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Hybrid Irons

SuperStroke
OITW said:
Cleveland HB Launcher Turbo:

Far and away my favorite, I have quite a few thoughts on them in both the Ultimate Weekend of Golf Live Update Thread and the HB Launcher Turbo Thread. The performance that I've been seeing with it over the past few weeks has been outstanding, especially when the swing has been off. It checks all the boxes, in the thread we put up a topline comparison picture to the CF19 Pro 8i and there is a little more junk in the trunk in these, but as was discussed in our group it's a hybrid iron, not an oversized iron, so it's nothing scary.

If you need more height, distance don't sleep on these - I would also recommend them with the AMT Red Shafts.

Cobra TRail:

Spent a limited amount of time with these, they had the Elevate 95 R in them and with the head, these just get up in the air. I adore the Elevate profile in either the 95 or the Tour, I don't have a head weight for it, but it felt right, not too light or too heavy.

Hit these on the course a couple of times into fairways, but did not have the opportunity into greens, I think these would be a good long irons/hyrbid replacement. Sound and feel is great.

Commercially these are the best looking of the hybrid irons that I've had in my hands this year.

Longterm question for me is how does the PVD finish wear.

Embargo:

Well you're going to have to wait and see aren't you lol

Definitely fit this category, smart shaft pairing from the OEM.

Biggest difference is sound.
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Thanks for the info on the Cobra T Rails!
 
This category of "iron" screams Ping. I haven't spent any time with this type of club but would consider it seeing as to how it really could lower my scores.
 
hedley_lamarr08 said:
This category of "iron" screams Ping. I haven't spent any time with this type of club but would consider it seeing as to how it really could lower my scores.
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And yet they don’t really offer it at this time.
I think all companies will take a hard look though, based on the success Cleveland has had recently.
 
hedley_lamarr08 said:
This category of "iron" screams Ping. I haven't spent any time with this type of club but would consider it seeing as to how it really could lower my scores.
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if you want lower scores these irons can definitely help. Easy launch and packed with forgiveness can’t go wrong with the options out there.
 
Tour Edge HL4.

The Launchers were awesome as well, but I had steel shafts in them.

The HL4 with graphite = awesome!!!!
 
mpeterson said:
I think there’s one huge advantage to these that you don’t get with a traditional SGI iron - if you’re not a fan of looking at a bunch of offset, these will give you launch without having to add much. As @JB said in the podcast w. @golfunfiltered, there’s probably less offset in the HB Turbos than some players irons.
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Read this the other day and wanted to revisit it.
This is one of the major reasons I really enjoy about my 588 Altitude irons. Very little offset, less than some player's irons.
I was fitted in 2018 for G710's and really enjoyed the 8-UW, but the 6 and 7 irons always looked a bit off to me and I had problems with alignment to the target. Assuming a big part of that was the progressive offset of that iron set.

When I switched back to the Altitudes the look was consistent through the set and felt at home again.
When I had a chance to demo the T Rail 7i, the offset wasn't bad on that club either. So looking forward to testing those more during the offseason.
 
JB said:
We have a thread on hollow body, but with much of that swinging towards the smaller heads, I thought a dedicated thread for hybrid irons could be fun. For a number of years there were only 1-2 choices at the premium level, but now we have a number of choices.

Cleveland, perhaps the modern innovator in the space with the Launcher HB Turbo. Cobra bringing T-Rail to the market.
There are others, including one that is not out yet, that we have in the hands of a number of THP Forum Members so they can drop their review when they hit market.

What are your thoughts on hybrid irons and do you have a favorite from the list?
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Glad to see this thread.
Back in 2014-2015 I was really struggling with my iron play. My handicap was floating around the 18-22 mark, a buddy of mine had been playing the 588 Altitudes.
We don't live by each other so I could never try his set and they had already been discontinued in the shops without demos around.
He raved about them though.

