Playing For Position On Par Fours With A Hybrid Golf Club (Video) - by Pete Styles
Playing For Position On Par Fours With A Hybrid Golf Club (Video) - by Pete Styles

We should all now be aware of the versatility of a hybrid club and the reasons why you should have it in your bag. But more in detail about why we can use a hybrid club on a par-4 T-shot. Because you find that for a lot of golfers, when they walk up on to a T, they look at the marker and it says ‘par-4’ and they instinctively reach for driver. It’s just what they’ve always done. If there’s 18 holes on a golf course, four of those par 3s, they’re going to hit 14 drives; they’re going to hit 14 T-shots with a driver. And that’s not necessarily the smartest course management decisions you can make.

The first thing I’d like to do when I get to a T, is just look at the par-4, look at the distance, but then have a really good look down the fairway. And stand on the T-ground just for a couple of seconds, analyzing the fairway you have in front of you, and taking on board all the information that you can see out in front of you. It might be where the hazards are. It might be the severity of the hazards, out of bounds, ponds, or bunkers. All could be hazards that can actually give you different levels of penalties, but out of bounds being the most severe, water being the second most severe, bunkers severe, but there’s no penalty shots I can get down playing my ball I might be able to advance it up towards the green. So taking all information on board, I can then go ahead and make the relevant club decision. I might also consider things like wind direction and the length of the hole. If the hole is relatively short, like say 350 yards or less, or the wind is quite strong behind, I don’t necessarily need a driver to bring the holding range for this second shot. If it’s 350 yards slightly downwind, a hybrid club that would normally carry 200 might carry 220, that’s going to leave me a relatively short time for my second shot on to the green. The benefit of hitting the hybrid club off the T is that it’s not going to go too far. So it might not roll into the bunker or it might not reach the pond or the ditch. I’ve also found that because of the extra loft on the club and the extra back spin that’s created, the effectiveness of the side spin, let’s say curving spin on the golf ball is going to be reduced. So more loft on the face is that we’re going to effectively hit the ball straighter. So I can set up now on a relatively low tee peg, I don’t need my big high driver tee peg for this shot; relatively low tee peg with my hybrid club, picking my spots on the fairway that’s nice and safe. But now I pick my spot, I’m going to commit to the shots. One thing we sometimes see with golfers, when they’re not hitting the driver, they think it’s an easy shot. So they take their minds off the shots a little bit and they don’t fully commit. So I’ve picked my spot, I’ve judged the wind, I’ve judged my hazards and I’m going to commit to my hybrid shot. I’m then able to hit the ball nice and high with my 3-hybrid, knocking it down the fairway, it’s going to land down there over 200 yards with a little bit of run-out, and hopefully that’s got me back in play on the par-4 T rather than instinctively grabbing a driver every time you see a par-4 consider the option of hitting a hybrid off the tee. 2016-05-09

We should all now be aware of the versatility of a hybrid club and the reasons why you should have it in your bag. But more in detail about why we can use a hybrid club on a par-4 T-shot. Because you find that for a lot of golfers, when they walk up on to a T, they look at the marker and it says ‘par-4’ and they instinctively reach for driver. It’s just what they’ve always done. If there’s 18 holes on a golf course, four of those par 3s, they’re going to hit 14 drives; they’re going to hit 14 T-shots with a driver. And that’s not necessarily the smartest course management decisions you can make.

The first thing I’d like to do when I get to a T, is just look at the par-4, look at the distance, but then have a really good look down the fairway. And stand on the T-ground just for a couple of seconds, analyzing the fairway you have in front of you, and taking on board all the information that you can see out in front of you. It might be where the hazards are.

It might be the severity of the hazards, out of bounds, ponds, or bunkers. All could be hazards that can actually give you different levels of penalties, but out of bounds being the most severe, water being the second most severe, bunkers severe, but there’s no penalty shots I can get down playing my ball I might be able to advance it up towards the green. So taking all information on board, I can then go ahead and make the relevant club decision. I might also consider things like wind direction and the length of the hole. If the hole is relatively short, like say 350 yards or less, or the wind is quite strong behind, I don’t necessarily need a driver to bring the holding range for this second shot. If it’s 350 yards slightly downwind, a hybrid club that would normally carry 200 might carry 220, that’s going to leave me a relatively short time for my second shot on to the green. The benefit of hitting the hybrid club off the T is that it’s not going to go too far. So it might not roll into the bunker or it might not reach the pond or the ditch.

I’ve also found that because of the extra loft on the club and the extra back spin that’s created, the effectiveness of the side spin, let’s say curving spin on the golf ball is going to be reduced. So more loft on the face is that we’re going to effectively hit the ball straighter. So I can set up now on a relatively low tee peg, I don’t need my big high driver tee peg for this shot; relatively low tee peg with my hybrid club, picking my spots on the fairway that’s nice and safe. But now I pick my spot, I’m going to commit to the shots. One thing we sometimes see with golfers, when they’re not hitting the driver, they think it’s an easy shot. So they take their minds off the shots a little bit and they don’t fully commit.

So I’ve picked my spot, I’ve judged the wind, I’ve judged my hazards and I’m going to commit to my hybrid shot. I’m then able to hit the ball nice and high with my 3-hybrid, knocking it down the fairway, it’s going to land down there over 200 yards with a little bit of run-out, and hopefully that’s got me back in play on the par-4 T rather than instinctively grabbing a driver every time you see a par-4 consider the option of hitting a hybrid off the tee.