Cobra Fly-Z+ Driver Review

[Hot Rod 71]

I picked up a Master's green Fly Z+ with an Aldila Tour Green 65X shaft off ebay for a great deal. It plays at 45" and D4. I've been playing the SLDR and JetSpeed over the past year, both with Diamana Blueboard 63X, playing at 44.5" and D3.

Here are my initial impressions after a couple of rounds with the FZ+.

Feels firm off the face, sound is good on center strikes, but can be very loud on mishits.

Distance similar to SLDR, but a slight edge to the FZ+.

FZ+ is a bit more forgiving on mishits.

I'm not sure if its the shaft or the head, or the combination, but I could not turn the ball over and hit a draw with this driver. All I hit were fades no matter how hard I tried. After several holes with the FZ+ I put the SLDR back in play. This is a club I can work both ways fairly well. The first few tee shots were huge hooks. I guess I was putting the "work hard to hit a draw" swing on the SLDR that I was putting on the FZ+.

As of now the jury is still out. I have a BB 63X that I'm going to try in the FZ+ to see if maybe the Tour Green just isn't a good fit for me.

[dunn]

[quote name='Mob' timestamp='1430444068' post='11476997']
Ok, I got my Fly Z + a few hours ago and went straight out to the range to test it against my BC+. Here is a synopsis of my impressions.

Test conditions: 58 degrees and headwind of 13 mph. Test ball: practice Titleist NXT Tour
Test shaft: Aldila Rogue 125 msi TS 60 gram

Initial impression: These are two very different drivers that play and feel very differently. In fact, they could be from two different companies. The Bio Cell + has a sweet spot that feels lively and hot. It almost feels as if you can tell that the face is flexing and shooting the ball off the face at impact. The Fly Z + feels hard at impact. Not a bad feeling, just very different. When hit on the sweet spot, it has a very solid feel. I would classify the Fly Z + as a forgiving SLDR, much more than I would consider it the successor to the BC+. I now understand why these clubs each have a different following, and why people seem to prefer one or the other.

[u]Winners in each category[/u]

[u]Feel:[/u] [b]BC+[/b]. I think you either like the softer, flexing feeling face that feels like you nutted the ball, or you prefer the harder impact feeling that is very solid and seems to be common in lower spin heads with low COG. I have noticed this same feeling in: SLDR 430, Adams Launch Lab, and jBeam 435, all of which are low spin, low COG bombers.

[u]Ball Flight:[/u] [b]No winner[/b]. The BC+ launches a little higher with a penetrating trajectory. The Fly Z + launches lower but also has a very penetrating trajectory. I did not see either driver balloon into a 13 mph headwind even once in over 120 drives between the two. I hit a few hooks with the Fly Z +, but that was early on as I was getting used to it. Once I got used to it, I didn't see this again. Sidespin seems to be fairly low with both heads. Slight pulls and pushes, but those were clearly swing issues.

[u]Spin:[/u] [b]Fly Z +. [/b] Both are low spin heads, but the Fly Z + seems to be a little lower spin. This is based on a visual observation only. I cannot quantify it as this testing was done without a launch monitor. When it comes to spin, both heads are great.

[u]Appearance[/u]: [b]No winner. [/b]Both are great looking heads with nice shapes. I slightly prefer the BC+ shape, but I know that is just a personal preference and meaningless to anyone else.

[u]Distance:[/u][b] Unsure. [/b] I can see that there may be potential for the Fly Z + to be longer, due to the lower spin, but distance was hard to assess during this test. Cold temperature and wind affected distance with all drives. I was more comfortable swinging the BC+ which may have helped it's distance performance.

[u]Sound:[/u][b] BC+. [/b]After hearing people describe the Fly Z + as having muted sound, I was expecting that. Mine didn't have that muted sound, but slightly more of a hollow sound. Not a bad sound, just not what I was expecting based on what everyone has said. Not concerned about this, as a few cotton balls can fix it.

[u]Overall:[/u][b] BC+[/b]. There is a caveat to this claim. I am much more used to the BC+ as I have been playing with it since August, with a recent shaft change. I have a preference for deeper faced drivers, and the BC+ wins in this category. I struggled at first finding the right tee height for the Fly Z +, and ended up getting used to a lower tee height with the ball only slightly above the top of the face (equator of the ball is below the top of the club face).

