Your Secret Weapon: Callaway Hybrid Golf Clubs

Many of us who played the game before the introduction of hybrid golf clubs remember the frustration of trying to master the long irons. Not only did they demand a powerful swing to make good use of them, but they were really quite unforgiving of slight errors in hitting the ball slightly off-square or off-center.

Callaway has a full selection of hybrid golf clubs. Callaway hybrid golf clubs, as with all the best hybrids, give you more distance and loft for your swing speed. They are also are more forgiving of mis-hits.

The Big Bertha Heavenwood Hybrid is the more or less the entry level Callaway hybrid. You can get it with either graphite or steel shaft, with the steel shaft model priced just under $100. Like all Callaway hybrids, it incorporated Callaway's S2H2 innovation (Short, Straight, Hollow Hosel), which distributes more of the weight toward the perimeter of the club, giving it a lower center of gravity.

Like many of the best hybrid golf clubs, the Big Bertha is quite forgiving of off-center hits. It also comes in a complete range of lofts so you can replace almost every iron in your golf bag. Since it is intended to have "mass appeal" it is available in both right and left handed versions.

The next step up the ladder is the X-Hybrid. Not only do the X-Hybrids incorporate S2H2 in its design, but they also include VFT, or Variable Face Technology. VFT creates a club head that is thicker in the center, which results in longer shot distance. Additionally, the X-Hybrid has a sole designed to allow better performance in the rough.

These clubs retail anywhere from $40 to $60 more than the Big Bertha models, and are available in the 2H to 5H range. However the 5H is not available for left-handed golfers. Go figure.

The FT-Hybrids are the top of the line hybrids from Callaway. As with all the Fusion Technology product line, the Callaway FT-Hybrid has a club head that has been fused together from different material, which enables a advantageous weight distribution, with much of the weight being moved to the perimeter of the club head allowing a low center of gravity that is also further back from the face of the club. This creates a club that is both forgiving for off-center hits and provides greater loft for the ball.

Like the X-Hybrid, the FT-Hybrid incorporates both the VFT and S2H2 design innovations. These clubs are priced at nearly twice the price of the Big Bertha model at $199 with a graphite shaft and 179 with steel. Make sure you try them out before you make your final decision for purchasing a hybrid golf club set.