RECAP: Q&A with COBRA GOLF! Tuesday, May 1, 1pm ET / 10am PT. Bonus Giveaway!

[COBRA PUMA GOLF]

Any plans to make the F8+ with a deep face or what's the reason to not make it a option? Love the driver just wish it were in a deep face.

KeithM38, No plans, deeper face are slower aerodynamically, (all other things being similar), due to more frontal area. and we can get low spin performance and front CG playability with F8+. Rickie loves his! - TO

[racebannon_42]

Will the F8 Volition be available in Lh? Also Forged Tec Black in LH?

 

ssfranny, YES on the Forged Tec Black in LH. Unfortunately, NO on the Volition. - RR

[slide13]

Great job with your eCommerce site! I went to a demo recently looking for a new 3wood. Tried the F8 3/4 and loved it. Went to your website and was super happy to see the option to customize the club as I wanted right there and being able to place my custom order right through the site. Currently waiting on FedEx to deliver my new F8 3/4 wood and hoping to hit some balls with it on my way home from work.

 

One thing I really liked about it was the baffler rails....I don't know what they actually do, but I never felt so confident hitting a 3w off the deck as I did with this. So how do the baffler rails work?

[COBRA PUMA GOLF]

Any plans to make the F8+ with a deep face or what's the reason to not make it a option? Love the driver just wish it were in a deep face.

 

I agree with this completely. The bio cell + was my all time favorite head shape.

 

My question is are there any plans to develop an iron set similar to the t-mb, p-790, and others?

Any plans to make the F8+ with a deep face or what's the reason to not make it a option? Love the driver just wish it were in a deep face.

blackngold_blood, Better watch out, Yagley went to Iowa State!!! We have been doing a number of hollow irons in our standard KING F family, including an outstanding KING Utility w MyFly sleeves for many years. With the KING F8, we have hollow long irons where you need them, and CB short irons, where you don't need hollow heads. We realize these aren't the smaller players shapes of some of the others, but today we think the new Black KING Tec irons and Black KING Utilities perform equally if not better than the 2 you mention, and you will probably save some money. And last but not least, we have Cobra Connect, which we know will help you score better. Seems like a win-win for you :) Yagley here... Mr. blackngold_blood, 2017 was not a good year for my Cyclones, we gave you that darn football game! 2018 should be much better in football and hoops.... hope to reverse icon and have Cy trashing Herky! - TO

[racebannon_42]

Do the single length irons still need to be custom fitted for length?

 

GolfGrouch, ONE Length irons are going to provide more consistency right off the bat. A proper fitting for length, lie, and shaft flex will enhance your performance. We offer ± 1" in length and ± 2° in lie. The other great thing about our fitting with ONE length is that our fitting carts have 5 and 9 fitting heads irons included, which give golfers the immediate ability to try ONE length in a fitting scenario. This has helped us learn many things anout ONE length and was a key data point to adjust lie angles for better performance in F8 vs F7. - RR

[COBRA PUMA GOLF]

Strongly considering moving from the EPIC SZ to the F8+. Part of what I like about the EPIC SZ is it seems to have a little fade bias.

Would you say the F8+ is similar in this regard?

 

By the way nice work on the CB/MB combo set. Many good things to say.

ZAP, I think this is a great change for you! The F8+ is designed for a better player, who typically doesn't need as much draw bias. We have designed the head shape, specs, and CG to all line up with this target player. I would also suggest testing both weight positions on the F8+, to fit your spin and launch. Thanks for the compliment on CB/MB combo set. We have many better players who also love this set! - DR

[COBRA PUMA GOLF]

The Volition series of clubs and clothing that you guys have look amazing, and your willingness to support the Folds of Honor is commendable! Any plans to make a volition edition golf bag? The blue camo finish on a bag would look great and I would certainly be in the market for one!

 

@hound25 - thanks for the feedback on the Volition product line. We agree that the product for both the apparel and the clubs look great and supports an amazing cause. We have tinkered with a few internal bag designs with the Camo pattern. We will see what the future holds... Luke Epp

[Belmont148]

What's the best way to get fitted properly and matched up with the right set of Cobra clubs for me?

