Golf

Designed to bring golfers up to speed

By RODNEY PAGE, Times Staff Writer
Published October 25, 2007

There are certain improvements to golf equipment that seem like no-brainers. Instead of piling up dirt to elevate a ball on a drive, somebody invented the tee. Instead of a wood driver, somebody invented a metal wood a great golf oxymoron, then made the head of the club three times bigger.

And within the past 5-10 years, another improvement has swept through the industry. Instead of trying to hit a 2-iron or 3-iron, somebody invented the hybrid club. They have the same loft as low irons, but they look like small woods and allow average golfers to elevate the ball and hit it farther. It also works well out of the rough and can be used next to the green for bump-and-run shots. Oftentimes, these clubs are referred to as "utility" or "rescue" clubs.

"You're seeing fewer and fewer long irons in people's bags," Fox Hollow club pro Matt Cote said. "Hybrids are more forgiving. They land softer from long distances. Most people can hit them farther than their long irons. The hybrid business is through the roof while the fairway wood business is way down."

Jumping on the bandwagon

According to an April study by the Darrell Survey, a Los Angeles based company that tracks golf equipment usage, 31 percent of golfers have a hybrid club in their bag, compared with 7.5 percent in 2004. At the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am in February, 148 hybrid clubs were in use compared with zero in 1997.

Todd Hamilton, Zach Johnson, Jim Furyk, Retief Goosen, Ernie Els, David Toms and Mike Weir are PGA Tour players who use hybrids. Champions Tour member Tom Watson used two, an 18- and 20-degree loft Idea hybrid from Adams Golf, during his victory at the Outback Steakhouse Pro-Am in February at Lutz. Many Champions Tour players have at least one hybrid in their bag, and the clubs are gaining popularity on the LPGA Tour as well.

With more professionals using hybrids, it stands to reason that the average golfer will switch.

"Hybrids are one of our most popular items," said Mike Bell, who manages Southern Golf in St. Petersburg. "People are using them in place of the long irons. They're more forgiving than a long iron because they distribute the weight better from the heel to the toe."

Nearly all club manufacturers offer them. Some even offer entire sets with nothing but hybrids. Cobra came out with Transition-S clubs in July that target players with slower swing speeds. The set has Nos. 3, 4 and 5 utility metals with a wide sole, Nos. 6 and 7 hybrid irons and No. 8 and sand wedge wide sole irons.

In a release about the clubs in the summer, Cobra vice president of sales David Abeles said: "All clubs in the set are designed with higher MOI (moment of inertia) to maximize forgiveness and low-back CG (center of gravity) to optimize launch. Transition-S was designed as a complete set to optimize distance gaps so players with moderate ball speed have the right club for every shot, making the transition from fairway to green easier."

Tour Edge and Nickent are other companies that have full sets of hybrids. The average hybrid club costs $100-$200.

Why they work

Hybrids are simply a cross between a fairway wood and an iron. The center of gravity is moved back to the bottom of the club. With the weight distributed near the bottom, it makes it easier for players who don't swing as hard to get some loft and power on their shots.

"It has a lower center of gravity so you can swing it like an iron and get better results," Cote said. "Mostly, senior men and women don't generate the clubhead speed, so the hybrids allow them to get results."

Hybrids also tend to have shorter shafts and stiffer clubfaces than irons. The faces are flatter than fairway woods, which allows for more accuracy from the fairway or tee. Hybrids also have runners or rails on the bottom that help them slide along the turf or rough, which allows for cleaner contact from tricky spots.

With golfers finding more advantages than disadvantages, long irons may be a thing of the past.

"Drivers and hybrids make up about 30-40 percent of our sales," said Joe Hannah, who works at the Golf Shop in Gulfport. "They're so much easier to hit."

Rodney Page can be reached at page@tampabay.com or (727) 893-8123.

[Last modified October 24, 2007, 19:31:56]