I can do that. And then just want to play like the super high straight one. Literally send it up to space. Unbelievable height considering that’s a three iron. Go up a bit. Ah, front edge. There’s a couple of things there. I when I’m testing driving irons, like I don’t think there’s a great deal that separates them. I think a lot of the time it’s looks and feel and sound. If I was rating this on those three categories, ticks every box. I think it looks fantastic. I think it sounds superb. I think it feels really, really good. Performance-wise, when I’m looking at these driving irons, they’re not that different to each other. They’re all kind of doing the same job. It just depends if you want to go a little bit chunkier in size, a little bit more shallow, slightly more of a of a hollow head where you get a bit more kick off the face where it feels faster, it sounds faster, or you want it to sit more in line with the iron family. This much more sits in line with the iron family as opposed to being a rocket ship driving iron. I think Callaway have done a really good job. Again, I think the market for driving irons is getting smaller and smaller, and it wouldn’t surprise me in a few years if we almost see driving irons disappear. That’s my prediction. I’ll still be using one for sure. Guys, thanks for watching. Stay tuned. Lots more to come. Be sure to subscribe to the Hit Channel. And that was my fun little review of the new Callaway UT driving irons. We’ll see that.