Why are hybrids called "rescue clubs" ?!?!?

I see more people using hybrids in the middle of fairways trying to get distance as opposed to in the nasty rough ... just curious why hybrids are called rescue clubs ?        Personally, I have never had great success with them in the really rough stuff ... wondering if it was just a marketing scheme back when they were introduced ?       I know what I use mine for, but I would like to know what exactly they are best suited for by those more experienced than I (or perhaps if a hybrid has replaced some other club in the bag)  ... thanks !

I don't know if this is THE reason, but Taylor Made was one of the first to have success in the hybrid market, and their hybrids were branded Rescue.

I think originally they were considered a club for rescuing a bad drive but what lie it was from I don't know.  The promo on today's hybrids says that they're all fabulous from any lie but with all the different shapes and soles some seem better for certain lies.  My Wishons have a shallow face and a sole that works for me better from the fairway or sparse/hardpan rough.  But someone else could look at the same club and insist it was built for deep rough, (like 1 of my golfing buddies does).

I think the term Rescue is much like the term Kleenex or Xerox. One company used it for their product and it became popular with many people who then refer to any similar product as that name.

The term "rescue club" is possibly used more by people who own, or have considered owning, TaylorMade clubs.  I remember when a few brands copied the old Stan Leonard Ginty and just like "Kleenex", that type of fairway wood was called a Ginty regardless of brand. I still think that style of hybrid is the one best referred to as a "rescue club". It's designed for players who can't hit a mid-iron very far.

I looked at a lot of hybrids before I finally bought one, and virtually nobody was calling the type I lookd at "rescue clubs".

An older model... I have one, and love it.

Back in the hickory shaft days, golfers could get wooden clubs with smaller heads for getting them out of the rough. The wooden cleek (early 4 wood) was one such club, as was the bulldog. The bulldog had a shorter shaft, about 27* loft, and very small head - about the width of 2 golf balls. The small head was designed cut through the rough with little resistance and pop the ball back to the fairway. From vintage clubs I have seen, the bulldog looks the most like a modern hybrid.

It Rescues you from hitting a bad shot with you 3 iron?

Not that everybody hits their 3 iron bad, but maybe thats what they meant?

Rescue is just a model name used by Taylormade.  So maybe people started referring Hybrids as Rescues.   Personally I like to call it hybrid because they are the hybrid of Iron and Fairway wood.   And it's not always the Rescue club from a bad lie or rough.

Now players (like me) use hybrids as a complete substitute for long irons, but originally they were considered just for rescuing you from trouble.  The main reason is because you  can still hit a good shot with most hybrids from rough where you would have no chance at all with a long iron.  Long irons are difficult to impossible from any sort of thick rough, and it doesn't have to be that tall if the ball is sitting down a bit.  The clubface on an iron will grab the grass and kill your clubhead speed.  Sometimes it will catch the hosel and close the clubface causing the ball to fly short and left.  The more rounded shape of the hybrid slides through the grass, often with little impedance at all.

They are also known as "utility' clubs. And I found this to be true for me on Monday when I played a rock hard frozen course. I was about 30yards from the pin. To close to chip as the ground was to hard and would've blade the ball. So I used my hybrid to knock it onto the green. It worked great!

Some replace the three iron, some replace other clubs.  My TM Rescue has I think 16* of loft?  Maybe 15?  For a while my bag cosisted of Driver, Rescue, 1 iron, 2 iron, 3 and so on.

Now it is Driver, 2 iron, 3 iron, etc.   I hit the hybrid off the tee on tight or short par 4's and hit it about 215 or so.  Maybe a little longer when I want to go after it.  off the fairway on long par 5's, out of the rough if needed when the lie is decent, etc.  It has never replaced the three iron for me, but mine has less loft than probably 90% of them out there....

So r

I go with this.

Or, as David Feherty says,  FUTILITY clubs.  The way I hit one today, from the rough into a fairway bunker, it was a purely futile attempt.