As followers of Golfmagic will recall, I'm not a great fan of the rescue hybrid or utility club, but keep and open mind and I'm always prepared to be converted. Using them is a technique I have never really mastered though playing companions and fellow members believe in them with a passion.
However, I may have found one to stay in my bag a little longer than the pink (there's that colour again!)
Nike CPR wood I raved about in 2003, and which still makes guest appearances when my lofted fairway metals misbehave.
Though the Wilson Staff Dh6 didn't make a good first impression. My anguish was similar to my two-year-old grandson's when he spills his drink or drops food from his high chair,'oh No!' he says.
My exclamations come with a topped escape from semi-rough or an attempt to fire a high, floating tee shot to a long par-3 - the ball leaking wildly right or left.
However, when I suggested to freelance tester Tim Beard, he might like to review the club instead, he insisted I give it a last chance on the range in an attempt to get over my 'rescue blues.'
I'd assumed the club's sweetspot was the middle of the clubface but close examination of the DH6 revealed its alignment arrow slightly nearer the heel, so on Tim's suggestion I addressed the ball nearer the hosel and suddenly began ripping shots unerringly straight.
In those few minutes, I discovered that golf is not only a game of six inches between the ears, but millimetres on the clubface.
Now this 19-degree DH6-3 with its 85 gram Aldila NVS-DL graphite shaft is challenging the 5- and 7-wood for a place in my bag.
Harrington uses the Dh6-3
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Padraig Harrington, Wilson Staff's No.1 player, also carries one - though a stiffer shafted version - and revels in the consistent flight it creates.
"The club has the distance of a long iron, but the ball comes in from a higher trajectory, so lands more softly. It's great to use from the rough and very versatile, enabling me to hit the ball either high or low and even vary the distance," says the Irishman who played a key role in its technical development.
I don't have his versatility and get more of a penetrating ball flight than one for soft landings, but at this time of year the greens are more forgiving so I can afford drive the ball in lower from around 180-190 yards out.
It's handy, too for those little chips from the fringe. With a shorter shaft and less bounce from the clubface than 5- or 7-wood, it's easier to control my distance.
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Rating: |
8.5/10 |
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Summary: | With its golden brown shaft and black head it looks uncannily like one of those antique Long Nose clubs from the early 1900s. But the DH6-3 has 21st century technology to fly the ball from awkward scrapes with accuracy and versatility and fills the void between trusted 3-wood and 5-iron in a modern set of clubs.
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