Ben Hogan PTx MAX Hybrid

Hogan's PTx MAX hybrids come in three lofts, 18, 22 and 26 degrees, and the 26 is the interesting one because few brands push a hybrid that far into iron territory. Heads are maraging steel throughout, cast and hollow, with no composite crown; at this head size the crown needs too much supporting material for carbon to earn its keep. Feel is firm and metallic in a way the PTx fairways are not.

That 26 degree head does the work of a 5 iron for a player who no longer flights a long iron well. Gaps of four degrees between the heads are wide, and few golfers carry more than two of them. Hogan assemble them one at a time once ordered, right handed, with a flex menu reaching from ladies to X-stiff. The matching fairway woods run directly above them in the same family.