Inspiration Golf The 9 Best Hybrid Golf Clubs of 2023 By David Gould David Gould Wesleyan University David Gould has written 100-plus articles on golf equipment and instruction for many of the game’s leading publications. He is a former senior editor of Travel + Leisure Golf, LINKS Magazine, and Golf Illustrated magazine. TripSavvy's editorial guidelines Updated on 07/14/22 Share Pin Email We independently evaluate all recommended products and services. If you click on links we provide, we may receive compensation. Learn more. TripSavvy / Chloe Jeong Golf adopted a rule in 1938 forbidding players from carrying more than 14 clubs. When hybrids emerged a generation ago, adding them naturally meant yanking something else. But this indeed was the point: Hybrids were all about ending the misery of poor results with long irons, those heavy, tiny-headed clubs marked with a ‘3,’ a ‘2,’ or the dreaded ‘1.’ Having come to view hybrids as mainstays of their business, Club manufacturers have poured significant resources into their design and engineering—the clubs shown here certainly testify to that. The oddity of the hybrid market involves the strategic play that pros like Kenny Nairn, golf coach to tour pros and top amateurs, crow about, which is chipping with a hybrid from off the green—clubmakers never seem to mention this. When shopping for hybrids, follow the expert advice and test a few out on greenside shots. You may well be delighted with the results. Based on our reviews, here are the best hybrid golf clubs you can buy right now. The Rundown Best Overall: PXG 0317 X GEN4 Hybrid at Pxg.com Jump to Review Best Budget: Lazrus Hybrid Golf Club at Amazon Jump to Review Best for Improvement: Cobra LTDx One Hybrid Golf Club at Dick's Jump to Review Best for Beginners: Cleveland Launcher Halo Hybrid Golf Club at Amazon Jump to Review Best for Seniors: Callaway Rogue ST MAX Hybrid Golf Club at Dick's Jump to Review Best Women’s Hybrid: Titleist TSi1 Hybrid Golf Club at Dick's Jump to Review Most Versatile Hybrid: Ping G425 Hybrid Golf Club at Dick's Jump to Review Most Adjustable Hybrid: TaylorMade M3 Hybrid Rescue Club at Amazon Jump to Review Best for Low Handicappers: Mizuno CLK Hybrid Club at Mizunousa.com Jump to Review Table of contents Expand Our Picks What to Look For FAQ Why Trust TripSavvy Best Overall PXG 0317 X GEN4 Hybrid 4.9 Golf USA View On Pxg.com What We Like Unique visual appeal Engineered to launch high and sustain ball flight Myriad shaft options What We Don't Like Ultra-premium price The golfer who plays PXG has paid the top price in the market for clubs. These folks will often say PXG hybrids are the brand’s finest achievement in online forums and grill-room chatter. Last season’s debut of the 0317 X GEN4 Hybrid added to that chorus of praise, including high marks for the shape and relatively large proportions of the clubhead and for ball flight that’s powerful and pleasingly high, plus a pure sound at impact. What stands out about the club is an eye-catching silver trapezoid along with the back one-third of the crown. It’s made of carbon fiber coated with vaporized aluminum. The purpose is to reduce weight there while retaining strength and resiliency—the crown of a hollow club flexes upward at impact, and controlling that dynamic is part of the fine-tuning a club like this receives when it’s designed. Two weight ports in the club's sole allow for customized weight adjustment, which can help dial in a player’s desired trajectory. No fewer than six different high-grade graphite shafts can be installed according to preference, and that’s just for players with above-average swing speed. Two other shafts are offered to players with average swing speed. Price at time of publish: $379 Best Budget Lazrus Hybrid Golf Club Amazon View On Amazon View On Lazrusgolf.com What We Like Excellent value Easy to align What We Don't Like No adjustment features Golfers who look for economy and quality are well suited to the stylish but extremely low-priced Lazrus Hybrid. Because club manufacturers are under constant pressure to innovate, they routinely move on from clubhead designs that perform perfectly well. A company like Lazrus essentially inherits all that abandoned but still high-value engineering. Lazrus hybrids, with their lightweight carbon graphite shafts and