Anti-hook Hybrid Project

[kthomas]

I have Cobra F7 hybrids that I bought a couple of years ago slightly used off of eBay, with the OEM regular flex shafts.

 

 When I first got them, I used to hit them pretty well. I've progressed a lot in my golf game, and my swing has gotten a lot better, however I have developed a more pronounced tendency to hook the hybrids on mishits. If I hit the hybrids well, it's usually a fade. But it doesn't take much for that fade to turn into a hook, and because of that I've lost confidence in these clubs.

 

All my other clubs have stiff shafts in them. I'm debating about putting in a shorter and stiffer shaft, to replace the OEM regular flex shaft. 

 

I'm a broke college student, so I can't spend much playing around with different clubs. I can get a brand new Tensei Blue hybrid stiff flex shaft for $35 (I currently have a Tensei Blue in my 3W), and a Cobra hybrid adapter for ~$25. Seems like a cheap experiment, but I want to know from those more knowledgeable then myself if going with a shorter, stiffer hybrid shaft is worth trying out to mitigate hooks. 

[Righty to Lefty]

I hot melted mine and put all the weight in the toe section to aid in helping me holding the face open and it worked very well.  It fulfilled multiple needs for me as I needed extra weight and swing weight.  I added 25 grams and it had a dramatic effect in the closure rate of the toe section of the club which holds the face open and eliminated "Mr. Snappy" completely.  I can still of course pull a ball but hitting a snap hook is all but eliminated. It was a dead simple and cheap way to make the club work for me.  Any club can be manipulated so long as the golfer doesn't mind adding weight to the club. And also of note...the shaft has almost nothing to do with hooking a club.   

[driveandputtmachine]

4 hours ago, Righty to Lefty said:

I hot melted mine and put all the weight in the toe section to aid in helping me holding the face open and it worked very well.  It fulfilled multiple needs for me as I needed extra weight and swing weight.  I added 25 grams and it had a dramatic effect in the closure rate of the toe section of the club which holds the face open and eliminated "Mr. Snappy" completely.  I can still of course pull a ball but hitting a snap hook is all but eliminated. It was a dead simple and cheap way to make the club work for me.  Any club can be manipulated so long as the golfer doesn't mind adding weight to the club. And also of note...the shaft has almost nothing to do with hooking a club.   

The shaft itself doesn't hook, but the shaft can make your delivery change and cause you to hit the hybrid off of the toe, which was MY main culprit in hitting hooks with hybrids.

 

I put the same shaft that is in my irons in my hybrid and it cut down on my tendency to hit it off of the toe.

 

In the end my best results were shaft from my irons in my hybrid, and an adjustable one I can open up.

 

During the summer I play a 7 wood over the hybrid, so I have not purchased the one I want yet, but eben my old Ping G400 that is not adjustable works so much better with a heavier shaft in it.

[Z1ggy16]

Older Cobra stuff is fairly upright. I know you say money is tight, but you need to beg/borrow/steal for a newer G series hybrid. They already come pretty flat, but can be opened and flattened even further. Same with the newer (818 and up) Titleist hybrids. Fairly flat and can be flattened a bit more.

 

If you hook either of those, then it's not the club...

[EDT501]

I am playing my normal steel iron shaft in my hybrids at normal iron length and even though I play a draw I have to actively try and turn the thing over. As others have said, the shaft itself doesn’t cause a draw, but it can throw off your timing and how you deliver the club face causing the ball to go left. 
 

It’s my understanding that going shorter (like cutting down from hybrid length to iron length) makes the club play flatter, which can help with a left miss. Also people tend to be less prone to turning the ball over with a heavier club. I think going shorter and heavier (and probably stiffer) would make sense here.

[Righty to Lefty]

2 hours ago, driveandputtmachine said:

The shaft itself doesn't hook, but the shaft can make your delivery change and cause you to hit the hybrid off of the toe, which was MY main culprit in hitting hooks with hybrids.

 

I put the same shaft that is in my irons in my hybrid and it cut down on my tendency to hit it off of the toe.

 

In the end my best results were shaft from my irons in my hybrid, and an adjustable one I can open up.

 

During the summer I play a 7 wood over the hybrid, so I have not purchased the one I want yet, but eben my old Ping G400 that is not adjustable works so much better with a heavier shaft in it.

I will agree that the shaft aids as a timing mechanism but how you are feeling the CoG is the reason why you are hitting the ball repeatedly off of the toe. That tendency went away when you  put the same shaft in an iron because the CoG is in a more favorable location and it aligns with where you think it is.  I literally did this same experiment with my 2 and 3 hybrid where I put the weight in the 2 hybrid and put it up against the 3 hybrid before I added the weight to it and the results were stunning and the 2 hybrid felt like a completely different club even though both clubs had identical shafts in them.  The CoG only moved 3 mm towards the toe and 1 mm down but the results were eye opening as far as tightening up the strike the club's performance.  I chalk this up to the CoG movement and also the added total and swing weight and I quickly saw how I could manipulate any club as I better understood those parameters.

