Cobra f9 driver review

[Jagpilotohio]

Wow this went off the rails. Can't wait to see TXG's M5 numbers review. Maybe better but I'm wagering not as good but we will see and looking forward to it now more than ever. Looks like TM is feeling the heat from the F9. Callaway kicked butt in 2018 with the "jailbreak" tech that seemed to definitely do wonders for ball speeds, didn't realize the F9 would shake things up so much. Bring on the data and thanks to Ian and Matt for an amazing video. Thanks in advance to anyone else who can come close to providing data in such an educational and transparent manner. F9 killing it so far fromabout everyone (yes including Toll by his comments). I want to be clear I'm not implicating anyone I just was asking what seems very apparent to anyone objectively reading in here that Toll seems to promote TM and appears to have a bias towards them...That's not a bad thing just thought I'd ask... Peace!

 

I will jump in here briefly.

 

JT (Toll) said very specifically that the M5 is the best Head that he has tested this year for HIGH SPEED, HIGH SPIN golfers. Since JT is a high speed, high spin golfer, I think it’s safe to say he knows what works best for him.

 

Since Matt at TXG is a VERY RARE high speed, LOW spin golfer, the M5 may well turn out to be TOO LOW spin to work well for him. If you watched the last two videos carefully you will notice that Ian and Matt already predicted as much.

 

I will bring it up for the millionth time; lower spin is NOT always a “better” thing. Some heads will be too low spinning to work well for certain people.

 

I will bet that when TXG tests the M5 you will see that it is lower spin than the F9 and fitting Matt will be a challenge.

[Jagpilotohio]

This is an F9 thread correct? Why we talking M5?

 

Go hit the 2019 stuff and pick your favorite ;)

 

Why? Because the recent positive hype of the F9 is now making people so excited that they feel the need to defend the club from any perceived attack to help justify their newfound love of the club and their purchase if they recently bought one. They don’t want to feel it’s even remotely possible they made a potentially incorrect decision.

 

It’s all very “tribal” and primitive. Attack my new favorite club and I’ll attack you.

[GooseHook]

I think in this case the work incentive is better. They do a great job testing and generating tons of clear data, but their main incentive is to market what they sell and have it backed by data. They hand pick hot heads and tweak them accordingly to get optimum performance, obviously investing the most time. They don't have any real incentive to spend as much time trying to optimize products they don't sell.

 

But Toll said that they match CT value in their testing of different heads, implying that they don’t use hot TM heads vs the competition.

 

Yeah there lies the rub. CT testing isn't allowed commercially so unless you have an inventory of multiple manufacturers' heads with their own specs, you can't do an exact head to head comparison.

 

The best you can do on a high end fitting studio is match loft, face angle, and head weight.

[Joker91]

This is an F9 thread correct? Why we talking M5?

 

Go hit the 2019 stuff and pick your favorite ;)

 

Why? Because the recent positive hype of the F9 is now making people so excited that they feel the need to defend the club from any perceived attack to help justify their newfound love of the club and their purchase if they recently bought one. They don’t want to feel it’s even remotely possible they made a potentially incorrect decision.

 

It’s all very “tribal” and primitive. Attack my new favorite club and I’ll attack you.

 

Being cautious or skeptical of any review is better than just blindly following what someone says.

[Jagpilotohio]

This is an F9 thread correct? Why we talking M5?

 

Go hit the 2019 stuff and pick your favorite ;)

 

Why? Because the recent positive hype of the F9 is now making people so excited that they feel the need to defend the club from any perceived attack to help justify their newfound love of the club and their purchase if they recently bought one. They don’t want to feel it’s even remotely possible they made a potentially incorrect decision.

 

It’s all very “tribal” and primitive. Attack my new favorite club and I’ll attack you.

 

Being cautious or skeptical of any review is better than just blindly following what someone says.

 

Of course. I agree. But Skepticism can occur without hostility seeping into it.

 

I would LOVE to see Toll present tests using different heads and the same shafts, but that isn’t really what they do. It seems that they test SHAFTS using heads from the same maker that are as similar as possible.

 

It would be cool if they did a F9 vs. M5 test with 4 different swing speed golfers using 3 or 4 different shafts. Of course the issue with this would be that they still aren’t FITTTING each golfer into exactly what works best for them. It’s still not the same as what TXG does: optimum fitting for each individual.

