Well I have had this hybrid now (Nickent 17 *) for a month and I know hybrids are supposed to be the easiest clubs to hit. I am having some major inconsistancy issues. Some are very low. Some are high. Some are toe looping hooks and some are just plainly off to the right. No offense at all to 10 handicapps but I am swinging this club like 1. I am a scratch to a 1 hdcp and this is very fustrating. I hit the 3 wood fine, the 4 iron fine, as well as the driver fine. Alll the other clubs in the bag are fine. But this hybrid is puzzling. It has the beautiful NV Shaft in it and looks great at address. 1 out of 5 shots are ok. But not really sure on the distance. Only had 1 round with it at 45 degrees outside and the rest have been range balls. I have tried the Cobra hybrid but hit it very high and short and this was 1 of 2 recommended clubs to get. The other was a Titleist hybrid but they did not have the 17 degree. I was looking to replace my 5 wood in my bag which was 18 degrees and too high of a launch for me. Has anyone else had this problem with hybrids or with Nickent?
All right, Ron! Let us know what you find out and what works for you. Must - conquer - new hybrid. Also, for me, I take a tip for John Daly, I think: warm up with your wedges, and then the next pre round warmup shots are to be with the club you would take your second shot in a round - in this case the hybrid. It works for me to go from hitting down with my wedges to hitting ball back and down on the low hybrid clubs, to get them hot. I am off to play a funky nine holes on the (seldom) frozen Oregon turf. The club course is closed, though.
At the risk of sounding simplistic, (and the frog alluded to it): bear down on the ball as if the hybrid is an iron.
To start, place the ball a little farther back, right of center, and think about bearing down on the back of the ball. Check your rotation, as if you were just warming up with a lob wedge, first warmup shot of the day.
You can move the ball to the center, and just a little left of center, after you are in the groove. It seems a lot of folks want to overswing hybrids, too, let the weight of the club bear down on the back of the ball. This works for me :).
I am not going to pretend I have an answer for your hybrid problem. But what I can tell you is you are not alone. I read about this same issue on most of the other forums I frequent. Everything from lie angle, swing weight, club length, actual shaft flex, kick points, balance points, shaft tip stiffeness, to tempo/timing have been discussed. Actually the golfer's swing tempo/timing seems to be one of the better fixes to look at. A close second seems to be the kick/balance points. One poster suggested that when a golfer replaces a fairway wood with which they use a flatter swing, the problem is the hybrid needs to be swung more like a iron. In other words a steeper down swing angle. I am not sure about that one.
I had the same problem with a hybrid myself. Just never could learn to swing it properly. My issue with it was my entire set of clubs are hybrids (Tour Edge Ironwoods) yet i could not hit the "longer" 15* hybrid. This even though I can hit my 16* 2i hybrid quite well. Never did figure out the problem. Wound up giving it to my grand son who absolutely loves it due to it's consistant (pretty much) straight ball flight he gets with it. Go figure.
Congrats on being a scratch player. With more time on my hands, which allows me more play and practice time, I just dropped to 9, Of course that 9 goes up when I play tougher courses..........FHs
