Playing hybrids rather than irons

[CharlieB]

I’m really struggling to hit my irons. I have tried several brands-models. I am thinking about playing all hybrids. Are any of you playing these in place of regular irons? Cobra T Rails look like a nice club, but I would have to have covers on all of them so they stay nice. Any other brands, or models I should consider?

[ChetlovesMer]

I hit the Cleveland Launchers HB (High Bore) the other day and found them fun and easy to hit. The newer ones are called Cleveland Launcher HB Turbos. I'll be honest with you last year's model felt almost exactly the same. 

Wilson Launch pads are pretty similar to the Clevelands' and a bit lower cost. 

If you are really looking for value, the other one to check out is Tour Edge Iron Woods. They are almost giving those away. 

[boogielicious]

12 hours ago, CharlieB said:

I’m really struggling to hit my irons. I have tried several brands-models. I am thinking about playing all hybrids. Are any of you playing these in place of regular irons? Cobra T Rails look like a nice club, but I would have to have covers on all of them so they stay nice. Any other brands, or models I should consider?

Hybrids can help replace long irons, but I would recommend trying to figure out what issue you have and fix that. If you start a My Swing thread in the Member Swings section, folks will help. Your swing is really similar throughout the set. Fix it for all shots.

[cooke119]

13 hours ago, ChetlovesMer said:

I hit the Cleveland Launchers HB (High Bore) the other day and found them fun and easy to hit. The newer ones are called Cleveland Launcher HB Turbos. I'll be honest with you last year's model felt almost exactly the same. 

Wilson Launch pads are pretty similar to the Clevelands' and a bit lower cost. 

If you are really looking for value, the other one to check out is Tour Edge Iron Woods. They are almost giving those away. 

I play these hybrid irons, love them. I've always used hybrids for anything over my 6 iron and hit them well. I watched a review by Mark Crossfield and based on that I gave them a try. I ended up buying a set, 4 through GW. I would not recommend the GW, save your self a few bucks, I took it out and replaced it with a 52* Cleveland wedge, much better.

The hybrid irons I realize are not to everyone's liking but for me, at 68 years old and three back surgeries they work.

[ChetlovesMer]

Just now, cooke119 said:

I play these hybrid irons, love them. I've always used hybrids for anything over my 6 iron and hit them well. I watched a review by Mark Crossfield and based on that I gave them a try. I ended up buying a set, 4 through GW. I would not recommend the GW, save your self a few bucks, I took it out and replaced it with a 52* Cleveland wedge, much better.

The hybrid irons I realize are not to everyone's liking but for me, at 68 years old and three back surgeries they work.

Just curious, do you put covers on them?
When I was hitting them, I kept thinking "It's a hybrid it should have a cover." 

The other question I have for you is why no GW? I actually really liked the GW. (Granted, I was just tinkering with them.) But I found the GW with the Cleveland Launchers went 110 to 115 yards dead straight every time. I would imagine if you wanted to do other "wedge type things" with the GW it wouldn't work, but I liked it. Besides I have a sand wedge and a lob wedge for those "wedge type things." I face tons of 110-115 yard shots in my golf life. To me it seemed like a great club.

Lastly, I think more people should consider clubs like these. I'm actually surprised they don't sell more of these. Golf is hard. If you aren't getting out to practice, or even if you are, but maybe not as much as you may like to. Why not take all the help you can get? I'll admit it's much harder to do knock-downs, and to work the ball left-right or right to left. But if you want clubs that you can hit high and dead straight.... why not? 

[ncates00]

42 minutes ago, ChetlovesMer said:

Lastly, I think more people should consider clubs like these. I'm actually surprised they don't sell more of these.

A problem with these hybrid iron sets, at least for me, is they don't spin enough in the shorter clubs.  For instance, I like to see my irons spin at 1000 per number or the next club down at the least.  So, e.g., my 8i should be in that 7k-8k rpm range.  With the hybrid iron sets, I see knuckle ball flight.  Good luck out of the rough when there's no spin.  I have 3, 4, and 5 hybrids; they launch quite high and they spin nicely--just haven't seen that in the shorter hybrid clubs.

