Hybrid selection day for an ultra-high-handicap hacker

[92Esquire]

I went to the driving range this morning and hit my Hogan CFT 3H again for a while. I am going to name that club Jimmy Carville - it's ALL LEFT, ALL THE TIME.

Frustrated, I went over to Edwin Watts to talk to my pusher, Brian. Brian has refused to sell me clubs on a couple of occasions now, so I trust him. He asked me what I was looking at and I asked him how the Mizuno MX-700 hybrids were. He said he hadn't hit one but offered to let me try it.

So I started with the Mizuno. He also went and got a Cobra TWS and a Nickent 4DX. Later on he added an Adams A4 (two, actually) and a Nickent 5DX. All of these clubs set up more open than my Hogan, which is a good thing.

The Mizuno felt nice on solid contact, but it is a HEAVY club. I think it's an 85 gm shaft in the stiff, and between the headweight and shaft it feels very, very heavy. I was hitting it pretty straight, and averaging about 180 with my misses (typically fat hits) going about 160 or so. To me, impact with this club (as well as the swing) felt most like an iron.

The Adams looks wierd, and feels very different on contact. Not bad, just different. With an R shaft I did OK, but it sprayed a bit. With the stiff shaft I struggled to get the ball into the air a bit.

The Nickent 4DX was not my favorite. The other heads are all pretty much symetrical. The 4DX seemed off due to the bulbous toe. I didn't hit this one very well at all. The couple good swings I got on it went shorter than the others by a good margin.

The Nickent 5DX was a serious contender. Feel was very good, and I liked the way it set up quite a bit. I hit this club about as well as the Mizuno, but it was a much different feel. The Nickent felt more like a fairway wood than the Mizuno did. Not bad at all, just different. My fastest swings (~95mph) were with the Nickent.

The Cobra TWS is what I ended up buying. I liked the setup, although it seems the widest face. Something about the club just got me swinging it very well. I wasn't looking so much for the longest club, but the Cobra ended up being both longest and straightest. Most hits were dead down the middle about 185, with a couple going 215. The club felt lighter than the Mizuno, and the impact feel was a bit nicer to me than the Nickent 5DX. I will state that the stock Cobra grip was not to my liking at all. I take a Midsize grip on everything, so I had that replaced before I walked out the door.

I should make it to the driving range tonight to test from grass, but I'm pretty stoked. I think I made a pretty good choice with this club. We'll see if it lasts.

For what it's worth, I could have been perfectly happy with the Mizuno, Cobra, or Nickent 5DX. The differences between them were pretty subtle, and it pretty much came down to what felt best when I stepped to the ball between those three.

 

[Floppy]

I went to the driving range this morning and hit my Hogan CFT 3H again for a while. I am going to name that club Jimmy Carville - it's ALL LEFT, ALL THE TIME.

Frustrated, I went over to Edwin Watts to talk to my pusher, Brian. Brian has refused to sell me clubs on a couple of occasions now, so I trust him. He asked me what I was looking at and I asked him how the Mizuno MX-700 hybrids were. He said he hadn't hit one but offered to let me try it.

So I started with the Mizuno. He also went and got a Cobra TWS and a Nickent 4DX. Later on he added an Adams A4 (two, actually) and a Nickent 5DX. All of these clubs set up more open than my Hogan, which is a good thing.

The Mizuno felt nice on solid contact, but it is a HEAVY club. I think it's an 85 gm shaft in the stiff, and between the headweight and shaft it feels very, very heavy. I was hitting it pretty straight, and averaging about 180 with my misses (typically fat hits) going about 160 or so. To me, impact with this club (as well as the swing) felt most like an iron.

The Adams looks wierd, and feels very different on contact. Not bad, just different. With an R shaft I did OK, but it sprayed a bit. With the stiff shaft I struggled to get the ball into the air a bit.

The Nickent 4DX was not my favorite. The other heads are all pretty much symetrical. The 4DX seemed off due to the bulbous toe. I didn't hit this one very well at all. The couple good swings I got on it went shorter than the others by a good margin.

