Hybrids--get no respect

Anybody who says that may as well say "Real golfers don't hit really good golf shots." I have a 16* TaylorMade Rescue Mid (a 2-iron/5-wood replacement), and I can absolutely smoke that thing. It's also child's play to get out of the rough with believe it or not, and I can use it to bump and run around the green as well (you may recall Todd Hamilton won some tournament in Britain doing that ). It's probably the easiest club to hit in my bag, and without question the most versatile.

I probably could hit a 2-iron, I just don't have one. I rarely hit my 3-iron now that I have the hybrid, but my 4-iron is still one of my favorite clubs. All things being equal, most golfers would do well to swap out their 3, 4 and 5-irons for hybrids.

My take on golf is that technology is your friend. If you want to keep struggling with long irons, be my guest. But why would you do that when it can be so much easier????

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Mike Ryan
Rhinebeck, NY

TaylorMade R5 N, 8.5*
TaylorMade V-Steel, Aldila NV 65 Stiff, 13*
TaylorMade Rescue Mid, 25*
Mizuno MP-32, 4-PW
Cleveland Tour Action 588 Wedge, 52*, 56* & 60*
Scotty Cameron Studio Style Newport 2
Nike Tour Accuracy TW

"You can talk to a fade, but a hook won't listen."
- Lee Trevino

Not even quietly. A loooooooooooot of tour pro's use them nowadays. I got mine (a 16* Rescue Mid) after hearing that Retief Goosen uses that very club off the tee. (and it's great for that purpose, by the way - for whatever reason, I absolutely cannot hit a 5-wood...)

Last I checked he's what, 5th in the world with a couple of Major's under his belt...?

I believe my M4 is a mid-4 and is supposed to between 3i and 4i, cos those are the two irons that are missing in the set Unfortunately, I don't really hit it much further than I am hitting my 5i. But I'm sure things will change once I put in more practice in the longer clubs, as I've only been focusing on my irons since I started golf about 3 months ago.

Friend of mine has a 7 wood and loves it too. So I've also asked the question here before, my set consists of 1W, 4W, 4M, 5i-9i, PW, SW and putter. I feel as if there's quite a huge gap between the 4W and 5i, and I'm not sure if a single M4 is able to fill in that gap. Should I add another club somewhere in between that range/distance? Do people usually only carry one hybrid (and mainly as a replacement for the long irons)?

With the usual caveat that I'm my handicap is so high that only dogs can detect it...here's an answer.

I carry three hybrids. The first one I got was a 22* 3 hybrid. When I hit properly it goes about 180 yards. Very lovely satisfying impact feeling. It's also handy for those low punch shots from under tree. Then I got a 5 hybrid, 27* loft. Now, I hit with my regular 5 iron okay (as well as any club), so I didn't get the hybrid because I couldn't deal with the 5 iron. But I found I wasn't hitting the 5 much farther than the 6--about 150 yds. The 5h has a heavy club head, so it works well in the rough. I can hit 160-170 yds with it, and pretty straight. I also really like it for fairway bunkers, because I can sweep the ball right off the sand and get it in the air and still get some distance. And it's pretty good for chip shots!

The other hybrid is the one that started this thread. At the moment I haven't got the hang of it yet. But I'm keeping it in the bag to see if I can learn to use it.

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Todd
Philadelphia, PA
USA

The reason the pro tells you to keep your head down is so you can't see him laughing. ~Phyllis Diller

Utility clubs are the same as rescues, but hybrids are different, im not perfect, but i can kick ass with my baffler. its possibly the best club in my bag (except my baby, the 400sz )

they are so easy to hit, and stop quickly, im thinking of removing my 3i because although the baffler is a 2i loft, its so high and stops so quickly its got the same distance as my 3i.

my advice, use a rescue, even if you are off scratch, they replace your 3i and 4i and you can replace them with more valuable clubs, such as a HLW or a GW

L8RZ
Jamie

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Cobra 400 sz 9* w/ Aldila NV XS (300= )

Cobra sz 3 Wood w/ Aldila NV XS

Cobra Baffler 2/XS

Cleveland TA6 3-9 w/ True Temper DG X100

Titleist SM Vokey PW, SW & LW

Rossa Monza Corza w/ Aldila NVS (i found the shaft n it looks awesome )

POWAKADDY (i no im lazy, specially @ 15 )

I like Hybrids alot. As a matter of fact my whole set of clubs are Hybrids(3-sw).

