Hybrid golf clubs will improve your golf score and overall golf experience by making your poor shots, well, not as bad. Hybrid clubs are designed for exactly that reason, and they do their job very well. Just look at the number of golfers at your local club who are using hybrid golf clubs. For that matter, check out the next televised tournament and see just how many professional golfers now have hybrids in their bags.

Hybrid golf clubs are perfect for mid to high handicap golfers. The reason is simple. Mid and high handicappers have less than perfect golf swings, so they hit more bad shots. Hybrid golf clubs make those bad shots not nearly as bad.

How do they do it? Well, let’s take a look at the reasons. First of all, we will all agree that the hardest clubs to hit are long irons like 3, 4, or 5 irons. Hybrids are meant to replace those clubs. If you have a poor swing with a long iron, you are likely to either stick the blade in the ground if you hit the ball fat, or scull the ball with a bad slice or hook if you hit it too thin. You need a pretty precise impact on the ball to hit long irons well. Hybrid golf clubs do not have a blade, but rather a wider head with more mass and a lower center of gravity. The result of this is that even with a bad swing, you will not stick the club head in the ground. The head of a hybrid will bounce rather than stick, so you will get more club on the ball and will get more distance and loft out of even bad swings. If you hit the ball thin with a hybrid, you will still get loft, but the ball is much more likely to go straight than to slice or hook. Again, the result is a better result even with a poor swing.

The shafts on hybrid golf clubs are usually graphite. This material has a lot more flex than steel. Graphite is also much lighter than steel, so the head of the club can be heavier and that, along with the lighter weight of the shaft contributes to the much lower center of gravity when comparing hybrids to irons. Put all this together and you are likely to find that you get an extra 10 or 15 yards from a hybrid club with a similar shaft length as a long iron. When you can use a shorter club from longer distances, and that club has a bigger, more forgiving head, you are going to see better scores and less bad golf shots.

Hybrid golf clubs come in many different designs and are made by all major manufacturers of golf clubs. Once you make the decision to go with hybrids, you will have no problem finding the right set of hybrids to improve your game.

There are two reason why golfers switch to hybrid golf clubs from irons: they have lost distance and trajectory with their irons; and they are consistently hitting multiple irons the same distance. But now hybrids are for golfers outside of those two categories. Professional players like the versatility hybrids offer because irons are just not as versatile. You may be surprised at some of the ways hybrids can take strokes off your score.

On normal shots such as hitting out of a fairway, hybrid golf clubs are more forgiving due to their wider sole and increased inertia. With a hybrid club you will get longer and higher flight on most shots that you will from an iron. This means a well struck hybrid shot will go farther than the same shot with an iron. On shots you miss-hit, you get more forgiveness so even your miss hit shots will go straighter and farther than miss-hits with irons.

One thing to remember when hitting a hybrid golf club: the hybrid is replacing an iron so you should make a descending swing on the ball like you would with an iron. For example, when hitting a 3H or 4H, your stance should position the ball a few inches inside of your front heel and the swing should come down on the ball the same way you would with a 3 or 4 iron. You should not be taking a big divot, but you should hit the ground pretty much like you do with a long iron. A common mistake is to use a sweeping swing with a hybrid like you do with a fairway wood. This results in topping the ball. Focus on a descending blow at the point of contact.

You have probably seen tour pros using hybrids from just off the green. This is a great way to take strokes off you score. When using an iron from a tight lie, you can easily stick the club in the ground, or scull the ball across the green. Since the hybrid has a flat sole and loft on the face, you can sweep the club like a putter and the ball will still get in the air and onto the green without hitting down on it. Position the ball slightly forward with your hands a little in front of the ball. Choke down and take a swing like you would with your putter. Distance control with this shot takes practice, but you will avoid hitting the ball fat or sculling it around the green and that will take strokes off your score.

A hybrid club is great for fairway bunkers because the wider soles makes it harder to dig into the sand like you can easily do with an iron if you your swing gets too steep. With a hybrid and the same steep swing, the club will likely skip through the sand and you will get more distance on the shot. If you hit the ball thin with a hybrid out of a fairway bunker , you will still probably get the ball up in the air. This is due to the hybrid’s lower center of gravity.

In a fairway bunker, choke down a little and place the ball just forward in your stance. Make sure you have firm footing without digging in, make a shorter than normal back swing, but make a full finish to your swing.

You will find that a hybrid golf club is easier to hit out of the rough, despite what many more traditional golfers will tell you. There is no blade to get caught up in the high grass like an iron will. The hybrid also has a longer shaft, and that means more club head speed and power to get through the rough.

When hitting out of the rough, take an open stance with the ball back, and make sure you hit the ball with a descending blow. This is the same swing as you should take with an iron, but the hybrid will cut through the rough much better.