A hybrid with a loft of 21 degrees is considered a 4 hybrid and is a great replacement for a 3 iron. The slightly longer shaft, lower center of gravity, and increased forgiveness make up for the loft difference and will hit the ball at a very similar distance.

These days it’s really common to see golfers hitting a rescue club even when they’re not in trouble.  So if you don’t need rescuing then why would you use one?

What are rescue clubs really for? They are a cross between traditional style woods and modern irons. The point is to have a head design that offers the better launch of a fairway wood but is easier for higher handicap players to hit – like an iron. You will also see them referred to as hybrids – rescue clubs are essentially one and the same thing.

There is far more to these clubs though, read on for the details you have to know to take advantage of them and cut shots from your score.

T?he first rescue/hybrid clubs were designed by TaylorMade back in 2002.  The club was actually named the TaylorMade Rescue and that’s where the name comes from.

These clubs can be used from any point on the golf course (well maybe not to putt…). You’ll see players tee off with them when they’re on a long par 3 or a tight par 4 that absolutely requires them to hit the fairway.  They’re used for approach shots into long par 4’s and 5’s. You can even play bump and runs with them, too!

Mostly though, the club is designed to be used out of the rough.  The larger head size is designed to glide through the grass and not get wrapped up.  With an iron this would turn the head over and lead to a horrible result.  With a hybrid though you can get more of the club face to the ball, helping you get back into play and down the fairway.

The design of the head also allows more weight to be shifted down and further back from the club face.  This helps the club to get more launch, shooting the ball higher into the air.  This is one of the more popular features for players who struggle with long irons…2, 3, 4 irons are notoriously difficult to get off the ground so many players will now replace these clubs with one, or sometimes even two, hybrids.

There’s a case to be made both for and against hybrid golf clubs. There’s no doubt many beginner golfers/high handicappers/older golfers have benefitted massively from this technology over the last few years.

For those golfers who do use them they find that hybrids are much higher launching than regular irons. This helps get out of the rough much easier than an equivalent lofted iron would. The shape of the head is also designed to cut through longer grass to allow you to get more of the clubhead on the ball, leading to better, more consistent strikes.

The weight in the head of the club can also be pushed lower and further back, again helping with forgiveness. You can use these clubs off the tee when you absolutely need to find a fairway too. 

Perhaps the biggest pro of a hybrid is the fact it’s not a long iron. So many golfers simply cannot sing a club fast enough to be able to properly use a 2, 3 or 4 iron. They just hit horrible low cuts and often can hit their 6 iron further. By taking the long irons out of the bag and replacing them with hybrids they can often shave a good few strokes off their game.

The cons are almost the same as the pros – the ball launches really high.  For better golfers with faster swing speeds this is an issue. They will hit a very spinny shot with a hybrid that will probably lose a fair bit of distance. Better players will also have the ability to control long irons much better and hit intentional fades and draws with them as well as keep the ball low in windy weather conditions. For these guys, long irons absolutely rule over hybrids.

For many years there was a stigma among tour pros about using hybrids. They were regarded as being for players who couldn’t hit long irons and no pro wants that reputation. Over the last few years though that has changed significantly to where seeing a tour pro with a hybrid is a pretty common sight.

Jason Duffner, Webb Simpson, Jimmy Walker and Matt Kuchar all use hybrids. Colin Morikawa used the TaylorMade Sim Max hybrid in 2020 despite previously not being a fan.  Other TaylorMade tour pros like Rory McIlroy have them in the arsenal too.

Most players think of hybrids as purely rescue clubs, designed to get them out of trouble when they’ve gone off track with their driver. But lots of amateurs would be really well served by prioritizing accuracy off the tee rather than distance. After all, most of us would rather be in the fairway than 30 yards further on in the trees and having to chip out sideways!

Hybrids are also great on longer par 3’s where you might otherwise be looking at a 4 or 5 iron off the tee. Most par 3’s will have some type of hazard in front of the green meaning you have to hit a high shot that carries all the way to the green but then lands softly enough to held the putting surface.

Most of us can’t hit our long irons anywhere near well enough to pull off this shot. Hybrids though are designed to launch high and land at a steeper angle. This means you’ve a much better chance of pulling off this shot with a hybrid. 

Give it a try next time you’re out on the course. Just make sure to tee the ball up with about hald the ball above the club head. Move it further back in your stance than your driver (around level with the logo on your shirt) and sweep the ball off the tee.

Nearly everyone who has tried to get along with hybrids has gone through a period of hooking them and it’s such an incredibly frustrating thing. Try these tips and see if any of them help – 

• Move the ball further back in your stance – people often subconsciously move the ball forward in their stance as if they were hitting a wood, this means the club is arcing around and by the time it reaches the ball it’s following an out to in path to target which with a closed face is a recipe for a hook!
• Tilt the shaft forward of the ball as though you’re playing an iron
• Distribute weight equally between your left and right side
• Hit down on the ball slightly as you would an iron

Review: "I am a 16.9 hcp, that being playing golf (seriously) for about 5 years now. I am what you will describe as a conservative player (short but straight). I also have a good short game that really makes up for my lack of length/distance off the tee and on the fairway. I tend to shot a lot of bogeys, mixed with 3/4 par and one disaster hole. The main lacking part of my game is ‘hitting fairway woods off the fairway’ hence on long Par 4s and par 5; I mostly opt for my 6i, 5i or 4 (iron-looking) rescue. Fairway woods just do not work for me – I never get it right.

Well, that was until I was introduced to the old, discontinued TaylorMade Fairway Mid Rescue (not the iron-looking TaylorMade Rescue Mid but the wood-looking TaylorMade Fairway Mid Rescue). I have got the 3 wood (17 degrees), 5 wood (20 degrees) and 7 (23 degrees) – These club have a higher loft and shorter length than your normal 3, 5 and 7 wood. They sit nicely behind the ball which builds confidence and goes straight up in the air with a long carry and average roll – The key advantage is the accuracy. I came runner up in my clubs summer MatchPlay and won an hcp amateur competition in France, thanks to this club. Why did TaylorMade discontinued this model? Why wasn’t the product upgrade or replaced? - It works magic for me – I believe I have found the key weapon to reduce my hcp to 13. I can’t wait for the winter MatchPlay to begin."