Best new hybrids – Syndication Server

Cleveland Halo XL Fy-woods (2024)

The updated Cleveland Fy-woods are designed to provide more distance and forgiveness than hybrids but be easier to hit than typical fairway woods.

Gear: Cleveland Halo XL Fy-woods
Price: $239.99 each with Aldila Ascent PL 40 graphite shaft and Lamkin Crossline 360 grip
Specs: Cast stainless steel. Available as 3+ (17 degrees) and 4+ (20 degrees)

Who It’s For: Golfers who want an easy-to-hit, distance-oriented alternative to traditional fairway woods and hybrids.

The Skinny: The updated Fy-woods are designed to provide more distance and forgiveness than hybrids but be easier to hit than typical fairway woods, making them an interesting option for moderate and slower-swinging players who want more distance at the top of their bag.

The Deep Dive: In every golfer’s bag, there are a few transitions from one type of club to another, like golfing from your last iron into your first wedge. For many players, the most challenging transition is from your last fairway wood into your longest-hitting iron. You can go with a high-lofted fairway wood like a 7-wood or a 9-wood and then go right into a 5-iron, or go with a hybrid club or even a driving iron. With the release of the updated Halo XL Fy-wood, a group of clubs designed to blend the traits of fairway woods and hybrids, Cleveland is trying to make that transition easier for golfers who typically shoot in the 90s and 100s.

Cleveland Halo XL Hy-Woods — Rails on the sole help the Hy-woods skim over the grass and through the turf. (David Dusek/Golfweek)

The Halo XL Fy-woods are bigger than most hybrids and come standard with shafts that are longer than a corresponding hybrid, to help golfers generate more speed, but shorter than a similarly lofted fairway wood, so players should be able to make higher-quality contact more easily. The head sizes are also made to fit between those clubs, with volumes that are larger than hybrids but smaller than fairway woods.

Cleveland dropped a large portion of the crown behind the topline in the Halo XL Fy-woods. This Hi-Bore design has been used for several years to help lower the center of gravity location and encourage higher-flying shots.

Like the Halo XL fairway woods and hybrids, the Fy-wood has been designed with Rebound Frame, which adds a flexible region in the head behind the hitting area. At impact, it allows the whole face to flex back, enlarging the sweet spot and helping golfers get better performance across a larger area.

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Mizuno ST-Max 230 hybrids

The Mizuno ST-Max hybrids are designed to be stable and forgiving.

Gear: Mizuno ST-Max 230 hybrids
Price: $250 with Mitsubishi Lai’ Li Blue, UST-Mamiya LIN-Q Blue Hybrid or Helium NanoCore Hybrid shaft and Lamkin ST Hybrid grip
Specs: MAS1C maraging stainless steel with stainless steel chassis with an adjustable hosel. 19, 22, 25 and 28-degree head options.

Who It’s For: Golfers who want an easy-to-hit replacement for their long irons that produces a high launch angle and extra carry distance.

The Skinny: The new ST-Max 230 hybrids are like miniature fairway woods, with a larger size and high moment of inertia (MOI) to make them easy to hit off the tee and from the fairway for golfers who want more forgiveness and distance than traditional long irons.

The Deep Dive: The new Mizuno ST-Max hybrids are designed to appeal to the same golfers who will benefit from the ST-Max driver and fairway woods, meaning golfers who want to maximize stability and forgiveness.

While the driver and fairway woods utilize multi-material constructions, the hybrids are all stainless steel. Instead of adding a small carbon fiber crown, Mizuno made the top of the club thicker in some areas and thinner in others. The brand refers to it as a Waffle Crown, and while the glossy black top gives the ST-Max hybrids a classic look in the address position, it reduces weight on the top of the head.

Mizuno ST-Max 230 hybrids — The CorTech Chamber helps performance on low-struck shots. (David Dusek/Golfweek)

To increase ball speed, a larger CorTech Chamber complements the MAS1C stainless steel face in the sole. It’s a slot designed behind the leading edge that is then filled with a blue thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU), so grass and debris do not get inside the head. Inside the TPU, Mizuno designers have added a stainless steel bar that helps the head maintain forward momentum at the moment of impact. So, while the TPU reduces weight and soaks up excessive vibrations, the CorTech Chamber also helps golfers generate more ball speed.

The larger size, from heel to toe and from front to back, makes the ST-Max 230 hybrids more stable on off-center hits, but the addition of a weight in the back of the sole helps to drive up the MOI and further increase stability.

To help golfers and fitters fill distance gaps and provide clubs that go to precise distances, the ST-Max 230 hybrids are available in four loft options. However, each club’s adjustable hosel allows the stated loft to be increased or decreased by up to 2 degrees. The result is golfers can adjust the clubs to cover lofts from as little as 17 degrees to as much as 30 degrees.

Several close-up images of the ST-Max 230 hybrids are below.