This is my initial impression only, after an hour or so on the range. I am going to get it out on the range again tomorrow evening, and then out on the course on Saturday. The Fly Z + caught me a little off guard, as I wasn't expecting that "hard" feeling at impact. As I got used to it, and started hitting it in the sweet spot, I got used to the "solid" feel, and started to enjoy it. I started to see potential with it, and could see it being perhaps longer than the BC+ once I get used to it. I really would describe it as a more forgiving SLDR with much better performance than the SLDR on off center strikes. Conversely, I do think the BC+ is a little easier to hit, at least for me. That hard feeling of the Fly Z + affects the way I swing the club, and throws me off just a little bit.
[/quote]I would prolly agree.....BC+ is better driver....the volume between the 2 is negligible......BC+ feels way better, heads look similar at address......fly z + sounds like 2 totally different drivers with weight forward or backward....neither one is huge huge improvement but fact that BC+ is $200 cheaper that is an improvement.... $200 is alot of money, especially if it isn't doing anything different!

[naws-golfer]

I had this thing cranked all the way up, could get it in the air. (Ss105,stiff shaft) my [email protected] was getting up there. Just couldn't get it to spin enough

[Wakafc]

After using the G30 - Sf, LS and Original, 915D2, Mizuno JPX 850, G20, Cobra Encore
None of the above come remotely close to the performace i am getting out of the Fly Z+ in terms of distance, spin and dispersion.
I will give a better write up after I play 18 this afternoon.

Cheers

[Hookasaurus Rex]

[quote name='Hot Rod 71' timestamp='1430445868' post='11477177']
I picked up a Master's green Fly Z+ with an Aldila Tour Green 65X shaft off ebay for a great deal. It plays at 45" and D4. I've been playing the SLDR and JetSpeed over the past year, both with Diamana Blueboard 63X, playing at 44.5" and D3.

Here are my initial impressions after a couple of rounds with the FZ+.

Feels firm off the face, sound is good on center strikes, but can be very loud on mishits.

Distance similar to SLDR, but a slight edge to the FZ+.

FZ+ is a bit more forgiving on mishits.

I'm not sure if its the shaft or the head, or the combination, but I could not turn the ball over and hit a draw with this driver. All I hit were fades no matter how hard I tried. After several holes with the FZ+ I put the SLDR back in play. This is a club I can work both ways fairly well. The first few tee shots were huge hooks. I guess I was putting the "work hard to hit a draw" swing on the SLDR that I was putting on the FZ+.

As of now the jury is still out. I have a BB 63X that I'm going to try in the FZ+ to see if maybe the Tour Green just isn't a good fit for me.
[/quote]

I got a Fly z+ with a tour green 65tx and have had almost the same experience. I hit it straight or with a slight cut. I can't turn it over, which is fine. I'm not sure it's as long as my R15 TP, but I think it is more of a shaft issue. I love the 661X Evo TS, and am having one made up for the fly Z+. I just don't think the tour green 65tx is the right shaft for me.

[IHFN]

I went and got fitted today and tried out the R15, DBD, and the Fly Z+ along with my SLDR. The Fly Z+ gave me the best ball speeds and least spin. I could finally get a 15 degree launch with only 2000rpm's. I've never gotten that before. At 15 launch with the SLDR I'd get 2600. I was using the Aldila Tour Blue X-stiff.

[J.Holmgren]

[quote name='Hookasaurus Rex' timestamp='1430451342' post='11477683'][quote name='Hot Rod 71' timestamp='1430445868' post='11477177']
I picked up a Master's green Fly Z+ with an Aldila Tour Green 65X shaft off ebay for a great deal. It plays at 45" and D4. I've been playing the SLDR and JetSpeed over the past year, both with Diamana Blueboard 63X, playing at 44.5" and D3.

Here are my initial impressions after a couple of rounds with the FZ+.

Feels firm off the face, sound is good on center strikes, but can be very loud on mishits.

Distance similar to SLDR, but a slight edge to the FZ+.

FZ+ is a bit more forgiving on mishits.

I'm not sure if its the shaft or the head, or the combination, but I could not turn the ball over and hit a draw with this driver. All I hit were fades no matter how hard I tried. After several holes with the FZ+ I put the SLDR back in play. This is a club I can work both ways fairly well. The first few tee shots were huge hooks. I guess I was putting the "work hard to hit a draw" swing on the SLDR that I was putting on the FZ+.

