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Low lofted (13*-17*) hybrids out of the rough???

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Pa Jayhawk

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Nov 15, 2005
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  • #16
Hangfire said:
Be sure you look at the Cleveland HALO, the club face is a bit different than just about any other hybrid. I have no problems using it out of the rough.:miz:
They are in both now regripped and in the bag.
 
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Pa Jayhawk

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Nov 15, 2005
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  • #17
Eracer said:
Jayhawk, you mentioned that you like your 23-degree Cobra, but didn't like the lower lofted Cobra that you demoed. Did you have the same problem of inconsistent ball flight? Or did you not like it for some other reason. I ask because I've been thinking of buying the 18-degree Cobra, and I'm afraid I'll have the same problem as I did with the Halo. Thanks.
Actually, I realized I should probably have gone into a little more detail with my most recent demo experience so as not to give the wrong impression on my beloved Cobra 23* hybrid.

This time around, knowing I planned on getting 2 I demoed the ones I liked best from last, and a few others. I mainly liked the Cobra and Ping from my last demo experience. This time around I added the Halo mainly from all the good press I have heard, as well as the Callaway Heavenwood and Fusion. I actually decided to stay away from the Sonartec, even though it was the most ideal the last time around. This had more to do with the inability to find them to demo, and when I thought of picking up one last time, distance was the big key. I have since talked to 3 or 4 people that owned them, could not hit them out of anything but a good lie or off the tee, and got rid of them.

As far as demoing, my thoughts were as follows. I have all steel shafted clubs, even on my Fairway woods, and Cobra 4i/R. I decided I really prefered the feel of Graphite on Woods and Hybrids. I doubt I will switch on the Cobra because I love the club and shaft, although as a 4i/R it is a little closer to an iron for me anyways. Also I have since found that the steel shaft on the Cobra is about a $40-50 steel shaft, and one of the better on the market. I demoed the Cobra with the steel, but decided I still prefered graphite. The graphite shaft that comes stock on the Cobra is an Aldila NV65-HL. The club hit great, although the shaft felt entirely to light on the Hybrid for my taste. I could really see it creating a problem with tempo because it felt Whippy. I found that you can order it with the iRod shaft, which is closer to 85 grams and one of the main reasons I liked the Sonartec. Then again, I got to thinking that I really did not want to buy clubs I had not demoed. In all likelyhood, had the Cobra had a heavier Grapite Shaft and not the NV85, they likely would be in my bag right now.

I then tried the Callaway Heavenwood with the stock shaft. Which measured in around 77 grams, felt O.K., but seemed a little light and the Distance and consistancy seemed a little off for me. These were at a driving range. I then thought I would give the 19* Halo a shot. Kept hearing good things about this club, and didn't want to short myself. Distance wise this club was maybe a little longer than the 20* Cobra, and hard to compare to the Heavenwood because one would be 10 longer and one 10 shorter. Distance wasn't really the key now, but it was consistent and seemed relatively close to midway between my 7w and 5w, which if remains the same will be valuable on my common played courses. I really liked the feel of the club, to me it had the same feeling I liked in the Sonartec. The Shaft is 83 grams, which based on what I have tried I decide 80-85 grams gave me the feel I wanted in most cases. The trajectory was a little higher than the 20* cobra although lower than my 23* Steel shafted Cobra.

I then went to A place with a launch monitor, to try a few more the range did not carry. At that point I would say the Halo was my top choice for distance, consistancy and feel. At the launch monitor, I grabbed the 19* Halo for comparison to what I wanted. I also hit the Ping G5, I originally did not like the NV85 shaft, but the TFC (which seemed a little light). I thought I would give the NV another shot because it seemed to be the weighting I prefered and was looking for in a hybrid. This was mentioned in another thread by Bravo, the NV85 to me just feels like a brick. I simply hate the shaft. Distance or consistency made little difference, as I felt like I was driving a Yugo. I then tried the FT-Fusion by Callaway with an NVS85 shaft. I expected very little. With the consistancy of the Heavenwood, and the feel of the NV85, I went into it fully expecting to be wasting my time. Not sure what the difference is on the NVS and the NV outside of the kickpoint, but it feels like an entirely different shaft and very similar to both the Halo and iRod shafts. The club really felt good. O.K., so is consistency still an issue. No, the club is straight and consistent. I think it may even be a little more straight and consistent than the Halo on the monitor. But how I hit the Halo on the range, I could live with any day of the week. So the FT-Fusion 20* seemed about 5 sometimes 10 yards longer on the launch monitor than the Halo 19*. This really isn't a selling point now, although I think I may have slightly prefered the feel of the FT. Consistency, they were both good the FT may have been better. So why not the Fusion? I have a draw biased swing. The FT has a head where the face is forward of the shaft. This created a mental problem for me that would have been hard to overcome. I just had too many images of "Hooks", even though the setup quite possible may help prevent this. It really came down to the fact that I had not heard enough about the Fusion, it was not distracting, but dreaded getting this on the course any given day and having images that the face would do things with my ball that was not a result of my swing. To much to overlook for me, although in all honesty with feel and consistancy it may have been a winner. Although I kind of had images of liking the horse that finished a nose off first place, when the winner broke its leg crossing the finish line.

So needless to say, I traded in the free Titleist 980f for $70, got the 19* Halo and 2 new grips for $90. They did not carry the 16*. I went back to the range, as they are kind enough to let me use their clubs, I felt obligated to buy the 16* from them, plus my wife had bought a couple from them before. Unfortunately they did not have the 16*, and it would have been 2 weeks on an order. I got their card however I knew I would be driving further south on the weekend, and wanted to try prior to waiting 2 week. Got the 16* Saturday for $149. Both are now regripped and in my bag in place of my 3w,5w, 7w, waiting for the neverending rain to go away so I can try them on the course.

The comical side is I did not yet put my 5i back in my bag. I hit my 4i/R choked down more consistently than I currently hit my 5i. Until I become more consistent with my 6i, or at least as consistent as earlier in the year, the 5i will stay out as I would feel the need to use it even though it would cost me strokes. So now in it's place I have put back in my "Clutch Club", which funny enough comes in very handy with the trees up here and for chipping, but anytime I reach the point to put it back in my bag, my game straightens out and I never use it on the course. So I guess it too was a good investment, and one I rarely use.
 
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Pa Jayhawk

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Nov 15, 2005
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  • #18
Just to update this. My 23* Baffler is still by far my easiest club to hit. Having played 5 rounds in 6 days I am now somewhat comfortable with the Halos. Distance wise my 2i (19*) Halo goes about the equivalent of my 20* G2 7w. The 1i (16*) Halo is maybe 5 yards longer than my 17* G2 5w. I hit both much more consistently. I wish I got about 5-10 yards more, but in time and with familiarity I may. Still leaves me wondering if I should leave my 3w in my bag. I will probably leave it out for another week or two then decide simply because I would rather not be tempted to hit the 3w when the 16* finds me the fairway almost ever time. I actually hit the 16* with more consistency out of the fairway and rough than I do the 19*, which was initially my big concern. I think I need to play around with moving the ball back, as I do play it midway between a fairway wood and iron with hybrids in better lies, when I know the idea is to play it more like an iron. This most like would give me the extra yards I am looking for as well. I am leary to do so at first because this sometimes accounts for a low flying hook. Really I believe more of a swing flaw from too shallow a swing, but I don't want to be disgusted with my new clubs for the sake of a swing flaw, so 5-10 yards is a small price to pay for keeping the ball in the fairway and being happy with the clubs. In time I will attempt to adjust both my swing and ball position.
 

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