investment-cast stainless steel heads, provide superior distance and control versus traditional irons. There are no adjustment mechanisms for weight or face angle, as those features would make this line’s dramatically low prices impossible to deliver. The current trend throughout the hybrid market is a dark, minimalist look to the crowns and faces—thus, the iridescent blue “circle L” on top of Lazrus hybrids is a welcome alignment aid. The five variations of this club range from a 2-hybrid at 15 degrees of loft up to a 6-hybrid at 24 degrees. Head covers are available as a separate purchase. Price at time of publish: $55 The 9 Best Places to Buy Golf Clubs of 2023 Best for Improvement Cobra LTDx One Hybrid Golf Club Cobra Golf View On Dick's View On Cobragolf.com View On Golfgalaxy.com What We Like Good results from off-center hits Railed sole glides through rough Free shot-tracking sensors What We Don't Like Feel at impact somewhat harsh One of the keys to better ball-striking and straighter, longer shots is avoiding over-swinging. Product features of the all-new Cobra LTDx One Hybrid work together so that a smooth, unforced swing will deliver a shot trajectory that achieves plenty of distance and tightens dispersion. Higher ball speed on either square or off-center impact comes courtesy of Cobra’s new H.O.T. Face, featuring variable thicknesses from the crown to the soleplate and from heel to toe. With more launch speed, this club reduces spin to promote straighter flight—a tungsten weight low and forward in the head, plus a fixed back weight, providing forgiveness on off-center hits. This hybrid's twin Baffler sole rails optimize recovery from tricky lies, another key improvement. We know that lower scoring is closely tied to smarter strategy on the course, so Cobra now allows any customer to have free Arccos Smart Sensors installed in their clubs and the award-winning Arccos Caddie app downloaded to their mobile device. Price at time of publish: $250 Best for Beginners Cleveland Launcher Halo Hybrid Golf Club Amazon View On Amazon View On Pgatoursuperstore.com What We Like Triple sole rails power through bad lies Low C of G promotes higher flight Eye-pleasing contours What We Don't Like Not ideal from tight fairway lies Novice golfers buying gear should know that the Launcher Halo Hybrid was intended as a best-in-class trouble-shot club. Playing from the fairway is ideal, but Cleveland Golf’s field data showed most hybrid shots by a typical golfer were hit from the rough or from bare, scrubby lies. Based on that premise, designers developed a triple-rail “sole geometry” that integrates with Halo Hybrid’s leading edge to power the club through scruffy conditions. The subtle waterfall look of the crown is visually pleasing to help a newer player feel comfortable over a shot and lower the center of gravity so the ball gets airborne with minimal slice-and-hook sidespin. A high-strength steel face means the pure impact isn’t necessary to advance the ball out of difficulty toward the target. Price at time of publish: $80 The Best Golf Club Sets for Kids by Skill Levels and Age Best for Seniors Callaway Rogue ST MAX Hybrid Golf Club Dick's Sporting Goods View On Dick's View On Callawaygolf.com View On Golfgalaxy.com What We Like Strong-lofted but still launches high Very stable feel through impact Compensates for toe and heel hits What We Don't Like Clubhead could look big to some players Today’s senior golfer is someone who played for decades before the hybrid came along. This new Callaway hybrid, with its oversized head, would naturally look well proportioned to that player's eye. Compared to previous Callaway hybrids, the Rogue ST MAX comes with relatively strong lofts, a feature seniors can appreciate, given the tendency to lose swing speed with age. But to crank the loft angles and still make a club that produces a high trajectory takes some doing. A trio of design innovations sees that Jailbreak ST, Speed Tuned Tungsten weighting, and AI Face Optimization combine to produce the distance and control Callaway fans have been enjoying in the Rogue family of clubs for several seasons. Callaway’s breakout Epic line first employed Jailbreak ST, a deployment of mini speed frames at the internal junction of the face, sole, and crown—its effect is to stiffen and