As of now the jury is still out. I have a BB 63X that I'm going to try in the FZ+ to see if maybe the Tour Green just isn't a good fit for me.
[/quote]

I got a Fly z+ with a tour green 65tx and have had almost the same experience. I hit it straight or with a slight cut. I can't turn it over, which is fine. I'm not sure it's as long as my R15 TP, but I think it is more of a shaft issue. I love the 661X Evo TS, and am having one made up for the fly Z+. I just don't think the tour green 65tx is the right shaft for me.[/quote]

The spin and launch is stupidly low playing the tour green, I switched from that to the AD-DI 6X and boy was the driver turning in to a monster!
I always launch the ball very low tho due to a negative attack angle but I still manage to keep the spin at less than 2400rpms. So 300 yards drives with a SS of 107~ is really good imo, I'm so happy with this driver!

[Mob]

So I got out on the course this evening and played 11 holes with the Fly Z + and it was very impressive. Hit a lot of good drives, and only had one bad slice that was a bad swing. My playing partner, who is someone I typically play with, was very impressed just watching. The most impressive drive was one I hit into a 10 mph wind. It ended up where my good drives typically go, without wind. Hitting the Prov1X felt better than the NXT Tour balls as well. After this initial testing, the Fly Z + may have the slight advantage to the BC+ for me. Going to give it another whirl tomorrow afternoon. Feel still goes to the BC+, but this seems to be lower spin, and more forgiving on heel shots which is my typical miss.

[Kalicardplayer28]

[quote name='Mob' timestamp='1430525173' post='11482561']
So I got out on the course this evening and played 11 holes with the Fly Z + and it was very impressive. Hit a lot of good drives, and only had one bad slice that was a bad swing. My playing partner, who is someone I typically play with, was very impressed just watching. The most impressive drive was one I hit into a 10 mph wind. It ended up where my good drives typically go, without wind. Hitting the Prov1X felt better than the NXT Tour balls as well. After this initial testing, the Fly Z + may have the slight advantage to the BC+ for me. Going to give it another whirl tomorrow afternoon. Feel still goes to the BC+, but this seems to be lower spin, and more forgiving on heel shots which is my typical miss.
[/quote]

Are you playing with the Arcane or Rogue?

[Mob]

[quote name='Kalicardplayer28' timestamp='1430525785' post='11482639']
[quote name='Mob' timestamp='1430525173' post='11482561']
So I got out on the course this evening and played 11 holes with the Fly Z + and it was very impressive. Hit a lot of good drives, and only had one bad slice that was a bad swing. My playing partner, who is someone I typically play with, was very impressed just watching. The most impressive drive was one I hit into a 10 mph wind. It ended up where my good drives typically go, without wind. Hitting the Prov1X felt better than the NXT Tour balls as well. After this initial testing, the Fly Z + may have the slight advantage to the BC+ for me. Going to give it another whirl tomorrow afternoon. Feel still goes to the BC+, but this seems to be lower spin, and more forgiving on heel shots which is my typical miss.
[/quote]

Are you playing with the Arcane or Rogue?
[/quote]

Right now the Rogue. A friend of mine is borrowing my Arcane. I can't wait to get it back. I still don't know how I am going to decide between these two wonderful shafts.

[Kalicardplayer28]

[quote name='Mob' timestamp='1430525927' post='11482667']
[quote name='Kalicardplayer28' timestamp='1430525785' post='11482639']
[quote name='Mob' timestamp='1430525173' post='11482561']
So I got out on the course this evening and played 11 holes with the Fly Z + and it was very impressive. Hit a lot of good drives, and only had one bad slice that was a bad swing. My playing partner, who is someone I typically play with, was very impressed just watching. The most impressive drive was one I hit into a 10 mph wind. It ended up where my good drives typically go, without wind. Hitting the Prov1X felt better than the NXT Tour balls as well. After this initial testing, the Fly Z + may have the slight advantage to the BC+ for me. Going to give it another whirl tomorrow afternoon. Feel still goes to the BC+, but this seems to be lower spin, and more forgiving on heel shots which is my typical miss.
[/quote]

Are you playing with the Arcane or Rogue?
[/quote]

Right now the Rogue. A friend of mine is borrowing my Arcane. I can't wait to get it back. I still don't know how I am going to decide between these two wonderful shafts.
[/quote]
Yeah I was bummed out when I got mine because the shaft doesn't change color too much but it performs really well. Have you tested the Attas5 GOGo with trhode in the bio cell plus head?

