Hybrid golf clubs have been the hot new thing in golf the past few seasons, and if you don’t own one, you should.

What is a hybrid?

If you have been playing golf for a while, you know that your long irons are the toughest ones to hit. The long irons (3 and 4) are difficult to hit because of their longer shafts and lower lofts. The real reason is that they have a smaller clubface and thinner bottom sole. I jokingly call my 3 iron the “knife” and well it sorta looks like one. A thin sole does not promote or achieve much bounce. Bounce in long clubs is important if you don’t have a very compact and repeatable swing, especially when coming out of the rough. Long irons tend to close down when gnarly grass gets between the face and the ball. Another drawback to long irons is that they are tougher to “frame” the face with the ball. The lack of loft and the length of the club tend to make the ball look smaller than it is. To get the ball airborne and flying a respectable distance you will need to have ample clubhead speed to overcome the clubs lack of loft. Failure to achieve proper clubhead speed will result in a “hot” low shot, which will usually end up in trouble. The development of the Hybrid golf club helped conquer some of the inherent difficulties of striking long distance shots that fell between that of irons and woods.

The hybrid is a mixture between a wood and an iron. The key to a hybrid is that it has the best qualities of both, and it really is easy to adapt to your game.

The typical hybrid replaces a long iron. It does this by being similar in length, while more substantial in head size. Again the most notable feature is the bounce and depth of the club. While it has less depth than a wood, compare a hybrid to an iron and whoa! The increase in overall depth allows for a lower center of gravity and an increased MOI.  So it really gets the ball airborne.

Check this out. A great video from Titleist, and PGA Pro Todd Anderson from Sea Island Golf Club in Georgia..