Rescue / Utility clubs

Mister Sifter

Not sure if there has been a thread on this already...

How many of you have switched to rescue clubs and taken out your long irons?

I'm quite tempted to pick up a 19 degree one to replace my three iron. Had a go of a couple recently and they are really easy to hit. Much more so than my 3 iron which i've been turning over alot recently.

Opinions on the rescue club phenomenon??

copacetic

I have a rescue that I carry in place of a 3 iron and 5 wood. It lets me carry an extra wedge.
I like my 4 iron off the tee sometimes though so doubt i would replace that. Since most of the pros carry a rescue now can't see why anyone wouldn't tbh. Harrington actually said he thought no handicap golfer had any business carrying anything lower than a 5 iron on a whats in the bag feature on bbc at the open.

One Cold Hand

Yeah interesting one. I watched 3 full days of the Open and was surprised by how many of the pros used them. I know they've been out for a good few years but I always assumed they were a sort of gimick aimed at higher handicapped golfers. I assumed that pros/ low handicappers wouldn't get much feel or control out of them, so I never got one (oops that sounds like I called myself a pro - far from it!)

Anyway I been meaning to pick one up the see what they're all about. I never got around to it but was having a look in McGuirks and I see that Taylor Made and all the top brand now have them on the market.

(that of no help to you OP cos I've never actually hit one!)

Mister Sifter

Yeh, Harrington was raving about them. Even Mickelson has at least one in the bag now i think.

McGuirks has the Cleveland Halo at 150 euro at the moment. Not a bad deal, although there seem to be very few other rescues reduced at the moment (probably a sign of how well they are selling!).

Today's Golfer last month had a very good feature on them. Reviewed quite a lot of them. The Cobra Baffler DWS came out on top.

One Cold Hand

What did they think of the Taylor Made ones? I thought they looked pretty nice....

Mister Sifter

One Cold Hand wrote:

What did they think of the Taylor Made ones? I thought they looked pretty nice....

From what i remember they got a good write up too. I have it at home and will post up what they said after work.

1916

I have the TM # 6 Rescue, its superb, its to hit and get great loft out of it. I'm fearful of hitting a long iron of the deck, but need a bit of extra length so thinking of a # 4 Rescue (midway between a 4-5 iron)

1916

Adiaga 2

I recently added a 19deg rescue to my bag. Love it from the tee or fairway/semi. It's more of a 2iron/5wood replacement(5 wood in my case). I'd say it probably goes a whisker further than my old 5 wood even with the shoter shaft and it's much easier to hit. For a 3iron replacement you might be better going for a 21deg. I got the TM r7 Rescue - set up neutral.

Thanks for the elmgreen info btw.

Mister Sifter

Adiaga 2 wrote:

I recently added a 19deg rescue to my bag. Love it from the tee or fairway/semi. It's more of a 2iron/5wood replacement(5 wood in my case). I'd say it probably goes a whisker further than my old 5 wood even with the shoter shaft and it's much easier to hit. For a 3iron replacement you might be better going for a 21deg. I got the TM r7 Rescue - set up neutral.

Thanks for the elmgreen info btw.

no probs. yeh, i think you could be right about the 21 degrees. i'll need to have a look about this wkend!

quigo

I bought a rescue wood a few years ago but have never been able to hit it at all well... so much so that I replaced it with a gap wedge. Recently I have been hitting my long irons much better. Im considering replacing my 3wood with the 3 iron. I must be the only one replacing woods with irons

I know plenty of golfers that are having great success with them, I just prefer the control that irons (imo) offer.

madds

Graeme1982 wrote:

McGuirks has the Cleveland Halo at 150 euro at the moment. Not a bad deal, although there seem to be very few other rescues reduced at the moment (probably a sign of how well they are selling!).

I treated myself to one of these over the weekend for 2 reasons -

1. I am not hitting my 5-wood consistently well from either the fairway/rough

2. I very rarely use my 3-iron and only use it on rare occasions from the tee.

Hit it for the first time last night whilst playing 9 holes. I must say I am very impressed with it, and so were my 3 playing partners. It's a 22 degree loft (and is marked "3i" on the club head) with a stiff shaft, and I was easily hitting it straight as an arrow 210-230 yards off the tee which is what I hoping for.

Had one particular nasty lie in the rough on our par 5 5th. Normally I would look to get a 5/6 iron at it, make a solid enough connection and force it up the fairway. The Halo on the other hand just swept through the rough with no resistance. Very impressed. So I have removed the 5-wood and 3-iron from the bag.

The head also looks very attractive behind the ball which I think is very important. I'm playing Courtown GC (heaven!) on Sunday and I found myself dropping off to sleep last night thinking about the holes I'll use the Halo on!

All in all, very satisfied.

