are you sure you need a hybrid ?

[chisag]

Am I sure I need a hybrid? Absolutely. And you probably do too. Since most of the Tour Pros have them and even Tiger has one, then you probably should also.

 

Now wait a minute. Tiger does have one. Although this goes to the definition of what is a hybrid.

 

There were originally two types of hybrids. One base on a fairway wood (metal) and one based on an iron. One of the fist iron based hybrids that I used was the Mizuno MP-FLI Hi, maybe 12 years ago. This club is still in my bag although it has had many shafts in it. There are plenty of other club makers who have these also, Ping calls theirs Crossovers and TM calls theirs UDI. But it's the same principle. A higher speed steel face and a hollow body that creates more ball speed.

 

This technology started out in the long irons, but many have the complete set based on that now. The MP H4 and MP H5 are the ones I'm the most familiar with, but that's because I am obviously a Mizuno fan.

 

I also have SLDR 3H and 4H, but like many of you I have to guard against the pull more with these. Yes, because they are longer shafts and a "wood" like design the go farther, but, honestly, I am a bit afraid of them and am leaning more towards going back to the FLI HI's.

 

I have both in the bag to take to the range tomorrow and will probably have at least the 4 in the bag this weekend if not both the 3 and the 4.

 

I sometimes carry the MP FLI HI 2 but currently don't have plans to do so right now. I have to either replace a wedge or the 3 wood.

 

I also have the 3 and 4 irons from the set and there is no comparison between a true 3 iron and an iron hybrid, FLI HI, Crossover, UDI or what ever you want to call it.

 

 

... I think the lines have been blurred by SGI long irons that are basically iron like hybrids. Some of the guys on tour were using more forgiving 3 or 2 irons from a GI category and the OEMs started making more clubs like the UDi that looks like a long iron at address. The Fly Hi used to be pretty big with an obvious trailing edge visible to the eye but the newer model looks like a long iron at address and this has been a trend. I will say my P790 3 iron at 19* really is similar to the Fly Hi so 3 irons in some players sets have changed in recent years, although obviously irons like the Titleist 718 MB, CB and AP2 still needs a T-MB iron like hybrid if they was that kind of forgiveness and additional trajectory. But you will not find much difference between an AP1 and a Fly Hi. 

... I love that the entire spectrum is now covered for hybrids for any golfer from a long iron look in the P790/Fli Hi/X Forged to a more hybdiddy looking Ping Crossover/DHY to a full out wood like hybrid for a 20 to a 2 index player. 

[RoverRick]

... I think the lines have been blurred by SGI long irons that are basically iron like hybrids. Some of the guys on tour were using more forgiving 3 or 2 irons from a GI category and the OEMs started making more clubs like the UDi that looks like a long iron at address. The Fly Hi used to be pretty big with an obvious trailing edge visible to the eye but the newer model looks like a long iron at address and this has been a trend. I will say my P790 3 iron at 19* really is similar to the Fly Hi so 3 irons in some players sets have changed in recent years, although obviously irons like the Titleist 718 MB, CB and AP2 still needs a T-MB iron like hybrid if they was that kind of forgiveness and additional trajectory. But you will not find much difference between an AP1 and a Fly Hi. 

... I love that the entire spectrum is now covered for hybrids for any golfer from a long iron look in the P790/Fli Hi/X Forged to a more hybdiddy looking Ping Crossover/DHY to a full out wood like hybrid for a 20 to a 2 index player. 

 

Exactly.

[cnosil]

Good video on YouTube today from TXG where they compare A hybrid and the p790 UDI. If you dont want to watch the message is that depending on the players goals, desired trajectory, spin needs, and distance the clubs along with fairway woods all work very well. Driving iron has flattest trajectory lowest spin, hybrids are mid trajectory and spin, and fairways are high spin and trajectory.

[Brian A]

Just had this discussion with my instructor because apparently I carry too many clubs (16 Driver, 3/5 Wood, 4 Hybrid, 4-AW, 3 wedges and a putter) He suggested getting rid of the hybrid or changing per course. I love my hybrid and depending on how I am hitting the ball, my 3/5 wood becomes my tee shot club. Love my 4 iron for low punch shots as I am usually in the trees. So needless to say, still not sure what 2 club to pull.  

[skrupa15]

I used to carry two hybrids (strong and weak loft).  I replaced the weak lofted hybrid with a very forgiving (Mizuno JPZ EZ) 4 iron and I haven't looked back.  Boy did this make a big difference in the make up of my set.

