Hybrid-Fairway Wood Nonsense
Mar 25th, 2008 by Jesse
The latest scam from manufacturers is the marketing of a new type of product called a fairway-hybrid club. It’s a clear attempt to extract more money from consumers for a product that not only serves no purpose, but actuallly will be detrimental to your game. It’s an unashamed move to capitalize on the hybrid craze in Golf.
Hybrids came into being because long irons had become too difficult to hit. Why? Because in the name of ‘technology’, manufacturers strengthened the lofts of irons to make them longer in distance. They also made them a half inch or one inch longer in length and ‘Presto! You’re 15 yards longer!’
It’s just the Law of Physics that a longer and stronger lofted club will go further. Ther’s no magic in this! No one could hit a 1-iron 25 years ago, so what makes you think you can hit today’s 3-iron? They are virtually the same loft!
Hybrids are designed with wider bodies, lower and deeper CGs and wider soles that make them more forgiving than the long irons they have replaced. But these are the exact features that give fairway woods the advantage over hybrids. As the shaft length gets longer, your hands are farther away from the ball, making contact more difficult.
This is why we are making drivers 460 cc’s! It’s because we are farther from the ball and thus need a bigger head that creates a higher MOI with a larger hitting area to produce more consistent drives.
For this same reason, fairway woods need to be larger in the proper areas than hybrids. Fairway woods are usually an inch and a half to two inches longer than hybrids. These new fairway-hybrids are actually smaller than normal fairway woods in critical dimensions such as body width and face area so as to make consistent contact MORE difficult.
Hybrids should replace your long irons, they should not replace your fairway woods! It appears that logic has taken flight at these companies, but when a company’s total existence is wrapped under the ‘Hybrid flag’ it will stop at nothing to expand their product line confusing consumers with the hope of gaining sales.
Next time you see one of those fairway-hybrid ads, ask that company if they also sell snake-oil products that cure baldness and impotency. It would not be a stretch for them. buy cialisbuy cialisbuy levitrabuy levitrabuy propeciabuy propeciabuy somabuy somabuy levitrabuy cialisbuy propeciabuy levitrabuy somabuy cialisbuy propeciabuy levitrabuy somabuy cialisbuy levitrabuy propeciabuy soma
Jesse,
Good post. School me one more level. Now, with you and Dave Pelz under the BJ flag with the new wedge set (nice work), let’s take a page from Dave’s “Short Game Bible” (page 307 to be exact) and spec a legitimate set of clubs, based on degrees of loft, based on rational yardage gaps, not the traditional numbers on the club and specific OEM marketing. A set of men’s clubs, degrees and yardage gaps for an amateur. Let’s start by agreeing the a driver, putter, and the four new BJ wedges are a given - in the bag. You have 8 more clubs to put in the bag. Using BJ fairway wood offerings, BJ hybrid offerings, and whoever’s irons, what will be the degrees of loft of the remaining 8 clubs you would put in the bag? I appreciate your thoughts.