[ChetlovesMer]

41 minutes ago, ncates00 said:

I like to see my irons spin at 1000 per number or the next club down at the least.  

Why?

[ncates00]

4 minutes ago, ChetlovesMer said:

Why?

So the ball will stop on the green and hold.  I know the hybrids give good launch angle and therefore descent angle (after all, I use them in my longer iron replacements), but while the hybrid tries to make up for lack of spin through higher launch/steeper descent, the problem is when you are in the rough.  Spin is your friend.  Too little spin is just as bad as too much spin.  For me, having solid spin numbers gets me a nice high flight that has good stopping power on the green.  It is also a safety measure against balls that won't stay in the air when coming out of the rough.  I've hit 8i hybrids that spin at like 5k.  They're fine off the fairway with that high flight, but out of the rough--good luck.  They're just not for me.  I don't think they're really for any one to be honest.  I think most people would do better to hit irons that spin.  Those are just no good out of the rough.

It's just like the seduction of a low sub-2k spin driver--all is well when you're on, but all it takes is a bad circumstance to show you that spin is good for you; keeps the ball in the air.  Golf courses are designed to take spin away from you through rough and high grass.  Why would you give it up?  Do you really want a bunch of flyer lies every shot?  I don't.  

[cooke119]

3 hours ago, ChetlovesMer said:

Just curious, do you put covers on them?
When I was hitting them, I kept thinking "It's a hybrid it should have a cover." 

The other question I have for you is why no GW? I actually really liked the GW. (Granted, I was just tinkering with them.) But I found the GW with the Cleveland Launchers went 110 to 115 yards dead straight every time. I would imagine if you wanted to do other "wedge type things" with the GW it wouldn't work, but I liked it. Besides I have a sand wedge and a lob wedge for those "wedge type things." I face tons of 110-115 yard shots in my golf life. To me it seemed like a great club.

Lastly, I think more people should consider clubs like these. I'm actually surprised they don't sell more of these. Golf is hard. If you aren't getting out to practice, or even if you are, but maybe not as much as you may like to. Why not take all the help you can get? I'll admit it's much harder to do knock-downs, and to work the ball left-right or right to left. But if you want clubs that you can hit high and dead straight.... why not? 

The set didn't come with covers. My Bag Boy cart bag has notches in each slot which hold the clubs in place so they don't bang around.

I use the GW a lot around the greens, (75 yards and in), I found the GW that came with the set a little difficult to hit consistently and control, maybe just me. I wanted more of a bladed, less sole, GW so I bought the  52* CBX wedge which I like.

There is nothing wrong with the GW that came with the set for longer shots, I just feel more comfortable with the CBX.

[ChetlovesMer]

3 hours ago, ncates00 said:

So the ball will stop on the green and hold.  I know the hybrids give good launch angle and therefore descent angle (after all, I use them in my longer iron replacements), but while the hybrid tries to make up for lack of spin through higher launch/steeper descent, the problem is when you are in the rough.  Spin is your friend.  Too little spin is just as bad as too much spin.  For me, having solid spin numbers gets me a nice high flight that has good stopping power on the green.  It is also a safety measure against balls that won't stay in the air when coming out of the rough.  I've hit 8i hybrids that spin at like 5k.  They're fine off the fairway with that high flight, but out of the rough--good luck.  They're just not for me.  I don't think they're really for any one to be honest.  I think most people would do better to hit irons that spin.  Those are just no good out of the rough.

It's just like the seduction of a low sub-2k spin driver--all is well when you're on, but all it takes is a bad circumstance to show you that spin is good for you; keeps the ball in the air.  Golf courses are designed to take spin away from you through rough and high grass.  Why would you give it up?  Do you really want a bunch of flyer lies every shot?  I don't.  

I sincerely apologize. My question wasn’t very clear. I didn’t mean why do you want spin? I meant why do you choose the desired spin based on a number written on the bottom of a club?

Both my golf coach and my club fitter have told me time and time again “Compare spin numbers by how far the ball flies.”

