Which Loft Hybrid to Replace 5 Iron?

[Brenkj]

After much futility, I've finally come to the realization that I'm just not a good enough golfer to hit a 5 Iron well.   I do hit my 21-degree Hybrid pretty well, so I'm looking at replacing that dreaded 5 Iron with another hybrid.   My question is what loft.   My 6-iron and 5-iron are 29 and 25.5 degrees respectively.    The loft choices on the hybrids I'm looking at are 23 and 25 degrees.   I adjusted the loft on my 21-degree hybrid up one degree, so it actually plays at 22 - and I'd probably do the same with this new one.   So, which makes the most sense - the 23 (adjust to 24) or the 25 (adjusted to 26)?

 

Thanks.

[Aviador Naval]

Depends on the hybrid design, your delivery, intended shaft length, etc.  Not trying to be obtuse - it’s just a fact that there is no way to know...

 

Take you 6i and 21 deg hybrid to any facility with a LM, after warming up, hit 5-6 balls with each, throw out any dog squeeze clunkers, and calculate the averages.  Then go demo some clubs across the range you describe until you find one you can hit high enough and to the desired yardage.

 

All that said, as a general rule and assuming you play the hybrid a little longer than the equivalent iron, your loft is likely to be much closer to the iron below it than the hybrid above it.

[JungleJimbo]

40 minutes ago, Brenkj said:

After much futility, I've finally come to the realization that I'm just not a good enough golfer to hit a 5 Iron well.   I do hit my 21-degree Hybrid pretty well, so I'm looking at replacing that dreaded 5 Iron with another hybrid.   My question is what loft.   My 6-iron and 5-iron are 29 and 25.5 degrees respectively.    The loft choices on the hybrids I'm looking at are 23 and 25 degrees.   I adjusted the loft on my 21-degree hybrid up one degree, so it actually plays at 22 - and I'd probably do the same with this new one.   So, which makes the most sense - the 23 (adjust to 24) or the 25 (adjusted to 26)?

 

Thanks.

If confined to the two choices 23/24* ...or 25/26*... then probably the latter. 
 

but I agree with @Aviador Naval, you will need to base this on fitting and your desired Gapping vs the next iron... it’s possible that a 27/28* hybrid fits those gaps better! 

[Gohigh]

That also depends on your top end of the bag as well...

 

If you carry both 3w and 5w, most likely lofts will be 15 and 18 respectively. I would say that it makes most sense for your hybrids to be 21 and 24 from there.

 

If you only carry one FW (3W or 4W), then it would make more sense to even carry 3 hybrids at 19 - 22 - 25.

 

But to answer your question, 25 is typical loft these days for a 5 hybrid.

 

I have found that different hybrid heads perform so differently from one another, that you should demo all lofts and see which one fits your gaps. I feel like 15 yard gap between your 6 iron and 5 hybrid isnt so bad as I can always grip down a bit on it. Spin numbers matter a lot more when it comes to 5 hybrids.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited April 21, 2021 by Gohigh

[abenjami]

I would say the 25 degree will replace your 5i nicely.

 

I have a 22 degree and that's what replaced my 4i nicely.

[Sparty4202]

Look at finding something that fits a distance gap between the 4 hybrid and 6 iron. I’ve found that my hybrids will spin a little more than my long irons so was not just a swap of loft to loft for me. 

[tsecor]

9 hours ago, Brenkj said:

After much futility, I've finally come to the realization that I'm just not a good enough golfer to hit a 5 Iron well.   I do hit my 21-degree Hybrid pretty well, so I'm looking at replacing that dreaded 5 Iron with another hybrid.   My question is what loft.   My 6-iron and 5-iron are 29 and 25.5 degrees respectively.    The loft choices on the hybrids I'm looking at are 23 and 25 degrees.   I adjusted the loft on my 21-degree hybrid up one degree, so it actually plays at 22 - and I'd probably do the same with this new one.   So, which makes the most sense - the 23 (adjust to 24) or the 25 (adjusted to 26)?

 

Thanks.

just go with the same loft.....keep it simple

[Brenkj]

Thanks for all the responses.   I saw leaning toward 25 degree and it seems that's the consensus.

[eric61]

I was in a somewhat similar bucket: 30 degree 6 iron that I hit well, 26 degree 5 iron that is sometimes a struggle. 

 

I went with a 26 degree G425 5 hybrid, with a couple changes: I swapped its shaft out for a shorter, heavier shaft that plays at 38 inches just like my 5 iron, and I turned it up to 27.5 degrees. I found that basically gets me to roughly the same distance as a well-struck 5 iron, with basically the same swing. (I've actually since turned it back down to 26 degrees and have a 100% swing and like an 80% swing with it to accomplish a couple different things, but that's a different story.) 

 

For what it's worth I'm finding that having a higher-lofted hybrid in the bag is a versatile tool for me, for fairway bunkers, some bump-and-run chips, that sort of thing. I think you'll like the change.

[timmekang]

I'm a 7 handicapper and no shame admitting that I dropped the 5 iron over a year ago.  just not the club you want in your hands hitting out of wet rough at my club.  I replaced with TS3 23deg set to 24 and never looked back.

[Brenkj]

Well, based on all the helpful advice from this forum, I got the 25-degree TS2 hybrid.   I took it out on the range for the first time today, and MAN - does that thing launch!.   It's probably not quite as accurate as a well-struck 5-iron, but I very rarely hit a 5-iron well anyway.    Based on that small sample size, I'm very happy with my selection.    Thanks again for all the help.

[soccerjay]

13 hours ago, Brenkj said:

Well, based on all the helpful advice from this forum, I got the 25-degree TS2 hybrid.   I took it out on the range for the first time today, and MAN - does that thing launch!.   It's probably not quite as accurate as a well-struck 5-iron, but I very rarely hit a 5-iron well anyway.    Based on that small sample size, I'm very happy with my selection.    Thanks again for all the help.

Good to hear, this might be something I look into, I have a 4 and 5 iron I rarely ever use because I am so bad at hitting them 

[Audi A-Fore]

On 4/22/2021 at 1:42 PM, timmekang said:

I'm a 7 handicapper and no shame admitting that I dropped the 5 iron over a year ago.  just not the club you want in your hands hitting out of wet rough at my club.  I replaced with TS3 23deg set to 24 and never looked back.

 

20 hours ago, Brenkj said:

Well, based on all the helpful advice from this forum, I got the 25-degree TS2 hybrid.   I took it out on the range for the first time today, and MAN - does that thing launch!.   It's probably not quite as accurate as a well-struck 5-iron, but I very rarely hit a 5-iron well anyway.    Based on that small sample size, I'm very happy with my selection.    Thanks again for all the help.

 

Have a Cally Apex '19 5i, I also have an Titleist 816 21* (set to ~20*). Picked up the 816 25* (set to ~24*) and it slots in perfectly. Oh, it was also $21 on ebay!!  

 

I'm a 4.5 hdcp, it's about results for me. For me, it just goes wherever I point it and goes quite a bit higher. My regular course (Half Moon Bay, Old course) has a few shots that it's perfect for - 180y par3 w/ water on both sides, and sometimes an approach to a really shallow green guarded by bunkers. Perfectly struck 5i's get there for me, but an average hybrid shot does the trick quite well on both.

 

I should also mention that I tend to do a bunch of shots with my hybrids - high, low, choke up, choke down - depending on what I need to do with the ball.