2022 Cobra Forged Tec Irons

[ShakeyT]

Wonder if the lack of reviews from the normal Youtubers means that product supply is low?

 

Really hoping they have all options at the demo day on the 22nd. I'm open to trying every combo they have. I've had the F9 One Length hybrids for awhile now, so I'm very interested in the available One length Irons for in the 6-4. The rest of the set would be variable length.

 

With all that said, anything I try is going to have a tough time beating my Honma P747s. They are the best combo of mid-sized, lack of offset, thin top line & great distance & accuracy of any iron I've tried. My only knock on them is I don't care for the orange accent in the cavity or the orange splashes on the shafts. 

[Rich Douglas]

From the article: 

"The Forged TEC One Length irons are configured with a constant, 7-iron length setup."

 

This is not true. They've altered the lie angles throughout the set. The higher-numbered irons are more upright and the lower-numbered irons are more flat.

 

This is inexplicable. The whole point of single-length clubs is that every club feels exactly the same. The only differences are weight distribution in the heads and lofts. Changing the lie angles impinges upon this principle.

I suspect the desired result is encouraging draws with the low-lofted irons to combat some players' tendencies towards slicing these clubs. Not. Good. Enough.

 

Tom Wishon recognized this mistake the hard way. His Sterling irons were excellent. However, he graduated the offset, giving more to the low-lofted clubs. This was unnecessary and extreme. He corrected it in the next offering, the EQ1-NX. (Which went to 2 degrees of offset and a thinner topline, two things Cobra is getting right with these irons.)

 

The Cobras are designed around a 37" iron (standard 7-iron), but you're not limited to that. You can go with a longer or shorter shaft, depending on your needs. But remember to adjust the lie angles accordingly and, while you're at it, put 'em all back where they belong.

[TheMoneyShot]

My local GG said they are still waiting fir their demo iron🤦

Edited April 17, 2022 by TheMoneyShot

[Paybax]

3 hours ago, ShakeyT said:

Wonder if the lack of reviews from the normal Youtubers means that product supply is low?

 

Really hoping they have all options at the demo day on the 22nd. I'm open to trying every combo they have. I've had the F9 One Length hybrids for awhile now, so I'm very interested in the available One length Irons for in the 6-4. The rest of the set would be variable length.

 

With all that said, anything I try is going to have a tough time beating my Honma P747s. They are the best combo of mid-sized, lack of offset, thin top line & great distance & accuracy of any iron I've tried. My only knock on them is I don't care for the orange accent in the cavity or the orange splashes on the shafts. 

My local demo day is the 22nd also 👌 I am told they have everything 

[ShakeyT]

11 minutes ago, Rich Douglas said:

From the article: 

"The Forged TEC One Length irons are configured with a constant, 7-iron length setup."

 

This is not true. They've altered the lie angles throughout the set. The higher-numbered irons are more upright and the lower-numbered irons are more flat.

 

This is inexplicable. The whole point of single-length clubs is that every club feels exactly the same. The only differences are weight distribution in the heads and lofts. Changing the lie angles impinges upon this principle.

I suspect the desired result is encouraging draws with the low-lofted irons to combat some players' tendencies towards slicing these clubs. Not. Good. Enough.

 

Tom Wishon recognized this mistake the hard way. His Sterling irons were excellent. However, he graduated the offset, giving more to the low-lofted clubs. This was unnecessary and extreme. He corrected it in the next offering, the EQ1-NX. (Which went to 2 degrees of offset and a thinner topline, two things Cobra is getting right with these irons.)

 

The Cobras are designed around a 37" iron (standard 7-iron), but you're not limited to that. You can go with a longer or shorter shaft, depending on your needs. But remember to adjust the lie angles accordingly and, while you're at it, put 'em all back where they belong.

You may disagree with their research & findings, but Cobra has explained at length why they do this.

In order to get the one length concept to work in the long irons, they believe the heads have to have more weight in the bottom. This leads to heavier heads than then short irons. The heavier heads in the short irons causes shaft droop during the swing which effectively flattens the lie.

If you were playing with really stiff shafts, you might see this as a detriment. Most people playing one length aren't playing rebar in their irons.

[Rich Douglas]

On 1/31/2022 at 5:51 PM, ShakeyT said:

Putting this bag together in my head:

GW - 7i variable length Forged Tec

6i & 5i one length Forged Tec

4i one length Forged Tec X

 

Do what you want, but it defeats the purpose of single-length clubs.

 

People who don't play them think that the low-numbered clubs are easier to hit and the high-numbered clubs are harder, both because of the shaft lengths. Sounds good, but it isn't true in practice.

 

The real benefit from these clubs is the grooving of one swing on the same plane (or planes) for all your irons and wedges. But it doesn't happen overnight. At first, the low-numbered clubs seem really short--like playing a club from a junior set. And the wedges seem miles long. Then, you get it into your head that the low-numbered clubs are actually easier to hit than traditional low-numbered clubs. This is true. But the wedge thing sticks in your head for longer--you keep thinking they're too long so they'll be less accurate. But if you stay with it, you start grooving all of these clubs because they're (almost) exactly the same. The wedges soon feel normal.

