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I‘m now the proud owner of a 19 degree Hybrid from Bobby Jones Golf.
It’s been raining here for the last 5-7 days and pretty chilly, so today’s 60 degrees and sunny skies was the first chance I’ve had to drop by our range and hit this sweet little par 5 killer.
Why would I refer to it as a par 5 killer ? Because that’s what I overheard Gary McCord refer to his hybrid as. I can hit 3-wood or driver off the tee and then hit this hybrid and easily get to every green that’s 470-500 yards away. Easily.
My friends hated it that I could hit my 3-wood 235-250 off the tee and then hit my old Adams 20 degree hybrid 220, making most par 5’s an easy birdie hole, with 2 putts or an easy chip on and a birdie putt.
Today’s 60 degree temperature and with the wind quartering in to me didn’t stop me from peppering the 225 marker on the range with our Srixon range balls.
10-20 feet of fade or 20-30 feet of draw was the shot of the day with the Bobby Jones Hybrid. And for my first time hitting it, that’s not too bad. Not too bad at all.
If I can hit the 20-30 feet of draw, getting me a little run on a dry fairway, I’ll hit it on tight or short par 4’s. The fairway plays so much better than the rough. Seems to promote lower scores for some strange reason.
If I can hit it with a 10-20 foot drop over fade into green’s, it’ll easily hold 225-235 yard approach shots. Easily.
MY only nitpick is the shaft selection I made. I had never hit a JS-7 shaft before and every clubfitter and salesperson who sees my 6’2″ 250 lb. frame assumes I need a stiff shaft.
If they’ve never seen me swing, they don’t know I’m a fairly smooth swinger, on occasion and really prefer a softer shaft.
Maybe not a full blown regular, as when I build my own clubs I tend to cut the shaft exactly between stiff and regular, maybe you could call that a firm.
But, don’t get me wrong, it’s not like the stiff version of the JS-7 is as stiff as a board, like the green NV was in my Adams hybrid. I hate that shaft with an ugly, burning passion.
This stiff is just barely a teeny bit too stiff and makes me swing a tad harder than I want to. Barely. Not much, just barely.
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The sole of the Bobby Jones hybrid is one of the best features about it.
It’s lower in the middle, like a keel and it really allows you to go down in the dirt after the ball, so from bad lies it really worked well.
I believe it’s a throwback to some of the old time wooden clubs that worked so well, before metal got in the way.
I put the ball into divots, tall grass and on bare, moist dirt and it went and got it and moved it forward with purpose.
It’ll also come in handy when I have to use it around the greens as a chipping club, as I went over to the practice green and tested that too.
The biggest surprise for me was the ‘thwack’ sound it made, instead of a tinny, metallic ping of some sort that most clubs make today.
As you would expect, that’s because the designer, Jesse Ortiz was around working on wooden clubs with a rasp and file when he started years ago, instead of just in front of a CAD program, like a lot of today’s golf club designers.
It really feels like a solid club and that distinctive sound adds to the solid feeling, as mind, ears and hands all work together to provide the final feedback you feel.
The grip is perfect for me. It feels like a Winn, that’s a compliment, and has great markings and is visually appealing.
Not too hard, not too squishy. Just right. Kinda like the porridge that Goldilock’s loved so much.
Overall, I’m tremendously happy to own this hybrid and I’m looking forward to calling some friends tomorrow and asking them if they want to venture down to Alabama and play a couple of the RTJ Golf Trail courses.
I need to play a few rounds with this sweet little club before the winter weather makes golf a dream, instead of a reality.
A few years back Jesse Ortiz revolutionized the fairway wood part of the game of golf. Today he’s done the same thing for hybrids, as I’m pretty sure it can’t get any better than this.
He also made sure it would look great in your bag by giving us another throwback, the knit headcover.
I like it much, much better than some of the ginormous headcovers we’re stuck with today.
It’ll work itself easily into my carry bag and won’t make me get a map just to find a way around it, looking for another club.
If the driver and fairway woods are anywhere near this solid and easy to hit, my carry bag may well look a lot different next spring !
My 3-wood is pretty well settled in, theorhetically, but that Cobra driver with that awful green NV shaft has been looking for an escape clause all year.
Do yourself a favor and drop by the Bobby Jones Golf website and use their convenient store locator to find the nearest shop to you.
Believe me, you’ll be glad you did.