Hybrid or rescue clubs

If you find it difficult to use your 3-wood or the 3-iron effectively on the fairway, it is time to consider a hybrid (rescue) club. This is neither a wood nor an iron. I normally hit the ball 190M with the 3 wood and 160M with the 3 iron. Using the hybrid shown here on the left I can usually hit the ball 175M. This one has a face angle of 21 degrees so that the ball gets off the turf and air borne more easily, usually without taking a divot. The 9-wood in the centre of the picture is excellent for clearing tall trees.  It has a 25 degrees face angle. My 60 degree lob wedge on the right is very effective for working around the greens. I use an easy putting stroke with it and keeping my feet together. The ball rises high, lands softly and rolls slowly with back spin towards the pin. I have holed quite a few balls from the rough around the greens at the Narrows.

John Huang, Kevin Lee and me

My Taiwanese golf partners always said that I was lucky! They did not know about the large number of practice balls that I have hit with this club in my back yard at home, into a laundry basket. Recently, I began using this lob wedge as a sand wedge in the bunkers. It worked very well too because of the built-in bounce on the base. Combining the sand and lob wedge as one, allows me to carry a 15th club in my bag! That, my friend, gave me an unfair advantage over Kevin Lee, my golf partner for a number of years! I was able to keep my handicap lower than his for 4 years although he is younger than me by 10 years! In 2010 he finally overtook me and reached handicap 14 in March 2011. My handicap has stayed stable at 16. With advancing age, I do not believe that I will be able to bring it down any more; but I will keep on trying.