Cobra Greg Norman Signature CB Irons: Restoration + Comparison Pics vs Modern Callaways

[jick]

Yesterday, I felt like dusting old clubs off from storage. I wanted to find something I have never gamed. I found these Greg Norman Signature Forged Irons.

 

They were very dirty and dusty, but all was original. I could also see it as a diamond in the rough because they were in pretty good shape and did not need much "restoration". Hence, all I did was:

1. Bend to my lie angle (it came in at 65* PW, I play mine at 61*). By the way, the lofts were 48* PW and 4 degree gaps going down.

2. Took out paintill and repainted it. My red turned out just a tad brighter than the original red but it now matched the red stripe on the ferrule well.

3. Washed and cleaned the grips. It was tempting to regrip it, but I thought why not use the original grips as these remind me of the Danny Edwards grips I used in my old Wilson Staff Ultra 45's in the 90's.

4. Turn the ferrules a bit just to add some shine.

 

I gathered them up for a photo shoot in my garden, and compared them also to modern Callaways - namely the Apex MB and the X-Forged CB - just so you can see how these measure up.

 

Finally, I searched for some info about them and I found this nugget on an eBay listing:

"Cobra Greg Norman Signature forged irons, 2-PW (circa 1992).

I was a huge Greg Norman fan when I started playing golf in 1990. At the time, Greg was playing Spalding blades and in 1991 the news in the golf world was when Greg signed with Cobra golf. Tom Crow started Cobra golf and he knew Greg, and Greg decided to help him out by investing in his company; he wrote Tom a $300,000 check and was actively involved with the company, growing the brand. Thanks to Greg's success, Cobra grew very large, especially with their King Cobra oversized irons coupled with Greg's success on Tour with Cobra. In 1996, Mr. Crow, along with Greg and the rest of the executives and investors, sold Cobra to American Brands (now Fortune Brands) and they all hit paydirt. Greg's $300,000 investment turned into about $100M.

These beautiful clubs are the first production of forged irons created with Greg's input, released circa 1992. Although they are technically classified as perimeter-weighted, the cavity is so shallow that they are much more like blades. I am not good enough to play these clubs, but maybe you may be a low-handicapper who can appreciate these forgings. Either that or you are just a collector of forged blades and these may be nice for you to show in your display case.

The 5 iron measures at 37 and 5/8", with half-inch increments. "

 

It's also worth nothing that these graphite shafts are labelled "Made In The USA" - I don't think many graphite shafts are still made in the USA. The heads, if they are indeed based off Macgregor forging molds, are probably forged in the USA too. Hence, it's possible that all the components of this set are Made In The USA - something you don't see nowadays.

 

Since I will keep these are original, I will not dismantle it and hence I don't know the shaft specs. The best I can do is probably derive the weight from getting the overall weight of the club. It's worth noting that Cobra was the first USA manufacturer to ever offer graphite shafts as a standard option in irons. This shaft says M-30 Medium Flex - I am not sure what flex designation this would be in today's terms, but the shaft does feel more on the regular side. (Does anyone know if these shafts were made by G.Loomis?)

 

And by the way, I didn't round this up just to take photos. I will game them the next time I play - anytime in the next three days. I'm quite excited to try this. I hope my playing experience with these clubs will be as pleasurable as the experience in digging it out of storage, cleaning it, and "restoring" it.

 

 

 

[deejaid]

Those Cobra’s look to be in really nice shape, nice job on the refurbish. Give them a swing, you might be surprised that they aren’t too difficult to hit.

 

These early Cobra forged irons were forged by Macgregor and are quite similar to the Macgregor CB92 irons with the very shallow cavity depth. I actually have the CB-92’s in my modern bag (if you can call 27 year old irons modern) and I really love the way they play. I’m not sure how those graphite shafts will work but you never know, might work out for you. Have fun with them.

[BIG STU]

Man those are beautiful---- The grips are absolutely stunning too----- In our circle those and the pure blade version are referred to as Maccobras----- Actually Buzzkill one of our forum mods plays a set of the blade version. Even though I am a dyed in the wool Mac blade man and somewhat Hogan man I would play those Apex MBs you posted in a heartbeat

[justasgood]

 

 

 

Excellent write up of a great set of irons. Indeed Macgregor forged. My set came with Loomis HFP-S shafts and the owner of Loomis sent me this:

 

 

The HFP Stiff iron shafts were shafts manufactured in 1995/1996 time frame and had a raw weight of 110 grams in the short irons and 118 grams in the long irons with a torsional stiffness of 1.7 degrees. The HFP acronym stood for high flex point. These shafts had a very stiff tip section with a softer butt section. That is about all I can remember and I do not have any of the specifications sheets.