 

Use the fitter locator on our site to find a good local fitter: https://www.cobragol...?filter=fitters bring in your clubs, be clear about what you are looking for, sharing on course Arccos 360 data would help a bunch too!! - MY

 

Unfortunately, the two places here that are listed in my town don't carry everything. One carries only your f6 or f7 driver and the other carries your f8 lone but not the forged tecs or new wedges. Can we get that updated haha

 

x2 on this. I am in the same area and would love to do a proper fitting in Forged TEC one length.

[COBRA PUMA GOLF]

The Pro MB's are a thing of beauty. I applaud your commitment to producing players clubs.

 

This is unlikely, but, do you guys happen to have a sub 460 driver somewhere in development? I realize it would be less forgiving, but man, a 430/440 F8+ would look sick.

 

I would think the milled design of the driver face would lend itself to more friction on the ball creating more spin. How does this milled design avoid that?

Thanks and we love the MBs too. Unfortunately we arent to Rickie's level so they arent in too many bags here. No plans on a smaller head, Rickie loves F8+ and says it looks great. All face roughnesses have to be within USGA specs and a driver impact is relatively low loft, so there isnt much spin change from a standard hand ground face. On a robot it was less than 100 rpm difference and the robot is extremely consistent. - TO

[getair23]

Can you put CNC milled face on a fairway wood? Any benefits if possible?

[jokerusn]

I love cobra fws. Been using one for the past few years with great success and really like the F6 Baffler's versatility as well as the F7's adjustability. I also love the Fly-Z+ 3-4 for its feel and performance. What prompted the return to split models (+ and reg) instead of one adjustable model? If you used a 3w almost exclusively from the tee, which model of F8 would be best? And I noticed Rickie dumped the Fly-Z+ and F6 Baffler (2 of my favorites) for F8+s. What can the F8+ do for him that the other models didn't?

 

Also,... If, say, I wanted to have pink or blue weight on the FW, can I use an F8 driver weight in a fw?

 

Thank you!!!

 

Jokerusn, We changed from a two weight design since many players asked us for a smaller more compact head, instead of a larger head with moveable weights. We had been making the smaller heads for tour every year, even if we didn't sell, so this year when Rickie put them in play and won the first week, it made sense to us to offer for everyone! Rickie loves the new F8+ fws for the ball flight, feel and the look/style of the the Nardo finish. The slight adjustment in the Baffler Rails were also driven by his feedback and he has found added confidence and consistency with them vs his previous fws. Sorry, Driver weights are larger than the fws so they aren't interchangeable. - TO

 

Good deal, thanks! Sounds like I may be adding a F8+ to the bag soon. Too bad about different color weights but it's not the part of the club I'm looking at.

 

Thanks for taking the time to answer our questions!!

[COBRA PUMA GOLF]

Do you think there is a possibility of having a one length bladed iron set in the future?

KING Forged Tour which already has a win on tour with Bryson - TO

 

I love the feel of the milled face on the driver's so I was curious why you opted against it on the woods. Also why did you stop having adjustability on the hybrids?

 

The CNC milling on the drivers took us several years to perfect in titanium. When you move to a steel fairway or hybrid, many things change among the multitude of CNC milling parameters. So as Yagley like to say 'It's not a trivial problem', especially when we use Ultra High Strength alloys like 475 in our fairwyas for maximum speed. We removed adjustability from hybrids for a couple of reasons, mostly to get a lower CG and better performance. Many similarly priced GI hybrid don't have adjustability as well. A nice plus is that w have a KING Utility with a MyFly which is unique in the marketplace. - TO

 

Any plans for an new version of the LTD?

getair23, No plans currently, see answer on LTD vs F8+ - TO

[COBRA PUMA GOLF]

F6 Baffler is such an amazing club. What club in the current lineup could replace it?

getair23, F8+ was designed with Rickie's input and is very close in size/shape to the F6 Baffler, he switched from it into F8+ and won the first week! - TO

 

What is the process for selecting "stock" shafts for the drivers? Are a bunch of shafts tested or do you call up a shaft manufacturer and tell them what characteristics you are looking for and they tell you what they offer? Are any shafts designed to perform the best in a new driver head? Thanks.

