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- Tee shots on short par fours. Too many amateur golfers make the mistake of using their driver off of the tee on every par four, even if they don’t need the distance. If you find yourself on the tee of a short par four where you don’t need driver distance to set up your approach shot, consider using your hybrid off the tee instead. This strategy will make it easier to hit the fairway, while still providing enough distance to handle most short par fours. By getting over your addiction to the driver, you will find that you are playing from the short grass more frequently.
- Going for the green in two on par fives. One of the great advantages to carrying a hybrid club instead of a long iron is the ability to attack more par fives in two shots. Once you hit a good drive on a par five and find your ball in position to possibly reach in two, you will have a choice to make – go for the green, or lay-up. If you only had a long iron to try hitting into the green, you might opt for the layup option. However, with a hybrid available, you might be encouraged to go for the green more often. Hybrids usually hit the ball higher and farther than long irons, both attributes which will help you get the ball on or near the green.
- Handling long par threes. The long par three is often the most difficult hole on the course for amateur golfers to deal with – but a hybrid club can be a perfect solution to that problem. Instead of hoping to get a long iron somewhere up near the green so you can chip and putt for par, your chances of getting a hybrid club onto the green go up significantly. Considering the fact that most golf courses have at least one or two long par threes included in their design, you will likely find that the hybrid club is used frequently on par three holes during many of your rounds of golf.
Now that you have a hybrid club or two in your bag, and have spent some practice time learning how to use them, it is time to head to the course and put them to the test. Just like any other club in your bag, it is important to know how and when to use your hybrid clubs so you can get the best possible performance from them. If you hit the hybrid club at the wrong time, it won’t matter how nicely it flies through the air – the shot won’t be what you needed.
While there are nearly countless opportunities to use your hybrid clubs throughout a round, the following three occasions are particularly well-suited for a hybrid.
Another option for using your hybrid club is for a ‘bump and run’ chip shot around the green when you have a good lie and no major obstacles in your way to deal with. The next time you go to the golf course to practice your short game, try hitting a few chip shots with your hybrid club to see how effective this option can be. Expect it to take some practice before you have a good amount of control over the distance that you hit these kinds of shots, so spend some time on it prior to using this shot out on the course.
As you get more and more experience on the course with your hybrid clubs, you will likely find more and more opportunities to use them. The important thing is to get comfortable with what kind of distance you can expect from your hybrids, and what ball flights they will produce. Once you have that information, it will be easy to decide which shots call for the use of a hybrid.