[Lemonde]

Wow this went off the rails. Can't wait to see TXG's M5 numbers review. Maybe better but I'm wagering not as good but we will see and looking forward to it now more than ever. Looks like TM is feeling the heat from the F9. Callaway kicked butt in 2018 with the "jailbreak" tech that seemed to definitely do wonders for ball speeds, didn't realize the F9 would shake things up so much. Bring on the data and thanks to Ian and Matt for an amazing video. Thanks in advance to anyone else who can come close to providing data in such an educational and transparent manner. F9 killing it so far fromabout everyone (yes including Toll by his comments). I want to be clear I'm not implicating anyone I just was asking what seems very apparent to anyone objectively reading in here that Toll seems to promote TM and appears to have a bias towards them...That's not a bad thing just thought I'd ask... Peace!

 

I will jump in here briefly.

 

JT (Toll) said very specifically that the M5 is the best Head that he has tested this year for HIGH SPEED, HIGH SPIN golfers. Since JT is a high speed, high spin golfer, I think it’s safe to say he knows what works best for him.

 

Since Matt at TXG is a VERY RARE high speed, LOW spin golfer, the M5 may well turn out to be TOO LOW spin to work well for him. If you watched the last two videos carefully you will notice that Ian and Matt already predicted as much.

 

I will bring it up for the millionth time; lower spin is NOT always a “better” thing. Some heads will be too low spinning to work well for certain people.

 

I will bet that when TXG tests the M5 you will see that it is lower spin than the F9 and fitting Matt will be a challenge.

 

I recall Matt struggling with the M3 spin last year. Good post .

[Joker91]

This is an F9 thread correct? Why we talking M5?

 

Go hit the 2019 stuff and pick your favorite ;)

 

Why? Because the recent positive hype of the F9 is now making people so excited that they feel the need to defend the club from any perceived attack to help justify their newfound love of the club and their purchase if they recently bought one. They don’t want to feel it’s even remotely possible they made a potentially incorrect decision.

 

It’s all very “tribal” and primitive. Attack my new favorite club and I’ll attack you.

 

Being cautious or skeptical of any review is better than just blindly following what someone says.

 

Of course. I agree. But Skepticism can occur without hostility seeping into it.

 

I would LOVE to see Toll present tests using different heads and the same shafts, but that isn’t really what they do. It seems that they test SHAFTS using heads from the same maker that are as similar as possible.

 

It would be cool if they did a F9 vs. M5 test with 4 different swing speed golfers using 3 or 4 different shafts. Of course the issue with this would be that they still aren’t FITTTING each golfer into exactly what works best for them. It’s still not the same as what TXG does: optimum fitting for each individual.

 

I've never liked comparing driver A vs driver B. All the top end stuff is going to preform well, even some of the stuff people perceive as a lesser brand is going to perform well. Like you said it's all about fitting and it being optimal for the individual.

 

What's interesting is that the F9 is popping up in a lot of reviews with people saying it's one of if not the fastest driver out in terms of ball speed. It may not give the best launch conditions for the individual who sees better overall numbers and dispersion with something different.

[halfsumo]

Cobra sells additional head weights on their websites under 'accessories'. I'm not sure why all the manufacturers don't do this. It sure would be nice for those of us that don't want to play a driver at 45.5+ inches.

 

That said, anyone hotemelt an F9 yet? Does it screw up the sound?

[GDTBATH]

Wow this went off the rails. Can't wait to see TXG's M5 numbers review. Maybe better but I'm wagering not as good but we will see and looking forward to it now more than ever. Looks like TM is feeling the heat from the F9. Callaway kicked butt in 2018 with the "jailbreak" tech that seemed to definitely do wonders for ball speeds, didn't realize the F9 would shake things up so much. Bring on the data and thanks to Ian and Matt for an amazing video. Thanks in advance to anyone else who can come close to providing data in such an educational and transparent manner. F9 killing it so far fromabout everyone (yes including Toll by his comments). I want to be clear I'm not implicating anyone I just was asking what seems very apparent to anyone objectively reading in here that Toll seems to promote TM and appears to have a bias towards them...That's not a bad thing just thought I'd ask... Peace!

