Club Fitting: Hybrids

[uglande]

I recently hit a newly purchased hybrid club off of a lie board and found that I am making contact way out on the sole of the club -- i.e., the club's lie angle is too flat. This is not a problem with my irons, which are bent 2 degrees upright. I never hear anyone talking about club fitting with hybrids, but is this somethig any of you have done or know anything about? I spoke with someone at Adams and they said they could bend a hybrid head about one degree up. Even if I do this, I'm thinking it still won't be upright enough. But I'm wondering if it will really influence impact in the same way as a too-flat iron would. Hybrids are no doubt more forgiving with the wider sole, but how much more forgiving? Any thoughts?

[golfnut_rlv]

Hi. In general, I would say it should be fit for you. There are limitations on how much the hosel of the hybrid style club can be bent. Usually, they do not bend very well, and are easily breakable. Can you do it, yes. My honest view is that if you can get it within 1 degree of your angle, you should be okay.

Hope this helps!

[aquacooled]

golfnut_rlv is right, it is tricky but it can be done for most hybrids. Mine is bent 1.5° up.

[uglande]

Aquacooled ... Just wondering if Taylor Made bent your hybrid for you or if you did it elsewhere (or yourself). Thanks.

[jorruss]

Just like with an iron, bending hybrids depends largely on the metal the club is made from. Some hybrid clubs may bend better than others, but either way, I would leave it up to the professionals. Your best bet is to order them to the lie angle you want, as they are manufactured to that angle and not adjusted after the fact. As with any metal, the more you bend it the more brittle it becomes.

You are right about the sole being a bit more forgiving than that of an iron. Most hybrid soles have some radius to them to allow for different lies and to make them easier to hit.

I just got an Adams Idea Pro 4i (23) and I love it. I'm going to take a leap of faith and get the 2 and 3. Maybe even the 5! I just wish Adams would make it easier to get them with steel shafts. I wanted to get them with the Project X Flighted shaft, but you have to custom order them and their lead time is 4+ weeks!

[aquacooled]

Aquacooled ... Just wondering if Taylor Made bent your hybrid for you or if you did it elsewhere (or yourself). Thanks.

No I did the work myself, it was done in our workshop..

I have been doing this for awhile and would also say go to a clubfitter with a good rep. I have heard of some not even trying, I make all my customers sign a waiver releasing me of any problems if there clubs break (knock on wood nothing has ever happened that I couldnt fix) goodluck..

[uglande]

Just a quick follow-up ... I noticed that the new Cobra Baffler Pro series has a longer hosel to allow for more lie adjustments. Not sure how many degrees it can be bent, but that's definitely a nice feature.

[cmarkmyers]

Remember that the lie angle gets less and less important the longer the club. Seeing on how it is on your hybrid I would not be overly concerned about a degree or two. Of course this is not to say that lie angle on longer clubs is unimportant, it is just less important than on shorter irons and wedges.

That said, given the choice I certainly would want ALL of my clubs precisely fitted. I just would not lose sleep over not being able to get my hybrid perfect.

[gas_can]

Remember that the lie angle gets less and less important the longer the club. Seeing on how it is on your hybrid I would not be overly concerned about a degree or two. Of course this is not to say that lie angle on longer clubs is unimportant, it is just less important than on shorter irons and wedges.

cmarkmyers,

While you are exactly right that as loft decreases, lie angle misdirection is usually not as important is very correct. However, as the popularity of hybrids has increased, I've found that they're unusually sensitive to lie angle changes despite their low loft. Why? I'm not actually sure, to be quite honest it defies physics. However, I hope to find the answer to that later this month.

[cmarkmyers]

Thanks for the info, Gas. I was going on what I read in Wishon's book but I don't have any real world experience. I have been waiting for a month for my lie board and it finally came yesterday. This gives me a good excuse to put some tape on my hybrid to see if it is a too flat lie angle that is making me put some shots to the right.