One day I walked into Golfsmith and there was a single 6i on the used rack. I bought it and went immediately to the range. That same day I got in some Adams Super S hybrids for testing. Those never worked out but after hitting one shot with the Tue 6i it changed my iron play. Nice high flight with a gentle draw. Luckily I found a closeout deal for around $165 shipped on a 5-PW set. Later added the DW and SW too. Wow, talking about a great value. Gamed them from 2015 to 2017.

Fast forward to 2019 and while I cheated on them for a year and a half they found their way back into the bag this Sept.
Went on a nice run shooting in the 70's 5 out of my last 9 rounds to end the season. Prior to that I had only shot 5 rounds in the 70's all season from Jan-mid Sept.

I tried the Cleveland HB's last year and while I hit them ok, I never felt like they topped the Altitudes for me. Also the cavity finish seemed to not be as durable to marks as the Tude cavity fill.

I have no issues rocking the 'Tudes another season but excited to continue testing the T-Rails and HB Turbos this season as well as the embargo'd club whatever that ends up being.
Just bummed out that I wasn't aware of the THP testing of these clubs; wished I could have put my name into the hat on that for a chance to provide some feedback since this is the category if irons I dig.
 
erock9174 said:
Just bummed out that I wasn't aware of the THP testing of these clubs; wished I could have put my name into the hat on that for a chance to provide some feedback since this is the category if irons I dig.
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We do signups and shoulder taps for a lot of club testing. In the instances of embargo'd equipment, many times we select people from THP Experiences if the company does not want open signups.
 
JB said:
We do signups and shoulder taps for a lot of club testing. In the instances of embargo'd equipment, many times we select people from THP Experiences if the company does not want open signups.
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Gotcha. I thought I missed it.
 
If they help people play better and enjoy the game more, more power to 'em. I wish that I could love hybrid irons but I just cant get past the looks of them. If I could, Id probably have a set of Cleveland Launchers in my bag.
I did have a set of Nike Slingshotss where the 3 and 4 were hybrid irons and a set of Cleveland Mashies where the 4 and 5 where hybrid irons and when I was swinging them well, they were amazing but I always seemed to want to sweep them off the turf like a wood instead of hitting down on them like an iron.
There are times when I think maybe I just need to get over the looks and get myself a set of launchers. ?‍♂️
 
Badger_Golfer said:
There are times when I think maybe I just need to get over the looks and get myself a set of launchers.
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I’d rather have ugly clubs and pretty shots than the reverse.




Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 
tehuti said:
I’d rather have ugly clubs and pretty shots than the reverse.




Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
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I'm trying to get there. I still love and want to play pretty clubs. That's one of the things that I like about my Tommy Armour Atomics. They've hollow body irons but aren't a true hybrid iron.

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My buddies dad is around 60 years old and he basically plays a whole bag of hybrids. My father has added another hybrid to his bag this year and when it comes time to replace his irons I may just end up pushing him in this direction. Hell I wouldn’t even mind have a set to mess with it.
 
Alright folks, putting a set of these in play for an entire round for the first time. Anything you want me to pay attention to, let me know. I'll provide my feedback in here and the Cleveland Turbo thread after my round for feedback specific to those clubs.
 
mpeterson said:
Alright folks, putting a set of these in play for an entire round for the first time. Anything you want me to pay attention to, let me know. I'll provide my feedback in here and the Cleveland Turbo thread after my round for feedback specific to those clubs.
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I look forward to your feedback
 
I love the concept, and with as horrible as I am at golf you’d think they’d be right up my alley. However, all of the ones I’ve tried I hit very poorly. I just can’t figure out a swing that works with them. It’s odd to me since I hit my hybrids well. It’s really the shorter, higher lofted ones that give me the most trouble.

I haven’t tried the T-Rail yet, but if they offered those in a one length they would be my dream setup...at least in my mind. Whether or not I could actually hit them is a different story.
 
I've been using the Ping Crossover #4 hybrid iron. Not sure if it fits the category, but I use it on some of the par 3's at my course, that are around 175 yards, as well as hitting out of the woods, or whenever a low, boring shot is required. When I hit it flush it carries nice and straight and has a LOT of roll when it hits the ground.
 