 

I will jump in here briefly.

 

JT (Toll) said very specifically that the M5 is the best Head that he has tested this year for HIGH SPEED, HIGH SPIN golfers. Since JT is a high speed, high spin golfer, I think it’s safe to say he knows what works best for him.

 

Since Matt at TXG is a VERY RARE high speed, LOW spin golfer, the M5 may well turn out to be TOO LOW spin to work well for him. If you watched the last two videos carefully you will notice that Ian and Matt already predicted as much.

 

I will bring it up for the millionth time; lower spin is NOT always a “better” thing. Some heads will be too low spinning to work well for certain people.

 

I will bet that when TXG tests the M5 you will see that it is lower spin than the F9 and fitting Matt will be a challenge.

 

So this brings up a good point. I am a low handicap golfer, but I’m not long. My ball speed is around 140 with a driver. Swing speed 95-100. My problem is too low spin. My launch angles are good but I need more spin.

 

Part of it is I was fitted for an M3 before making some pretty drastic swing changes (I used to release my angle way too early), so now that I’m driving down through the ball bwtter, that M3 is only giving me around 1500 rpms. Any thoughts on the new F9 for a lower spin player? Looking to get it up to 2300-2500 more consistently.

[Morry]

TXG have a great reputation. These are no clickbait videos. If they say they ve seen the fastest speeds then Im inclined to believe them. Ian Fraser is one of the best fitters around and is not prone to exaggeration.

 

Ian seems legitimately brand agnostic as well. Unlike many other fitters.

He is. I wouldn t trust anyone who has a tie in with a certain brand. Every review has shown the Cobra faster. The TXG guys are among the very best in the business and are extremely thorough. Cobra have the driver of the year especially when you factor in price

1000% Concur with all of the above statements

TXG is unlike anyone out there I have seen

[Morry]

Wow this went off the rails. Can't wait to see TXG's M5 numbers review. Maybe better but I'm wagering not as good but we will see and looking forward to it now more than ever. Looks like TM is feeling the heat from the F9. Callaway kicked butt in 2018 with the "jailbreak" tech that seemed to definitely do wonders for ball speeds, didn't realize the F9 would shake things up so much. Bring on the data and thanks to Ian and Matt for an amazing video. Thanks in advance to anyone else who can come close to providing data in such an educational and transparent manner. F9 killing it so far fromabout everyone (yes including Toll by his comments). I want to be clear I'm not implicating anyone I just was asking what seems very apparent to anyone objectively reading in here that Toll seems to promote TM and appears to have a bias towards them...That's not a bad thing just thought I'd ask... Peace!

 

I will jump in here briefly.

 

JT (Toll) said very specifically that the M5 is the best Head that he has tested this year for HIGH SPEED, HIGH SPIN golfers. Since JT is a high speed, high spin golfer, I think it’s safe to say he knows what works best for him.

 

Since Matt at TXG is a VERY RARE high speed, LOW spin golfer, the M5 may well turn out to be TOO LOW spin to work well for him. If you watched the last two videos carefully you will notice that Ian and Matt already predicted as much.

 

I will bring it up for the millionth time; lower spin is NOT always a “better” thing. Some heads will be too low spinning to work well for certain people.

 

I will bet that when TXG tests the M5 you will see that it is lower spin than the F9 and fitting Matt will be a challenge.

Very well Said

[3woodvt]

Wow this went off the rails. Can't wait to see TXG's M5 numbers review. Maybe better but I'm wagering not as good but we will see and looking forward to it now more than ever. Looks like TM is feeling the heat from the F9. Callaway kicked butt in 2018 with the "jailbreak" tech that seemed to definitely do wonders for ball speeds, didn't realize the F9 would shake things up so much. Bring on the data and thanks to Ian and Matt for an amazing video. Thanks in advance to anyone else who can come close to providing data in such an educational and transparent manner. F9 killing it so far fromabout everyone (yes including Toll by his comments). I want to be clear I'm not implicating anyone I just was asking what seems very apparent to anyone objectively reading in here that Toll seems to promote TM and appears to have a bias towards them...That's not a bad thing just thought I'd ask... Peace!

 

I will jump in here briefly.

