The game-improving hybrid Cam Young has been playing? It’s a weapon for me

When Cameron Young left the Titleist GT1 hybrid he used to win the Players Championship, one of the coolest gear stories I had seen the PGA Tour this year lose some buzz.

Still, that didn’t make me any less eager to see if the club could help my game, and it turns out this game-enhancing hybrid is the “7-wood” I’ve never had.

I fit into one Hybrid GT1 last month in Titleist Performance Instituteand much to my surprise, the club made my bag for a final amateur state qualifier, easily beating my previous player.

This is one piece of bag I’ve struggled to find the right fit for years, but now I may have a solution that you’ll have to pry from my cold, dead hands.

What is Titleist’s GT1 Hybrid?

When he was released, Hybrid GT1 it wasn’t a club I would ever expect to be packed in my bag, let alone a Tour pro’s bag. The “1” in Titleist’s metalwood lineup has historically been the ultra-light, high-release model aimed at players with slow speed to get the ball up in the air.

But both the fairway wood and the GT1 hybrid have found their way into the bags of several of Titleist’s staff players this season, including Young and Tom Kim. The hybrid features a large profile that puts it between the size of a hybrid wood and a tall wood, with a sharp leading edge that helps it cut through the terrain.

The size is unusual in the industry, with only Callaway Apex UW adapted to a similar profile.

Young and Kim both added the hybrid to their bags at the Farmers Insurance Open to take that versatility out of the rough and get extra launch. Young even put a fairway wooden shaft in his to get what JJ Van Wezenbeeck, Titleist’s senior director of player promotions, said is “more flight” from the softer tip of a fairway shaft. The GT1 Hybrid has the unique ability to accept both standard .370″ diameter hybrid shafts and .335″ fairway woods, although currently the only one available from Titleist is the Fujikura Air Speeder, the club featured shaft.

With a more standard weight shaft, the club also sports a more standard drive weight.

Given my search for a club to transition from my mini driver to my irons, I was immediately intrigued.

What I was looking for

I neglected hybrids for a few years because I just couldn’t find one that didn’t go left. Last year, I got one that was instantly better than anything else I had in a Ping G440 3-Hybrid Single Axle Nippon Modus GOST.

I could easily hit it in the air and send it flying about 240 meters.

That shaft is a super heavy and stiff beast that produced the powerful flight I was looking for. At first, he also kept the ball from going left.

But for whatever reason, this year, I struggled with the club and the left miss reared its ugly head again. Maybe related to that, I saw a bit of a drop in spin and the ball was going too far.

Both issues cost me my first qualifier of the season, where I needed my hybrid several times on a short, hard course. What good is hitting a hybrid 280 yards if the fairway ends at 260?

Fortunately, I found a new axle that partially solved the spin and left the problems at Fujikura Wind Blue HB+. This new build is good, but because the old shaft was so heavy, the club feels a little light, so I’ll likely still have some tinkering to do with it.

Enter the GT1 hybrid

Custom GT1 Hybrid title

View Product

ALSO ALSO IN: PGA TOUR Superstore, Titleist

During my fitting at TPI with ace fitter Louis Raynard, who previously fitted me my set of T Series irons and SM11 wedges, we were comparing the GT1 with the new GTS3 7-wood and 5-wood.

The reason why a hybrid is usually better for me is that I tend to add a lot of loft to the impact. When I get woods with a lot of loft, like a 7-wood, I usually hit them straight up in the air with a lot of spin. Hybrids have a much flatter flight for me, which means more control.

Louis gave me the GT1 first and, frankly, never gave anything else a chance. With the 20-degree GT1 “4-hybrid” raised one degree down and flattened one degree, I instantly had 3 mph more ball speed than my player, 20 feet higher tip height, and 300 rpm more spin. The club just cut through the ground like an iron and took off so easily. Every shot was just a simple draw. Set at 19 degrees, the GT1 was the same loft and .25″ shorter than my player.

We came close with a GTS3 7-wood turned down in the loft on a 5-wood shaft, but the hybrid won out for ease and stability. I also seemed to be timing the Ventus Blue HB.

This game-improving hybrid was the best 7-wood I could have that day.

GT1 on course

I don’t think I really discovered how valuable the GT1 hybrid was to me until I played with it on the course.

When I got the club, I initially thought I would use it situationally, knowing that my Ping hybrid was a good trajectory between my GT1 and my 3-iron. I would call GT1 when the course was really firm and I needed to hit the ball high to keep the green.

But then I realized I could flatten it, even in the wind. Suddenly, this became a club I could hit without worrying about it going too far or going up in the air and going nowhere.

What really sold me was the off-deck terrain interaction. In a practice round for a tournament, I faced a 220-yard shot into the wind and over the water onto a green with little bailout help. The lie was a little thin with some grass and I had trouble hitting my gamer hybrid cleanly.

Then I caught the GT1 and washed it into the heart of the green, clean and all, 15 yards from the hole.

Once I discovered how easily I could flatten the trajectory, the GT1 became the game player. I ended up hitting four out of five fairways with it the next day, including a tight par-5 that kept me up the night before. It led to a bird.

end

Custom GT1 Hybrid title

View Product

ALSO ALSO IN: PGA TOUR Superstore, Titleist

If a game improvement club can fit into the bag of the world’s best, why can’t it work for you?

What’s even more surprising is that the GT1 comes standard in rear-weight setup – you can move the heavy weight forward to lower flight – but I’ve yet to touch it. I have no problem hitting the GT1 between 130 feet skyward or 70 feet flat. Why do I need to try it weighted forward?

If you’re afraid of a mistake on the left, you should also know that I actually moved the weight from the flat position to the standard lie because I was having trouble getting it back. Your results will vary, but for me, as someone who misses out, so far so good.

In short, GT1 deserves your attention if you’ve overlooked it before, like me.

The author welcomes your comments at Jack.Hirsh@golf.com.

Want to overhaul your bag in 2026? Find a convenient club location near you at True Spec Golf.

“>