 

So, the trade-off--easier low-numbered irons for harder high-numbered irons--is false. They all become much easier to hit because they all have the same length, static weight, swing weight, offset (unless you buy that garbage from Cobra) and MOI. You swing each of them exactly the same--and that's the point.

 

A note on the extremes. First, the low numbers. (This is assuming a 36.5" length--8-iron. Another mistake with Cobra is that their clubs are designed around a 37" 7-iron length.) Depending on your swing speed, you might see a drop-off in gapping. To fully use the 4-iron in the old Wishon Sterling set, you had to swing an 8-iron about 85mph. Any less and you just wouldn't get the gapping between the 4 and 5. (The new EQ1-NX has a 4-hybrid to take its place.) If you swing an 8-iron around 80mph, the 5-iron or even 6-iron might be your longest iron. Above those you should consider hybrids and fairway woods.)

 

With the high numbers, I found the LW to be problematic. It was just too flat at that length. I didn't feel comfortable with a lob wedge that long. And around the greens you have to choose between choking down or opening up the clubface--you can't do both without bringing the toe in and dragging it, flipping the club wide open. I loved hitting it from the fairway, but not enough to give up utility around the green. This would be even worse with Cobra's 7-irong-length clubs. If they make a sand wedge and/or lob wedge to go with the set, they would be nearly unusable.

 

Bottom line: don't kid yourself into thinking it's a good idea to get single-length in the low numbers and variable length in the high numbers. You'll be compromising on the central value these clubs bring and getting nothing in return.

[chisag]

45 minutes ago, Mr. Grumpy said:

Cobra is far from being a junk Dealer. 

 

 

... Going to the pga show every year, I have had many, many conversations with Cobra Engineers. A group of guys that absolutely love golf and take designing equipment very serious. The amount of time and research along with testing and verification is probably far beyond what must forum members would guess. I go back to a hot stock shaft they wanted to install in a driver and after extensive testing they found the average golfer would suffer with the profile so they kept the same materials, same construction but tweaked the torque a little higher and softened the tip a little to produce a better feeling shaft that had a slightly higher trajectory and tested much better for the masses. Crafting a perfect shaft for the better player is much more difficult than the average golfer because the better player is most likely going to fine tune their club with an aftermarket shaft anyway. Their professionalism and dedication to providing every player the best possible club is beyond reproach.  Sales departments are a different story of course. 

 

... Fwiw, I'm not saying other OEMs don't have similar Engineering departments, I just did not develop a relationship with them. And I know very little about OL irons as I have never been interested in them going back to whan I was on staff with Tommy Armour promoting their EQL "equal length" irons when I was playing 845's. I can't imagine Cobra Engineers spend any less time on perfecting OL's as they do any of their clubs. 

Edited April 17, 2022 by chisag

[THEGOLLUM218]

will there be a new version of the forged tec utility iron?

[Flush-It-Fore]

@ THEGOLLUM218-----> That's a really good question that I'm sure many of us are asking. It would be great to know if they're planning on coming out with a utility iron that matches the new FT's. The old one is a 2020, so it would be nice to know if this is also getting an update like the irons (hopefully keep the adjustability, but make a little thinner top line/less blocky, etc. just like the irons)...... Any info please share!!!

[tigercolt77]

Enjoy

[Flush-It-Fore]

Those looks great! What setup did you end up going with? 

[tigercolt77]

13 minutes ago, Flush-It-Fore said:

Those looks great! What setup did you end up going with? 

4-PW KBS $ Taper lite xstiff 1 degree weak loft. 

[balata2]

1 hour ago, tigercolt77 said:

4-PW KBS $ Taper lite xstiff 1 degree weak loft. 

Have you been able to compare to the previous version forged tec?  I had a set and I remember them being a little clicky.  

[TheMoneyShot]

2 hours ago, tigercolt77 said:

Enjoy

Those look great, wow! 

[tigercolt77]

2 hours ago, balata2 said:

Have you been able to compare to the previous version forged tec?  I had a set and I remember them being a little clicky.  

No, I haven't hit the last version but did hit the one prior to that. The big "KING" turned me off to the version prior to the new ones.

[Sipreb]

1 hour ago, tigercolt77 said:

No, I haven't hit the last version but did hit the one prior to that. The big "KING" turned me off to the version prior to the new ones.

I would love to know how they compare to your Apexs. Forgiveness especially

[belh22]

They look sick 

[Tilly]

The new 2022 models do not sound clicky like the former model.  I have the previous model and have hit and ordered the Forge Tec X model.

That was a negative with the old irons so I wanted to hear and feel if they had improved this area and Cobra corrected exactly what you found in the first models.

They feel solid, quiet and pick the ball up with ease from the short grass.

 

[mtex22]

I hit both the Forged Tec and the Tec X both looked incredible nice small package on both I went FT due to the feel and prefer the lofts of players distance vs game improvement. Ordered with KBS Tour Lite 5-GW, hopefully they show up soon! Will report back 

[1puttTUT]

D@mnit I'm going to have to hit these now. Too bad they weren't available back when I did my fitting. 

