For those who have yet to purchase a hybrid club, starting the shopping process can be a little bit intimidating. Sure, you can read some golf hybrid reviews to get an idea of which are the most popular models, but that won’t necessarily help you decide on the right one for you specifically. Golf hybrid reviews are a good way to get started on your search, but you are going to need to do some additional homework before you can make an informed decision for your purchase.

Assuming your plan is to buy just a single hybrid to start with, you will want to start by determining what current club in your bag you are going to replace. For many golfers, the answer to that question will be the three iron. If you don’t find that you use your three iron very often anyway, there won’t be anything lost by moving it out of your bag and putting the hybrid in instead. With that in mind, you will want to look for a hybrid in the range of 21* of loft to get the right distance to replace a three iron. If you get a club with lower loft than 21* or so, you will likely have a club that hits the ball too far and leaves you with a large gap between your four iron and your shortest fairway metal. Likewise, if you go with much more loft than 21*, you will find that the hybrid goes about the same distance as your four iron, which defeats the purpose of adding the new club to your bag at all.

Once you know what loft you want to purchase, you need to decide if you want to get a hybrid club with a steel or graphite shaft. For most golfers, opting for graphite is going to be the best way to go. A graphite shaft should provide you with two benefits – for one, it can make it easier to get the ball off the ground and up into the air. Also, you should be able to achieve slightly more distance when swinging a hybrid club with a graphite shaft. The best argument for using a steel shaft in your hybrid club is if you are more concerned with accuracy than high ball flight and distance. If you would like to use your hybrid in windy conditions and to hit punch shots out of trouble, it might be worth considering a steel shaft rather than graphite.

The last step in picking out your hybrid club is trying a few models to determine which works best for you and your swing. There are plenty of quality options on the market, and just because one club is right for one golfer doesn’t mean it will be right for another. With that in mind, make sure that you try out multiple models so you can get a good idea of how each will perform with your swing. You want to find the club that is able to produce a ball flight that falls in line with the rest of your set of clubs, so you aren’t trying to adjust to a unique ball flight each time you pull the hybrid out of the bag. For example, if you hit a slight draw with most of your clubs, don’t choose a hybrid that tends to produce a fade – that will only serve to confuse you on the course and make it difficult to execute quality shots. Once you find a hybrid club that has the proper amount of loft, looks good to your eye, and produces the right ball flight, you will be ready to make your purchase.