Like Irons, Your Hybrids Need a Good Fitting

Just like irons, a hybrid’s lie will affect club performance.

Hybrid golf clubs were developed in the late 1990s to help golfers hit higher, more accurate shots. A continued trend in golf club sets’ makeup is replacing the long irons with hybrid utility clubs. Many golfers prefer hybrid clubs compared to their iron counterparts. They have become popular with a broad spectrum of players, including some top professionals, with a third having at least one hybrid in their bag.

Although improved loft, not distance, was the club’s original goal, the potential distance a club can attain is also appealing. That’s because a hybrid’s head design allows the center of gravity to be moved lower and a bit further back from the clubface, which helps get more trajectory and ball loft on a golf swing.

Different golfers require different lie angles.

Some hybrids have rounded soles, while some have very flat soles. With these differences, one lie angle won’t fit all golfers. And the wrong lie angle can adversely affect your shot. Hybrid clubs are designed with a low center of gravity to increase the trajectory. So, an incorrect lie angle on a hybrid with a higher trajectory will increase the off-line direction more than a lower trajectory shot with a long iron.

In a nutshell, the golf club’s lie angle influences the direction the ball starts when hit. Therefore, it’s just as important to have the hybrid angle dynamically fit your swing as it is for fitting your irons. If the lie angle isn’t correct, the ball will start with a tilted spin axis with a curvature to its flight.

This also affects your swing mechanics, so if the lie angle of your clubs doesn’t match your swing, you are already making the game more complicated than it should be. A custom fitting using the Mitchell Golf Steelclub® Signature Angle Machine will improve performance, confidence, and game enjoyment.  Our iron, metal wood, and hybrid versions use dual precision gauges for measuring and bending loft/lie angles on all irons and face/lie angles on metal woods and hybrids.

Now that you understand the importance of having the correct lie even with your hybrids, how many should you carry?

Here is a great little tidbit of advice from golfingfocus.com regarding switching irons with hybrids.  They turned to PGA Master Professional Dennis Clark, a one-time PGA Tour player now recognized as one of the leading teachers by major golf publications. He recommends golfers measure their clubhead speed with their driver as the starting point to determine which irons they should replace with hybrids. 

• Under 85 MPH driver clubhead speed – look at hybrids for everything below your 7-iron.
• 85-90 MPH driver speed – look at hybrids for everything below 6-iron.
• 90-100 MPH driver speed – look at hybrids for everything below 5-iron.
• 100+ MPH driver speed – pick a set you are most comfortable with, but consider hybrids for the long irons.