 

Although I will say they're probably too strong lofted and I'd have to get them bent.

 

Currently using the 2020 model 4 iron as a transition club between my MP223 5 iron and my 5 wood, and I find it very enjoyable to hit.

Edited April 21, 2022 by 1puttTUT

[Rbert831]

Anyone have pics of the Forged Tec X 4/5 iron at address behind a ball yet? 

[R.Patrick]

I couldn’t stand just staring at pics of these so I had to order a set…

[Ghostwedge]

Hovering between scratch and a 4 cap I love my "series of errors" 2020 Forged Tec OL irons. I love them so much I'm going to keep em and buy the new FT iron OL set too.  👍

[sshadow2]

Been playing the 2020s for 2 years now. Thinking of getting the '22s in 8, 9, and PW only and combo'ing with my current set. I really don't like that the 7 in the X models are 27*.

[balata2]

Just order a set of FT and cobra said heads are backordered until late May.  Didn't ask about FTX or one length.

[Murdock]

Well this went off the rails pretty quickly.  As usually does on internet forums.  

 

Can we please get back to some reviews/thoughts on the clubs?  Or is that going to be in a different thread and I can unsubscribe from this one?  

 

I have a set of FT coming at some point.  Was told mid-May, but it's all up in the air.  Was a little disappointed that even though their website shows a 5-GW set available, it actually wasn't available and due to supply chain issues we can't get single clubs at this time (as told to me 3rd hand from a team rep).  So you're locked in 4-PW and have to either use a different GW or wait for Cobra to release them.  (not looking for a discussion on using set GW's versus separate wedges, just providing info).  

 

Like a true WRX'r, I bought them site unseen.   Which may or may not work out.  If it doesn't work out, then you'll be able to pick up a set for cheap off BST!! 😆

[JohnKHawk]

38 minutes ago, Murdock said:

Well this went off the rails pretty quickly.  As usually does on internet forums.  

 

Can we please get back to some reviews/thoughts on the clubs?  Or is that going to be in a different thread and I can unsubscribe from this one?  

 

I have a set of FT coming at some point.  Was told mid-May, but it's all up in the air.  Was a little disappointed that even though their website shows a 5-GW set available, it actually wasn't available and due to supply chain issues we can't get single clubs at this time (as told to me 3rd hand from a team rep).  So you're locked in 4-PW and have to either use a different GW or wait for Cobra to release them.  (not looking for a discussion on using set GW's versus separate wedges, just providing info).  

 

Like a true WRX'r, I bought them site unseen.   Which may or may not work out.  If it doesn't work out, then you'll be able to pick up a set for cheap off BST!! 😆

I would have rather Cobra waited to release these irons until all their supply chain issues were a bit smoother. It's worse to order & wait 2-3 months. I ordered a set not directly from cobra but was able to order a specific irons including the GW without any issues...or at least none I was made aware of...fingers crossed.

[Murdock]

10 minutes ago, JohnKHawk said:

I would have rather Cobra waited to release these irons until all their supply chain issues were a bit smoother. It's worse to order & wait 2-3 months. I ordered a set not directly from cobra but was able to order a specific irons including the GW without any issues...or at least none I was made aware of...fingers crossed.

 

If I may ask, did you order from another retailer, or from a local rep?

[chisag]

12 minutes ago, JohnKHawk said:

I would have rather Cobra waited to release these irons until all their supply chain issues were a bit smoother. It's worse to order & wait 2-3 months. I ordered a set not directly from cobra but was able to order a specific irons including the GW without any issues...or at least none I was made aware of...fingers crossed.

 

 

... Things been ca-razy with shipping delays for all OEM's. Cobra seemed to be in between a rock and a hard place. Folks were already upset they had to wait til late April for the FT/FTx release and if Cobra waited til June, most making spring iron purchases may already have bought some other iron. I am glad I am not in the board room of any OEMs right now since companies like Mizuno that has been legendary for a fast turn around with custom clubs can't even get stock sets into players hands. But along with all the other desirable attributes I just don't think any other iron has a hosel grind like Cobra because it basically disappears at address and all you see is the club head. So I will wait on the Forged Tec's for as long as it takes. Thankfully I am 100% happy with my MIM irons so waiting isn't a problem. 

[balata2]

3 hours ago, chisag said:

 

 

... Things been ca-razy with shipping delays for all OEM's. Cobra seemed to be in between a rock and a hard place. Folks were already upset they had to wait til late April for the FT/FTx release and if Cobra waited til June, most making spring iron purchases may already have bought some other iron. I am glad I am not in the board room of any OEMs right now since companies like Mizuno that has been legendary for a fast turn around with custom clubs can't even get stock sets into players hands. But along with all the other desirable attributes I just don't think any other iron has a hosel grind like Cobra because it basically disappears at address and all you see is the club head. So I will wait on the Forged Tec's for as long as it takes. Thankfully I am 100% happy with my MIM irons so waiting isn't a problem. 

Agreed, they very much look worth the wait.