How To Hit A Hybrid Club Off The Ground

Ian Poulter explains how best to hit your hybrid from the fairway to get it launching high and landing soft

How to hit a hybrid club off the ground

There are very few players, even out on tour, who don’t carry hybrids these days. The flight they offer means you can attack greens from distance while retaining the necessary stopping power, even on firm putting surfaces.

Additionally, the extra distance and versatility relative to the comparative long-iron can be invaluable. It's why you see many players, both amateur and professional, hitting a hybrid out the rough rather than an iron.

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In the above video, the focus is on how to get the most out of this club from the fairway, and who better to offer some advice than three-time PGA Tour winner Ian Poulter.

Ball position

First and foremost, we need to nail down the right ball position. From the fairway, you want the ball to be landing on the green and stopping as quickly as possible.

If you move it back in your stance at address, the trajectory flattens and the result will be a lower flight with more roll. A handy shot to have when the situation calls for it but that’s not what you want from this basic shot.

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So, ideally you want to set the ball position just inside your left heel. It's not as far forward as a driver but up from where an iron would be. This means you can make a normal swing and get the flight you are looking for.

Angle of attack

The goal is to launch it high so you want to just pick the ball off the top of the grass. In order to achieve this, it's important to keep your weight fairly central and retain width in the downswing. It's something we saw Phil Mickelson practising en route to his 2021 PGA Championship win.

If width in the downswing is something you struggle with, try and feel like you're casting a fishing line from the top of your swing. It'll feel extreme in practice, but will help you make small inroads over time that will add up to a big difference.

And as far as this shot is concerned, it'll allow you to shallow out your angle of attack into the golf ball and produce the deadly high-flight-soft-landing combination that you’re looking for.