 

If you have any further questions, please let us know.

Thanks.

Jeff Meyer

Meyer Performance Composites, LLC

 

Your set is about as beautiful as a cavity back can look. Powerful, clean and no-nonsense.

 

Enjoy them in good health!

[raggal62]

> @jick said:

> Yesterday, I felt like dusting old clubs off from storage. I wanted to find something I have never gamed. I found these Greg Norman Signature Forged Irons.

>

> They were very dirty and dusty, but all was original. I could also see it as a diamond in the rough because they were in pretty good shape and did not need much "restoration". Hence, all I did was:

> 1. Bend to my lie angle (it came in at 65* PW, I play mine at 61*). By the way, the lofts were 48* PW and 4 degree gaps going down.

> 2. Took out paintill and repainted it. My red turned out just a tad brighter than the original red but it now matched the red stripe on the ferrule well.

> 3. Washed and cleaned the grips. It was tempting to regrip it, but I thought why not use the original grips as these remind me of the Danny Edwards grips I used in my old Wilson Staff Ultra 45's in the 90's.

> 4. Turn the ferrules a bit just to add some shine.

>

> I gathered them up for a photo shoot in my garden, and compared them also to modern Callaways - namely the Apex MB and the X-Forged CB - just so you can see how these measure up.

>

> Finally, I searched for some info about them and I found this nugget on an eBay listing:

> "Cobra Greg Norman Signature forged irons, 2-PW (circa 1992).

> I was a huge Greg Norman fan when I started playing golf in 1990. At the time, Greg was playing Spalding blades and in 1991 the news in the golf world was when Greg signed with Cobra golf. Tom Crow started Cobra golf and he knew Greg, and Greg decided to help him out by investing in his company; he wrote Tom a $300,000 check and was actively involved with the company, growing the brand. Thanks to Greg's success, Cobra grew very large, especially with their King Cobra oversized irons coupled with Greg's success on Tour with Cobra. In 1996, Mr. Crow, along with Greg and the rest of the executives and investors, sold Cobra to American Brands (now Fortune Brands) and they all hit paydirt. Greg's $300,000 investment turned into about $100M.

> These beautiful clubs are the first production of forged irons created with Greg's input, released circa 1992. Although they are technically classified as perimeter-weighted, the cavity is so shallow that they are much more like blades. I am not good enough to play these clubs, but maybe you may be a low-handicapper who can appreciate these forgings. Either that or you are just a collector of forged blades and these may be nice for you to show in your display case.

> The 5 iron measures at 37 and 5/8", with half-inch increments. "

>

> It's also worth nothing that these graphite shafts are labelled "Made In The USA" - I don't think many graphite shafts are still made in the USA. The heads, if they are indeed based off Macgregor forging molds, are probably forged in the USA too. Hence, it's possible that all the components of this set are Made In The USA - something you don't see nowadays.

>

> Since I will keep these are original, I will not dismantle it and hence I don't know the shaft specs. The best I can do is probably derive the weight from getting the overall weight of the club. It's worth noting that Cobra was the first USA manufacturer to ever offer graphite shafts as a standard option in irons. This shaft says M-30 Medium Flex - I am not sure what flex designation this would be in today's terms, but the shaft does feel more on the regular side. (Does anyone know if these shafts were made by G.Loomis?)

>

> And by the way, I didn't round this up just to take photos. I will game them the next time I play - anytime in the next three days. I'm quite excited to try this. I hope my playing experience with these clubs will be as pleasurable as the experience in digging it out of storage, cleaning it, and "restoring" it.

>

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Those shafts may have been manufactured by Loomis, but Kunnan also made a lot of graphite for Cobra.

[No_Catchy_Nickname]

That's a tasty looking iron. I like the extra weight in the heel versus the toe in the 9i (? fourth picture).

[jick]

I just checked the irons, well, my digital scale was out of batteries. So I had to use the swingweight scale, which is less accurate in getting the number but still quite accurate in comparing with other clubs.

The swingweights on 4-9 were D1 and the P was D0. The lengths are comparable to today's standards.

The overall weight of the PW, using the swingweight scale, was around 418 to 420 grams. I have a Macgregor PCB Tour with KBS 105 Stiff shafts with tour Velvet Grips and that one measured at 440-442 grams. The Callaway Apex MB with C-Taper 125 S+ shafts, which had MCC grips (6 to 7 grams lighter than standard grips), came in at around 450 grams.

Therefore, if I were to extract the weight of the Cobra Autoclave M-30 shaft from there, it would be around 85 to 92 grams. I have no idea what the torque is. I can't be sure also if Loomis made these shafts - might tend to believe the other post that the shafts may have been made by Kunnan.

