Utility woods were developed for those of us who have a difficult time with long irons. Esp. those of us who do not a have tour type swing speeds that are required to get the most out of long irons.They have been around a lot longer that most think. From personal experience, I purchaced my first utility club,a 7 wood, in 1974. It carried about the same distance as a 3 iron but so much easier to hit. In my area , esp. during during mid-summer, our greens are like cement. So even if you could strike the long irons well, holding the greens with them were damn near impossible. My shots with the 7 wood would leave the club with 8 iron height and finish with 3 iron distance, landing soft on our baked greens.
They are becoming more popular on the tour for basically the same reason,there easy to hit and they hold well. Vijay for example not only carries a 7 wood now, but a 9 wood also, they are just so damn easy to hit. The one thing when considering purchasing one, make sure it is a low profile type. I've seen some 7 woods that rival my old 3 wood in size,not what you want.
Give them a try Mr. Slice, they make several with some nice offset features that just might have you hitting a soft draw with them.