[Waazzupppp]

I've played a 1 or 2 iron with my Wilson blades for as long as I can remember. The 1 iron was a 260 yard club off the tee, but practically useless out of the fairway (unless you want to hit it 230 yds about 5 feet off the ground) and the 2 iron just didn't have as much carry as my newer blades. Then I started using a swing tracker on course (I use GolfPadGPS for the record) and saw a startling number - I only hit 20% of my approach shots well with a 3 iron and 27% of the 4 irons... At the 5 iron, the percentage jumped to about 50%. To make things worse, 3 out of 5 of my longer irons were classified as "mishits" by the app - that means they went nowhere near where they should have.)

 

So, this winter I tested the idea of replacing the 1-3-4 irons in my bag with a 17°, 20° and 23° hybrid. My big concern was how they would gap into my set, which basically runs 135 PW, 150 9 iron, 165 8 iron, 180 7 iron, 195 6 iron and 210 5 iron. Well, the 23° was a wash hitting about even with my 5, but the 20° was a great find at 215-220 and the 17° is the perfect replacement for my 1 iron as it goes about 260 off the tee and 230-235 out of the fairway. For the record, I HATE FAIRWAY WOODS.... I've never been able to hit them, and I have tried getting fitted and even had a professional check things out who was baffled that I could hit a solid drive, gorgeous 1 iron off the turf and had zero distance issues, but I couldn't get a 16° fairway wood to go normal. I guess it's just me?

 

Anyways, I was never a fan of the replacement of long irons with hybrids, but after making the plunge this off-season, I can see the move helping a ton of players. That said, the "new tech" long irons offer basically the same concept as a hybrid, so it may not be necessary to make that move from the stock irons over. I know for my blades, it did make a huge difference for me.

[RoverRick]

... and saw a startling number - I only hit 20% of my approach shots well with a 3 iron and 27% of the 4 irons... At the 5 iron, the percentage jumped to about 50%. To make things worse, 3 out of 5 of my longer irons were classified as "mishits" by the app - that means they went nowhere near where they should have.)....

 

I am sure that the majority of golfers would have the same startling results.

 

I have one friend who plays a old Burner driver. (I'll call him BG for Bruner guy.)

 

 

BG hits this off the deck as a second shot on most par 5's and whenever he needs the distance of a 3 wood or more with probably 80% great results. BG has tried newer drivers but this one works well for him off the deck so he continues to bag this.

 

I have another friend (I'll call RBZ, you can guess what his driver was at the time.) who is inspired by BG and constantly hits driver off the deck. One weekend, I recorded his results. While BG averages 230+ with his driver off the deck. RBZ averaged 127 with his. However, RBZ did hit one (out of 20 attempts when I recorded it.) to the green at 240 yards.

 

RBZ told me he averaged hitting his driver 250 off the deck, because he did do that one time.

 

The moral of this story is that because he did not track every attempt and only remembered the great (lucky) shot, he perceived that he was hitting that shot better than he actually was. The reality was he could have hit an 8 or 9 iron and been much closer to the flag, let alone a longer club and get close to the green. Granted, he never would have hit that 1 green.

[cksurfdude]

 

 

Am I sure I need a hybrid? Absolutely. And you probably do too. Since most of the Tour Pros have them and even Tiger has one, then you probably should also.

....

 

When Tom Watson's DVD came out I had to have it; but in it is a section on hybrids ... with an anecdote about how it was his most-used club at his last British Open ... which he very nearly won at age 59...!

[cksurfdude]

I *do* need a hybrid, and yes - I do like hitting my irons.

 

But I started golf much later in life and it had taken me several seasons to start to hit the 6i well enough and then one more to start to hit the 5i well.

 

So I _need_ a hybrid......

 

Tried a bunch of different ones over the years including Cobra Bafflers, Adams Tight Lies, TM Rescue and more recently the Ping Crossover.

 

Currently I carry a Callaway XR 4H (22°) and it is a true utility club for me - eg. yesterday made a great punch-out from deep under a wide spreading old oak with it; used a small pitching motion and the ball went low and out to where I was aiming (yea!).

 

So I'm able to use it effectively from a variety of lies .. where I would not have the confidence (ability...... ) with a long iron....

[chisag]

The moral of this story is that because he did not track every attempt and only remembered the great (lucky) shot, he perceived that he was hitting that shot better than he actually was. The reality was he could have hit an 8 or 9 iron and been much closer to the flag, let alone a longer club and get close to the green. Granted, he never would have hit that 1 green.