 

JT (Toll) said very specifically that the M5 is the best Head that he has tested this year for HIGH SPEED, HIGH SPIN golfers. Since JT is a high speed, high spin golfer, I think it’s safe to say he knows what works best for him.

 

Since Matt at TXG is a VERY RARE high speed, LOW spin golfer, the M5 may well turn out to be TOO LOW spin to work well for him. If you watched the last two videos carefully you will notice that Ian and Matt already predicted as much.

 

I will bring it up for the millionth time; lower spin is NOT always a “better” thing. Some heads will be too low spinning to work well for certain people.

 

I will bet that when TXG tests the M5 you will see that it is lower spin than the F9 and fitting Matt will be a challenge.

Excellent. I think your point is valid as the ST190 perhaps also fits this profile from their recent review

[Keen]

I’m sure Tollbros method of testing is the beat from a pure data perspective. However, it’s probably not feasible for moat golfers, even on here, as most probably buy off the rack (fitted or not). For that consumer, a test using a cherry picked head is not going to be as applicable since they won’t buy that type of head. Ideally, you’d test with 5-10, or n, number of “identically” specced retail heads from different retailers, fir for the same player. And then have the numbers averaged our. This is, of course, not feasible from a cost or time perspective.

With that said, I wouldn’t discount TXG as entertainment videos. Imo, they are the best testers on YT, and they do a great job of eliminating as many variables as is feasible from a consumer standpoint.

[ShowMe]

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, anybody else who’s hit the F9 have any opinions to share? Maybe folks with sub-WRX swing speeds, like say 95-105 mph?

[nic19]

Ian Fraser is reknowned as one of the best in world. I d take his opinion over anyone on here

[wobgon]

Ian Fraser is reknowned as one of the best in world. I d take his opinion over anyone on here

Yes, but perhaps ShowMe would not...….Ian Fraser is great, but the love for him is starting to get a little over the top.

[3woodvt]

Ian Fraser is reknowned as one of the best in world. I d take his opinion over anyone on here

Glad someone in WRX turned me onto his site. pretty amazing and I agree after watching these guys for the past few weeks.

 

The thing that caught my attention on the F9 was how Matt was perfectly fit for the amazing G400LS and how he was even surprised at the driver in addition to what Ian did for him (first time he ever felt everything was an upgrade; ie shaft fitting and head over this current 400Ls he loves). But I guess if you go from 175 avg ball speed to 180+ avg it's really hard to dispute. 184 and 360+ would get anyone's attention. TXG is doing good things.

[Kmac]

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, anybody else who's hit the F9 have any opinions to share? Maybe folks with sub-WRX swing speeds, like say 95-105 mph?

 

You are speaking to me! Lower back hurts, getting old and so goes the swing speed. I think the F9 is a great driver for those of us sub WRX speeds. Ive gone to GG a couple times and hit the F9, Flasher and M5. I dont do Ping drivers as they just never work for me. Hate the look of the Flasher so I hit the SZ version - its long but I was all over the place with it. M5 I just didnt hit well and pretty much put it away pretty fast. The F9 just seemed to work all around the best - it looks good (in the white color), feels the best of the bunch and its that great combo of being forgiving while still giving you good distance. Usually what works for me is a lower spin head with a mid/mid shaft so I went with the F9 in tour length and hzrdus red shaft. Pretty sure I will never miss a fairway this season, lol

[Jagpilotohio]

Ian Fraser is reknowned as one of the best in world. I d take his opinion over anyone on here

Yes, but perhaps ShowMe would not...….Ian Fraser is great, but the love for him is starting to get a little over the top.

 

Hahaha! I’m glad you said it first. ; )

 

[nic19]

Ian Fraser is reknowned as one of the best in world. I d take his opinion over anyone on here

Yes, but perhaps ShowMe would not...….Ian Fraser is great, but the love for him is starting to get a little over the top.

 

Hahaha! I’m glad you said it first. ; )

Im just glad that there is a highly qualified guy on youtube. Some of the choppers on there are rubbish

[Noke]

I think in this case the work incentive is better. They do a great job testing and generating tons of clear data, but their main incentive is to market what they sell and have it backed by data. They hand pick hot heads and tweak them accordingly to get optimum performance, obviously investing the most time. They don't have any real incentive to spend as much time trying to optimize products they don't sell.

