Opinion & Analysis
Mark Crossfield reviews Cobra’s King Forged One-Length Irons
In this video, I review Cobra’s new King Forged One-Length irons on the course. The irons are the same model used by the PGA Tour player Bryson DeChambeau, who worked with Cobra to develop the single-length clubs.
Watch this video to see how the single-length irons — each of which is the length of a 7 iron — perform in my gap testing, and what I think of Cobra’s latest forged irons.
Related: Learn more about Cobra’s King Forged One-Length irons
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The PGA TOUR heads to New Orleans to play the 2023 Zurich Classic of New Orleans. In a welcome change from the usual stroke play, the Zurich Classic is a team event. On Thursday and Saturday, the teams play best ball, and on Friday and Sunday the teams play alternate shot.
TPC Louisiana is a par 72 that measures 7,425 yards. The course features some short par 4s and plenty of water and bunkers, which makes for a lot of exciting risk/reward scenarios for competitors. Pete Dye designed the course in 2004 specifically for the Zurich Classic, although the event didn’t make its debut until 2007 because of Hurricane Katrina.
Coming off of the Masters and a signature event in consecutive weeks, the field this week is a step down, and understandably so. Many of the world’s top players will be using this time to rest after a busy stretch.
However, there are some interesting teams this season with some stars making surprise appearances in the team event. Some notable teams include Patrick Cantlay and Xander Schauffele, Rory McIlroy and Shane Lowry, Collin Morikawa and Kurt Kitayama, Will Zalatoris and Sahith Theegala as well as a few Canadian teams, Nick Taylor and Adam Hadwin and Taylor Pendrith and Corey Conners.
Past Winners at TPC Louisiana
- 2023: Riley/Hardy (-30)
- 2022: Cantlay/Schauffele (-29)
- 2021: Leishman/Smith (-20)
- 2019: Palmer/Rahm (-26)
- 2018: Horschel/Piercy (-22)
- 2017: Blixt/Smith (-27)
2024 Zurich Classic of New Orleans Picks
Tom Hoge/Maverick McNealy +2500 (DraftKings)
Tom Hoge is coming off of a solid T18 finish at the RBC Heritage and finished T13 at last year’s Zurich Classic alongside Harris English.
This season, Hoge is having one of his best years on Tour in terms of Strokes Gained: Approach. In his last 24 rounds, the only player to top him on the category is Scottie Scheffler. Hoge has been solid on Pete Dye designs, ranking 28th in the field over his past 36 rounds.
McNealy is also having a solid season. He’s finished T6 at the Waste Management Phoenix Open and T9 at the PLAYERS Championship. He recently started working with world renowned swing coach, Butch Harmon, and its seemingly paid dividends in 2024.
Keith Mitchell/Joel Dahmen +4000 (DraftKings)
Keith Mitchell is having a fantastic season, finishing in the top-20 of five of his past seven starts on Tour. Most recently, Mitchell finished T14 at the Valero Texas Open and gained a whopping 6.0 strokes off the tee. He finished 6th at last year’s Zurich Classic.
Joel Dahmen is having a resurgent year and has been dialed in with his irons. He also has a T11 finish at the PLAYERS Championship at TPC Sawgrass which is another Pete Dye track. With Mitchell’s length and Dahmen’s ability to put it close with his short irons, the Mitchell/Dahmen combination will be dangerous this week.
Taylor Moore/Matt NeSmith +6500 (DraftKings)
Taylor Moore has quickly developed into one of the more consistent players on Tour. He’s finished in the top-20 in three of his past four starts, including a very impressive showing at The Masters, finishing T20. He’s also finished T4 at this event in consecutive seasons alongside Matt NeSmith.
NeSmith isn’t having a great 2024, but has seemed to elevate his game in this format. He finished T26 at Pete Dye’s TPC Sawgrass, which gives the 30-year-old something to build off of. NeSmith is also a great putter on Bermudagrass, which could help elevate Moore’s ball striking prowess.
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After having four of the top twelve players on the leaderboard at The Masters, LIV Golf is set for their fifth event of the season: LIV Adelaide.
For both LIV fans and golf fans in Australia, LIV Adelaide is one of the most anticipated events of the year. With 35,000 people expected to attend each day of the tournament, the Grange Golf Club will be crawling with fans who are passionate about the sport of golf. The 12th hole, better known as “the watering hole”, is sure to have the rowdiest of the fans cheering after a long day of drinking some Leishman Lager.
The Grange Golf Club is a par-72 that measures 6,946 yards. The course features minimal resistance, as golfers went extremely low last season. In 2023, Talor Gooch shot consecutive rounds of 62 on Thursday and Friday, giving himself a gigantic cushion heading into championship Sunday. Things got tight for a while, but in the end, the Oklahoma State product was able to hold off The Crushers’ Anirban Lahiri for a three-shot victory.
