Do hybrids or rescue clubs improve your game??

Years ago Gary Player summed up golf as a game of failure, adding that he who failed least won.

Ben Hogan once said of the golf hole, “It is four-and-a-quarter inches and around it is the whole damn world.” He also said that, “Golf is not a game of good shots. It’s a game of bad shots.”

Let’s face it folks. Whether you are the top player in the world or somebody who will never break 100, golf is an extremely difficult, frustrating way to spend four or more hours “relaxing” from the rigors of every day life.

We play golf because we love it. Considering that the game gives us very little in return except reason to scream expletives, throw fits as well as clubs and consume copious amounts of fermented beverages, we probably would be better served spending our disposable income on a head shrinker’s couch.

If ever there was a doubt about the indomitable spirit of man it is constantly re-enforced every time we stick a tee in the ground the day after swearing that we will never touch another club.

Which brings us to the crux of this argument; Are utility clubs or hybrids as they are often called, good for the game?

I’m not certain just what avenue of debate my worthy adversary (over there on the left) is taking, whether it is morally wrong to replace the traditional long irons with these new-fangled tools or that they are not nearly as much an improvement as their manufacturers would have you believe?

Out of hand I dismiss Gorman arguing the “morality” of sticking a hybrid or two in your bag. After all, isn’t he the same person who just a few months ago sang the praises of the long putter, that brilliant invention that saved his meager existence?

So I will go on the assumption that his debate will revolve around the effectiveness, or lack thereof, of the hybrid club.

And as usual, I will win because I have cold-hard facts on my side. Hybrid’s are easier to hit and are more forgiving than long irons, provided you have the good sense to purchase clubs that fit your swing. Buying them out of a bin at “Discount Joe’s” isn’t likely to help your game.

This year I finally gave in and purchased a pair of hybrid clubs, a 2 and a 3, replacing my four wood and 3-iron. I’m seriously thinking of abandoning my 4-iron next spring in favor of a 4-hybrid.

I’ve discovered that I can hit these clubs high and land them soft and the forgiveness is remarkable. They have made a huge difference in my game and have made it much less frustrating.

Now, in fairness, there is a downside to the hybrid, namely keeping the ball down. When you spend as much time in the woods as I do, there are times when you need to be able to keep the ball under low-hanging tree limbs in order to get back into play.

Hybrids, by their very design, are not good at this. I was an expert at banging my three iron out of Sherwood Forest and back onto the fairways or even at times onto the green. I have yet to learn how to keep a 2-hybrid shot from rising too quickly without flat cold topping it.

Practice, I’m sure, will cure this ill but I have yet to find any ranges that offer three limbs to hit under and I have enough other woes to concentrate on when I’m practicing, mainly refining my swing so I don’t end up in the woods in the first place.

I’ll live with the realization that hybrids are not made to hit low shots and try and keep my ball between the obstacles.

Hybrids are here to stay. They don’t make a difficult game easy, but they certainly make it easier. Now if they could only do something about the size of that “damn” hole.

(Tim Geary is a Rhode Island-based free lance writer. He considers himself a traditionalist, but not close-minded).

About Tim Branco

Editor/Publisher New England Publishing Group Home of NE Golf Monthy, NE SnowSports and NE Homefinder a family of New England Regional Publications. Media consultant for newspaper & magazine industries and sales and marketing trainer and motivational speaker. Golf & Travel writer for over 20 years with published articles in national newspapers and regional magazines throughout the U.S.

NO. Without doubt, one product has totally dominated the golf equipment market over the last decade: hybrids or rescue clubs. The main reason hybrids have become popular is the common feeling that long irons are hard to hit.

Sure, long irons may be harder to hit, but I don’t buy into the conspiracy theory that owning a 3-hybrid will help me break 80. Utility clubs are the rave of the golf world, but at the end of the day, double-digit handicappers like Tim Geary, are no better now than when they used to play with a good, ole-fashioned 3-iron.

By the way, does anyone remember what a 3-iron looks like? Last year, I bought a set of Taylor-Made Burner irons and a 3-iron wasn’t even included. I was bullshit! Since when does Taylor-Made, Adams, Calloway, Cobra or Nike start telling me what I should be playing? I don’t want a hyped-up, state-of-the-art rescue club endorsed by Fred Couples or Gary McCord. Those late-night golf infomercials on The Golf Channel are designed to make you spend, not to make you better.

Call me old school, but my golf bag has a driver, 4-metal, 3-iron through sand wedge and putter. I know why I don’t break 80. And it’s not because I don’t carry a 4-hybrid, it’s because my putting sucks.

According to Rankmark, golf club hybrids are so popular, about 90 percent of players carry at least one in their bag. The concept is not new because clubs that were called “rescues” because they helped you get out of trouble or “bafflers” have been available in the fairway wood category for years. Much like a hybrid, rescue woods had smaller heads and sometimes rails on the bottom that helped you get through rough and sand more easily. They had the same length and basic shape as woods so they were still considered woods.

One reason that a hybrid club is considered better than a comparable long iron is that the head design allows the center of gravity to be moved lower and further back from the face. This gets the ball up easier and at a higher angle. Based on my “demo” experience with an Adams hybrid, the best result for me came when hitting from downhill lies in the rough. Some interesting conversations that I had with many loyal utility club players, with handicaps ranging from scratch to 28, established that they all believed they hit the ball better, but most were not sure if they have improved their game.

And isn’t golf fun when we score low and hit the ball solid?

According to John Moynihan, our expert from Joe & Leigh’s Golf Shop in Easton, where Jim Furyk purchased a $39 putter on Sunday Sept 5 and went on to win the FedEx Cup and $11.3 million, Adams Golf and Taylor-Made debuted hybrids in the 1990s. The product was so overwhelmingly popular that within four years every major golf manufacturer followed up with a new line of rescue clubs and utility clubs of their own. Nothings breeds copycats and huge profit margins like a successful golf product, especially without gimmicks.

“Hybrid clubs continue to be in demand because they allow players to hit the ball easier, getting it in the air quicker and to get more distance,” said Moynihan, who has been in the golf business 24 years. “Hybrids have revolutionized the golf equipment industry because every golf manufacturer produces several varieties, and every season it is a club with very high demand. The clubs typically retail from $99 to $199 and most players would consider it an investment in their game, because it makes the game easier and more enjoyable.”

Moynihan also explained that the 2-hybrid is typically 17 degrees and would match up with the 2-iron loft. The 3-hybrid corresponds to the 3-iron with 21 degree loft, and so forth, with the 6-hybrid offering 28 degree loft. Got it?

I just don’t see actual results in players employing hybrid clubs. Most are convinced they are able to hit better shots, with better control, accuracy and distance, which are a wonderful recipe. The best advice I can share to dramatically improve your game: invest time and money to purchase a putter, which is the most important club in your bag. Next time out, work on improving your course management. And, the #1 way to improve, get a damn lesson from a pro!

(Tom Gorman, a member of the Golf Writers Association of America, International Network of Golf and Golf Travel Writers of America, is a Boston-based freelance golf writer.)

About Tom Gorman

I am a Boston based freelance golf writer.

Do hybrids or rescue clubs improve your game??

About Tim Branco

Do hybrids or rescue clubs improve your game?

About Tom Gorman

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