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Long Irons Vs. Hybrids - Which do you prefer and why?

I have recently gone back from a 3h 4h to 3h 4 iron , as I have changed my irons and have more confidence in them now ...I find I might hit my old 4h slightly further but the 4 iron is more accurate .....and that suits me
 
I'm getting back into golf after 15 years and tried some Adams 4, 5, 6 hybrids and didn't hit them very well. I can hit from a 5 iron up most of the time. I instead have a 5, 7, and 9 wood (Adams LPs) that I hit well and have a lot of confidence in. I wonder why I can't hit the hybrids but can hit the woods? Is it the size of the club face perhaps? Suggestions?
 
dugal said:
I'm getting back into golf after 15 years and tried some Adams 4, 5, 6 hybrids and didn't hit them very well. I can hit from a 5 iron up most of the time. I instead have a 5, 7, and 9 wood (Adams LPs) that I hit well and have a lot of confidence in. I wonder why I can't hit the hybrids but can hit the woods? Is it the size of the club face perhaps? Suggestions?
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I'm no professional but if you want to hit your hybrids better, take just those clubs to the range & force yourself to hit them. If those are all you have, that's all you'll use & using them get you comfortable & more confident in them.
Just a thought anyway.
 
I carry both a 4 hybrid and 4 iron! Honestly depends on that day as to what I hit.

I have more confidence out of the gate in the hybrid.
 
this game is all about confidence...if you are confident with hybrid, you play hybrid...if you are confident with irons, you play irons. And, have fun.
 
It took me awhile to switch to hybrids but once I did I havent looked back. Hybrids these days are more forgiving, easier to hit and hit it farther than long irons. Its solely up to personal choice but this game is tough enough take the hybrid and make it just a bit easier.

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dugal said:
I'm getting back into golf after 15 years and tried some Adams 4, 5, 6 hybrids and didn't hit them very well. I can hit from a 5 iron up most of the time. I instead have a 5, 7, and 9 wood (Adams LPs) that I hit well and have a lot of confidence in. I wonder why I can't hit the hybrids but can hit the woods? Is it the size of the club face perhaps? Suggestions?
Click to expand...

I wonder if you're trying to use a fairway wood type swing on the hybrids (a sweeping swing)? I tried that when I first picked one up and it didn't work at all. I've found if you take the same sort of swing you would with an iron and play the ball back toward the center of your stance they work much better. I have hit some beautiful shots with mine that way. What another poster suggested--forcing yourself to spend some time with them at the range--should help a lot. If you can, though, make it a grass range so you can really focus on striking the ball on the downswing.
 
Currently I carry a single hybrid, a Cobra Baffler TWS 3/20*. That club has been fantastic for me, I end up using it more than about any other club in my bag. It's frequently used as my driver on narrow par 4's, as a second shot on long par 4's or par 5's, or out of the rough on par 4's where I miss my drive off the fairway. I've also worked a lot (due to necessity) on a partial swing shot that stays low, carries about 100 and rolls like the dickens afterwards, which comes in handy when I've ended up under the trees on my local course.

I've recently switched from an SGI iron to a pocket cavity iron (Mizzy MX-19 to Mizzy MP-52). I can hit up through 5 iron pretty well from the turf. Even in my old set, the 4 iron was rarely used on course, other than driving on long par 3's. I'm debating finding another one of the Baffler TWS clubs in a 4i and yanking the 4 from my new set. The 4 might be a bit better from the rough than my current 3.
 
Hybrid guy here! Although even though I play pretty poor with an index of 24 I can flat stroke my 4i. In fact Im so bad off the tee with a driver (biggest weakness) that I have been known to just tee off with 4i or 4h(carry both). I have a Adams a12os set arriving this week so I will be all hybrid 4-5-6 real soon.
 
I like both... my 3h is my favorite club in my bag but I hit the 4i pretty good as well
 
After some difficulties getting accustomed to them due to the extra length vs. irons, I have come to prefer my 3,4 & 5 hybrids. They are less likely to get grabbed by the rough, they are more forgiving on fat shots, and much more forgiving on thin shots.
 
I have a love hate relationship with my 4 iron. I've hit some gorgeous shots with it, and some stinkers. It's just not consistent. People say long irons are more accurante than hybrids - I don't hit either one very accurately. Thats why I've been bagging the 7 wood lately ... seems to be a great compromise & more reliable than the 4i/4h.
 
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Long irons. Primarily because I sometimes feel a lack of control with a hybrid. I am more prone to big misses, but I guess that's the trade-off for the higher trajectory. I am however pondering pulling my 3-iron for a hybrid.

I also play a lot in fairly windy conditions and I like to be able to keep the ball low.
 
I play 3h and 4i, I can hit my 4iron very well but struggle with the 3iron and the hybrid is easier to hit than my pitching wedge
 
Spahrticus said:
I wonder if you're trying to use a fairway wood type swing on the hybrids (a sweeping swing)? I tried that when I first picked one up and it didn't work at all. I've found if you take the same sort of swing you would with an iron and play the ball back toward the center of your stance they work much better. I have hit some beautiful shots with mine that way. What another poster suggested--forcing yourself to spend some time with them at the range--should help a lot. If you can, though, make it a grass range so you can really focus on striking the ball on the downswing.
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Had this issue for a long time. Just couldn't get myself to hit down on my hybrids and was thinking of swapping them for irons. After coming back from injury with a new, shorter, swing, I for some reason have no problem hitting down on my hybrids and am getting great distance and accuracy out of them so they are staying in the bag.
 
I'm currently testing the Cleveland HB3s with the graphite shafts. Off of mats at the range, they are the best set of GI/SGI clubs for my swing that I've personally ever hit. I was a little worried about how they'd do on the course.

The first time out, I set a personal best round without a hot putter. This was 10 strokes better than the last time that I played this same course, and my swing hasn't improved all that much. The results on many shots were seemingly better than I deserved, particularly on misses out on the toe. All day long, the ball flight was high, long and straight. I really only hit one bad shot with them -- a pull on a par 3 that left me behind a tree, but even with the pin. That ball went dead straight, but I just pulled it (was thinking that's where I didn't want to be and then went and put it right there).

The HB3s may be the best of both worlds. They're not as much of a hybrid as many of the small fairway wood design hybrids we're seeing. They don't have as much offset as most of the non-tour hybrids that I've seen. They actually have less offset than many other hybrid/iron SGI sets. These are not hook machines.

The progressive nature of the set really allows for consistent distances and gaps. Each head and shaft seems to step off nicely. I think shaft differences, head differences and loft differences are a huge problem when trying to piece together a multi-vendor set, or with many of the blended sets that are on the market that have hybrids with graphite and irons in steel. Cleveland really did a nice job with the design.

I'm still worried about how they're going to play in weird lies. The 3 hybrid is also a little bit big for my tastes. Oddly, I'm not worried about the short irons because a lot of SGI clubs have soles that are just as big. I have Niblicks that are actually bigger. Undulating courses and hard pan are my biggest concerns because that's always where I've struggled with hybrids. That's why I'm saying that I'm still testing them.

Initial results have been pretty impressive though. For mid-high handicappers reading this thread, this might be the perfect set that solves the problem about whether to go with hybrids or irons.
 
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