Review: Roundup: Hybrid Golf Clubs

Weekend duffers know this scenario: A shanked tee-shot sails into the rough and there's nothing between you and making par except for 750 feet of Kentucky Blue, sand and your nerves. But unless you're Ben Hogan you're probably not going to pull out a 1-iron and fire a 250-yard laser-guided shot onto the dance floor. That's why it pays to have a hybrid in your bag. Think of these easy-to-hit sticks as mashups between fairway woods and long irons that can bail you out of jams stickier than a product of the Smuckers corporation.

Roundup: Hybrid Golf Clubs

Learn How We Rate ##### Wired

Extremely well-balanced stick. Raised sole reduces contact with ground leading to straighter shots. Fiery red shaft a welcome change from muted black and silver typically found on, well, pretty much every golf club ever made.

Hard to keep in check when you take a full swipe at a ball. Skews a tad towards the heavy end of the hybrid spectrum. 0, callawaygolf.com__Nike SQ 2 Hybrid__

Roundup:

• 1/10A complete failure in every way
• 2/10Sad, really
• 3/10Serious flaws; proceed with caution
• 4/10Downsides outweigh upsides
• 5/10Recommended with reservations
• 6/10Solid with some issues
• 7/10Very good, but not quite great
• 8/10Excellent, with room to kvetch
• 9/10Nearly flawless
• 10/10Metaphysical perfection

TaylorMade Rescue 09 TP

If you're going to flub a power-drive, this is the club for bailing you out of trouble. Fitted with the same customization options found in its R9 Driver, TaylorMade's 09 TP can be tweaked to compensate for just about any slice or hook. On the fairway the 09 TP has handling like an Italian sports car; we could control the distance and trajectory of shots perfectly. Want a 150-yard fade that lands six feet from the pin? Coming right up. How about a 200-yard skyrocket with enough loft to clear that water hazard? You got it. Blasting out of bunkers and dense rough was fairly easy too, although not as effective as Cleveland's hybrid club. And when we attempted teeing off with the stick, we were able to nail a shot that went nearly the same distance as a hit from a driver.

Don't go all O.J. with the Diablo and try to kill the ball. Callaway's rescue stick works best when you hit with an easy three-quarter speed swing. Once we figured this devilish detail out, the club proved delicious, letting us whack shots with high lofts and a great deal of control. Although not quite as accurate or imbued with the customization options as the 09 TP, the Diablo is a solid performer with a large, forgiving sweet spot. Even when we misfired off the toe or the heel, our shots still made a beeline for our target.

The lightest of the clubs we tested, the Nike, hit the farthest (we got 265 yards from one poke!) albeit with less control than we would have liked. Shots routinely ended hooking left when we took a full-speed swing. (We suspect the club's relatively low mass is to blame.) Nike does, however, get the highest points for the sound at address — our shots just chimed off the end of this stick with a satisfying ker-plink!

WIRED Light and effortless to swing. Matte black finish doesn't scuff as easily as the glossy paint job on other hybrids. Stiff Mitsubishi-designed rayon shaft is easy to swing. When harnessed properly, shots go the distance.

TIRED Light weight had us swinging wild. We've seen puppet governments with more control.

$150, nikegolf.com

Cleveland Launcher HiBore XLS

If the 09 TP is an Italian sports car, then the Cleveland Launcher is an American pickup truck. On the fairway, the club handles clumsily — the majority of our shots either came up short or veered into cart-path territory. Weirdly, the club's strengths become apparent when you're in the most trouble. For hitting out of thick rough — and we mean St. Andrew's style overgrown clumps of tall grass — the Launcher punches through with ample power. Sand isn't an issue, either. We were able to extract an old-school balata from of a dusty bunker like it was a Dune sandworm.

WIRED Fantastic for hitting out of dense thickets and deep sand. Solid shaft never feels overly flexible. Protective sock is fantastically designed.

TIRED Heavy and a tad klutzy. Lowest average distance of hybrids tested. About the same level of accuracy as an episode of Fox & Friends when hitting from the fairway.

$150, clevelandgolf.com