Hybrid Golf Clubs Source

Hybrid golf clubs are becoming extremely popular with golfers of all player levels and abilities. Amateur golfers are finding their way to hybrid clubs in record numbers. While these clubs are most popular with players who only play recreationally, a large number of professional tour golfers have at least one hybrid club in their bags due to their unique usefulness and flexibility on the course. Hybrid golf clubs are becoming irreplaceable to many people, and have significantly improved the games of thousands of golfers of all experience levels.

So, what is a hybrid golf club? Is it some space-age club that’ll magically improve your game overnight? Absolutely not, but it can do wonders for your game if you have trouble with certain types of shots. If you’ve been having trouble with long iron shots, you may very well be interested in a hybrid club or two for your own bag.

Hybrid clubs are a mix (that is, a hybrid) between traditional woods and irons. In fact, they’ve been known to be able to replace long irons if you’re having trouble with those shots. While these clubs appear to be standard woods at first glance, there are significant differences that will make their use significantly more forgiving than a standard long iron. Instead of a solid slab of metal or wood, a hybrid club is traditionally made out of hollow steel, reducing its overall weight and allowing a faster swing speed. In order to make it significantly more forgiving than a traditional club, the face of the club is flat; you’ll likely notice that this is different from a rounded-face wood. This gives you a much larger area in which to hit the ball. It also increases the amount of control; slicing off into the rough doesn’t happen nearly as much with a hybrid club!

The center of gravity with a hybrid golf club is typically brought lower and to the rear of the club, giving you some additional loft when you hit the ball (this has the effect of increasing the loft, even though the club face doesn’t have much). Additionally, a hybrid club typically has grooves on the bottom, giving you a bit more control and allowing the club to “track” a bit more smoothly on the ground as you’re swinging toward the ball. If you’ve ever used a keel wood, you’ll likely recognize its usefulness.

Stick around…we’ll talk more about hybrid golf clubs as time goes on!

Up until now, we’ve simply talked about standalone hybrid golf clubs that will improve your game within a very limited scope. We’ve talked about better control during shots that would normally take long irons, and we’ve talked about increased loft and backspin that will help you nail a shot onto the green with all sorts of hazards around (hybrids are excellent if the green is surrounded by water, sand, etc.

If one of these clubs is good, wouldn’t a hybrid golf club set be better? Yes, actually that’s a very good possibility depending on where you’re at with your game and where you want to go with it. If you’re serious about the game, you may very well consider going with a full set of hybrids. However, keep in mind that the cost is going to be significant compared with a bag that’s full of standard clubs and one or two hybrids for specific situations. A full hybrid set may cost hundreds of dollars, but if you’re serious about playing the game right, well, it may just work for you.

So, what makes up a set of hybrid golf clubs? To be honest, a hybrid set is a little bit different than a “standard” hybrid that looks like a wood. While a hybrid set will have several of those types of clubs included, that’s not the only thing in a hybrid repertoire. The clubs replacing the long irons will be basically what we’ve already talked about: Wood-type clubs that are hollow with low centers of gravity for better backspin and loft. They’ll also be flat-faced in order to increase control. However, as you get into the mid-iron range you’re going to see a few differences.

First, the clubs are going to start looking more like normal irons; they’ll be more wedge shaped, and they’re going to have higher visible lofts in order to get the ball up into the air with significant backspin over short distances. These clubs will also have lower centers of gravity, and will have a slight “hollow back” design instead of a fully-hollow construction. This will allow for better control and swing speed.

Moving into the short irons and wedges, the distinct and familiar iron shape remains, but these hybrid golf clubs will have a very distinct hollow back and increased loft. Their centers of gravity will be low for better backspin and control, as well.

Talk to your local golf pro for more information before purchasing a hybrid set.