stabilize the clubhead, so there are no power leaks. A bronze tungsten weight, also internal, is slid out toward the toe to ideally locate the center of gravity. From its high-strength 455 Face Cup, Callaway—helped by artificial intelligence—produced a design for this Rogue ST Max hybrid to create the ideal mix of speed, launch, and spin. When it’s time to specify a shaft, graybeard golfers will likely gravitate toward the Project X Cypher Black 50 Lite, with its 50-gram raw weight and low-to-mid kick point. Price at time of publish: $280 Best Women’s Hybrid Titleist TSi1 Hybrid Golf Club Titleist View On Dick's View On Golfgalaxy.com What We Like Deep C of G helps get ball airborne Forged steel face amps up ball speed Pleasing sound at impact What We Don't Like Lacks visual alignment aid Golf instructor Kenny Nairn harkened back to the hybrid’s early days and the resistance it met based on pride—but that was male pride. “The women I taught had no such hangups,” recalls Nairn. “They saw how easy hybrids were to hit, and that’s all they needed to make the switch.” The TSi1 Hybrid from Titleist is an impressive package of ball-launching technology. The club’s ultra-lightweight design and refined clubhead aerodynamics translate to optimal speed in the downswing—golf’s basic power generator. Another set of engineering features will kick in at impact: the TSi1’s 455 Carpenter Steel Forged Face transfers energy efficiently, while the club’s deep center of gravity promotes stability and speed across the face. Suitable to the women’s side of the market, this hybrid family ranges in lofts from 20 to 29 degrees. The low-kick, super-light Aldila Ascent 40 is its stock graphite shaft. For a newer woman player with improving swing technique, this club can grow with you: Titleist’s proprietary SureFit Hosel gives the user 16 discrete loft and lie settings for ball-flight optimization. Price at time of publish: $280 The 6 Best Women’s Golf Club Sets of 2023 Most Versatile Hybrid Ping G425 Hybrid Golf Club Golf Galaxy View On Dick's View On Golfgalaxy.com What We Like Penetrating ball flight with plenty of height Optimizes performance on off-center hits Score line paint fill frames ball well What We Don't Like No face angle adjustability Hybrids, by nature, are versatile—we turn to them in many more situations than we would a driver, wedge, or putter. The Ping G425 Hybrid is a club that can perform under various conditions, especially the 4- and 5-hybrid of this model, lofted at 22 and 26 degrees, respectively. A proprietary design called Facewrap unites the G425’s crown, clubface, and sole in one thin sheet of maraging steel (heat-treated to 500 degrees) and optimizes flexing in those areas for faster ball speed to add distance and create a high launch. Another Ping-exclusive engineering nuance found in this club goes by the funky name Spinsistency. It’s a novel approach to face roll, the vertical curvature on golf clubs (besides irons). Ping addresses the age-old problem of weak performance on thin shots, which has resulted from contact low on the face, where loft angle decreases. The result is more consistent spin performance on thinly hit balls to boost ball speed for added distance. The G425 also has a tungsten sole weight located advantageously to raise moment-of-inertia—resistance to twisting—which means less of a penalty for off-center strikes. These attributes give a golfer confidence when facing bare lies, gnarly rough, or the need to get over tall trees to reach the green. Price at time of publish: $299 Most Adjustable Hybrid TaylorMade M3 Hybrid Rescue Club TaylorMade View On Amazon View On Taylormadegolf.com What We Like Adjustability allows fine-tuning of ball flight Fade-Draw tweak is easy to make Lively clubface thanks to Speed Pocket What We Don't Like Possible to confuse yourself with alterations Equipment-geek golfers from the pro tours to the local driving range have been impressed by the adjustability (and performance-alteration) built into TaylorMade’s M3 Driver and its companion fairway woods and hybrids. Adjustment advice for curious M3 owners, their Torx-head adjusting wrenches in hand, is the subject of many a YouTube video, some of which run six or seven minutes. That’s a testament to how greatly one can vary performance traits such as launch height and