Paul Gallagher looks at the different brands of rescue clubs available on the irish market today

Rescue clubs, or utility woods as they are often referred to, have made their way into virtually every golf bag it seems. And at the expense of the traditional three or four iron they appear destined to stay because of their forgiving nature and ease of play.

Little-known American Todd Hamilton, winner of last year's British Open at Royal Troon, played a significant role in boosting the club's popularity when using a Sonartec version with great proficiency to deny the people's favourite Ernie Els over the Ayrshire links 12 months ago.

This week we took a closer look at the different brands of rescue clubs that are available through Ireland's leading high street golf retailers.

"The TaylorMade Rescue Mid is the far the most popular version with us," explains Mark Broderick, head buyer for GolfWorks. "More and more people are replacing their two, three and four irons with rescue clubs because they are much more forgiving and easier to hit.

"When Todd Hamilton and other professionals were seen using these clubs it broke down the barrier for amateur golfers to start availing of them," said Phil O'Keefe from Nevada Bobs.

"Previous to Hamilton's win these clubs started off as a driving iron, then morphed into the utility club/rescue club but a lot of club golfers' were still unsure or unwilling to use it."

Today they are one of the hottest products in the golf equipment market and are fast becoming a permanent fixture as they continually replace low irons in golf kits right across the spectrum.

The leading brand name clubs tend to start at around €150 and rise to €200 depending on what specification - such as shaft type and loft degree - is desired. That said, there are other models available of this hybrid club for around €100.

Representatives at McGuirk's Golf and the Golf Centre near Belfast both find the Nickent 3DX is a big seller. "Nickent is by far our most popular model and would outsell anything by at least 10 to one," explained Gavin Irwin at McGuirks. With a standard graphite shaft the Nickent is available for €109 or €139 if opting for a higher spec Aldila shaft.

Similarly, Broderick brings our attention to the Hogan Hybrid "which had just come onto the market and is very popular at €149." Or the Colt MTD Utility wood is available for as little as €109 at GolfWorks. Nevada Bobs make reference to the Platinum Retro from Sky Golf for €80. O'Keefe noted that one of his colleagues recently tried out the Retro while playing in the East of Ireland at Baltray a few weeks ago and has since bought one.

These rescue clubs, which have the aesthetic feel of a fairway wood and a low iron merged into one, are proving so popular that they've even forced buying trends to change. Quite often the high street retailer is only buying sets of irons from the four or five iron to sand wedge from the manufacturer - instead of three iron to sand wedge. All because they anticipate golfers will want a rescue club as part of their set.

It was generally accepted that the Cobra Baffler, Callaway Heaven Wood and the Mizuno Fli-Hi, along with the TaylorMade, were the most popular brand names, while lesser known brands compete well on price.

Strangely, none of the retailers gave mention to the Sonartec version which brought Hamilton so much success.