The Nickent 5DX was a serious contender. Feel was very good, and I liked the way it set up quite a bit. I hit this club about as well as the Mizuno, but it was a much different feel. The Nickent felt more like a fairway wood than the Mizuno did. Not bad at all, just different. My fastest swings (~95mph) were with the Nickent.

The Cobra TWS is what I ended up buying. I liked the setup, although it seems the widest face. Something about the club just got me swinging it very well. I wasn't looking so much for the longest club, but the Cobra ended up being both longest and straightest. Most hits were dead down the middle about 185, with a couple going 215. The club felt lighter than the Mizuno, and the impact feel was a bit nicer to me than the Nickent 5DX. I will state that the stock Cobra grip was not to my liking at all. I take a Midsize grip on everything, so I had that replaced before I walked out the door.

I should make it to the driving range tonight to test from grass, but I'm pretty stoked. I think I made a pretty good choice with this club. We'll see if it lasts.

For what it's worth, I could have been perfectly happy with the Mizuno, Cobra, or Nickent 5DX. The differences between them were pretty subtle, and it pretty much came down to what felt best when I stepped to the ball between those three.

That's a suprise. I'm not an "ultra-high-handicapper", but I am a high handicapper (or medium, w/e) and it's a really nice club.

Good luck though!

 

[907golfer12]

Congrats on the new stick 92! Good luck with it in the future.

 

[Pinged]

Interesting. While I'm aware of all the clubs you tried, I tried 5 completely DIFFERENT hybrids, as a high handicapper. I've been playing Cally Diablos this spring but they do NOT feel "solid" most of the time and have a very annoying CLINK instead of a CLUNK even when you pure them.

So over the past week I've been hitting variously Ping G10 and Rapture V2 hybrids (both solid and straight but also "Heavy" as you described the Mizuno.) I could certainly have lived with either one of them over the Callaways I have now.

I also hit both the old and the new Taylormade Burner Hybrids. There wasn't a great deal of difference between the two and in the end, since the 2007 model was on sale for $110 each- that's what I bought. (A 4H and a 5H) Note: I was still feeling broke from dropping $1200 on the Ping irons and wedges. (GULP!)

I have been SO PLEASED with my burner driver and fairway woods (and I've hit everything imaginable) I guess at the moment TM is just making what works best for my particular swing speed/style. So now my bag is completely "fit and tested" for the first time.

I initially went out and simply bought (as a complete newbie) whatever Gold Digest Hot List said was best. DOH! :confused2:

Since then, I've been fitted, and demoed everything from Driver to Putter. ODDLY- what I ended up with was a 2-flavor bag: 5 Taylormades from Driver thru Hybrids, and 9 Pings from 6-iron thru Putter. (The putter is a several-year-old G2 that I stumbled onto used in a local store and fell in love with.)

Glad you got what worked best for you and I hope we're both pleased with our respective hybrid choices once we get out on the fairways!

 

[JB]

Glad you found your club 92. Ironically, the Nickents you tried are not really geared towards the high handicappers. They recommend the 3DX for high handicappers.

 

[askthejak]

I love my Baffler (need to update the sig). I am not a high handicapper- but for those shots (ones long enough that I am hitting a fairway wood or hybrid)I am usually not trying to work the ball- straight and accurate is the way to go, and the Baffler is certainly that. I hope you like yours as much as I like mine. But yeah, the grip is a big time fail.

 

[thebread]

glad you found something you are comfortable with. Hope your new weapon serves you well.

 

[92Esquire]

Glad you found your club 92. Ironically, the Nickents you tried are not really geared towards the high handicappers. They recommend the 3DX for high handicappers.

Believe it or don't, but I read the Nickent review a couple times prior to the Hybrid Hunt. Unfortunately, none of the stores around here have the 3DX RC, only the 3DX DC. Also, there were very positive comments made on the 5DX by the higher handicappers you tested with. When I look at Nickent's website, there does not appear to be anything suggesting the different models are for different ability levels - the 5DX is listed as having "superior forgiveness", and it's their straightest hybrid ever.

I guess I fell into the trap of assuming that when you have increasing numbers on products that somewhat correspond to order of product release, the higher numbers will be the better club.

