Not another Hybrid question ......

[Gerald]

Hihi, I am not looking for a hybrid to fill a distance gap, nor to replace a fairway wood and also not to replace a long iron...... I have no fairway woods (nothing to replace !) and I hit all irons with ease.

I have used a few hybrids for a while in several models (Taylormade Resque 2007 model 19*, Wilson Fybrid 19.5*, Titleist 909H 17* and 21*, Ping i15 20*, Adams Black Pro 16*) .... yessss a lot of them .... maybe I didn't give them enough chance, but I can't handle Fairway woods either.

I even took fairway wood lessons (I am more a DIY guy), same with the hybrids for me, sometimes like the best a pro can think of and sometimes like an absolute beginner.

My thought for the hybrid was replacing the 1i and maybe 2i in distance, didn't work for me.

Give me an iron, even a 1 iron and out it goes !

At my home course there is no 1st and 2nd cut..... it is fairway, rough, woods ..... so most members play well below their handicaps when playing other courses.

Still I see some benefits in adding a hybrid for getting distance from the rough, maybe tossing out the 1i, because the gain above a 2i is so little and it is so hard to use from the fairway. Today the 1i is used at only a few holes from the tee and I use it at the range, pounding the 1i makes the 2i an easy to use club.

So I am looking for a hybrid with enough loft to get some serious distance (let's say 170-200 yds.) from the rough, it is not the main focus to get out of the thick grass (I can do that perfectly with any short to mid iron), but it needs to get out and at the same time fly to the green......... need to shave some strokes !

It should have as much loft to get out, the profile to slide trough the thick stuff or long grass, the face height to reduce mishits and as less loft to get some distance, it should not have the draw helping design .... as I am not looking for a hook out of the thick stuff.

And all that in one club !

So what loft in a hybrid combines the out of the rough capabilities with a decent distance ?

Any recomendations are welcome too !

[Jay-Bird]

Adams Idea Tech A4 , maybe?

19˚ or 22˚

I hit my 23˚ Pro Gold anywhere from 190 to 225 from a good, clean, flat lie.

[Scott_K]

I've been resistent to the hybrid idea for a while. Everytime I picked one up in a store, it felt weird and I didn't like the way it looked at address. I found mine in a used rack for $38 and wanted to try the shaft more than the hybrid itself (ended up getting a similar shaft for my driver). I hit my long irons pretty well and I'm still in the market for a 2i for a lower trajectory shot off the tee. I saw your mizuno thread and I'm thinking of bending an old 3i blade and putting a high kick shaft in for the sake of science. I know what you mean about 1 and 2 irons.

I find with my hybrid, the trajectory is really high. I have a 15.5 and hit it higher than my 3i which is 20* (I believe). Off the tee, I am 20-30 yards longer which is great when there's barely a breeze, but I've also hit walls of wind only to see shots die and come down as if they were wedge shots.

If you still have some of your older hybrids, I'd give them a chance. I find the angle I come into the ball is amplified in the trajectory relative to irons. I'm still trying to figure out what I can and can't do with the club, since it's only been in the bag a few weeks. Sometimes I can hit it like a bullet, but I think I'm catchihg it a little thin. The low trajectory shots are primarily off the deck. I accidently hit a nice high draw with it during a round the other day, so it's something I want to figure out how I did it. Oh, so this is a vote for a Nickent

[Gerald]

With the UST V2 shaft they might be good, but Nickent went belly up about a month ago.......

I have allways been using the 1i off the tee at narrow holes, mostly I am in the middle of the fairway at at least 220 yds, while my buddies are in the woods at 250+, sometimes they have better scores, mostly I play around my handicap, and they about never do...... I seldom make a birdie (they make lots of birdies), but I seldom make worse than a bogey (they make some double bogeys and even worse ..... soon forgotten of course).

I am not sure about the Graphite shafts in Hybrids, who are using graphite shafts in their irons, almost no-one ...... then why should we use graphite shafts in hybrids.

I only can think off maybe 5 - 10 yds extra....... not important as hitting hybrids for "us" might be all about control.

I talked this trough with my local clubfitter and to my surprise he told me that he has been making lots of hybrids with steel shafts in them for german and Dutch Pro's and advised me to go for a Project-X shaft in a hybrid. He gave me his for a try out, which I will do within a few days....... Snake Eyes 23* with DG S300.

[Gordon McTavish]

I'm surprised the MP Fli-Hi hasn't been mentioned yet!

[Gerald]

I'm surprised the MP Fli-Hi hasn't been mentioned yet!

I tried that one for a few weeks, but it is only great as a long iron replacement, not intended to get out of trouble ....