The Four Aces won the team competition with the Range Goats finishing second.
*All Images Courtesy of LIV Golf*
Past Winners at LIV Adelaide
- 2023: Talor Gooch (-19)
Stat Leaders Through LIV Miami
Green in Regulation
- Richard Bland
- Jon Rahm
- Paul Casey
Fairways Hit
- Abraham Ancer
- Graeme McDowell
- Henrik Stenson
Driving Distance
- Bryson DeChambeau
- Joaquin Niemann
- Dean Burmester
Putting
- Cameron Smith
- Louis Oosthuizen
- Matt Jones
2024 LIV Adelaide Picks
Cameron Smith +1400 (DraftKings)
When I pulled up the odds for LIV Adelaide, I was more than a little surprised to see multiple golfers listed ahead of Cameron Smith on the betting board. A few starts ago, Cam finished runner-up at LIV Hong Kong, which is a golf course that absolutely suits his eye. Augusta National in another course that Smith could roll out of bed and finish in the top-ten at, and he did so two weeks ago at The Masters, finishing T6.
At Augusta, he gained strokes on the field on approach, off the tee (slightly), and of course, around the green and putting. Smith able to get in the mix at a major championship despite coming into the week feeling under the weather tells me that his game is once again rounding into form.
The Grange Golf Club is another course that undoubtedly suits the Australian. Smith is obviously incredibly comfortable playing in front of the Aussie faithful and has won three Australian PGA Championship’s. The course is very short and will allow Smith to play conservative off the tee, mitigating his most glaring weakness. With birdies available all over the golf course, there’s a chance the event turns into a putting contest, and there’s no one on the planet I’d rather have in one of those than Cam Smith.
Louis Oosthuizen +2200 (DraftKings)
Louis Oosthuizen has simply been one of the best players on LIV in the 2024 seas0n. The South African has finished in the top-10 on the LIV leaderboard in three of his five starts, with his best coming in Jeddah, where he finished T2. Perhaps more impressively, Oosthuizen finished T7 at LIV Miami, which took place at Doral’s “Blue Monster”, an absolutely massive golf course. Given that Louis is on the shorter side in terms of distance off the tee, his ability to play well in Miami shows how dialed he is with the irons this season.
In addition to the LIV finishes, Oosthuizen won back-to-back starts on the DP World Tour in December at the Alfred Dunhill Championship and the Mauritus Open. He also finished runner-up at the end of February in the International Series Oman. The 41-year-old has been one of the most consistent performers of 2024, regardless of tour.
For the season, Louis ranks 4th on LIV in birdies made, T9 in fairways hit and first in putting. He ranks 32nd in driving distance, but that won’t be an issue at this short course. Last season, he finished T11 at the event, but was in decent position going into the final round but fell back after shooting 70 while the rest of the field went low. This season, Oosthuizen comes into the event in peak form, and the course should be a perfect fit for his smooth swing and hot putter this week.
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Of all the clubs in our bags, wedges are almost always the simplest in construction and, therefore, the easiest to analyze what might make one work differently from another if you know what to look for.
Wedges are a lot less mysterious than drivers, of course, as the major brands are working with a lot of “pixie dust” inside these modern marvels. That’s carrying over more to irons now, with so many new models featuring internal multi-material technologies, and almost all of them having a “badge” or insert in the back to allow more complex graphics while hiding the actual distribution of mass.
But when it comes to wedges, most on the market today are still single pieces of molded steel, either cast or forged into that shape. So, if you look closely at where the mass is distributed, it’s pretty clear how that wedge is going to perform.
To start, because of their wider soles, the majority of the mass of almost any wedge is along the bottom third of the clubhead. So, the best wedge shots are always those hit between the 2nd and 5th grooves so that more mass is directly behind that impact. Elite tour professionals practice incessantly to learn to do that consistently, wearing out a spot about the size of a penny right there. If impact moves higher than that, the face is dramatically thinner, so smash factor is compromised significantly, which reduces the overall distance the ball will fly.
Every one of us, tour players included, knows that maddening shot that we feel a bit high on the face and it doesn’t go anywhere, it’s not your fault.
If your wedges show a wear pattern the size of a silver dollar, and centered above the 3rd or 4th groove, you are not getting anywhere near the same performance from shot to shot. Robot testing proves impact even two to three grooves higher in the face can cause distance loss of up to 35 to 55 feet with modern ‘tour design’ wedges.
