COBRA F9 SPEEDBACK
Tom Olsavsky has designed some of the more successful drivers for TaylorMade Golf and now as vice president of research and development at Cobra Golf. In fact, Cobra’s new King F9 Speedback driver recorded earlier early-season wins by Rickie Fowler, Bryson DeChambeau and Lexi Thompson. Each player switched from their previous driver to the King F9 Speedback, Olsavsky said, within days of testing it.
“Really good players can tell within a few swings whether a driver is good or bad,’’ Olsavsky said. “So when they switch right away, you have you have something.’’
What the King F9 Speedback driver ($449) has is an efficient aerodynamic shape and an engineered weight structure on the sole, which Cobra says improves club speed while maintaining a low, deep CG to create the most efficient transfer of energy to the ball. It also has a CNC Precision Milled Face that the company says, allows for a thinner and hotter face design that has shown ball speed increases up to 1.5 mph when tested against a traditional, hand-polished face. It also allows for players of all skill levels to see where they hit the ball on the club face — a subtle part of the King F9 Speedback driver’s face technology, but one that can pay dividend for players who pay attention. “You can see the impact point pretty easily,’’ Olsavsky said. “That’s great feedback.’’
It also helps a club fitter accurately dial in a King F9 Speedback driver to any player’s game.
“The fitter usually says, ‘That was bad shot,’ because you missed the center of the club, so (the fitter) will concentrate on the good shots and adjust from those.’’
Cobra’s King F9 fairway metals, irons and hybrids (in both variable and ONE Length configurations), also incorporate Speedback Technology, and all clubs offer Cobra Connect technology featuring electronically enabled grips that work in conjunction with the Arccos Caddie app to give users the ability to track their stats and improve their game.
