Does anyone actually like hitting hybrids

[Macster]

HNJ: errr......well, I can use a 4 iron on at least 3 of our Par 3's on Medal day, and two of them possibly a 3iron.(199yds).
I can use a 3iron to draw it off the 5th tee, 2nd shot on the 16th,.....

....you get the drift, yeh I need em.

 

[SammmeBee]

HNJ: errr......well, I can use a 4 iron on at least 3 of our Par 3's on Medal day, and two of them possibly a 3iron.(199yds).
I can use a 3iron to draw it off the 5th tee, 2nd shot on the 16th,.....

....you get the drift, yeh I need em.

I'm with CMc here - get on a links course and the 3-iron is probably the most used club in the bag.....

 

[Macster]

Hell......if I stuff it in the trees off the Tee, I can even punch a 4iron low back onto the fairway.....

 

[USER1999]

Out of interest, Titleist don't make a bladed 2i any more. If you have a set of ZMs, and you want a 2i, you have to buy a ZB cavity.

Odd that when I was c/f'ed there, I declined a 3i, and bought a hybrid 3, and was then offered a 2i. Why? If I couldn't/wouldn't hit the 3i, what use would a 2i be?

Hybrids don't have to hit high. Any one with a steel shafted 585H will attest to the low trajectory. Most are designed to hit a high ball, but the 585 wasn't. May be that was why it was less popular.

 

[Herbie]

I agree, my comments are based on what I feel my needs are and I just dont need them, I hardly need the hybrids I carry, I'm even thinking of getting a gap wedge and dumping one of the hybrids. Unless I am on a particularly long course I just dont use them. I have thought back on courses I have recently played and how often I pulled out a long iron or recently a hybrid and it is just a handful of occasions and some of those because I duffed my drive or simply wanted to try my hybrid or generally hitting poorly that day. Im not suggesting that I would never need one but its a fact that I rarely do which is certainly true when Im having a good day of golf.

 

[Herbie]

HNJ: errr......well, I can use a 4 iron on at least 3 of our Par 3's on Medal day, and two of them possibly a 3iron.(199yds).
I can use a 3iron to draw it off the 5th tee, 2nd shot on the 16th,.....

....you get the drift, yeh I need em.

I'm with CMc here - get on a links course and the 3-iron is probably the most used club in the bag.....

Doh! sorry fellas I have never played a Links course before

So you cant hit a low drive, a low 3w, a low 5 iron from under the trees??? Right Im off to get me a bag full of 2/3 and 4 irons.

Its about choice in most cases not need.

 

[Smiffy]

Long irons are the bane of my life...

I've just about managed to master my 9 iron, but 8 and below I'm really struggling...

Hey Freddie. You don't own a 1 iron shop do you?

 

[HogansAlley]

I posted this on 'do you like a challenge' thread by mistake. Apologies if you've already read it.

I still look back with great fondness on the days of yesteryear when I owned a Wilson persimmon driver and a set of Maxfli Australian blades. The sweetspot on that driver was invisible to naked eye but when you caught it properly in went like a missle (remember that pure strikers of the ball such as Watson, Nicklaus, Norman and even Faldo* could hit their persimmon drivers in excess of 300yds, now anyone on tour can). As for the irons, you could have a close shave with that 3-iron (it was only bum-fluff in those days anyway). Hitting a proper golf shot with these was the best feeling ever. I've now played Ping cavity-backs for 10 years. I own a large headed driver and a TM Raylor, which of course is the forerunner of today's hybrids (just as the Raylor is a based on a old-fashioned baffy or spoon). I personally would never use a hybrid but I've got no problem with others using them - it's progress. However, when you see pros using them it looks like an admission of defeat (just as a belly putter does). One of the most depressing sights I've ever witnessed in the Open was Todd Hamilton using his rescue as glorified Bronte Chipmaster to beat Ernie Els on the 18th at Troon. It was a shot of precious little skill but of good judgement: the judgement being I'm not good enough to pitch this shot. For a cultured player like Els, this must have hard to take. Good luck to Hamilton, but is he a great champion? This incident is the main reason I have a dislike of hybrids/rescues. If golf ceases to be a challenge (and I'm not saying we're near that yet) it will not longer be a sport, merely recreation. That will be a sad day, IMHO. *I am of course not comparing myself to these players!