 

[jick]

> @justasgood said:

>

>

>

>

>

> Excellent write up of a great set of irons. Indeed Macgregor forged. My set came with Loomis HFP-S shafts and the owner of Loomis sent me this:

>

>

> The HFP Stiff iron shafts were shafts manufactured in 1995/1996 time frame and had a raw weight of 110 grams in the short irons and 118 grams in the long irons with a torsional stiffness of 1.7 degrees. The HFP acronym stood for high flex point. These shafts had a very stiff tip section with a softer butt section. That is about all I can remember and I do not have any of the specifications sheets.

>

> If you have any further questions, please let us know.

> Thanks.

> Jeff Meyer

> Meyer Performance Composites, LLC

>

> Your set is about as beautiful as a cavity back can look. Powerful, clean and no-nonsense.

>

> Enjoy them in good health!

 

That is a beautiful set you have there. I believe my set came before yours - but since they are both Greg Norman - they might probably both be built to Norman's sole width / sole grind / bounce specs.

How do you irons come off the turf? How is the sole grind? Does it take deep divots or does it glide through the turf?

I should be using my set tomorrow, so I will know the answer myself too.

[Buzzkill]

No gliding through the turf with my irons - typical divots like other blades.

 

[justasgood]

> @jick said:

> > @justasgood said:

> >

> >

> >

> >

> >

> > Excellent write up of a great set of irons. Indeed Macgregor forged. My set came with Loomis HFP-S shafts and the owner of Loomis sent me this:

> >

> >

> > The HFP Stiff iron shafts were shafts manufactured in 1995/1996 time frame and had a raw weight of 110 grams in the short irons and 118 grams in the long irons with a torsional stiffness of 1.7 degrees. The HFP acronym stood for high flex point. These shafts had a very stiff tip section with a softer butt section. That is about all I can remember and I do not have any of the specifications sheets.

> >

> > If you have any further questions, please let us know.

> > Thanks.

> > Jeff Meyer

> > Meyer Performance Composites, LLC

> >

> > Your set is about as beautiful as a cavity back can look. Powerful, clean and no-nonsense.

> >

> > Enjoy them in good health!

>

> That is a beautiful set you have there. I believe my set came before yours - but since they are both Greg Norman - they might probably both be built to Norman's sole width / sole grind / bounce specs.

> How do you irons come off the turf? How is the sole grind? Does it take deep divots or does it glide through the turf?

> I should be using my set tomorrow, so I will know the answer myself too.

 

Well I am a digger and these work well for me. The shafts are definitely on the tight side but a little too light for my taste. But the ball flight is an absolute thing of beauty. Penetrating mid/high with lots of stopping power.

 

Very nice feeling of effortless power with wonderful feedback.

[NRJyzr]

The Norman CBs remind me a bit of the PCB Tours that MacGregor put out in the late 90s.

[boggyman]

Nice looking sticks.

[jick]

I played it for one round. It's a pretty good set, feel is great with the graphite shafts. The ball easily climbs up the face. It's not that forgiving on mishits though. Not too sure about the comparison with PCB Tours. The PCB Tours have a deeper cavity and slightly bigger profile. PCB Tours have a touch more offset too. I also own PCB Tours. Oh well, here are some of the forged stuff I have....

 

[Man_O_War]

Norman made 40 million off Cobra :). He bragged about it after his 1996 Masters loss :). I have brand new of this iron 3, 4, 5, 6 8. Can't find a 9 pw to complete the set. played them a while back. lovely feel, and goes high

[Blade Junkie]

Super clubs in this thread ... my drool meter is overflowing !

[wsteed03]

jick, if you want to sell those cobra normans let me know, I would definitely be interested!

[jick]

The CB's you mean?

[elwhippy]

I had a set of these irons. Best feeling and most workable set I have owned. The short irons were like surgical instruments. I didn't carry the sand iron as it was a tad chunky compared to the rest of the set. They were so soft I got them lofted and lie checked every few months.

[MacHogan]

On 10/8/2019 at 2:18 PM, jick said:

I played it for one round. It's a pretty good set, feel is great with the graphite shafts. The ball easily climbs up the face. It's not that forgiving on mishits though. Not too sure about the comparison with PCB Tours. The PCB Tours have a deeper cavity and slightly bigger profile. PCB Tours have a touch more offset too. I also own PCB Tours. Oh well, here are some of the forged stuff I have....

 

Excellent. You sure know how to look after irons 

[OsnolaKinnard]

On 9/30/2019 at 12:53 PM, NRJyzr said:

The Norman CBs remind me a bit of the PCB Tours that MacGregor put out in the late 90s.

I was thinking the same thing and those Cobra blades look like Tourney Customs.

 

I need a set of each.