The surprise killer club that helped Thomas Detry score breakthrough win at WM Phoenix Open

Mark Townsend 13 Feb 2025

Thomas Detry celebrates victory at the WM Phoenix Open

Even at the very top level of the game, and with your equipment company keen to get the latest gear in your hands, your trusty club is your trusty club.

When the Callaway Epic hybrid went in Thomas Detry’s bag it was the early days of a carbon crown which meant that weight could be freed up and moved lower and more towards the perimeter. Then you could add a tungsten weight to help lower the centre of gravity which makes the club easier to launch.

This was also the earlyish days of incorporating an adjustable hosel in a hybrid and the Epic can go down by one degree and up by two; Detry uses the D/S setting which means standard loft in the draw setting.

“It looks pretty good, pretty sharp and it looks very well finished. It’s not got the super premium price tag that it would maybe carry with the irons. So it is expensive, but it’s not ridiculous. It’s about the same price as one of the irons, if I’m honest,” explained Rick Shiels in his review of the club in 2017.

Thomas Detry's Callaway Epic hybrid — Thomas Detry’s Callaway Epic hybrid

“Apparently, it has been welded and robotically made like the irons. I do like the top of the club, it’s got the little speed humps at the top to help with drag but I think that’s just more visual effect on the top. And it just blends into that carbon at the back. It looks really smart. It’s not too big. It’s not too deep. Just a really good looking head.”

Detry uses the Paradym Ai Smoke driver and 4-wood, both released in 2024, and then he has this 18˚ hybrid which is the equivalent of a 2-iron.

“A couple years ago I gave it, for a week, to one of my friends and he just kept skying it. He just kept going underneath and the paint is pretty much gone on top but doesn’t matter it just seems to work,” Detry told GOLF.

“The slight heel miss just kind of takes off a little bit left and cuts back into the middle and same with the toe miss. It just kind of pushes right and then goes back into the centre. We have never tested anything else because it does everything we want it to.”

Which is pretty much all you want from a golf club. The standard carry is 250 yards but he can push that to 260 or hold back to 245 so there’s also plenty of flexibility.

In terms of Callaway there’s no better advertising than one of your players sitting on top of the leaderboard, whatever clubs are in the bag.

“Tommy has always had this Epic hybrid in the bag and frankly it’s not worth switching out until the face caves in,” tour rep Johnny Thompson said.

“As tour fitters we have to keep in mind that sometimes our players have security blankets in the bag that just work and there’s no use trying to force something when the player is comfortable. Thomas kills this thing and has full trust with it under any conditions. Sometimes, you gotta just play the hits.”