 

But Toll said that they match CT value in their testing of different heads, implying that they don’t use hot TM heads vs the competition.

 

Yeah there lies the rub. CT testing isn't allowed commercially so unless you have an inventory of multiple manufacturers' heads with their own specs, you can't do an exact head to head comparison.

 

The best you can do on a high end fitting studio is match loft, face angle, and head weight.

 

I guess.

 

What that says to me is any and all driver reviews are for entertainment value only.

[Crazy 8]

Great review and thanks, White all the way for me!

[3woodvt]

My F9 just arrived! Whoohooo!!!

[Krt22]

Wow this went off the rails. Can't wait to see TXG's M5 numbers review. Maybe better but I'm wagering not as good but we will see and looking forward to it now more than ever. Looks like TM is feeling the heat from the F9. Callaway kicked butt in 2018 with the "jailbreak" tech that seemed to definitely do wonders for ball speeds, didn't realize the F9 would shake things up so much. Bring on the data and thanks to Ian and Matt for an amazing video. Thanks in advance to anyone else who can come close to providing data in such an educational and transparent manner. F9 killing it so far fromabout everyone (yes including Toll by his comments). I want to be clear I'm not implicating anyone I just was asking what seems very apparent to anyone objectively reading in here that Toll seems to promote TM and appears to have a bias towards them...That's not a bad thing just thought I'd ask... Peace!

 

I will jump in here briefly.

 

JT (Toll) said very specifically that the M5 is the best Head that he has tested this year for HIGH SPEED, HIGH SPIN golfers. Since JT is a high speed, high spin golfer, I think it's safe to say he knows what works best for him.

 

Since Matt at TXG is a VERY RARE high speed, LOW spin golfer, the M5 may well turn out to be TOO LOW spin to work well for him. If you watched the last two videos carefully you will notice that Ian and Matt already predicted as much.

 

I will bring it up for the millionth time; lower spin is NOT always a "better" thing. Some heads will be too low spinning to work well for certain people.

 

I will bet that when TXG tests the M5 you will see that it is lower spin than the F9 and fitting Matt will be a challenge.

 

So this brings up a good point. I am a low handicap golfer, but I'm not long. My ball speed is around 140 with a driver. Swing speed 95-100. My problem is too low spin. My launch angles are good but I need more spin.

 

Part of it is I was fitted for an M3 before making some pretty drastic swing changes (I used to release my angle way too early), so now that I'm driving down through the ball bwtter, that M3 is only giving me around 1500 rpms. Any thoughts on the new F9 for a lower spin player? Looking to get it up to 2300-2500 more consistently.

 

With the weight in the rear position it should spin more, otherwise you can always add loft. Do you play the M3 with the weights both fully rearward?

[KParks]

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, anybody else who's hit the F9 have any opinions to share? Maybe folks with sub-WRX swing speeds, like say 95-105 mph?

 

You are speaking to me! Lower back hurts, getting old and so goes the swing speed. I think the F9 is a great driver for those of us sub WRX speeds. Ive gone to GG a couple times and hit the F9, Flasher and M5. I dont do Ping drivers as they just never work for me. Hate the look of the Flasher so I hit the SZ version - its long but I was all over the place with it. M5 I just didnt hit well and pretty much put it away pretty fast. The F9 just seemed to work all around the best - it looks good (in the white color), feels the best of the bunch and its that great combo of being forgiving while still giving you good distance. Usually what works for me is a lower spin head with a mid/mid shaft so I went with the F9 in tour length and hzrdus red shaft. Pretty sure I will never miss a fairway this season, lol

 

Would love to hear more about this once you get out to hit it. What weight setup did you use for that length / shaft? Assume it was the 6.0 hzrdus red?

[calfan36]

Haven't read all the posts but it's pretty simple what TollBros said. The F9 isn't a super low spin head. If you watch multiple reviews you can see that. It's because they don't have a + model this year. Clubs like the M5 will be lower spin

[BigHook25]

Haven't read all the posts but it's pretty simple what TollBros said. The F9 isn't a super low spin head. If you watch multiple reviews you can see that. It's because they don't have a + model this year. Clubs like the M5 will be lower spin

 

Their 9 degree model is supposed to be lower spin. I think with it at 9 degrees or less, and the weight up front its going to be pretty low spin. It might not be the very lowest, but it should be fairly close to the M5, sub zero, and Mizuno; especially if the same shaft is used.