 

[92Esquire]

Interesting. While I'm aware of all the clubs you tried, I tried 5 completely DIFFERENT hybrids, as a high handicapper. I've been playing Cally Diablos this spring but they do NOT feel "solid" most of the time and have a very annoying CLINK instead of a CLUNK even when you pure them.

So over the past week I've been hitting variously Ping G10 and Rapture V2 hybrids (both solid and straight but also "Heavy" as you described the Mizuno.) I could certainly have lived with either one of them over the Callaways I have now.

I also hit both the old and the new Taylormade Burner Hybrids. There wasn't a great deal of difference between the two and in the end, since the 2007 model was on sale for $110 each- that's what I bought. (A 4H and a 5H) Note: I was still feeling broke from dropping $1200 on the Ping irons and wedges. (GULP!)

I'm glad you found gear that you liked. I honestly thought about those three brands as well. I have an odd mental hangup regarding Callaway and Taylormade, so I didn't hit those. I looked at the Pings and really liked the way the Rapture V2 set up, but it was a little outside of my price range.

The fact is that for a hacker like me, there are going to be 4 or 5 clubs that work just as well. I am guessing that a real player could tell some more of the subtle differences.

 

[JB]

Believe it or don't, but I read the Nickent review a couple times prior to the Hybrid Hunt. Unfortunately, none of the stores around here have the 3DX RC, only the 3DX DC. Also, there were very positive comments made on the 5DX by the higher handicappers you tested with. When I look at Nickent's website, there does not appear to be anything suggesting the different models are for different ability levels - the 5DX is listed as having "superior forgiveness", and it's their straightest hybrid ever.

I guess I fell into the trap of assuming that when you have increasing numbers on products that somewhat correspond to order of product release, the higher numbers will be the better club.

You are correct that some of the higher handicappers did like the 5DX. But for most high handicappers using hybrids the trick is getting the ball up fast and having it stay up. That is what the 3DX was built for. Ironically the hybrid you decided on is very similar.

 

[Badger_Golfer]

The Mizuno felt nice on solid contact, but it is a HEAVY club. I think it's an 85 gm shaft in the stiff, and between the headweight and shaft it feels very, very heavy. I was hitting it pretty straight, and averaging about 180 with my misses (typically fat hits) going about 160 or so. To me, impact with this club (as well as the swing) felt most like an iron.

Was the Mizuno an MP or a CLK? Ive owned both and I like the CLK but I dont much care for the MP.
I hit my CLK Fli-Hi 17* very high (they arent kidding when they call it a, "Fli-Hi"), very straight and about 170 yards.
I find the CLK to be very easy to hit out of any lie, it even works good for greenside chipping.

 

[92Esquire]

Was the Mizuno an MP or a CLK? Ive owned both and I like the CLK but I dont much care for the MP.
I hit my CLK Fli-Hi 17* very high (they arent kidding when they call it a, "Fli-Hi"), very straight and about 170 yards.
I find the CLK to be very easy to hit out of any lie, it even works good for greenside chipping.

The Mizuno was an MX 700, FWIW.

 

[Badger_Golfer]

The Mizuno was an MX 700, FWIW.

Just checking because ya know Mizuno makes 2 different kinds of hybrids. I personally couldnt hit my MP Fli-Hi work a darn (I had the full set), but I hit my CLK (which is similar to the MX-700) really well.

 

[92Esquire]

Hit the club today for a bit at the driving range. Holy heck. When hit well, it takes off like a scalded cat (if you think a scalded dog is fast, you've never seen a cat lay down on a votive candle!).

The grip I had put on it was a Golf Pride New Decade midsize. I like that grip a lot. Soft under my right hand, but sticks like velcro to my glove hand.

The sound was pleasant. Nothing wrong with it at all. And the best part - it's straight! Of course not every swing, but it's certainly not as left as my Hogan was, and that was the goal with this club.

:banana::banana::banana:

 

[Badger_Golfer]

Glad to hear it. My hybrid has been a real revelation for me as well. It has opened up a whole new possibility of shots that werent an option in the past.