 

What I like about this method is that my stock shot feels no different and the club is aiding me in keeping the face open so as to keep the snap hook away...or at least at bay.  It was also super useful in my driver but it took much more weight as the club head is bigger.  No matter what if the CoG doesn't trick you into hitting the optimal location of the club face, then no shaft will help correct that, but fortunately these parameters can be manipulated if you can deal with adding weight to the club.  Flattening the lie angle does help also but I found it to still be less effective than moving the CoG via weight manipulation. Best of luck in your search. R to L

[kthomas]

Appreciate the thoughts and discussion so far!

 

The hot melt idea is a pretty simple and easy one, surprised I didn't think of that. I did place a couple of strips of lead tape on the sole of the club, on the toe side of the most outward baffle rail. That doesn't seem to help much, but perhaps hot melt would work better if placed in an optimal spot?

 

I love Ping stuff, and would most certainly bag a newer Ping hybrid. Maybe if I make enough over the summer I can treat myself. I just feel like it's a shame to let the Cobra hybrids that I currently have go to waste, and I'm hoping there's an adjustment that could be made to make them work, before going the route of different clubs. I could always "borrow" my wife's Ping G400 5 wood in the mean time...

 

I should probably provide a little more context around my specific situation to help further drive the discussion. On the top end of my bag (driver, 3W), my miss is generally a slice. My irons I usually don't struggle with much at all, they are generally high and straight, with my biggest mistakes generally resulting in fat hits (I use Ping Rapture irons, super wide soles which I think contributes to the severity of how fat they become, but of course that is the result of a less then desirable swing on my part). I rarely hook my irons, it happens infrequently, it appears it occurs most often when I tee up a short wedge (52, PW) on a par 3 off the tee, I think that's due to improper setup on the tee box. 

 

Preferably, I would like to make the Cobra hybrids work for me if possible. I realize that all issues originate with the person that's swinging the club, but it would be nice if I could make these clubs more compatible for me and my flaws. I don't mind that the hybrids fade, but it's pretty concerning how quickly that fade can turn into a hook - it's much more abrupt then misses with any of my other clubs. I would love to have the ability to pull out my hybrid on Par 5's on days when my swing is not cooperating with my 4 iron. I tend to avoid hitting a 3W off the deck, as it's a low probability shot for me, and I currently have nothing between my Driver and 4-iron besides my 3W and Cobra Hybrids (F7 3/4 and 4/5). 

[kthomas]

4 hours ago, EDT501 said:

I am playing my normal steel iron shaft in my hybrids at normal iron length and even though I play a draw I have to actively try and turn the thing over. As others have said, the shaft itself doesn’t cause a draw, but it can throw off your timing and how you deliver the club face causing the ball to go left. 
 

It’s my understanding that going shorter (like cutting down from hybrid length to iron length) makes the club play flatter, which can help with a left miss. Also people tend to be less prone to turning the ball over with a heavier club. I think going shorter and heavier (and probably stiffer) would make sense here.

 

This is what I'm hoping to accomplish. 

 

None of my other clubs have Regular flex shafts, but I didn't think too much of it when I was buying these clubs off of eBay. They were available and I got a good deal, and the plan was to share with my wife who doesn't need a stiff shaft. 

 

Based on my cursory research I'm thinking that a heavier shaft (from 75g to 80g), combined with a stiffer flex (from R to S) and shorter length (maybe 4 iron length?) could be more optimal to work with my swing and its flaws. But before I pull the trigger on this, I want to know that my thought process is sound. Or perhaps as others suggest, maybe I should wait and save up for a more optimal hybrid (or maybe even a wood)? 

 

The Tensei Blue shaft seems like a great deal at $35, but I don't want to spend money unnecessarily if it isn't going to change much. 

[azgreg]

On 5/14/2021 at 5:39 AM, EDT501 said:

I am playing my normal steel iron shaft in my hybrids at normal iron length and even though I play a draw I have to actively try and turn the thing over. As others have said, the shaft itself doesn’t cause a draw, but it can throw off your timing and how you deliver the club face causing the ball to go left. 
 

It’s my understanding that going shorter (like cutting down from hybrid length to iron length) makes the club play flatter, which can help with a left miss. Also people tend to be less prone to turning the ball over with a heavier club. I think going shorter and heavier (and probably stiffer) would make sense here.

Same here. I build my hybrids to the same shaft, length, loft, and lie as the irons they are replacing. I also swing them like the irons they are replacing. It allows me to hit a draw or fade as I see fit.

 

[kthomas]

UPDATE:

 

Decided to pull the proverbial trigger on this plan. Installed the Tensei Blue S shaft to replace the OEM R flex one, and man I'm I'm in love with this club now! Played it for the first time tonight, and I was hammering straight, high and long bombs with it.

 

So far its accomplished everything I hoped it would, and I hope that continues!