PXG Black Ops hybrids

PXG Black Ops hybrids are loaded with the same features found in the company’s fairway woods.

Gear: PXG Black Ops hybrids
Price: $299.99
Specs: Carbon fiber crown with AM335 stainless steel body, proprietary stainless steel face, moveable weights and adjustable hosel. Available as 2-hybrid (17 degrees), 3-hybrid (19 degrees), 4-hybrid (22 degrees), 5-hybrid (25 degrees), 6-hybrid (28 degrees) and 7-hybrid (31 degrees)
Available: NOW

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Who They’re For: Golfers looking for more distance and forgiveness off the tee and from the turf.

The Skinny: PXG uses multiple materials, including new stainless steel alloys and moveable weights, to boost forgiveness and let players tweak the launch angle and spin rate of its latest hybrids.

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The Deep Dive: Some hybrids are designed to be long-iron replacements for golfers who prefer irons but know they need more forgiveness, height and distance than their 3-iron or 4-iron can deliver. Other players see them as an extension of their fairway woods, acting like a bridge club to their first iron. With the release of the new PXG Black Ops hybrids, the Scottsdale, Arizona-based company has made a club loaded with the same technologies and features found in the Black Ops fairways but in a traditional hybrid shape.

The Black Ops are made with a new high-strength stainless steel alloy in the face that PXG said is stronger than other steels used in hybrids. This allowed designers to make the hitting area thinner and lighter, which in turn helps it to be more flexible at impact.

And like the Black Ops fairway woods, the hybrids feature a compression-molded carbon fiber crown that reduces weight and lowers the center of gravity.

In the sole of the Black Ops hybrids, golfers will see three adjustable screws that can be moved into different locations to modify the club’s performance. Each Black Ops hybrid comes with a 12-gram weight in the back port and 2.5-gram weights in the heel and toe to maximize forgiveness and help create more spin and a higher launch. Moving the heavier weight to the heel will create a draw bias, while adding it to the toe port will encourage a fade.

To help golfers find a club that hits shots to the ideal distance, PXG has made the Black Ops with an adjustable hosel that can increase or decrease the loft by as many as 1.5 degrees and raise or lower the lie angle.

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Below are several images of the Black Ops hybrids:

Callaway’s Paradym Super Hybrid: Driver-like speed in a hybrid?

The carbon fiber crown, titanium construction and massive tungsten weight help to create more distance and a higher flight.

Gear: Paradym Super hybrid
Price: $399 each with UST Mamiya Recoil Dart graphite shaft and Lamkin Crossline 360 grip
Specs: Titanium body and face with carbon fiber crown, tungsten weight and adjustable hosel. Lofts: 16, 18, 21, 24 and 27 degrees
Available: NOW

Who It’s For: Golfers who want to maximize distance and create a straight flight with a fairway wood alternative.

The Skinny: This massive hybrid has a carbon fiber crown, titanium body and titanium face to help players generate more ball speed from a club designed to help golfers attain more accuracy.

The Deep Dive: Golf equipment makers often add driver technologies to their fairway woods because in most cases, players use both clubs off the tee and want to maximize distance. But with the Paradym Super hybrid, Callaway has added driver-style materials and technology to a hybrid, and the result is a club made to deliver a major power boost both off the tee and from the fairway.

Callaway Paradym Super Hybrid — The Paradym Super Hybrid has a titanium face and body. (David Dusek/Golfweek)

While most fairway woods and hybrids are made using stainless steel, because it’s strong and durable, the Paradym Super Hybrid has a titanium body, a forged titanium face and a carbon fiber crown. That helps to reduce weight, which in turn allowed Callaway to make the Paradym Super hybrid significantly bigger. For example, the 21-degree Paradym Super 4-hybrid has a volume of 144 cubic centimeters, which is nearly identical to the Paradym 7-wood (145 cubic centimeters).

In the address position, that size is going to be reassuring to mid- and higher-handicap golfers, but the reduced weight and larger size also allowed Callaway’s designers to add a 91-gram tungsten and steel weight to the sole. It pulls the center of gravity (CG) location down, to encourage a higher launch angle.

While all those features should help golfers hit the ball farther, the Paradym Super Hybrid might also help players hit the ball straighter and more solidly than a comparably-lofted fairway wood because it is shorter. The 21-degree Paradym Super Hybrid comes standard at 40.5 inches in length, while a 21-degree Paradym 7-wood is 42.25 inches. As it has been noted, the club are nearly identical in volume, but most golfers will hit the ball in the sweetspot more easily with a club that is 1.75 inches shorter. So, golfers might lose some clubhead speed by going with a Paradym Super Hybrid instead of a fairway wood, they will likely hit the ball straighter and may not lose distance because they make a higher-quality strike.

Players and fitters can use the adjustable hosel mechanism to fine-tune the Paradym Super Hybrid’s flight and the gapping between a player’s clubs.

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