In addition, as impact moves above the center of mass, the golf club principle of gear effect causes the ball to fly higher with less spin. Think of modern drivers for a minute. The “holy grail” of driving is high launch and low spin, and the driver engineers are pulling out all stops to get the mass as low in the clubhead as possible to optimize this combination.
Where is all the mass in your wedges? Low. So, disregarding the higher lofts, wedges “want” to launch the ball high with low spin – exactly the opposite of what good wedge play requires penetrating ball flight with high spin.
While almost all major brand wedges have begun putting a tiny bit more thickness in the top portion of the clubhead, conventional and modern ‘tour design’ wedges perform pretty much like they always have. Elite players learn to hit those crisp, spinny penetrating wedge shots by spending lots of practice time learning to consistently make contact low in the face.
So, what about grooves and face texture?
Grooves on any club can only do so much, and no one has any material advantage here. The USGA tightly defines what we manufacturers can do with grooves and face texture, and modern manufacturing techniques allow all of us to push those limits ever closer. And we all do. End of story.
Then there’s the topic of bounce and grinds, the most complex and confusing part of the wedge formula. Many top brands offer a complex array of sole configurations, all of them admittedly specialized to a particular kind of lie or turf conditions, and/or a particular divot pattern.
But if you don’t play the same turf all the time, and make the same size divot on every swing, how would you ever figure this out?
The only way is to take any wedge you are considering and play it a few rounds, hitting all the shots you face and observing the results. There’s simply no other way.
So, hopefully this will inspire a lively conversation in our comments section, and I’ll chime in to answer any questions you might have.
And next week, I’ll dive into the rest of the wedge formula. Yes, shafts, grips and specifications are essential, too.
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19th Hole2 weeks agoDave Portnoy places monstrous outright bet for the 2024 Masters
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19th Hole2 weeks agoTiger Woods arrives at 2024 Masters equipped with a putter that may surprise you
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19th Hole19 hours ago‘Absolutely crazy’ – Major champ lays into Patrick Cantlay over his decision on final hole of RBC Heritage
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19th Hole3 weeks agoReport: Tiger Woods has ‘eliminated sex’ in preparation for the 2024 Masters
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19th Hole1 week agoTwo star names reportedly blanked Jon Rahm all week at the Masters
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19th Hole7 days agoReport: LIV Golf identifies latest star name they hope to sign to breakaway tour
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Bo Bigelow
Jan 19, 2017 at 1:43 am
Great concept that helps simplify the game. I think single length irons will certainly help most amateur golfers strike the ball more solidly and much more consistently which will lead to better scores and therefore more fun and possibly a little faster play on the course. All of these things can benefit golf and could possibly bring more interest and more people to golf. Also, I have a bad back from years of athletics and I am going to try a set to see if they help me by not having to bend as much at address with short irons such as 9 – pw and gw.
Thank you for a great review of single length irons, Bo
John Z
Nov 5, 2016 at 10:17 pm
Actually can’t wait to give them a try
GolfMyWay
Nov 4, 2016 at 2:13 am
So, I hit the One Lengths today.
Hit the 4, 7 & PW.
They’re all the same length, same weight. That KBS FLT shaft.
I found something very interesting, and I think you will too.
What if you’re not a very good ball striker? I’m ok, a decent player, but I definitely blade-hit a few with each one, not so flush, you know what I mean? Just bladed them a bit to not catch enough grooves, may be just the bottom two. Guess what happened? I hit the 4 and the 7 almost the same distance, only about 7 yards apart. And the PW was only 10 yards behind. The 7 iron went about 185 yards, on the bladed hit. Know what I’m getting at?
What I’m getting at is, for people who are not very good ball strikers, now their distance control will be all over the place. At least with standard lengths, if you mishit a little, that bladed hit, because the shaft lengths differ, the short clubs only went as far as the shaft length will allow it, and the long irons the same, so you could expect to have that difference. Now that the shafts are all the same lengths and the headweights are the same, by blading you basically almost have the same shot with every club. That will be a huge problem.
Even on flushed shots, the 4 iron for me only went to 192 total, when I normally hit my own normal forged 4 iron to about 210. The one-length 7 went to 180, when I hit my own to about 175. Same with the PW, I hit it to about 150, but my own only goes 135. The discrepancy here with the one-length is due to its softer shaft for my feel, versus my own X-stiff shaft. I think I was spinning the 4 iron too much in the one-length and smashing the 7 iron too fast with the flexible FLT shaft.
It felt strange to hit a 4 iron so short. And the PW so long with the long shaft.
It’s not for me. The mishits would be too scary, I would fly them way too far with the shorter clubs. And the tighter distance gaps and the long irons being too short are a real problem.
