Bridgestone Hybrid Golf Clubs

This article will discuss the J36 line of hybrid golf clubs offered by Bridgestone. It is up to date as of May 2008.

Bridgestone does not have a large offering of hybrid golf clubs, but the J36 line of hybrids looks to be of high quality. This is not surprising, as Bridgestone has a number of top tour professionals on their staff including some of the top names in golf, like Stewart Appleby, Nick Price, and Fred Couples, among others.

Certainly some of these players are asked to test the company’s clubs while they are in development. The company is of course well known for its automobile and truck tires and has a high profile in motor sports. It started in the golf business way back in the 1930’s producing golf balls, and it is the top producer of golf balls today in Japan. The famous pink golf balls used by LPGA pro Paula Creamer are made by Precept, a Bridgestone company.

The J36 Hybrid Golf Club

Features of the J36 line of hybrids include weights in the sole of the clubs to lower the CG (center of gravity) and increase the MOI (moment of inertia) of the hybrids. These are design goals of just about every hybrid on the market. They make it easier to get the ball up into the air off the face of the club and add forgiveness on off-center hits. In addition, the leading edge of the club is made progressively sharper to reduce skipping of the club at ball impact. This is a design feature that would be advantageous for a low handicap golfer because if the player has a tendency to hit shots fat, the club will dig more into the ground. In fact the company says that its hybrids are targeted for professionals to mid handicap amateurs. The J36 hybrids have what is called a radius sole design that is said limit turf interference. This is similar to other top hybrids on the market, like the Bobby Jones hybrid, for example. The club heads are made of 17-4 stainless steel, and the standard shaft is the Aldila VS Proto 80 Hybrid shaft. There are four clubs in the set, and these include 1H though 4H. The loft angles are 16, 19, 22, and 25 degrees for the 1H through 4H respectively. The swing weight in each case is D2.

J36 Options

There are some options available for the J36 line of hybrids. These include a choice of shaft stiffness and a choice of shafts between the standard shaft from Aldila and the UST Proforce V2 Hybrid shaft. The launch angle of the clubs is mid-high in every case. There is also an option to increase or decrease the length of the clubs by one inch if so desired. This is useful since most amateur golfers tend to hit with clubs that are too long for them.

Bridgestone is known for quality clubs, and the players who are on the Bridgestone staff would not be using them if they were not of high quality. These players certainly have options about which products they want to use, even if they are being paid to use them. They need to have performance in their equipment that allows them to play their best, and this says a lot about Bridgestone. By the way, there is a simple tool on the company web site that lets you do a “ball fitting”. You can answer a few questions about your golf ability and your golf ball preferences, such as more spin on the greens, high launch with long carry on drives, etc. You will then be told which Bridgestone golf ball is best for your game. If you often play with Bridgestone balls anyway, you certainly should have a look at this added feature.