[Mob]

[quote name='Kalicardplayer28' timestamp='1430526386' post='11482739']
[quote name='Mob' timestamp='1430525927' post='11482667']
[quote name='Kalicardplayer28' timestamp='1430525785' post='11482639']
[quote name='Mob' timestamp='1430525173' post='11482561']
So I got out on the course this evening and played 11 holes with the Fly Z + and it was very impressive. Hit a lot of good drives, and only had one bad slice that was a bad swing. My playing partner, who is someone I typically play with, was very impressed just watching. The most impressive drive was one I hit into a 10 mph wind. It ended up where my good drives typically go, without wind. Hitting the Prov1X felt better than the NXT Tour balls as well. After this initial testing, the Fly Z + may have the slight advantage to the BC+ for me. Going to give it another whirl tomorrow afternoon. Feel still goes to the BC+, but this seems to be lower spin, and more forgiving on heel shots which is my typical miss.
[/quote]

Are you playing with the Arcane or Rogue?
[/quote]

Right now the Rogue. A friend of mine is borrowing my Arcane. I can't wait to get it back. I still don't know how I am going to decide between these two wonderful shafts.
[/quote]
Yeah I was bummed out when I got mine because the shaft doesn't change color too much but it performs really well. Have you tested the Attas5 GOGo with trhode in the bio cell plus head?
[/quote]

I am done with driver shafts. No need to hit anything more. It is either the Rogue or Arcane for me. These are both great for my swing and now it is up to me. trhode and I are working on a graphite iron fitting process. We have been through: Aldila Rip 115, Steelfiber, Accra, Arcane, MCI, Recoil. We are going to try the Aldila Rip 95 in REGULAR flex (yes, not kidding), as the 115 stiff was way too stout for me. Impressed with the Accra tour iron shaft and the Arcane and the MCI. We will see how it works out. The steel fiber didn't work for me.

[Kalicardplayer28]

[quote name='Mob' timestamp='1430526694' post='11482797']
[quote name='Kalicardplayer28' timestamp='1430526386' post='11482739']
[quote name='Mob' timestamp='1430525927' post='11482667']
[quote name='Kalicardplayer28' timestamp='1430525785' post='11482639']
[quote name='Mob' timestamp='1430525173' post='11482561']
So I got out on the course this evening and played 11 holes with the Fly Z + and it was very impressive. Hit a lot of good drives, and only had one bad slice that was a bad swing. My playing partner, who is someone I typically play with, was very impressed just watching. The most impressive drive was one I hit into a 10 mph wind. It ended up where my good drives typically go, without wind. Hitting the Prov1X felt better than the NXT Tour balls as well. After this initial testing, the Fly Z + may have the slight advantage to the BC+ for me. Going to give it another whirl tomorrow afternoon. Feel still goes to the BC+, but this seems to be lower spin, and more forgiving on heel shots which is my typical miss.
[/quote]

Are you playing with the Arcane or Rogue?
[/quote]

Right now the Rogue. A friend of mine is borrowing my Arcane. I can't wait to get it back. I still don't know how I am going to decide between these two wonderful shafts.
[/quote]
Yeah I was bummed out when I got mine because the shaft doesn't change color too much but it performs really well. Have you tested the Attas5 GOGo with trhode in the bio cell plus head?
[/quote]

I am done with driver shafts. No need to hit anything more. It is either the Rogue or Arcane for me. These are both great for my swing and now it is up to me. trhode and I are working on a graphite iron fitting process. We have been through: Aldila Rip 115, Steelfiber, Accra, Arcane, MCI, Recoil. We are going to try the Aldila Rip 95 in REGULAR flex (yes, not kidding), as the 115 stiff was way too stout for me. Impressed with the Accra tour iron shaft and the Arcane and the MCI. We will see how it works out. The steel fiber didn't work for me.
[/quote]

Just curious as I think he is a UST dealer. I will PM him with a few questions. I'm loving the recoil protos right now.

[Mob]

Yes, he has all the UST shafts and is a dealer. I love the Recoil protos as well, but just trying to make sure that there is nothing else out there with a tighter dispersion for me.

[hellebjork]

Ive started this year with a Titleist 913 D2 with Motore Speeder 757x and wanted more distance, so i went with SLDR 430 - first with Motore 65x and then Tour AD DI 7x. However the SLDR was not fun to play on those days when i swing bad, it was hard to put the ball in play and i never felt that i could tap one out there. So i changed back to the Titleist 913 D2.

The day before yesterday Cobra had a demo day at my course and i was standing next to it practicing. My initial thought was not to try anything so that i would not be tempted to change. Well, lets say that it failed. The guy who run demo day asked me what driver i played and said that he could easily put together a driver that would outperform what i played today. And he did.

I was so chocked that i even bought a new 3 wood. The spin with my Titleist was mental. I now got fitted for and have ordered a Cobra FLY-Z+ with a Aldila Tour blue 75x, got the best results with the weight forward and set to 8,5 loft. It was a very strong head wind that day but still i got on average 2200rpm of spin with a 14,6* launch. The 3w i got was the Cobra FLY-Z+ with a Aldila Tour Blue 85x set to 15*.