 

[freddielong]

How sweet were the Maxfli Australian blades they were really pretty irons - I totally agree with the Tod Hamilton comment it was a disgrace and I dont want to see Hybrids banned just want people to know what they are missing in a couple of years you wont be able to get a bladed long iron and that is very sad

 

[haplesshacker]

In reply to the above example about Els and Hamilton. Hamilton won because he made the best judgement, end of. You could argue forever about whether or not someone is a great golfer or not. But his judgement that time was right for him to take the top slot. And after all, isn't that what's important to these guys. It's no different than us deceiding to use a putter from off the green instead of going for a chip shot that could end up fatted, thinned, duffed etc.

The trophies are not awarded to the 'better' golfer, but to the golfer that scores the best, and long may that continue. I'd hate to see golf judged in the same way as ice-skating, diving, dancing, synchronised swimming, etc.

 

[KeefG]

If golf ceases to be a challenge (and I'm not saying we're near that yet)

That will NEVER happen end of.

If it ceases to be a challenge, then your average muppet will be able to pick up a set of clubs and be a scratch golfer instantly.....as i said, it will never happen.

You will still need to be able to swing the club correctly, adjust your weight correctly etc etc, there are sooooooooo many different things that make a great golfer from a normal golfer.

 

[Herbie]

You can make or shape shots with anything if you try hard enough. The blade club just made that skill easier in its day in the right hands. Does it require more skill to shape a bladed 2 iron shot or more skill to make the same shot with a home made club ground out of a solid piece of alloy billett? Its all development to improve and make things easier no matter how they are looked upon, fondly or otherwise.

 

[HogansAlley]

Hapless,
I agree that Hamilton deserved to win. It was up to the superior Els to beat him. It's the same argument as a passing football side verses route-one hoofing it. One is far more easy on the eye than the other. I completely agree with 'it's not how, it's how many' but would you rather watch Hamilton or Els?

 

[freddielong]

Its style over substance golf obviously needs both but who here likes walking with Jim Furyks group when you can watch Tiger's - noone

 

[freddielong]

Did Hamilton deserve to win - I don't think so Els lost it Hamilton didn't risk anything he even played the last as a par 5 and layed up why should that sort of thng be encouraged the big girl

 

[haplesshacker]

Did Hamilton deserve to win - I don't think so Els lost it Hamilton didn't risk anything he even played the last as a par 5 and layed up why should that sort of thng be encouraged the big girl

Surely course management and playing to your strengths is a skill. Knowing when to take risks and knowing when to play safe.

I had a very succesful streak in yacht racing for 4 years as navigator / tactician and crew boss. There were days when the crew work was going well and the helmsman (person steering the boat), were on form, and days when they weren't. It was up to me to deceide the level of risk required to get the result. That's why we won so regularly. In sailing terms playing within yourself and not taking risks, when you don't need to, whilst others around you are is seamanship. Something that 'racers' often forget. We weren't the best sailors on the Solent, just the best at making the right decisions.

In your little golf story, Hamilton won by making the right decisions. If Els' game wasn't up to it and was having an off day, he should play to allow for it. I don't care who the better golfer is ultimately. It would be dull to see the same 2 or 3 names winning each week.

 

[freddielong]

I know what you are saying is correct but I cannot help thinking that his win ecspecially coming on the back of Ben Curtis devalued the biggest and best competion there is

 

[HogansAlley]

I like to see a quality player winning. I never tire of watching quality players winning, even if is the same 20-or-so guys every week (eg, Tiger, Els, Sergio, Goose, Stenson, Karlson, Paddy, Westwood. Mickelson, Scott). I get little enjoyment from some seeing a journey-man chancer winning the greatest prize in golf. I appreciate this makes me a golf snob. I admit it.

 

[OldWindy]

On most days over winter, the TM 19* rescue gets chucked for the MP60 2i - can't do without it (only off the tee, mind). Understand, I think the rescue is more versatile but it's just lousy into a 15mph+ headwind!

 

[answers70]

I must be from a different planet as am definitely not a tour player (in fact a 20+ handicapper; don't exactly know - that's another long story) but can hit pretty good 4I and reasonably good 3I. However, for the life of me, can't hit good hybrids. Recently bought a Taylormade 19deg burner rescue and have singularly failed to hit it anywhere close to my long irons.