I had a set of the FT iBrids from Callaway. I did not like the hybrid irons in the set at all. I much prefer a wood iron; think the graphite shaft helps so much...
 
I had a chance to take a bunch of swings on course with two different sets of these this weekend. I'll save some of my feedback specific to the sets for their threads, but I want to talk about my experience with the iron style generally here. I'll go as far as to say my 36-ish holes with these have me rethinking about how I'll set my bag up going forward. For those that don't know my preferences club-wise, I tend to prefer a smaller, less-offset iron head, though top line is not something that really bothers me.

It probably took 2, maybe 3 swings with the irons to just start to subconsciously ignore the back end of the irons, and I pretty quickly just settled in to playing them like I would any iron set. And while they won't fix a completely garbage swing, they do wonders for, say, a strike that's pretty thin and out on the toe. They get the ball up quick, but I don't think the ball flight was overly high even with a high launching shaft. I went out of my way to hit some touch shots around the green with the PW, 9i, and 8i and this is where I think this profile is really underrated. With the wider sole, I had zero concerns about digging, and I think that ease of mind had me making the best contact on those shots I'd had in a while off of a variety of lies. Zero issues gauging distance on those touch shots as well. Likewise, these held greens just fine, right around the same rollout as I'm used to seeing.

The long irons, as I would expect, were great as well. I hit a 4i just short of 200 yards uphill in cold weather to give us an eagle look in the scramble we were playing.

Overall, I had a ton of fun playing with this profile - and like I said, it really has me thinking about forgiveness - if I don't mind looking down at something like this, what's the downside of putting it in the bag? They seemed to handle any shot I asked them to, with a larger margin for error. I had been impressed by the Altitudes and the Launchers at demo days, but there's something eye opening about getting a set like this out on the course.
 
I am following this thread and category with fascination. It seems like things are getting really interesting.
 
I have a ton of thoughts so far on the hybrid irons, much of which I will post in a few weeks, but I’m much like mpeterson in that these have me rethinking my bag setup for next year.
 
mpeterson said:
I had a chance to take a bunch of swings on course with two different sets of these this weekend. I'll save some of my feedback specific to the sets for their threads, but I want to talk about my experience with the iron style generally here. I'll go as far as to say my 36-ish holes with these have me rethinking about how I'll set my bag up going forward. For those that don't know my preferences club-wise, I tend to prefer a smaller, less-offset iron head, though top line is not something that really bothers me.

It probably took 2, maybe 3 swings with the irons to just start to subconsciously ignore the back end of the irons, and I pretty quickly just settled in to playing them like I would any iron set. And while they won't fix a completely garbage swing, they do wonders for, say, a strike that's pretty thin and out on the toe. They get the ball up quick, but I don't think the ball flight was overly high even with a high launching shaft. I went out of my way to hit some touch shots around the green with the PW, 9i, and 8i and this is where I think this profile is really underrated. With the wider sole, I had zero concerns about digging, and I think that ease of mind had me making the best contact on those shots I'd had in a while off of a variety of lies. Zero issues gauging distance on those touch shots as well. Likewise, these held greens just fine, right around the same rollout as I'm used to seeing.

The long irons, as I would expect, were great as well. I hit a 4i just short of 200 yards uphill in cold weather to give us an eagle look in the scramble we were playing.

Overall, I had a ton of fun playing with this profile - and like I said, it really has me thinking about forgiveness - if I don't mind looking down at something like this, what's the downside of putting it in the bag? They seemed to handle any shot I asked them to, with a larger margin for error. I had been impressed by the Altitudes and the Launchers at demo days, but there's something eye opening about getting a set like this out on the course.
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Great feedback, Matt. I absolutely love the set I’m gaming but after this weekend’s performance I’m thinking about this class of irons ... sometimes you need every ounce of help you can get.
 
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