I still remember the shot that pushed me over the edge.
I was slap-bang in the middle of the fairway on Stroke Index 1 at my home club faced with 195 yards into the green. With a 4-iron in hand, I thinned it with a bit of slice up the right and turned another great par chance into a bogey or worse.
The thought that ran through my head was: ‘Why am I making this so difficult for myself?’
It was time for a change, so my 4-iron officially lost its place in the bag for an old Titleist 816H1 that I bought online for less than £70.
It’s a fairly beat-up club that has some well hidden sky-marks and a slight dink in the shaft but overall it stands up very well in 2025.
It is fairly beaten up but it still performs well
(Image credit: Future)
I haven’t hit any of the best golf hybrids in recent years but can’t imagine the 816 is too far behind. It has good levels of adjustability and still sounds and feels great.
Fast forward two years since I added my 23-degree hybrid into the bag and it is arguably my favorite club and the one that I have most confidence with. I had never previously used a hybrid with such high loft and had always previously carried 3-and-4-irons.
Now I look back and ask what I was thinking?
I genuinely relish approaches into greens from the 180-200 yard range and would hazard a guess that I find the green or fringe area significantly more than I used to.
I am a six-handicapper and strike my irons well on the whole, but I came to the conclusion that I am simply not good enough to consistently middle a 4-iron, which certainly leads me to question why mid-and-high handicappers even bother with them.
Sure, I could hit it beautifully on the occasion but on those days where my swing wasn’t cooperating it was extremely difficult to see the benefit of carrying one.
I would occasionally top it, regularly thin it and far too often failed to hit the shot that I would hope for.
My…
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