How to Hit a Hybrid: 7 Expert Tips
Here's how to turn your hybrid into a weapon off the tee or off the ground
Golfers who struggle to hit long irons or fairway woods often consider adding a hybrid or two to their bag. Although it’s easier to hit a hybrid than those tricky long irons or fairway woods, it’s not a magic club that you can swing without worries and get instant results.
Hitting a hybrid can be different from hitting a traditional iron or wood, so knowing exactly how to hit a hybrid is critical.
If you have ever struggled with your long irons and woods or haven’t mastered hitting the hybrid yet, read on to turn your hybrids into a weapon, whether you hit it off the tee or off the ground. The following are some tips that I often give golfers who struggle to hit a hybrid:
1. Position the Ball Slightly Forward in Your Stance
Your ball position with a hybrid should be just inside your lead heel. Hybrids are designed to help you get the ball airborne. However, having ball placement too far back in your stance may negate what the club was designed to do.
2. Take a Shallow Divot and Sweep The Ball
Unlike with an iron, where you want to try to hit down and through the ball, hybrids require a shallower introduction of the clubhead into the ball at impact. This involves the feeling of more of a sweeping motion rather than a steep, iron-like swing.
Regardless of your handicap, you're more likely to hit the green from 200 yards with a hybrid than an iron
3. Keep Your Weight Centered Over The Ball
Like with any club, you want to keep your body centered and steady over the ball. However, like you would do with your driver or fairway wood, having a minimal amount of secondary spine tilt – with your spine tilted slightly away from the target – may be necessary for hitting a hybrid.
4. Proper Mechanics are Critical
Many amateur golfers struggle with contact. Most golfers struggle with contact because of poor body movement from the top of the swing down.
For many, the body slows down as it approaches impact, mainly due to early extension. This common flaw comes from a loss of posture or standing up, causing the hips to move toward the ball.
Because the hips move towards the ball, the lower body cannot rotate or turn correctly on the downswing. When the hips block the hands from firing through impact, poor ball striking is too often the result.
Work on staying in your posture on the downswing and on through to impact. This will allow your lower and upper body to rotate and properly get to the lead side.
5. Don't Try to "Help" the Ball
Many golfers attempt to help the ball get up into the air by lifting the club as it comes into impact. Fight that urge and let the club do what it was designed to do in the first place.
6. Work on Speed Training
A lack of club head speed is one of the biggest reasons golfers struggle with long irons and fairway woods. While hybrids are designed to replace these hard-to-hit clubs and do, in fact, help, having a sufficient amount of clubhead speed will help even more.
You can increase your clubhead speed with weighted clubs and speed trainers, and in the gym with flexibility and strength training.
7. Practice Hitting Hybrids Often
Whether your goal is to hitting your hybrids better or improve any other aspect of your game, there is no substite for putting in the time and effort to improve. Practice working with your hybrids often, and you will see the fruits of your labor in no time.
By following these tips, you will surely increase your success rate in hitting hybrid shots—and see an improvement in your game overall as well.
The History of the Hybrid Club
The hybrid has revolutionized the game of golf since its introduction in the late 1990s. Hybrids are a cross between a fairway wood and an iron, combining the best aspects of each to create an easy-to-hit and forgiving club for longer shots.
In the game's early days, most golf clubs were wooden with flat faces. These hard-to-hit and often unreliable clubs were replaced by irons in the 1800s. As irons evolved, a systematic and graduated system with incremental lofts added to clubfaces aided in better ball and distance control.
Although irons proved very useful, many golfers struggled to hit the longer irons in the set. With lower lofts and longer shafts, long irons require good amount of clubhead speed just to get the ball airborne. Additionally, as golf courses became longer and more challenging, golfers needed a club to hit higher, farther, and more precisely than a long iron or fairway wood provided them. This led to the development of the hybrid club, which has a larger head and a lower center of gravity than an iron.
Cobra Baffler: The First Hybrid
Golf club designs similar to the modern-day hybrid have been around for centuries. The first true hybrid, however, was introduced by Cobra Golf in 1998 and was called the "Baffler." Interestingly, the actual design concept for the Baffler dates back to the 1970s.
The Baffler was created to aid players who had difficulty using long irons and fairway woods. This concept quickly became popular with golfers on both ends of the spectrum, but more so with middle to higher handicappers and those who had slower swing speeds.
The Hybrid Era
Other manufacturers eventually took notice of the popularity of Cobra's Baffler. TaylorMade Golf was one of many companies that quickly created its own line of hybrid clubs. TaylorMade called their rendition the "Rescue," which debuted in 2003. Today, TaylorMade offers an extensive line of hybrids and nearly every club manufacturer offers a line or two of hybrids.
A 2004 Darrel Survey showed that only 7% of golfers used hybrids. That percentage jumped to 30% by 2007. Today, almost every golfer, including Tour Professionals, carries at least one hybrid in their bag.
I highly recommend adding at least one to your set if you currently don't have a hybrid club.