In our forums, our members have been responding to a recent post that faced off a 5-iron against a 5-hybrid. WRXer Uglande kicked off the thread saying:
“Over the past couple of seasons, I have incorporated a 7 wood into my bag but have still shied away from hybrids. But after seeing so many lofted fairways and hybrids in some good players’ bags (e.g., I just noticed John Daly goes plays 17-19-22-26 degree Ping hybrids), I decided to put my T100 5 iron (26 degrees) to the test against a TSr2 24 hybrid, set at 25.
It was a blowout.
High, low, draw, fade, punchouts, bad lies … there wasn’t a single shot scenario I could create in which the hybrid did not beat the 5 iron, and usually by a long shot. But the most impressive was the incredible forgiveness on missed strikes. The 5 iron drop-off was dramatically worse. No big surprise, I know, but the magnitude of the separation is what struck me.
Normally, the equalizer would be the big-left miss with the hybrid, but I wasn’t getting any of that.”
Uglande added “What are your experiences with higher lofted hybrids, or what keeps you from bagging them?”, and our members have been getting involved with their takes in our forum.
Here are a few posts from the thread, but make sure to check out the entire discussion and have your say at the link below.
- POKeefe: “I ran the same test with Z785 5i, ZX5 5i, and ZX 5H head-to-head. It also wasn’t close. The only advantage the irons had was a lower ball flight, which I prefer. However, the consistency was much better with the hybrid. My driver swing speed is 107, so I’m not exactly slow either. My hunch is most people would be better off pulling 3-5i out of their bag in favor of woods and hybrids.”
- CDLgolf: “I use a 4, 5, and 6 hybrid and for me they are so much better than long irons or higher lofted fairway woods.”
- 1puttTuT: “Over time I’ve realized I hate hybrids. I struggle with a two way miss and they also want to balloon up at that loft. I really like my set 5 iron, but I do go to a utility iron instead of a normal 4 iron or hybrid. My hybrid issue is probably shaft related, but I don’t need the added forgiveness or launch benefit of the hybrid so why chase the correct shaft when the iron is plug and play for the most part.”
Entire Thread: “‘5 Iron v. 5 Hybrid Showdown … It Wasn’t Close’ – GolfWRXers discuss”