[quote=ubizmo]"Real golfers don't use hybrids." I haven't heard anyone actually say this, but I've heard enough comments that conveyed the sentiment that the speaker wouldn't be caught dead using a hybrid.


I only have a 3h, it came with the set of clubs I bought. Try as I may, I can't use it. If I take twenty swings at the ball with the 3h I might make one good hit. Regular irons work best for me. That being said, my brother thinks they are the greatest thing since sliced bread. They are quite popular, I see a lot of people using them.

I'm a newbie, I've been playing about five months. The first time I ever hit a golf ball in my life (I'm 57) was when my wife and I moved to Florida last December. Our home overlooks the eighth fairway of a private course. How could I not play golf? LOL

I love the game. It's one of the few games someone my age can participate in and have the chance of being good at it.

I'll share some advice my brother gave to me. Don't keep score and forget your last shot, unless it was a good one. He said that I would know when it was time to start keeping score.

Enjoy the game, don't make it a job. My two cents.

God bless,

Tom

I think this might be a stupid question. How can you tell a hybrid from a utility club? As mentioned before, my Maruman Proliner G1 set comes with a M4, which replaces my 3i and 4i. My clubs also do not have the degree (loft?) labelled on them. So what's the next best way for me to go about identifying them and trying to see what might be a addition to my bag? The set currently comes with 11 clubs, and I can hit my 5i just as well as the other irons. I was hoping thinking of getting a 3i because at this point my M4 doesn't go much further than my 5i either

Hybrid, rescue, utility, trouble, iron-wood - these terms are all used to describe the club that is heavy like an iron, is relatively shorter-shafted like an iron, but resembles a wood.

I carry 3 hybrids - 19º, 22º, 26º. The replace my 3, 4, and 5 irons (although in a set circa 1980 or older, these would be 2,3,4 iron replacements).

@Simon - take your clubs to a place where they customize clubs. For a small fee, they'll check your lofts and lies.

Regarding loft of hybrids, isn't it less relevant to talk about naming conventions and loft angles than it is to talk about what club you are actually replacing?

I find that the most interesting part for me, anyway.

Whether the Cleveland HALO 22deg "3i" hybrid that is in my bag is designed to replace my 3 or 4 iron is irrelevant for me. What IS relevant, is what distance I get from it, so that I can fit it in with my other clubs in sensible increments.

As it is, it does replace my 3i well, settling in between my 5w distance of 200-210yds and my 4i distance of appx 180yds.

Since I could never hit my 3i well at all, and I hit the HALO rock solid on 90% of my shots, it has been a much welcomed replacement.

Don't focus on loft and labels. Get a demo club and take it to the range to see where it fits in your bag.

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//Mox
2008 bag:
Mizuno MX-500 460cc 10.5* Fujikura Tour Platform 26.3 stiff. (about to be replaced by MP-600 10,5* UST Proforce V2 stiff)
Mizuno F-50 3w 15* Fujikura Tour Platform 26.3 stiff.
Wilson Deep Red 5w 18* Graphalloy Fatshaft stiff
Cleveland HALO 3i hybrid 22* graphite regular
Mizuno MP-60e forged 5i-PW True Temper Dynamic gold R300 steel
Mizuno MP Black OX raw haze 50/6 GW, 54/9 SW, 58/10 LW
Heavy Putter B3-M
Titleist NXT Extreme

Good point. Loft angle only gives me a rough approximation of how the club will actually perform, given the idiosyncracies (many!) of my swing, and of the club itself.

