Too many times when I speak to amateur golfers about what kind of clubs they have in their bag, I find out that they do not have any hybrids. Why not?! Hybrids/”rescue clubs” are the biggest technological advancement that has been made in golf club technology in the past 15 years.
Let us first define the purpose of a hybrid. A hybrid is designed to replace a long (or even mid) iron that you have trouble hitting consistently. The key word is “consistently”. If I can hit a 3 iron 200 yards when I get it good, but I only hit it good 3 out of 10 tries, then I don’t need a 3 iron. I need a hybrid.
Today manufacturers make a lot of different varieties of hybrids and hybrid iron sets. Most golfers can benefit from a #3 and #4 iron hybrid at minimum. A lot of golfers can benefit from a #5 or even #6 iron hybrid as well. Hybrids have bigger sweet spots, so they are more forgiving, and the weight of the head makes them more stable through impact.
Golf is hard enough. Why make it more difficult? I know the “idea” of hitting a forged 2 iron from a tight lie to tucked pin seems like a dream… but it is more like a nightmare… particularly when you thin it into a bunker or a water hazard. When you are buying golf equipment you should be looking to invest in something that is helpful for your game, not what you see the guys on TV playing. Next to no one playing professional golf plays a 2 iron any more. A majority of the players playing on the PGA tour don’t play a traditional 3 iron, and some don’t even carry a 4 iron any longer.
A good barometer for whether or not you need a hybrid replacement for a particular iron has to do with your misses, and in particular distance control. If you only hit a club solid 3 out of 10 times (or even 5 out of 10 times), and your misses are shorter than 75% of your target distance, you should be using a hybrid in replacement of that particular iron.
If you need help deciding where in your bag you should start replacing irons with hybrids, stop by Golf ETC and we can help you find the perfect set makeup of woods, hybrids, and irons to fit your game.
