Designs of Hybrid Golf Clubs

One of the newest trends in the golf equipment world is the innovative design of hybrid clubs.  As the name suggests, these clubs are a combination of two previous design elements, fusing together a wood club with an iron club to give both advantages in one simple package.  The majority of pro golfers use one or more hybrid golf clubs for their long shots, and golfing magazines and equipment companies have quickly taken up the mantle of the new design, launching mass advertising campaigns urging avid fans to purchase top of the line -- and correspondingly very expensive -- sets of clubs with the wood and iron shot capability. 

The history of golf equipment has always been that of change.  Just as other sports have had revolutions in equipment -- such as baseball's famous incorporation of metal bats and ice hockey's use of goalie masks -- so too has a golf game radically undergone transformations in the last seven centuries of play.  The most specific aspect of golf makes it simultaneously one of the most enjoyable and most difficult sports, in that all individuals must have their own specific set of clubs.  While for casual games clubs can be shared, professional tour rules indicate that no person can use any other set of clubs than his or her own. 

This has long since been the key staple of golf, and the reason for the continuous change in equipment over time.  Individual equipment means specialization of clubs, from drivers that can hit harder to wedges that can angle better to putters that can deliver pinpoint accuracy.  A hybrid golf club is simply the next step in the evolution of the sport, as it amalgamates two previous separate characteristics of an individual's set of equipment, the irons and the woods.

Iron clubs give give a greater deal of accuracy to a golf swing.  This is because the material is not naturally pliable, so that upon contact, the ball does not alter course based upon pushing back against the iron.  Furthermore, iron clubs have lesser surface area and greater angles, meaning that precision aiming is more effective and allows for a more precise shot.  This is an excellent feature when on the fairway and within sight of the green.

Wood, by contrast, lacks a great deal of the accuracy that is so relished in iron, but what wood lacks in accuracy it more than makes up for in power.  The flexibility of wood means that as contact is made during a swing, the ball pushes off against the club rather than simply being knocked from it.  Additionally, as wood weighs less than iron, the force which a golfer brings down during a swing is greater due to the light weight, and that additional force is added to the impact and results in the golf ball traveling further on the course. 

So, while there are obviously individual specifics and preferences for every course and every shot, the general rule of thumb is that wood clubs are better for teeing off and long shots, while irons are better for close up, precision work.  Yet there has always been the indecision in the middle of a course, as the choice between an iron and a wood can seriously affect the performance -- use a wood, and risk landing in the rough; use an iron, and risk taking an additional shot to move up the fairway.  Into this gap, golf equipment companies hope that new hybrid iron clubs will thrive, so that customers with the problems of both long drives and accurate shots will invest their money into a model that can have the best of both worlds.

The hybrid club is not simply the iron and the wood thrown together.  Instead, the entire shape of the club has been redesigned.  A lower center of gravity within the club results in a swing coming up and under the ball; standard wood has no center of gravity while an iron club is heaviest at the bottom.  This equilibrium benefits drive, but seemingly has no impact on accuracy.  The key to an accurate hybrid shot lies within the face of the club.  Unlike an iron it is entirely flat, resulting in a shot that gives the ball greater spin.  Spin means easier path through the air, and thus an easier placed shot.  In addition, greater spin means more impact upon landing, and more chance that a ball will stop quickly rather than bounce.  All told, hybrid golf clubs should be included in any golfer's bag to improve mid range performance and lower their overall score.