LONG IRONS: WHY?

Recently, I was playing golf with a few members of the golf club where I am at.  Both gentlemen are around 45-50 years of age and have about 10 handicaps.  On a long par-3, I noticed one of them pulled out a 3-iron.  He made a decent swing at it, but caught it a little thin and missed the green about 25 yards short and right of the green. When I inquired as to why was he carrying a long iron versus a hybrid, his answer shocked me.  He said that better players played long irons, including 2- and 3-irons. I started laughing at his statement, which started a nice little debate about long irons versus hybrids.  Both players were shocked that the longest iron in my bag is a 4-iron. My point to them was that they needed to think about golf as a game of misses.  Very few golf shots are struck perfectly.  If my miss is a “better” miss than your miss, then I will beat you.  If you mishit a long iron, it does not fly as far or as straight as it would with a mishit hybrid.  By simply changing the clubs in their bag from long irons to hybrids, it would help lower their scores. My next point was to educate them on hybrids, and what they can do for your game.  There are lots of shots where hybrids come in handy:  deep rough, long par-3s, second shots on par-5s and little chips around the greens.  After our conversation, they began to understand this philosophy.  Later that week, one of them got fitted for the new Callaway hybrids to replace his 2- and 3-irons. Make sure you talk to your students about hybrids if they are still carrying long irons.  It will improve their game, lower their scores, and make the game more enjoyable.