JCDUB

I have a nice G5 19deg, stiff prolaunch shaft, which is an absolute breeze to make beautiful contact with from both rough and fairway.
Having said that I still hit my 3 iron regularly off the deck and the tee from time to time, suppose I'm just used to it and I hit it relatively straight, if it ain't broke.....
But overall I'd recommend having one in the bag defo, the amount of times it's gotten me out of the sh1tty long stuff and up to greenside where normally I would have only been able to hack a 6 iron to the fairway definitely makes it worth the money.
Think I paid €150 for mine but not sure...

BrianD3

I don't have one and have no plans to get one. Now seeing as I have never tried one I couldn't comment on how good they are. All I'll say about them is I don't like the look of them and kind of feel that they are an easy way out in place of practicing irons. I know this attitude is illogical and silly especially seeing as pros are now using rescue clubs. It should be said though that there is a certain "macho" appeal to hitting long irons and it's also really satisfying if you can consistently nail your long irons. IMO a lot of the problems that people have with long irons is down to lack of confidence, lack of practice and to a certain extent lack of clubhead speed. If you have no confidence with a club then you're not going to use it much so then you get little practice and it becomes a self perpetuating thing.

PhilipMarlowe

I tried a friends one a few years ago without liking it but have recently bought a ping rapture 19 degree to replace my 5 wood and am very happy with it. I still have my 3 iron and like hitting it so it is not a replacement for a long iron in my case, just instead of the 5 wood.
Actually it reminds me of an old timber ping 5 wood I used to use which was great from the semi....

BrianD3, imo there really isn't as much overlap between a rescue and a long iron as you might think. You will sometimes see pro's hitting them off the tee but their real value is hitting the ball a long distance from the rough where a long iron would close right over and be often rubbish (ask romero in the open). I've played with a european tour pro and seen him hit his second shot miles on a par 5 from the rough and onto the green in 2 on another par 5 again from the rough... had he been on the fairway he would have used iron.
It's not a machismo thing, it's right club for the right shot.

One Cold Hand

BrianD3 wrote:

It should be said though that there is a certain "macho" appeal to hitting long irons and it's also really satisfying if you can consistently nail your long irons.

Admit it Brian, under your 3-wood head cover you have a rescue club!! Go on admit it!! And your 3-iron has never been hit!

Your the type of person that I'm terrified of. When I have a match and I walk onto the tee and meet Brian, really tanned and leaning on a 1-iron!! It's then I know i'm in for a tough match!!

BrianD3

I have the 1 iron but the tan needs work

Going back to the rescue clubs as I said my comments are very probably illogical and silly however I grew up in a golfing family where clubs like 7 and 9 woods, jiggers etc. were looked down on as being gimmicks for those who couldn't play. So it's no wonder I am dubious about rescue clubs.

Par72

I'm really tempted to get one of these. Which loft should I get? I want to replace my 4 iron. I already have a 3, 5 & 7 wood so I basically want to get something that goes the same distance as the 4 iron. I chucked out the 3 iron ages ago in favour of the 7 wood (which I love).

padlad

I have a two halos a 16 1i and a 22 3i in my bag, love both clubs. The 3i I would use from anywhere - I can hit it about the same as my 4/5 iron only it gets the ball up in air much easier. The 1i I use as a 3/5 wood replacement. Would have no prob recommending the halo's, v easy to hit and get good height and distance.

Mister Sifter

padlad wrote:

I have a two halos a 16 1i and a 22 3i in my bag, love both clubs. The 3i I would use from anywhere - I can hit it about the same as my 4/5 iron only it gets the ball up in air much easier. The 1i I use as a 3/5 wood replacement. Would have no prob recommending the halo's, v easy to hit and get good height and distance.

thanks for that padlad.

just out of interest, which irons do you take out?

copacetic

I currently use a callaway ft hybrid, previously I had a heavenwood and a rescue mid. The heavenwood is quite iron like as I played it with a steel shaft.
I have had the 3 iron replacement in all of them, so 20-21 degree.

Currently with the FT hybrid in the bag I don't play a 5 wood or a 3 iron, the hybrid lets you play either low drilling draws like a 3 iron or high floating 5 wood type shots.

Apart from this the main benefits are playing it from the rough in heavy lies as mentioned above and mish1ts off the tee. I caught a tee shot a bit thin last week, what would have been a 150 yard 3 iron was a low 220 yard hybrid, can't argue with that!

padlad

i don't have a 3 iron or a 5 wood

Par72

Well I got a 24 degree one of these today http://www.mcguirksgolf.com/hybrids/rescues/callaway-golf-x-series-hybrid-wood-p-1941.html
Looking forward to giving it a lash.

Mister Sifter

Went for a Cobra baffler DWS in the end... pretty pleased with it too.