4-hybrid — 2026-05-11

Your 4-hybrid averaged 170 yards of carry today vs. your typical 190 in normal conditions. That's a 20-yard penalty -- about 8-10 yards from the headwind and 5-10 from the worn balls. The 125 mph ball speed matched 3-hybrid exactly, despite the higher loft. The 4-hybrid is taking the wind penalty harder than 3-hybrid -- higher launch, more time in the air, more wind exposure. In calm conditions with a fresh ball, expect 188-194 carry.

This was the directional disaster of the session. Shots 1 (L31), 2 (L7), 3 (L9), 4 (L36), 5 (L5), 6 (L3), 7 (L27), and 8 (L35) all missed left. Only shot 9 hit the target line (0 offline). Four shots missed 25+ yards left -- shot 4 at L36, shot 8 at L35, shot 1 at L31, shot 7 at L27. On the course these are lost balls. The 4-hybrid was the most directionally compromised club of the day by a wide margin.

Look at the curve-vs-offline mismatch: shot 1 had R4 curve but went L31. Shot 4 had L7 curve and went L36. Shot 7 had L3 curve and went L27. Shot 8 had L3 curve and went L35. These aren't draws or fades -- they're pulls. The ball starts well left of target with only modest in-flight curve. That points to setup: club face or body aimed left at address. The face is closing to the path enough to keep curve small, but the starting line is so far left that it doesn't matter.

Across 9 shots, ball speed ranged just 119-126 mph -- a 7 mph window. Launch ranged 9-13 degrees, a 4 degree window. Contact was clean and repeatable. The strike isn't the problem -- the alignment is. This is a setup or aim issue, not a mid-swing flaw.

Your best 4-hybrid carry was shot 1 at 178 yards on 126 mph. It missed 31 yards left of target. The pattern repeats across driver, irons, and hybrids today: best contact goes furthest left. With 4-hybrid the magnitude is amplified by the alignment issue on top of the swing-path pull -- two compounding causes producing the same direction of miss.

1. Alignment check is the highest-priority fix. Eight of nine shots left with modest curve numbers points to body or club aim at address, not a mid-swing flaw. 2. Calm-condition expected carry: 188-194. This is a 190-yard club for you in normal conditions, matching the gap your set was designed for. 3. Strike quality is excellent here -- best ball speed and launch consistency of the day. Don't change the swing. Fix the aim. 4. If you have alignment sticks, use them next session. One stick on the target line, one parallel for the feet. 5. Today's data is largely unusable for distance planning until you re-test with aligned setup -- the carry numbers reflect a swing that was aiming somewhere else.