 

NAM2212, The F8/F8+ drivers come with 'Real Deal' aftermarket shafts. We thoroughly tested many shafts and chose a lineup of the best specifications for shafts which match the performance of the head AND give consumers a range of ball flight options. There are lots of shafts out there to choose from, so it's always best to get fit for the individual shaft that is best for you. We have a great selection and we don't use the cheaper shafts that some other OEMs choose. - DR

[grew]

Can you expand on the improvements/changes that were made from the King Forged One to the King Forged One Black. I keep wanting to buy them, but it has not been very clear to me what the changes have been from one to the other and as a result I am unsure about whether it is worth the upgrade (The black is awesome though)

[COBRA PUMA GOLF]

the F6 Baffler is a great club, will you be offering a F8 version, or, do you need to build your own by custom ordering a F8 4-5 fairway wood to Baffler specs?

 

Depending on your loft setting you may need the 3/4 @ 16 deg or 5/6 for lofts above that. Then, yes... match the specs. You will find the rails more efficient and the CG lower from the carbon fiber crown weight savings moved lower. Make a great club even better! That's our job! - MY

[COBRA PUMA GOLF]

Welcome guys and happy to see you doing this.

 

With the LTD, you guys were referencing about negative CG or below everyone else. Is this still something you are continuing to do in your lower spin models or has it kind of gone to the wayside. I haven't noticed a lot of marketing around that like you did with the LTD.

 

Also, is the finish on the mb/cbs the same as the forged tec? If not, is it because they are forged/made with different materia and have to be coated differently?

 

Papa Johick, the DBM Black finish on the new Black Forged Tec is the same as the finish on the black King Forged MB/CB. We play close attention to CG location on all of our heads to achieve the desired launch and spin for each product, lower and more forward CG for lower spin models. The F8+ driver in the front weight setting is very close to zero CG with about 4400 MOI. We made a splash with LTD as we were the first in this CG space. The key difference was that LTD had zero CG but with a higher MOI (4700) back CG setting. Others have tried to follow us into this space of zero CG, and in some cases may have gone too low and forward with lower MOI than F8+. As a result some of their drivers are less playable and to a very limited group of players. - RR

 

What is the benefit of a CNC milled driver face, and how does it affect the spin rate off the face?

 

The CNC milling improves ball speed over the face through thickness optimization. The impact on spin is relatively small. Real small. - MY

[getair23]

When will we see some F8/+’s in the Venom Vault?

[COBRA PUMA GOLF]

What was the conversation like when the milled face on the driver was first proposed?

 

A little bit of: "that's freaking cool!!", "I don't know if that will sell", "can we actually do that in production?", "is that conforming?", "we HAVE to do that!" - MY

[jon12]

What is the difference in MOI between the F8 and F8+ drivers when both have the heavy weight in the back? I believe for the F7 line it was 4500 vs 5000.

[COBRA PUMA GOLF]

I love the wedges. Also, the way you name the grinds actually makes sense. Is there any plans to expand that product offering?

 

Ligolfer81, We are always working on ways to improve our products and offer better options to our consumers. Appreciate the feedback on the names of the grinds! - DR

 

Why have you trended away from the technology that was in the King LTD? As someone that's been bagging the LTD since it's release, what makes your most recent driver offerings appealing when the F7 and F8 have felt like steps backwards from the LTD?

 

Fishstickman, We love LTD too, and one of the goals of F8+ was to beat LTD. In performance comparisons, F8+ gives great forgiveness with low CG like LTD (in the back weight setting) and beats it for distance and front CG (in the front setting). It was really hard to do, but we love the results. The other benefit of time and learning from market experience, is that the Space Port was extremely Cool, but also extremely expensive and limited our ability to compete when a player preferred a front CG driver. From a performance perspective its a win-win for the consumers and fitters, retailers etc - TO

 

First I absolutely love the new blue camo folds of honor F8+ and the cause it supports.

My friend asked about cutting down his F8+ Driver with hzrdus yellow 75 and wanted to order heavier weights similar to the F8 tour length. He was told that by doing this would make the driver non conforming. What causes this? Weight make the head too hot or moi too high?

 

Adding production weights to compensate for the shorter length will not make it non-conforming. The concern is CT increasing by adding weight to the head, a few additional grams are OK. There is no concern with the additional weight driving MOI too high. - MY

[COBRA PUMA GOLF]

Are the OL iron shafts specifically designed for the irons or will the heads play just as well with a non stock option. Would you recommend using all 7 iron shafts if going non stock?

