First Look – Ben Hogan VKTR Hybrid

Hogan is taking another step toward becoming a full line company.

Two weeks ago, MyGolfSpy gave you a first look at Hogan’s new and more forgiving PTx irons, and today word is out on the new Hogan hybrid, the consonant-heavy VKTR.

Even though it sounds like a Soviet-era weapon of mass destruction, the VKTR has the look of a hyper-weight-adjustable, better-player targeted hybrid.

It looks like THE story of the VKTR is interchangeable sole weighting. Hogan calls it “Advanced Perimeter Shot Shape Technology (PSST for short) and it allows you do fine tune the VKTR. Hogan says the VKTR is designed to be completely neutral with no natural left or right bias, which is welcome news for those of us who tend to hook hybrids into the next county. There’s one 18 gram weight and three 2-gram weights that you can rearrange to create either a high or low trajectory and a fade or draw bias – similar in concept to the Adams Red.

Look Familiar?

If the VKTR looks familiar to you, it should. It’s the work of Hogan’s R&D department, which features heavyweights from Adams’ former R&D department. The group was heavily involved in the creation of, among other things, the Idea Pro, the XTD and the Pro series of hybrids. So yeah, they have some hybrid street cred.

The name VKTR is actually a throwback to the Vector shaft from the original Hogan company. And if you’re really into throwbacks, this VKTR also bears an uncanny resemblance to a prototype Ben Hogan himself worked on back in the 60’s. Seems as though The Hawk thought of a hybrid before a hybrid was a hybrid.

Even though you can adjust weighting to your heart’s content, the VKTR’s loft is not adjustable. Like the Hogan irons, each VKTR is loft-specific, from 17 through 27°. Interestingly, the head sizes actually get larger as you go down in number. The 26- and 27-degree heads are 96cc, while the 17- through 19-degree heads are 110cc. Hogan says this moves the center of the mass slightly forward as loft increases.

V-Sole Goes Hybrid

One of Hogan’s (and before that, SCOR’s) claimed differentiators is the V-Sole. The VKTR features what Hogan is calling a 360° V-Sole^®, which Hogan claims provides a higher bounce to the leading and trailing edge for improved performance from uneven lies, rough or fairway bunkers.

We won’t have test samples in for a while, but Hogan will have VKTR’s at next week’s PGA Merchandise Show Demo Day to try so we’ll have to wait until then to see if it performs as advertised.

Price, Options & Availability

Stock versions of the VKTR will retail at $249. The traditional Ben Hogan Performance Plus grip is standard, and you’ll have three stock shafts to choose from: The UST iRoD 75  in regular and stiff flex, the Aldila NV 2KXV 85 in stiff and X-stiff, and the UST Mamiya Recoil 660 in A and regular flex.

Custom grips and shafts are available. Hogan will start taking orders next week, and hope to start shipping in May.