“Say hello to your new 1-iron!” How many times do you hear someone say that in 2019? Well, with the new U500 series from Titleist, expect to be hearing it a lot more.

• More photos of the U500 and U510 irons in the forums. 

Initially introduced and seeded to tour players at the Memorial Tournament, we now have all the info on the new utilities from Titleist that includes two versions—the “players” versions the U500, and the more player-friendly U510. Think hybrid performance in an iron-like package (the initial prototype name was the Wide Body).

The Titleist U500 is shorter heel to toe and maintains a very “player” profile with its deeper face. The U510, on the other hand, has all of the same technology but is longer heel to toe, shallower, has a wider sole, and more offset. A lot of the inspiration for these came from the very original 503i (remember that one—the super rare tour only driving iron that would sell for over $1,000 on the open market?) Keep it clean and make it work!

What also makes these different from the previous TMB is the U500 series are stand-alone utilities and will not be a part of a larger iron set. Titleist will be leaving irons up to the T100, 200, and 300 series and let golfers mix and match combo sets as they see fit. Could we see a T400? Only time will tell (I seriously have no idea) but if the drivers drivers is any indication my golf club Spidey Sense is tingling.

The Technology of Titleist U500s

So how does Titleist plan to improve on what is already one of the most popular driving irons, the TMB? With more tech that draws inspiration from the Concept series and building clubs based on some highly requested attributes from their tour players.

Here’s the breakdown:

• A forged High Strength Steel “L-face insert” comes in at less than two millimeters thick and is built for speed.  The one-piece forged “L” face has variable thickness and wraps under the leading edge. This saves mass by removing welds in the area of the face and creates more discretionary weight on the heel and toe for increased MOI meaning faster ball speeds on anything hit outside of the sweet spot.
• Speaking to MASS, there is close to 100 grams of high-density Tungsten weight in each head—the average is 97 grams! That’s a LOT. To give you an idea of what that really means from a mass properties perspective (since it seems that almost every club nowadays is using tungsten): The average 2-iron final build head weight is 233 grams (based off standard length and normal club specs). 97 grams in 233 grams is 41.6 percent. So almost 43 percent of the U500’s heads mass is comprised of a material which is more than twice the mass of 17-4 steel used in the body. (Tungsten is 19.3 g/cm3 vs. 7.75 g/cm3). That’s the physics of forgiveness!

When talking to the design team at Titleist, the one thing that was brought up on a few occasions is why the Concept series is so important to them. Being able to use data and information gathered through the production and prototyping stages of those clubs then allows the engineers to bring those lessons to clubs being released on a grander scale. The biggest lesson in technology has been in developing thin, unsupported, fast faces for irons and understanding the materials and their limitations. But the other side of this is feel—you can make a face thin, but if the geometry isn’t right, you’ve just created a very fancy cowbell.

The Shaft Story

The one thing that has always limited driving iron utility clubs are the shaft options (from a stock perspective). These clubs are almost always (and in Titleist’s case always) are tapered heads. For experienced club builders, this isn’t a big deal, but for the general golfer that wants to get fit and order a club that they can take right to the course, options have been limited.

Titleist will be opening up its entire graphite hybrid shaft matrix to the new 500 series. Thanks to a consultation with its shaft suppliers and some new tools in the customer department, they will have the ability to make .370″ parallel shafts into .355″ Taper. This is something a lot of experienced builders already do, but bringing it to mass production has been limited. This is how graphite taper shafts are made already, and with a tool designed to do it on a grand scale, this opens up a lot more options for players.

The reason graphite (HZRDUS Smoke Black 90g in the U500 and 80g in the U510) is being used is at the request of tour players and the growing trend of graphite in these longer clubs. If you can maintain stability, increase distance and make it easier to swing why wouldn’t you?

Club Specs

• U500 will be available in: 2 (17°), 3 (20°), 4 (23°)
• U510 will be available in: 1 (16°), 2 (18°), 3 (20°), 4 (22°)

Both models will retail for $250

• More photos of the U500 and U510 irons in the forums.