Let me illustrate with an example. I have a set of fairly traditionally lofted Mizuno irons. According to trackman data on my last 100 shots with that club I hit the 8 iron 133.9 yards on average with 7485 revs of spin. That’s indoors, dry ball, best possible conditions. Okay, I’m already 500 revs low according to your requirements of 1000 x number written on the bottom of the club. But I’m not the world’s best ball-striker.

Anyhoo, I tested the Cleveland HB Launchers and hit the 8 iron just under 160 yards with 5550 rpm of spin. That’s way low by your bottom of the club standard.

However, for me to hit one of my Mizunos 160 yards I have to hit a 6-iron. Which I average 159.8 yards and 5846 rpm of spin.

So, comparing my Mizuno 8-iron to the Cleveland Launcher 8-iron makes no sense. Yes, the Mizuno will spin it more, but it will also fall 26 yards short of the green. So, what makes more sense is to compare a 160-yard Cleveland Launcher with a 160-yard Mizuno. In that case the spin numbers are really close 5550 compared to 5846. But the Cleveland launches 11 feet higher with a sharper descent angle, so it’s about a wash.

[cooke119]

I don't know about spin numbers with the Cleveland Launcher but they do launch the ball high and I usually hold the green unless I miss hit the ball a little.

[CharlieB]

I use a 3H-4H and 5H and hit them well for my age. I cannot hit a 6i-9i, but I hit my PW and GW ok. I also don’t have a problem with my Vokey 54* and 58* wedges. I don’t know if it’s physiological or what, but even when trying them out in the stores it’s terrible. Shanks along with no distance. I’m waiting for the Cobra T-Rails to come in to try them with a senior flex shaft.

Another thing I’m thinking about is, putting my Titleist 915D2, 917F-3, 915F-7, Callaway 3H, 4H, 5H, PW, GW, 54*W, 58*W and putter in my bag and calling it a day. This combination excluding the putter will give me distances between 170 and 40 yards. I am a very short hitter as you can see, but I can shoot from 90 to 100 pretty consistently.

Edited February 6, 2020 by CharlieB

[ncates00]

43 minutes ago, ChetlovesMer said:

why do you choose the desired spin based on a number written on the bottom of a club?

I explained my reasoning on this.

 

44 minutes ago, ChetlovesMer said:

“Compare spin numbers by how far the ball flies.”

This is an incomplete assertion.  If you're on a trackman, you go off of the optimizer for the desired ball flight.  E.g., if you want a higher ball flight, you want about 50* descent angle for your approach shots (under 40* for driver so you get carry and roll).  Spin, launch, ball speed, etc. all account for that.  For me, having 1k per number as a general rule achieves that for me.

 

46 minutes ago, ChetlovesMer said:

Okay, I’m already 500 revs low according to your requirements of 1000 x number written on the bottom of the club.

You didn't read what I said very carefully.  See prior message from earlier (emphasis added):

5 hours ago, ncates00 said:

For instance, I like to see my irons spin at 1000 per number or the next club down at the least.  So, e.g., my 8i should be in that 7k-8k rpm range. 

I don't always get 1k per number on the club--it's close and that's what I shoot for.  But if it drops down to the next club, that's ok too.  I don't want to see it drop any lower than that though.  This is about distance control and hitting the window I want.  

48 minutes ago, ChetlovesMer said:

That’s way low by your bottom of the club standard.

I agree.  I would not game that club.  Coming out of the thicker rough would be impossible to keep the ball airborne.  Throw in moisture to boot and you have a knuckle ball.  I don't care how high you hit it, that ball won't stop.

Further, having 5500 on an 8i, what does that mean the longer clubs will have?  Even lower?  The same?  Talk about gapping issues.  I don't want flyer lies all the time.  I'd rather have what you outlined with your Mizuno's.  I'm a decent iron player, and I like hybrids too.  I begin hybrids at 5, but I play irons 6 down.  Fortunately, my hybrids spin a good amount to provide good gapping with my irons, i.e., my 5h spins in the 5k range, 4h spins in the 4k range, and my 3h spins in the 3k range.