initial left-right ball direction—plus all the trajectory variations that kick in when you alter the ball's spin rate, which this technology lets you do. In the M3 Hybrid, there are 30 grams of clubhead weight to be moved around on a soleplate track marked “fade” and “draw” at the two ends of the track. Turning from there to the second star-head screw, you can rotate the shaft to a dozen different orientations within the hosel. Each insertion position establishes its quartet of specifications, covering loft angle, lie angle, face angle (open/square/closed), and spin rate. No matter how your M3 Hybrid is set up, you’ll benefit from an updated version of the company’s classic Speed Pocket feature, a groove milled into the club's sole. It allows the face to flex more even as it nudges the center of gravity in the name of added distance on low-face impact. Price at time of publish: $150 The 8 Best Golf Clubs for Beginners of 2023 Best for Low Handicappers Mizuno CLK Hybrid Club Mizuno View On Mizunousa.com What We Like Wider head profile instills confidence Extensive array of shaft choices What We Don't Like Lack of “trouble club” features Players who shoot in the 70s comprise a small segment of the golfing population, with their own preferences for how a club should look, feel and play. Low-handicap types have spoken approvingly of the Mizuno CLK Hybrid and its appearance in the address position since the club came to market. They praise its soothing matte-gray finish, graceful shape, and the fact that it “sits square,” like a sports car with an impressive “stance” when parked. With its long success producing blade-style irons, Mizuno doesn’t position the CLK Hybrid as a “trouble club,” instead of calling its design ideal for playing from tight fairway lies. They’ve gone with a new MAS1C Maraging Face—thin but unyielding, to maximize energy transfer and ball speed. The soleplate of this club features a dramatically deep groove just behind the face—part of a concept tagged Wave Technology, but also a nod to the blade iron. Skilled players tend to pine for a hybrid with a penetrating flight that lands softly to hold a green—the Mizuno CLK has employed its Wave engineering plus a wider head profile to help produce this effect. Those skilled players also insist on getting custom-fit for their gear; a factor Mizuno has built its business around. The stunningly long and diverse list of high-quality shafts available—no less than 14 for this hybrid, from four different manufacturers. There’s also customization: a hosel-mounted fitting that can be adjusted to produce eight different formulations of loft, lie and face angle. Price at time of publish: $250 What to Look for in Hybrid Golf Club Head Size and Shape Once a golfer picks up any hybrid club, they respond to the clubhead’s shape and size. That evaluation continues as they place the club down behind a golf ball. Does this hybrid seem long enough from toe to heel to ensure decent contact? Is it so long that it may twist a lot on heel or toe hits? Is the face deep enough (long enough from sole to crown)? Is the crown wide enough front to back? Too wide? The brain takes all sorts of visual cues during this process. Once you start hitting balls, the initial visual response may shift with the launch monitor and the simulator as support. Still, if you listen to how much size-and-shape talk there is in forums and expert commentary on clubs, you can’t deny how significant a factor it is across the board. Meanwhile, think about using your hybrid to replace the wedge and the putter on greenside shots over closely mown grass—even from lies as much as 30 yards off the putting surface. “Playing that shot with a hybrid instead of trying to chip it with a wedge is a secret weapon for a lot of weekend golfers,” says Nairn. “You avoid having the club interact with the turf, and therefore you can’t chuck it. Also, the way the ball scoots off a hybrid face, you’ll notice that you’re no longer leaving chip shots well short.” Shaft Feel Golfers sense that a correct “kinetic sequence” is needed to execute a good swing, even if they don't know the term. The layman’s translation is “I timed that one perfectly” or “my timing’s off.” The weighting of a club head and a shaft’s torque and stiffness affect our ability to produce that domino