 

MrFlapjack, ONE length shafts are designed for each head since we found better performance that way. We recommend doing the same with a discrete shaft system. - TO

 

Great job with your eCommerce site! I went to a demo recently looking for a new 3wood. Tried the F8 3/4 and loved it. Went to your website and was super happy to see the option to customize the club as I wanted right there and being able to place my custom order right through the site. Currently waiting on FedEx to deliver my new F8 3/4 wood and hoping to hit some balls with it on my way home from work.

 

One thing I really liked about it was the baffler rails....I don't know what they actually do, but I never felt so confident hitting a 3w off the deck as I did with this. So how do the baffler rails work?

 

The Baffler Technology works mainly by reducing contact area with the turf. This results in more head speed transferred to the ball through normal impacts and much more through early ground contact (fat shots). Many people don't realize that this is probably more beneficial off of fairway lies than they think. Since you get more speed (less drag through the ground), the ball goes farther and this overall effect is a huge confidence booster. Rickie was working on his fairway play with Butch and they found better consistency and much more confidence on these shots with rails, which is critical to good execution. The biggest problem with amateurs is they don't attack these shots with the correct down angle of attack for a good shot. (What the closeup TV coverage on a fairway shot and they are always downward AoA). When an amateur first tries a fairway shot, they usually hit it fat. We know that the next shots will normally be thin, since they want to avoid the fat, so it becomes a vicious circle of worsening performance. Baffler technology can get the player out of this and provide more confidence and consistency, 2 key things that every gofer needs! - TO

 

Any chance we can get a preview of what's coming up next for Cobra Golf?

 

No chance:) The Future is now and on our website! - TO

[COBRA PUMA GOLF]

As a player that fights a left miss, I hate most modern drivers with there hook bias and closed face at address set ups. Most of your competitor's "solutions" for this is to buy a higher lofted driver and loft down with the shaft sleeve adjuster. What impressed me with your F7+ driver was that it seemed to have a neutral face position regardless of the loft setting. Does the new F8+ have the same neutral look and weighting for those of us that do not need help fighting the majority's slice/right miss? Thanks for your availability and answers.

 

Bunker2Bunker0no, That's the Smart pad and its built into all of our drivers! - TO

[COBRA PUMA GOLF]

Any possibility of making one length player irons with a raw and/or black oxide finish? The King pro irons are just gorgeous.

 

You get two answers!!!!

 

Marks23, The F8/F8+ drivers give you a CNC machined face and 360 aero for more distance. In addition, you also have the ability to adjust your CG with the F8/F8+, so you can fit your launch and spin. From a shape and spec standpoint, the F8+ is slightly different from the Bio Cell Pro. It has been refined with input from our Tour Players. Yes, the adapter in Bio Cell line will work with F8/F8+ line. - DR

 

BioCell Pro was a front weighted driver, so best fit would be F8+ with the weight in the front. BioCell Pro was also a little stronger loft (7-10), vs F8+ (8-11), so if you need lower flight than the 8 setting of F8+, you might have to make a shaft change. Obviously KING F8s have Cobra Connect for shot tracking. KING F8+ will have a little more clubspeed due to 360 Aero. - TO

[gripandrip]

A question for my wife. You seem to be one of the leaders in Women's clubs. My wife plays the FlyZ set and loves them. What do you see for the future of women's golf equipment. I know many are switching to men;s sets, but my wife will never be strong enough for that. Is there enough market to continue the great women's line?

[COBRA PUMA GOLF]

First off, thanks for doing a Q&A and making great clubs!

 

I recently purchased the F8. I am really enjoying it. I have definitely gained some good distance over my last driver, but just a very minimal gain on consistency. I noticed that on your website there is the option to purchase a tour length version which comes with a shortened shaft. I purchased through an authorized online retailer and the tour length version was not an option. Is the tour length an option only on cobragolf.com? If so, what was the decision behind that and would they become available on other sites sometime in the future? I really think I would have considered the shorter shaft for slight more consistency had that been an option on the site I purchased the driver from.

