Do Professional Golfers Use Hybrid Clubs?
If you think hybrids are for amateur golfers only, you’d be mistaken. Both PGA Tour and LPGA Tour players use hybrid clubs in place of long irons, with many PGA Tour Champions players opting for multiple hybrids in the bag. It's estimated that about one-third of PGA Tour players carry a hybrid and over two-thirds of LPGA pros carry one. Perhaps those numbers will sway you towards finally moving away from that old 3-iron.
What Hybrids Do Professional Golfers Use?
Professional golfers carry hybrids for the same reasons any player does. While a hybrid has a stronger loft, like a long iron, its head shape allows for the center of gravity to sit back and low, which makes hybrids easier to get in the air. In addition, hybrids are more accurate and produce consistent results compared to a long iron.
Tour players who use a hybrid usually substitute long irons, but not their mid irons. The most popular hybrids carried by pros are:
- 2 Hybrid: 16-18 degrees of loft, replaces a 5-wood
- 3 Hybrid: 19 degrees of loft, replaces a 3-iron
- 4 Hybrid: 22 degrees of loft, replaces a 4-iron
To illustrate how professional golfers on the major tours incorporate hybrids into their set makeup, check out Jordan Spieth, Lydia Ko and Fred Couples' hybrid lineup:
- Jordan Spieth (PGA Tour) plays a Titleist TSi2 hybrid (21 degrees) and a Titleist 818 H2 (also 21 degrees) in place of a 5-wood and 3-iron.
- Lydia Ko (LPGA Tour) plays a PXG 0317 X GEN2 (22 degrees) in place of a 4-iron.
- Fred Couples (PGA Tour Champions) uses a Callaway Apex UW (20 degrees) in place of a 3 iron.
Professional golfers hit hybrids different distances, but they share a common goal: to find the ideal club-gapping throughout their bag, ensuring they have a club for every distance required throughout a competitive round
When Do Professional Golfers Use Hybrids?
PGA and LPGA Tour players understand the clubs in their bags with precision, so if you see a pro carrying a hybrid, it’s likely because it serves a specific shot or distance purpose.
In professional golf, hybrids are most common on the PGA Tour Champions and LPGA Tours. Of the three major tours, driving distance is the lowest in those two. As club technology has changed, however, you can find PGA Tour players like Dustin Johnson and Webb Simpson using hybrids to fit certain golf course as we mentioned above. In other words, the stigma that hybrids are only for seniors and ladies couldn’t be further from reality.
Hybrids on the PGA Tour
On the PGA Tour, pros carry hybrids because of their versatility in loft. A 2 hybrid launches higher than a 2-iron, so players who feel they can control a shot into a long par-3 with a hybrid, may prefer it over the iron.
Hybrids on the LPGA Tour
On the LPGA Tour, hybrids are beneficial from a distance standpoint. For example, a high-launching 2-hybrid is a great club for a second shot into a par-5, as opposed to a lower-launching 5-wood that is less likely to finish on a green. This increases the player’s chances of having a putt for eagle.
Hybrids For Course Setup
Golf courses that require players to hit long shots with increased loft are ideal spots for pros to incorporate a hybrid club in their bag. These types of courses usually have firm greens, so the higher launch and increased backspin of a hybrid lends often performs better on those courses.
The Right Stick
Hybrids burst onto the scene less than 20 years ago, but they weren’t unanimously embraced. It took time for technology to perfect these long iron slayers and turn doubters into believers.
The evidence today suggests that even the best players in the world benefit from using hybrid clubs in the right circumstances. In fact, many manufacturers now produce a standard hybrid and a player-preferred model.
Some tour players stop just short of using a hybrid by using driving irons, but never fully leap into the hybrid class. The difference, however, between Jordan Spieth gaming a hybrid and, say, a writer for a golf website doing the same is that Spieth can probably shoot even par with hickory shafted irons if he had to, while the golf writer can not.