effect that excellent shots require. Hit ten practice balls into a net at the golf store, and you’ll know if the hybrid in your hands promotes good sequencing or it doesn’t. Remember that high-end golf clubs usually have shaft options and helpful weighting adjustments. An experienced club-fitter can help you take a club that looks great on the rack and confirm, with some tinkering, that it’s right for you. Impact Characteristics It’s not uncommon for a golfer to be testing several hybrids (or drivers or fairway woods) in one session and to find out that contact is being made toward the toe with two of them and closer to the center of the clubface with the other. Impact decals—the cheapest, most valuable club-testing tool ever—provide excellent information about the contact. Sound at impact is also essential; thus, all the design work goes into the “acoustics” of a club. Launch monitors will reveal more about the impact and what happens, including club speed, ball speed, launch angle, and initial spin rate. Again, the club-fitter in the store will be able to fill in all these details. Loft and Carry Distance When you shop for hybrids, it's vital to think of your current set configuration. Adding hybrids at the long end (and wedges at the short end) is a chance to get your distance gapping truly buttoned up. “If you’ve got a 3-hybrid that you hit way better than that old 4-iron, now you can put a reliable yardage number on it,” says the LPGA’s Missie Berteotti. “If the ball consistently flies about 195 yards with that club, now you’re looking for one that consistently flies the ball 180. Maybe you cover that distance with a 4-hybrid. From there, you can transition to your 6-iron that flies 165, and so on.” Frequently Asked Questions What’s the difference between a hybrid and a fairway wood? There's considerable similarity if you compare a 3-hybrid to a 5-wood of the same make and model. The hybrid’s relatively compact head makes it more suitable for “recovery” situations involving rough, sand, hardpan, and other gnarliness. Its playing length will be shorter than a similarly lofted fairway wood, which can help with square contact. And you should get a higher flight with a hybrid, though less overall distance. What’s the right number of hybrids to carry? Answer that question by identifying the longest iron you feel comfortable hitting, then use hybrids to cover the ones you’d like to retire. “There’s no reason you couldn’t swap in hybrids for the 5-iron or the 6-iron,” says former LPGA Tour winner Missie Berteotti, now a teaching professional. “They’re much easier to hit than a low or middle iron because, with a hybrid, you make a sweeping swing and barely contact the grass. They also carry straighter and longer because that shape head can be built with more game-improvement features than an iron can.” Do I have to buy hybrids that are the same make and model as my driver and fairway woods? It’s unnecessary, particularly given all the specifications one is privy to in golf clubs. Specs such as length, loft, swingweight, shaft flex, shaft kick point, and so forth can be matched up quite suitably between a Brand A hybrid and a set of Brand B metalwoods. You need to factor in distance gapping, so if your weakest-lofted fairway wood carries 220 yards, you’ll want your strongest-lofted hybrid to be about 205 yards. Why Trust TripSavvy? David Gould is a veteran golf journalist, starting out as editor of a trade magazine for golf professionals published by Golf Digest. He has been chief editor of LINKS Magazine and executive editor of Travel + Leisure Golf. His work in the field of golf equipment has taken him inside 20-plus manufacturing plants and to 30 annual PGA Merchandise Shows, also to a five-year stint as a technical writer for golf’s first custom-club manufacturer. He marks his ball with an obscure medal given to him 20 years ago by the King of Morocco, an avid golfer who enjoyed hosting golf writers on extravagant junkets. For this article. he consulted with Missie Berteotti, a former LPGA Tour winner now a teaching professional, and Kenny Nairn, a PGA Tour & LPGA Tour Golf Coach with Eagle Creek Golf Club in Orlando, Florida. Was this page helpful? Thanks for letting us know! Share Pin Email Tell us why! Submit Continue to 5 of 9 below. Continue to 9 of 9 below.