 

 

... The Cobra Connect by Arccos is an amazing truth teller. After the round when you track your drives, the 278 yd drive you hit turns out to be 251 when you take into count the tee box was up front as well as the pin and the GPS measures your drive as the crow flies, not subtracting distance to pin from the hole distance on the scorecard. I hit some huge drives in Phoenix with hot air, elevation and hard fairways that gave me a false idea of how far I hit my driver, but especially how far I carry my driver on average. Back home in the Chicago area where we have had a very wet spring and summer that driver yardage is very humbling. 

 

... There is a dogleg left on one of my favorite courses and when I laser the bunker guarding the corner, I have seen yardages of around 240 + or - but it does have a high lip which makes it play a little longer. When swinging well I have taken on those bunkers with probably around a 40% success rate. After tracking my drives with Arccos, I can see why I come up short 60% of the time. So now unless I have a wind at my back I do not even consider trying to fly those bunkers because I have a more realistic idea of how far I carry my driver on average. And it ain't 240+. 

[BIG STU]

I've played a 1 or 2 iron with my Wilson blades for as long as I can remember. The 1 iron was a 260 yard club off the tee, but practically useless out of the fairway (unless you want to hit it 230 yds about 5 feet off the ground) and the 2 iron just didn't have as much carry as my newer blades. Then I started using a swing tracker on course (I use GolfPadGPS for the record) and saw a startling number - I only hit 20% of my approach shots well with a 3 iron and 27% of the 4 irons... At the 5 iron, the percentage jumped to about 50%. To make things worse, 3 out of 5 of my longer irons were classified as "mishits" by the app - that means they went nowhere near where they should have.)

 

So, this winter I tested the idea of replacing the 1-3-4 irons in my bag with a 17°, 20° and 23° hybrid. My big concern was how they would gap into my set, which basically runs 135 PW, 150 9 iron, 165 8 iron, 180 7 iron, 195 6 iron and 210 5 iron. Well, the 23° was a wash hitting about even with my 5, but the 20° was a great find at 215-220 and the 17° is the perfect replacement for my 1 iron as it goes about 260 off the tee and 230-235 out of the fairway. For the record, I HATE FAIRWAY WOODS.... I've never been able to hit them, and I have tried getting fitted and even had a professional check things out who was baffled that I could hit a solid drive, gorgeous 1 iron off the turf and had zero distance issues, but I couldn't get a 16° fairway wood to go normal. I guess it's just me?

 

Anyways, I was never a fan of the replacement of long irons with hybrids, but after making the plunge this off-season, I can see the move helping a ton of players. That said, the "new tech" long irons offer basically the same concept as a hybrid, so it may not be necessary to make that move from the stock irons over. I know for my blades, it did make a huge difference for me.

Shoot I like that little 5 foot high stinger off the fairway. Runs like it stole something even with a cut. I can actually control that stinger 1 2 or 3 iron better than I can a FW wood

[yaksta]

Handy club in a lot of situations. I need to practice more around the greens with it. We have a few shorter par 4's on my home course and I can get this inside 100m for my approach. Also find it handy bumping balls back to fairways from under trees. I have an old Callaway XHot 21degree .

[RoverRick]

I may have finally found the proper hybrid/shaft combination for me. I have search for many years. The Hogan CFT's were great, but after 15 years and numerous shaft changes, these finally weren't keeping up. All the others would hook left.

 

The Mizzie FLI HI irons that I wrote about earlier were my go to clubs, but these only worked great when I was having a good day. Ironically, when I was swinging great with other hybrids, I did not get good results, but a poorer swing would give better results.

 

The R11 Rescue was also one that I could hit straight, but while the 4H was awesome, the 3H was a lower ball flight that I never really liked, but I did not fear it, like some other hybrids.

 

Finally, I swapped to the SLDR's and after putting a PXv in the 4H and Tour AD-DI in the 3H I finally have 2 hybrids I can hit consistently with the right amount of forgiveness but not too much bias and the ball flight that I want.

[azstu324]

I have no 5w and I replaced my 3 hybrid with an ironwood, which actually works much better for me. If the new 4 iron works out the hybrids will go away.

 

IMG_10.jpg

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

oh the old Giga TRX! Played those for a couple seasons. Great club. Also tried the single length set for a season. Another really solid component company to check out is Maltby. They offer more along the lines of forged/player style clubs. 

[300UpTheMiddle]

I think hybrids are better from out of the rough, helping you escape easier and giving you distance out of there. I do use my hybrid on the fairway sometimes, but I prefer to use a low iron if I can.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using MyGolfSpy

[tehuti]

Duplicate.