I am one of those golfers whose iron shots tend to "max out" at about 160 yards. That is, with a good strike with my 5 iron I could go 160, but I could go nearly as far with my 6 iron, sometimes, just not as consistently. I replaced the 5 with a hybrid and I can get 170 yards pretty consistently with it. If I need 160, I use the 6i and hope for a good hit. Really, I should think in terms of ranges: 150-160 with the 6i, 140-150 with the 7i, and so forth.

My so-called "3 hybrid," which says it has 22* loft, is good for 180-200, and that's as far as I can hit anything from the fairway. I have a 17* Ram FX "recovery" hybrid that I bought in the hope of hitting 210 or more from the fairway, but at the moment I can't hit any farther with it than I can with my 3h, and I can't hit nearly as straight or consistently with it. I still carry it, in the hope that as my swing gets better (this seems to be slowly happening), I'll get to a point where this club will work for me, but I'm not there yet. I've tried using the 3w from the fairway, but that's not happening at all. That recovery club is meant to replace the 3w from the fairway, and maybe someday it will.

This isn't a bad situation, since I seldom really need to hit farther than 200 yards from the fairway--unless I have a really bad shot from the tee. But at this point, I think I'm better off using my practice time on the short game, rather than trying to smack buckets of balls over the horizon.

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Todd
Philadelphia, PA
USA

The reason the pro tells you to keep your head down is so you can't see him laughing. ~Phyllis Diller

Even the young guys on the PGA tour are beginning to use hybrids. Sean Ohair uses a Tour Edge J-Max 2h. He is featured in this months golf digest "What's in the Bag". He has very good things to say about his hybrid.

To date I have only tried a couple of Hybrids, a Taylor Made rescue on a 16* loft and a Callaway Heavenwood on a 20* loft. I hated the TM but liked the Callaway. I think I will be slotting one into the bag in the near future and trying to get used to it over the winter. I have dropped the 5 wood in favour of a 2 iron so will probably drop the 2 iron in favour of a 18-20* hybrid.

Overall, hybrids are a good thing. I'm not a huge fan of replacing everything up to the 6 (sorry lowpost) but I can see how it would appeal. I think its only a matter of time until we have sets of 2H-4H with cavity backed 5-7 and blade 8-PW. It seems more and more players are deciding that the matched set isnt always the best idea and select the clubs that work rather than the clubs that go together.

I personally find no difference between the 20* and a 2 iron when I hit them well, its when I dont hit them well that the advantage in the hybrid becomes apparent. Again its the old on about sacrificing a club you draw maybe once a round for one you might pull 4 or 5 times a round, its simple math. And for all the naysayers who think they arent trad enough, its not how, it's how many.....

D

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Longniddry Golf Club Champ 2005.

In the Taylor Made Bag:

Callaway FT-3 Tour 9.5 Aldila NV 65S

Callaway Steelhead 3 Wood

Callaway Steelhead 5 Wood

Callaway X-16 3-PW

MacGregor Tourney 52 Degree

Cobra Phil Rodgers 59 Degree Rusty

Odyssey DFX 2-Ball

Callaway Tour iX

I use a John Leters rescue club.

It comes out when my 3 iron won't do the job (thick rough) and I wouldn't be without it.
It comes into it's own around the greens as you can use it from the rough as a putter that gets the ball airborne for a short distance.
It has taken a few strokes off my score as you never ever chunk a chip with it.

All in all a hybrid/rescue club is worth it's weight in gold ,but I wouldn't use them to replace any of my irons as I hit them better than hybrids overall.

Use whatever lowers your score as that is the goal!

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Ping Hoofer 2

SMT O2 9 degree
Callaway Steelhead+ 5 Wood
John Letters Tu 22 degree Rescue Wood

SMT 303 CB2 4 to PW
Dynamic Gold R300 spined.


SMT Durometer Green 51* ,55* ,59* Wedges


White Hot 2 Ball Putter

Titleist ProV1