Wood vs Hybrid Irons | Golf Monthly - video Dailymotion

Golf Monthly

Dan Parker takes an in-depth look at the key differences between a 21° 7 wood and a 21° hybrid to see which club you should consider utilizing to get the most at the top end of your bag. After going through some of the key stats that differentiate these clubs, Dan then takes you through a few shots out on the course to show the potential benefits and pitfalls of a 7-wood and a hybrid.

Transcript

00:00I have got some fascinating data about whether you should be using one of these,

00:04a seven-wood, or one of these, a hybrid, or maybe both. Let's get started.

00:17So before we get to hitting a few shots on course and talk about the data,

00:19let's talk about the characteristics of these two clubs. What is the difference between a seven-wood

00:23and a hybrid? Let's talk about the seven-wood first because that is sort of the the main

00:27style of the show today. So as you can see with the characteristics of this seven-wood,

00:31the head is a lot bigger and that means the central gravity is deeper and lower compared

00:36to a hybrid and that means the ball gets up in the air a lot quicker and a lot higher.

00:40So where its uses come in is for approaches to greens, if you want more stopping power,

00:45if you find yourself on a lot of par threes that you know 180-200 yards, depending on how far you

00:49hit these sort of things, it's really useful for that compared to a hybrid. So we'll look at the

00:53hybrid now, obviously we know what a hybrid looks like, a lot smaller head and that ball flight is

00:57a lot lower because that central gravity is in a much different position. Another thing to note

01:02about hybrids and whether you want a hybrid or a lot more lofted wood in the bag is that a hybrid

01:06tend to have a bit more draw bias on them. They'll turn left to right for me as a left-hander,

01:11right to left if you're a right-hander, which is great for some, but some people want to shake the ball

01:16both ways and that's where the control of a seven-wood, which is a lot easier to shape in both directions,

01:20comes into effect. So even though they might have the same stated loft on there and they

01:25say they're the same number, that dynamic loft impact is very different and the characteristics

01:30are very different, which we'll come and talk about in just a second. So let's talk about some of that

01:34data that I've found in my testing. I'm going to flash up a table now. I've had about two or three

01:39range sessions comparing these and I picked about 20 shots that I think were most representative to get

01:44these averages from. And we'll talk about the similarities first. So you can see the ball speed,

01:48very similar 134 mile an hour to 131, so not too much there. And that then led to an average carry

01:54distance of 208 yards of the seven-wood and 207 with a four hybrid. So very, very similar,

01:59which is what I expected actually. So I was pretty pleased to see that during my testing.

02:03But the big differences and the benefits that some of you might see from going from seven-wood

02:08instead of a hybrid comes in that peak height. You can see the big difference there, 30.5 yards on

02:13average playing 24 yards from the hybrid. So pretty much six yards in the air difference,

02:18which is going to give that seven-wood a much steeper descent angle and way more stopping

02:22power than a hybrid. So it was fascinating to see that and I really enjoyed hitting it on the range

02:26actually. Hitting the seven-woods going up like a seven iron or even a pitching wedge sometimes.

02:31It was really, really cool. And you've not lost that yardage as we've seen. They're going the same

02:35distance, but that ball flight characteristic was so different. We'll see that in a minute on course.

02:40And that's played out in the spin as well. 6,000 for the seven-wood, five and a half for the

02:44hybrid. I'd expect that this seven-wood will spin the ball a little bit more.

02:50And then it comes down to that launch angle as well. 12.4 to 10.6. That seven-wood is naturally

02:55launching a little bit higher all down to that center of gravity. So this is what I expected

02:59during my testing. I was pretty happy to see these results. It's the kind of thing I wanted to see as

03:03well. Similar lofts going similar distances, but with very, very different ball flight characteristics.

03:09So with all that data out of the way, let's get onto the course and see how these things act in the real

03:12world. Okay. So on the golf course now, and I found myself in an exact situation where this seven-wood

03:18versus hybrid debate comes in. We're 210 yards away from the green, which is just behind me over here.

03:23And I'm a little bit downwind and I want a club with lots of stopping power. Now, 210 yards away

03:29means I'm going to have to hit a wood of some kind, but I don't trust that hybrid to hold the green.

03:34So that's where a club like this, the seven-wood really comes into play. Similar situations if you're on

03:38a long par three or approaching a par five of that sort of 200, 210 yard distance,

03:44that a club like this gives you so much stopping power and a lot more control. So let's see the

03:48comparison between the two. I'm going to start with the seven-wood because that's the club

03:51I would go for if I was in this situation. Now it's very cold today as well. So if I can

03:56hit this 210 yards, I'm very happy with myself.

04:07Okay, not bad there. A little bit drawy, but I think it had plenty of height on it to stop

04:12somewhere level with the pin, but a little bit to the right. Now let's compare that with the hybrid

04:17and see how much different that's going to be, because I can imagine it's going to be a lot lower

04:20ball flight running into that green with a little bit less stopping power. Hopefully though,

04:26I can get it that distance about 210. Same sort of thing there, a little bit hooky,

04:38but you can see from the Pro Tracer a lot lower ball flight from there. I can imagine that ball's

04:42scuttled on a little bit further. So let's head up to the green, see where those balls ended up and

04:46I'll have some final concluding thoughts on the seven-wood versus hybrid debate. Okay, so up at the

04:51green, I think we've got a result here that really shows off the characteristics and the benefits of a

04:55seven-wood. So I'm stood here by my hybrid shot, which as we saw, it was a bit toe-y, it was a bit

05:00hooky, but because of that and that lower ball flight, we've ended up back right at the green.

05:04Whereas you can see behind me here, the seven-wood, which was a similar-ish strike, a bit toe-y,

05:08definitely turned over, still had that higher ball flight and much more stopping power to leave me

05:14a much more attractive birdie putt on the green over there. So some final thoughts on these really,

05:19I love the seven-wood, it's been quite enjoyable to use, it offers you so much loft at address,

05:23it goes so high and still so far that I think it could deserve a place in my bag at some point.

05:30It's not great off tees, to be honest with you, because of that spin, you don't get much run,

05:33I'd rather use the hybrid, but it's a really interesting club and one I really think you

05:38should consider potentially putting in that end of your bag. You've seen the data, you've seen how it

05:42works on course, make the decision for yourselves. Now, I'd love to hear from you, have you already got one of

05:47these in the bag, or are you thinking of putting one in? Let me know, let me know your experiences

05:52with this club, I would love to hear from you. But for now, from Prince's Golf Club,

05:55thank you very much for joining me, I'll see you next time.

Wood vs Hybrid Irons | Golf Monthly

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