Can not wait to get the new sticks.

[J.Holmgren]

[quote name='hellebjork' timestamp='1430539632' post='11484341']Ive started this year with a Titleist 913 D2 with Motore Speeder 757x and wanted more distance, so i went with SLDR 430 - first with Motore 65x and then Tour AD DI 7x. However the SLDR was not fun to play on those days when i swing bad, it was hard to put the ball in play and i never felt that i could tap one out there. So i changed back to the Titleist 913 D2.

The day before yesterday Cobra had a demo day at my course and i was standing next to it practicing. My initial thought was not to try anything so that i would not be tempted to change. Well, lets say that it failed. The guy who run demo day asked me what driver i played and said that he could easily put together a driver that would outperform what i played today. And he did.

I was so chocked that i even bought a new 3 wood. The spin with my Titleist was mental. I now got fitted for and have ordered a Cobra FLY-Z+ with a Aldila Tour blue 75x, got the best results with the weight forward and set to 8,5 loft. It was a very strong head wind that day but still i got on average 2200rpm of spin with a 14,6* launch. The 3w i got was the Cobra FLY-Z+ with a Aldila Tour Blue 85x set to 15*.

Can not wait to get the new sticks.[/quote]

Haha I did a fitting for a guy just 2 days ago with the exact same loft and shaft options exept we changed his weight in the driver to 19g.
Awesome combination

[Stillboard]

WOW

I stop by the Global Golf Demo day earlier today after a round with no intentions, my bag is set as far as I'm concerned. I started at the TaylorMade booth and hit the Aeroburner, liked but nothing great. Next up Cobra, hit the FlyZ 5-7 wood since it's the one slot in my bag that may be filled soon. Liked it but wound up striping the Mizuno 850 hybrid further. Grabbed a FlyZ driver and it swung good but nothing comparably better than my Amp Cell. Picked up the FlyZ+, it had the weight in the forward position which I thought would be wrong for me(~95+mph SS). Damn this is a great club. Hit a few then had the rep move the weight rear and it was similar to the std. FlyZ , slightly better feel. Moved the weight back up and started playing with the ATx shafts. Wound up with one of the 7x gram ATx, don't even remember the color sadly, hitting mid-flight low-spin bombs. Wow is all I can say about this club. I didn't want a driver, maybe a 5wood if anything going in, but now it's all I want. It's a good thing I haven't seen anyone trying to dump one on the Leftys BST

[Mob]

Played a few more rounds with it, and I am still impressed with the performance. This is a low spin driver, and more forgiving off heel hits. I tend to miss of the heel quite often, and the ball seems to get out there a pretty good ways even with these poorly struck shots. I do not love the sound of this driver, but if I decide to keep it as my gamer, then I can always put some cotton balls in there. I am going to go back to the BC+ for the next few rounds and see how they perform differently, which I expect, as these are very different drivers. At first I got the Fly Z+ as a potential replacement to the BC+, but after playing both of them, I realize that I may keep both, as this isn't a really a replacement, but rather a different driver all together. Pretty impressive performance overall.

[MrFlapjack]

[quote name='Mob' timestamp='1430740051' post='11494111']
Played a few more rounds with it, and I am still impressed with the performance. This is a low spin driver, and more forgiving off heel hits. [b]I tend to miss of the heel quite often[/b], and the ball seems to get out there a pretty good ways even with these poorly struck shots. I do not love the sound of this driver, but if I decide to keep it as my gamer, then I can always put some cotton balls in there. I am going to go back to the BC+ for the next few rounds and see how they perform differently, which I expect, as these are very different drivers. At first I got the Fly Z+ as a potential replacement to the BC+, but after playing both of them, I realize that I may keep both, as this isn't a really a replacement, but rather a different driver all together. Pretty impressive performance overall.
[/quote]

Isn't that a sign of using too long of a shaft?

[DLiver]

I took my Fly-Z+ to the range to make some adjustments (I'd started hitting it a little lower than I'd like due to a swing change). I changed both loft and weight position and was surprised how much of a difference moving the weight made. I could see that I was getting enough additional spin to change the ball flight (slightly more parabolic/less ballistic). Weaving the weight also made a huge difference in the sound of the club as well. This is a really good driver.

[tunasty22]

Curious if anyone is still playing their Cobra Fly Z + driver besides me? I've tested new drivers over the years and really wish I could find something better but I've not hit anything even close to as good even the new cobra drivers I struggle with.