 

A shorter shaft driver can be configured using the NV fairway shafts. We shared this with fitters and retailers but it is not necessarily promoted. If the offering catches enough traction we would anticipate more fitters offering Tour length shafts. - TO

[COBRA PUMA GOLF]

Any possibility of making one length player irons with a raw and/or black oxide finish? The King pro irons are just gorgeous.

 

Tamimwrx, Have you checked out our DBM black finish on the new King Forged Tec Black ONE irons? It's like we read your mind (sort of)! Can't comment on any future plans for release of ONE length MBs or CBs in the future. - RR

[icemakr]

Your based in Carlsbad, Ca like many manufacturers.

 

Do you have a fitting facility for consumers?

[COBRA PUMA GOLF]

With Cobra Connect do you see Cobra developing any unique or custom offerings for this system or will you just use the standard Arccos 360 format?

 

Definitely see unique offerings... utilizing our Tour players, staffers and other ambassadors to create great tips and instruction content. Custom Coaches Dashboards, etc. Lots of fertile ground. - MY

 

Good afternoon!

 

1. Have you ever considered getting into the golf ball market?

 

2. Any chance of bringing back the Trusty Rusty wedges?

 

thanks

 

johnny_golfball, sounds like you have one for us?

 

1) As some of you know, Yagley was a golf ball guru for a couple of decades, but we are keeping him very busy with Connect and Aerodynamics. So far Smart clubs are much more lucrative than what we would expect from golf balls.

 

2. No plans on new Trusty Rusty's. Why do you want them? - TO

 

The CNC-milled faces in the new cobra drivers was a nice surprise. I have two questions regarding this technology: are the tolerances regarding COR now significantly tighter then your conpetitors? What is the idea of milling the front of the face and not the back of it (tolerances would be the same I guess?)

Great question king6, we can't speak to competitors' COR variations, we don't buy and test enough of their products for testing.... that would require a large sample size. BUT... we can talk to our variation and (A) CNC machined faces produce less variation than (B) traditional grinding and polishing process, which other manufactures are stll using ©, therefore if A is better than B and B equals C then A is better than C. How's that for a word problem meets algebra! As for machining the back of the face... great question. One issue is machine marks leading to stress concentrations where there is very high stress and potentially face failure. - MY

 

Hey Team, is there any more thought to making the woods and driver fit more with the one length set especially based on the early success of the F8 One Hybrid?

 

timbo08, That F8 ONE hybrid is a game changer for those willing to give it a try. If you ask Bryson, the perfect set would include driver and fairway metals at the same length as his irons. It's a Herculean task to achieve the ball speed one can gain with a driver in a 37" club, but we are constantly evaluating and experimenting with new ONE length configurations that will bring more consistency and better shots to golfers. - RR

[COBRA PUMA GOLF]

As a high school JV and Varsity golf coach, I hear my players talk about pros all the time. Rickie Fowler always seems to be one of their favorite golfers.

 

However, very few of my players actually play Cobra clubs, even though your equipment is fantastic. I find this to be a huge disconnect and a missed opportunity to capture younger golfers and build brand loyalty.

 

What are Cobra's plans to capitalize on the love young golfers have for your staff in order to bring more junior golfers into your brand?

 

Perhaps it is where I live, but the Cobra rep in my area is not active with the juniors. I could only imagine hosting a creative junior only fitting day would be a boon for the brand.

 

Wishing you continued success.

 

fsusp, thanks and we are working on Brand Awareness everyday. We have spent much more time and dollars on our marketing efforts this year in a number of ways so hope you are noticing! - TO

 

Who is harder to please Rickie or Bryson?

 

getair23, Both are top professionals, but I would say Bryson because he is a little more interested in all the other things we do and why we do them. If you know anyone who studied physics in college, you will know what I mean. Additionally Bryson has done something special on his own with equipment so he is much more interested in everything that goes into clubs. Rickie is also more established, and I wasn't working with him when he first got on tour, so there may be a little time lag involved. - TO

[mtiger10]

Which metric from the Cobra Connect system seems to be helping golfers see most improvement in their game?

 

Smart Distance - knowing how far you truly hit each club and making smarter, data based decisions about which club to hit leads to better shots, closer to the hole and lower scores. - MY

 

So glad this feature is being offered in irons where players really need to know their distances. Longer drives are great but missing iron shots long can put you in trouble!!