What's the Point of Irons When There are Hybrids?

[tinker]

I don’t have much use for hybrids. For just advancing the ball on a par 5 they’re ok as long as the dead left shot doesn’t sneak in. I can fade an iron shot but it seems pretty hard to slice an iron. Irons allow shotmaking. I rarely hit a full blown “as hard as I can” iron shot. 

[iacas]

13 hours ago, Hugh Jars said:

Still havent hear a convincing argument to turn me away from using hybrids.

For me, and some better players I know, they're tougher to keep down. Hybrids try to get the ball up, and there are times I want to hit a low spinning ball with a 3-iron or a 4-iron or something. Or a low flat ball.

[imsys0042]

This thread reminds me of a guy I caddied for years ago.   His bag had a SW, 6i and a 2i (why?), everything else minus the putter were woods.   This was before hybrids came out.   He had up to a 15-wood, which was equivalent to a 9-iron.   He also had two five woods, for some reason....

However, he made it work.   He wasn't a very good golfer, but he could score decently enough.

For me personally, I go back and forth with my hybrid.   I have a 19 degree and I can definitely feel where people are coming from when they say a miss is left.   That's my miss with it, not any other clubs.   It is however a very useful club.   It covers the spread between 2i, 3i and a weaker 5-wood.

I do however interchange it with a 3-iron, and when I do I take my 3-wood out and replace with a 4-wood.   Choking down a little on the 4-wood and laying off a little replicates the distance of the hybrid. The reason I so this is for when I have a number of holes where the ground is dry and I want the 3-iron to roll out.   For me, it doesn't go as high as the hybrid does so I get more roll.   hybrids tend to hit and stick since the fly so high.

Depending on the course and conditions, I can see both sides of having one or not.   I hope that when I slow down later in life that I have the good sense to replace longer irons with hybrids.   At some point I will not be able to generate the swing speed to effectively hit a 2 or 3 iron consistently.

 

[NZ Golfer]

5H TM R15 Worse club in my bag ...get 1 out of 3 decent hits with it ... much more consistent with Irons

[DrMJG]

I have spent the better of four months practicing my hybrids. As a result I no longer use 4, 5, irons and rarely use my 6 iron. I also don’t suffer the wild left shots often. I have lost a little bit of distance, perhaps. For an older and somewhat physically handicapped individual I am happy with my results.