Adams Super 9031 Review: A hybrid for better players
08 Apr 2013
by Golfweek
see also: Equipment Reviews
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-- Golfweek photos
By David Dusek, Golfweek
Adams' goal for the Super 9031 hybrid is to get
back to what hybrid
clubs were originally designed to do: bridge the
gap between long
irons and fairway woods.
"Hybrids started with small heads and were a
lot closer to irons than
woods," says Mike Fox, Adams' director of
global product marketing.
"We really wanted to get back to making a
smaller hybrid with this
one, making it easier to hit than a long iron but
still making it
workable."
The company's latest offering for better
players will be available for
$199 starting on May 15.
The biggest issue with long irons always has
been that they are
difficult to get into the air.
Manufacturers responded, according to
Fox, with easy-to-hit hybrids that place a
premium on lowering the
CG, making hitting high shots easier.
That emphasis served high-handicap players
well. But Fox says the
design trend simply went too far for better
players.
To make a club that would appeal to PGA Tour
players,
accomplished amateurs and golfers who are
seeking a hybrid that
flies higher than an iron but lower than a
fairway wood, Adams
designed the rectangular-faced Super 9031 to
be slightly
asymmetrical.
"You want to get as much mass out to the toe
side because the
heel and the hosel of the club create a lot of
weight, which moves
the center of gravity more to the hosel side
and creates a left-
bias," Fox says. "That's something better
players don't want."
Another thing that better players don't want is
a club that only hits
the ball high.
"The biggest issue we see with hybrids, really
for the amateur golfer
as well as the better player, is that you can't
hit them low because
the clubs are all high-launch," Fox says. "You
can't hit from under a
tree, you can't knock them down…. They're
just not designed that
way."
So while the CG position in the white-crowned
Super 9031 is low
relative to an iron's, it is high when compared
with many other
hybrids on the market. A higher CG should
make it easier to keep
the ball down.