[GDTBATH]

Wow this went off the rails. Can't wait to see TXG's M5 numbers review. Maybe better but I'm wagering not as good but we will see and looking forward to it now more than ever. Looks like TM is feeling the heat from the F9. Callaway kicked butt in 2018 with the "jailbreak" tech that seemed to definitely do wonders for ball speeds, didn't realize the F9 would shake things up so much. Bring on the data and thanks to Ian and Matt for an amazing video. Thanks in advance to anyone else who can come close to providing data in such an educational and transparent manner. F9 killing it so far fromabout everyone (yes including Toll by his comments). I want to be clear I'm not implicating anyone I just was asking what seems very apparent to anyone objectively reading in here that Toll seems to promote TM and appears to have a bias towards them...That's not a bad thing just thought I'd ask... Peace!

 

I will jump in here briefly.

 

JT (Toll) said very specifically that the M5 is the best Head that he has tested this year for HIGH SPEED, HIGH SPIN golfers. Since JT is a high speed, high spin golfer, I think it's safe to say he knows what works best for him.

 

Since Matt at TXG is a VERY RARE high speed, LOW spin golfer, the M5 may well turn out to be TOO LOW spin to work well for him. If you watched the last two videos carefully you will notice that Ian and Matt already predicted as much.

 

I will bring it up for the millionth time; lower spin is NOT always a "better" thing. Some heads will be too low spinning to work well for certain people.

 

I will bet that when TXG tests the M5 you will see that it is lower spin than the F9 and fitting Matt will be a challenge.

 

So this brings up a good point. I am a low handicap golfer, but I'm not long. My ball speed is around 140 with a driver. Swing speed 95-100. My problem is too low spin. My launch angles are good but I need more spin.

 

Part of it is I was fitted for an M3 before making some pretty drastic swing changes (I used to release my angle way too early), so now that I'm driving down through the ball bwtter, that M3 is only giving me around 1500 rpms. Any thoughts on the new F9 for a lower spin player? Looking to get it up to 2300-2500 more consistently.

 

With the weight in the rear position it should spin more, otherwise you can always add loft. Do you play the M3 with the weights both fully rearward?

 

I do. It's just a low-spinning head I believe. I tend to be just naturally low-spin. My swing speed isn't "Golfwrx fast" by any means, but it's faster than the average bear. Just a weird deal. I'm going to get over to Golf Galaxy and try it out.

[Kmac]

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, anybody else who's hit the F9 have any opinions to share? Maybe folks with sub-WRX swing speeds, like say 95-105 mph?

 

You are speaking to me! Lower back hurts, getting old and so goes the swing speed. I think the F9 is a great driver for those of us sub WRX speeds. Ive gone to GG a couple times and hit the F9, Flasher and M5. I dont do Ping drivers as they just never work for me. Hate the look of the Flasher so I hit the SZ version - its long but I was all over the place with it. M5 I just didnt hit well and pretty much put it away pretty fast. The F9 just seemed to work all around the best - it looks good (in the white color), feels the best of the bunch and its that great combo of being forgiving while still giving you good distance. Usually what works for me is a lower spin head with a mid/mid shaft so I went with the F9 in tour length and hzrdus red shaft. Pretty sure I will never miss a fairway this season, lol

 

Would love to hear more about this once you get out to hit it. What weight setup did you use for that length / shaft? Assume it was the 6.0 hzrdus red?

 

Yeah the 6.0 red and the tour length from Cobra is a inch shorter than the normal once. Hopefully it gets warmer here soon but I dont even have it yet anyway.

[calfan36]

Haven't read all the posts but it's pretty simple what TollBros said. The F9 isn't a super low spin head. If you watch multiple reviews you can see that. It's because they don't have a + model this year. Clubs like the M5 will be lower spin

 

Their 9 degree model is supposed to be lower spin. I think with it at 9 degrees or less, and the weight up front its going to be pretty low spin. It might not be the very lowest, but it should be fairly close to the M5, sub zero, and Mizuno; especially if the same shaft is used.

 

I've heard that too but if you watch the reviews, it clearly isn't. And they're all using 9* with weight forward