YOUR QUESTIONS ANSWERED
draw bias for the aver- age golfer is needed more than a fashion makeover.) Second, there aren’t that many holes these days where tour-level
WOOD-WISE Georgia Hall is one of many pros opting for high-lofted woods.
players are hitting hybrids into greens. According to PGA Tour ShotLink data, the number of approaches longer than 200 yards is 11 percent less than it was 15 years ago. Third, and this is mostly what might be useful for average golfers, tour pros are opting for other choices beyond hybrids. Those include utility irons and high-lofted fairway woods. Today’s util- ity irons feature a wide sole and a hol- low construction with a fast-flexing face to provide ball speed, higher launch and the ability to flight shots to fit cer- tain conditions. The high-lofted fair- way woods, including 5-, 7- and even 9-woods, provide a more compact yet forgiving head that is easy to launch from a variety of lies. Chris Marchini, Golf Galaxy’s di- rector of golf experience and the lead fitting consultant for the Golf Digest Hot List, thinks fairway woods are a better option for many players. “People wrongly think that hybrids have a lower centre of gravity than fairway woods,” he says. “Fairway woods will be easier to hit it higher for most players.” We agree, but we still think hybrids should be part of your consideration when ditching your long and even middle irons. We think starting at your 5-iron, your clubs should be more for- giving than those from your 6-iron through 9-iron. That can be a more forgiving style of iron (like in a combo set), hybrids, utility irons and fair- way woods. The ideal is a mix of two or three of those options as you work your way from your driver to your most playable longer iron, and that “lon- gest” iron might even be a 7-iron. Golf Digest asked clubfitter Club Champion to study how much better a 6-hybrid is than a 6-iron for an average golfer. Tests showed that for high handicaps a 6-hybrid was on average 16 metres lon- ger in carry distance than a 6-iron. Michael Vrska, Callaway’s director of custom fitting and player performance,
Why Tour Players Are Ditching Hybrids for Fairway Woods Q: IT SEEMS LIKE HYBRID USE ON TOUR IS DOWN. SHOULD I BE RETHINKING THE ONES I HAVE?
PGA Tour has tailed off from its heady days 15 years ago. When our Hot List started back in 2004, the hybrid was in its heyday as the saviour for all modern golfers struggling to launch long irons properly. In other words, all modern golfers – major champions, grandmas and you. If you look at the top 20 players on the PGA Tour, only three still carry a hybrid. Fifteen years ago, it was three or four times as many, with a typical week seeing more than 100 hybrids in play. What happened? Well, some of it is reality and some of it is perception. First, elite players often found hybrids to have a little more draw bias than makes them comfortable. (For most elite players, any amount of draw bias makes them uncomfortable. Of course,
If you’re inspired to do something be- cause you see it happening on tour, we would highly encourage you to dig a little deeper because what is or isn’t working for the pros is at best a data point, not a call to action. Assuming you are not shooting in the 60s, the best answer for you should have a lot more to do with your game than with what you’re seeing on tour. First things first, let’s get to the start of your question. Yes, hybrid use on the
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MAY 2025
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