Tour player setups change week to week and no snapshot of bag data tells the complete story. What the data and trends do tell us is that the traditional hybrid is no longer a staple on the PGA Tour. It’s become a minority club and the list of players carrying one is shorter than you might expect.
If you want to know what’s replacing it and what that might mean for your own bag, here’s a look at what’s showing up on Tour right now.
Who is still carrying a hybrid?
Some players are still committed to a traditional hybrid. This is not a complete list but these are some of the bigger-name players with one in the bag based on recent data.
- Cameron Young — Titleist GT1
- Davis Riley — Titleist TSR2
- Aaron Rai — Titleist GT2
- Russell Henley — Titleist TSi2
- Robert MacIntyre — TaylorMade Stealth 2 Rescue
- Joaquin Niemann — PING G430
What are players using instead?
When the hybrid comes out of the bag, what are these PGA Tour professionals putting in its place? It comes down to three different options: another fairway wood, a utility iron or the Callaway Utility Wood.
7-woods and 9-woods
The high-lofted fairway wood has become the most common replacement for the hybrid on Tour. The 7-wood in particular has made a strong comeback and the names carrying one are hard to ignore. Some current examples:
- Ludvig Åberg — TaylorMade Stealth 2
- Patrick Cantlay — Titleist TS2
- Max Homa — TaylorMade Qi10
- Tyrrell Hatton — PING G430 Max
- Cameron Smith — Titleist TS2
- Jason Day — TaylorMade Qi35
- Keegan Bradley — TaylorMade Qi35
- Phil Mickelson — PING G430 Max
The 9-wood is a lesser trend but there are a few guys with it in the bag. Tommy Fleetwood regularly carries a TaylorMade Qi10 9-wood. Adam Scott has one as well. Sahith Theegala, whose bag is one of the more unconventional setups on Tour, has a PING G440 Max 9-wood.
The 9-wood offers more loft, higher launch, steeper descent angles and more stopping power on approach. For players who value precision over versatility from the rough, a fairway wood in this range makes sense.
Utility woods
The Callaway Apex UW sits in its own category. Callaway describes it as combining the distance and launch characteristics of a high-lofted fairway wood with the versatility of a hybrid. The head shape is more compact than a standard fairway wood and the shaft length falls between the two. Some current Tour players with an Apex UW in the bag include:
- Xander Schauffele
- Akshay Bhatia (prototype version)
- Emiliano Grillo
Utility irons
A smaller group has moved in the other direction entirely. The utility iron, compact, iron-like, built for a penetrating and controlled ball flight, is typically the least forgiving of these alternatives, but for the right player it offers the most precision. Current examples on Tour:
- Gary Woodland — Wilson Staff Model Utility
- Haotong Li — Titleist T350
- Min Woo Lee — Callaway X-Forged UT
Min Woo Lee is worth noting here. He carries both a Callaway Apex UW utility wood and a Callaway X-Forged utility iron.
What does this mean for your golf bag?
Before you pull your hybrid out of the bag based on what Tour pros are doing, consider this. PGA Tour players are swinging their hybrids at around 102 mph. The average amateur is closer to 87 mph, a number that’s much more in line with the LPGA Tour than the PGA Tour. And on the LPGA Tour, hybrids are everywhere.
That matters for two reasons.
First, the draw bias we see in most hybrids that bothers elite ball-strikers at high speed becomes far less of an issue as swing speed drops. Second, the lower and rear-weighted center of gravity that defines a hybrid’s design is what helps slower swing speed players get the ball in the air consistently with longer clubs.
The Champions Tour tells the same story. These players also rely heavily on hybrids now that their swing speeds have dropped.
The PGA Tour trend is real and worth understanding. But it applies to a very specific group of players swinging the club at speeds most amateurs will never reach. For the majority of golfers, the hybrid can’t be written off just yet.
Instead, experiment with hybrid and fairway woods to see which ones fill the spaces in your bag and deliver the best results.
Dave
2 months ago
Brittney– As usual a well written article. While you did referenced the swing speed of those on tour— I find the article of little reverence to the recreational golfer. In plain terms, who cares what PGA Tour players are carrying in their bag as it relates to hybrids– As many many of the comments reflect, hybrids are a go to club for many of us–especially more senior golfers as longer irons become more difficult to hit with consistency. Much like certain golf magazines that tend of focus on “the pros”–which represent less than 1% of all golfers. It would seem your target audience would be better served sticking to what works for the everyday recreational golfer.