Gear: TaylorMade P•UDI, P•DHy utility irons
Price: $249 each with UST Mamiya Recoil DART shaft and Golf Pride Z-grip
Specs: Hollow-body design with forged 41040 stainless steel face, vibration-dampening foam and tungsten weight. Available as 2-, 3- and 4-iron.
Who It’s For: These utility irons are perfect for golfers who want a versatile club that can be used as a long-iron alternative. It flies lower than a hybrid but higher and farther than a typical long iron.
The Skinny: The P•UDI and P•DHy are designed to be clubs that bridge the gap between a player’s last fairway wood and first iron, producing a hybrid-like distance with a lower ball flight and iron-style control.
The Deep Dive: Every golf has a gap that needs to be filled between the clubs they play off the tee on par 4s and par 5s (driver and 3-wood) and their longest iron. To bridge that gap, players have choices that include high-lofted fairway woods, hybrids and utility irons. For most players, hybrids offer a blend of distance and versatility that is tough to beat, but some players want to create a lower ball flight, so they shy away from hybrids and fairway woods and gravitate to utility irons. In windy conditions and on especially firm courses, a piercing shot that can be turned with a draw or fade can be handy.
For a decade, TaylorMade has offered clubs labeled UDI (ultimate driving iron) and then DHy (distance hybrid), including last year’s Stealth UDI and DHy. For 2024, its newest offerings have been linked to the brand’s P Series in name and appearance.
The P•UDI and P•DHy utility irons, with a soft chrome finish, look like extensions of the P•790 or P•770 sets. They share some technologies with those clubs, too, but the P•UDI and P•DHy are only available as 2-, 3- or 4-irons. They also come standard with a graphite shaft, indicating that TaylorMade intends for them to be played, in nearly every case, off the tee.
The P•UDI and P•DHy have each been designed with a forged 4140 stainless steel face attached to a stainless steel body, creating a hollow chamber inside each head. Like the 2023 P•790, the back walls have thick and thin areas that create a honeycomb look and save weight, and both clubs have an internal tungsten piece that enabled TaylorMade designers to shift the center of gravity (CG) location. It is slightly higher in the P•UDI, which helps the club produce a lower ball flight than the P•DHy, but both clubs still create lower shots than a similarly lofted hybrid.
TaylorMade added a Speed Pocket slot in the sole of the P•UDI and P•DHy to help the lower portion of the hitting area flex more effectively on low-struck shots.
To enhance sound and feel, the P•UDI and P•DHy have SpeedFoam Air injected into the hollow cavity inside the head. It soaks up excessive vibrations but does not impede the face from flexing or reducing ball speed.
In addition to creating a lower ball, the P•UDI has a shorter blade length and less offset than the P•DHy, and TaylorMade claims the club is more forgiving than the P•790. The company says the P•DHy is the most forgiving iron in its stable, including all the P Series irons and even the game-improvement Qi10 iron. In the address position, the P•UDI looks like a standard better player’s iron, but golfers will see some of the back of the P•DHy, but for many golfers, the sight may be reassuring and confidence-inspiring.
Below are several in-hand images of the P•UDI and P•DHy.
