Dan Parker takes an in-depth look at the key differences between a 21° 7 wood and a 21° hybrid to see which club you should consider utilizing to get the most at the top end of your bag. After going through some of the key stats that differentiate these clubs, Dan then takes you through a few shots out on the course to show the potential benefits and pitfalls of a 7-wood and a hybrid.
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00:00I have got some fascinating data about whether you should be using one of these,
00:04a seven-wood, or one of these, a hybrid, or maybe both. Let's get started.
00:17So before we get to hitting a few shots on course and talk about the data,
00:19let's talk about the characteristics of these two clubs. What is the difference between a seven-wood
00:23and a hybrid? Let's talk about the seven-wood first because that is sort of the the main
00:27style of the show today. So as you can see with the characteristics of this seven-wood,
00:31the head is a lot bigger and that means the central gravity is deeper and lower compared
00:36to a hybrid and that means the ball gets up in the air a lot quicker and a lot higher.
00:40So where its uses come in is for approaches to greens if you want more stopping power,
00:45if you find yourself on a lot of par threes that you know 180 200 yards depending on how far you
00:49hit these sort of things it's really useful for that compared to a hybrid. So we'll look at the
00:53hybrid now obviously we know what a hybrid looks like a lot smaller head and that ball flight is
00:57a lot lower because that central gravity is in a much different position. Another thing to note
01:02about hybrids and whether you want a hybrid or a lot more lofted wood in the bag is that a hybrid
01:06tend to have a bit more draw bias on them. They'll turn left to right for me as a left-hander,
01:11right to left if you're a right-hander which is great for some but some people want to shape the
01:15ball both ways and that's where the control of a seven-wood which is a lot easier to shape in both
01:19directions comes into effect. So even though they might have the same stated loft on there and they say
01:25they're the same number that dynamic loft impact is very different and the characteristics are very
01:30different which we'll come and talk about in just a second. So let's talk about some of that data that
01:34I found in my testing. I'm going to flash up a table now. I've had about two or three range sessions
01:40comparing these and I picked about 20 shots that I think were most representative to get these averages
01:45from and we'll talk about the similarities first. So you can see the ball speed very similar 134 mile an hour
01:50to 131 so not too much there and that then led to an average carry distance of 208 yards of the seven
01:55wood and 207 with a four hybrid so very very similar which is what I expected actually so I was pretty
02:01pleased to see that during my testing but the big differences and the benefits that some of you might
02:06see from going from seven wood instead of a hybrid comes in that peak height. You can see the big
02:11difference there 30.5 yards on average playing 24 yards from the hybrid so pretty much six yards in the
02:17air difference which is going to give that seven wood a much steeper descent angle and way more
02:22stopping power than a hybrid so it's fascinating to see that I really enjoyed hitting it on the range
02:26actually you know hitting the seven woods going up like a like a seven iron or even a pitching wedge
02:31sometimes it was really really cool and you've not lost that yardage as we've seen they're going
02:34the same distance but that ball flight characteristic was so different we'll see that in a minute on course
02:40and that's you know played out in the spin as well 6,000 for the seven wood five and a half for the
02:44uh hybrid I'd expect that this seven wood will spin the ball a little bit more
02:50and then it comes down to that launch angle as well 12.4 to 10.6 um that seven wood is naturally
02:55launching a little bit higher all down to that center of gravity so this is what I expected during
02:59my testing I was pretty happy to see these results it's the kind of thing I wanted to see as well
03:03similar lofts uh going similar distances but with very very different ball flight characteristics so with
03:09all that data out of the way let's get onto the course and see how these things act in the real world
03:13okay so on the golf course now and I found myself in an exact situation where this seven wood versus
03:18hybrid debate comes in we're 210 yards away from the green which is just behind me over here
03:23and I'm a little bit downwind and I want a club with lots of stopping power now 210 yards away means
03:30I have to hit a wood of some kind but I don't trust that hybrid to hold the green so that's where a club
03:34like this the seven wood really comes into play similar situations if you're on a long par three or a
03:40poaching a par five of that sort of 200 210 yard distance that a club like this gives you so
03:45much stopping power and a lot more control so let's see the comparison between the two I'm going to
03:49start with the seven wood because that's the club I would go for if I was in this situation
03:54now it's very cold today as well so if I can hit this 210 yards I'm very happy with myself
03:58okay not bad there a little bit drawy but I think it had plenty of height on it to stop somewhere
04:12level with the pin but a little bit to the right now let's compare that with the hybrid and see how
04:18much different that's going to be because I can imagine it's going to be a lot lower ball flight
04:21running into that green with a little bit less stopping power hopefully though I can get it that
04:26distance about 210 same sort of thing there a little bit hooky but you can see from the pro
04:39tracer a lot lower ball flight from there I can imagine that ball's scuttled on a little bit
04:43further so let's head up to the green see where those balls ended up and I'll have some final
04:47concluding thoughts on the seven wood versus hybrid debate okay so up at the green I think we've got a
04:51result here that really shows off the characteristics and the benefits of a seven wood so I'm stood here
04:56by my hybrid shot which as we saw it was a bit toe-y it was a bit hooky but because of that and that
05:02lower ball flight we've ended up back right at the green whereas you can see behind me here the seven
05:06wood which was a similar-ish strike a bit toe-y definitely turned over still had that higher ball
05:11flight and much more stopping power to leave me a much more attractive birdie putt on the green over
05:16there so some final thoughts on these really I love the seven wood it's been quite enjoyable to use it
05:21it offers you so much loft at address it goes so high and still so far but I think it could deserve
05:28a place in my bag at some point it's not great off tee to be honest with you because of that spin
05:32you don't get much run I'd rather use the hybrid but it's a really interesting club and one I really
05:38think you should consider potentially putting in that end of your bag you've seen the data you've seen
05:42how it works on course make the decision for yourselves now I'd love to hear from you have you
05:47already got one of these in the bag or are you thinking of putting one in let me know let me
05:51know your experiences with this club I would love to hear from you but for now from Prince's Golf Club
05:55thank you very much for joining me I'll see you next time