I don’t think putting in my own shaft will solve that problem. I’d end up wanting to weigh the 4 iron head heavier and the PW lighter so I can have less momentum into the ball to control the flight. At that point I might as well just use the standard, traditional, variable length set.
Mat
Nov 24, 2016 at 3:05 am
I’ve hit an 8-iron 236 before. Bladed shots are irrelevant. It’s like saying a hammer is crappy as a knife.
Rimjob
Nov 3, 2016 at 3:08 am
Yeah,, like Smizzle did. So he can devote his time to typing drivel on WRX
Kevin
Nov 2, 2016 at 8:03 pm
Nice! I like the idea of a shorter-shafted 4-iron. I could see those going into my bag!
Steve S
Nov 2, 2016 at 6:35 pm
I’ve played with single length irons(Pinhawks) and found them to be ok. I’m not sure that they helped me much but I was fighting other swing issues and a back problem when I played them. It was nice to be able to set up the same for all irons. I think I’d like to try the 4 thru 7 single length again. Then use 8 thru wedges with the “standard” lengths. Might be fun now that my swing is better.
Jeff
Nov 2, 2016 at 6:19 pm
Nice review, I am intrigued by these. I thought at first the concept makes sense in the longer clubs but I was cynical about the shorter irons and wedges. It appears they just might work! Thanks
Dave r
Nov 2, 2016 at 6:00 pm
Think this would be good for young golfers just starting out , they are not all up on sponsorship what pro are hitting . And with minds like sponges it will probably work very well. Has any club producer tried this on for size ,work with a couple for a year and find out the results . Use the not the real pill for the problem and you might be surprised by all the negativity.
RthrGlf
Nov 2, 2016 at 1:38 pm
According to comments, there are still numerous variables like swing weight that prevent these clubs from being viable single-length alternative. The only single-length iron system that has been perfected over the years is 1irongolf.com. David Lake seems to cover all the bases when it comes to single length irons, such as same weight, offset, as well as simple fitting system. However, whenever there’s a new single length offering, 1irongolf’s success is never mentioned, just the failures from the distant past.
300 Yard Pro
Nov 6, 2016 at 10:08 pm
Davis Lake clubs are total garbage. They feel like kid’s K-Mart clubs. That’s why they are never mentioned.
The Sterlings and the Cobras are your only options.
Tom Newcomb
Nov 2, 2016 at 12:57 pm
Would give them a try.
jerry uritescu
Nov 2, 2016 at 5:37 am
I do like the idea of one length. It makes perfect sense to me.
Mark
Nov 2, 2016 at 1:13 am
I’ve been intrigued by these irons for a while. The gapping between irons would be my only issue. I would love to see what I could do with a set. My current irons are, Wilson FG4 with +1/2 x100 shafts. Jumbomax large grips.
Lloyd Walker
Nov 2, 2016 at 12:48 am
as im slowlng getting a bit long in the tooth if this can make it easier on me and i can be still competitive i will purchase a set , than you , lloyd
KP3
Nov 2, 2016 at 12:46 am
Also, that is kind of what Sergio does with his driver, shorter and heavier, like a 3 wood.
KP3
Nov 2, 2016 at 12:44 am
I would be interested in mixing this idea just in the long irons. Regular set up to 5 iron, then 3 and 4 iron at 5 iron length and weight. Maybe even a 2 iron.
Jo Mil
Nov 1, 2016 at 9:01 pm
I will be steering clear of any single length iron set until someone has a fitting system that will tell me what MY optimal single length is, shaft weight and flex, head weight and correspoding swing weight, lie angle, lofts, and bounce. I am not average and don’t care to be, so a one sized fits all approach does not interest me. I will wait for the company that built the irons to help Bryson win the NCAA and US Am to release their system. If it is anything like their other systems and clubs, they are focused on fitting and catering to the individual, not the masses.
Jo Mil
Nov 1, 2016 at 8:47 pm
in the absence of any type of fitting system that will tell me what MY optimal single length for all clubs is, shaft weight and flex, head weight and corresponding swing weight, lie angle, bounce, and lofts, I will be steering clear of this all together. Another attempt at catering to the “average person” and quite frankly, I am not average and care to be. I’ll wait for the company that built single length irons for Bryson when he won the NCAA’s and US Am to release their system. If it is like anything else they do, they will have thought about fitting to the individual rather than the masses.
300 Yard Pro
Nov 6, 2016 at 9:44 pm
Tom Wishon Sterlings. Never heard of them? Do you even golf bro?
Snowman
Nov 1, 2016 at 8:14 pm
I suggest folks stop worrying about integrating “woods” and wedges that are longer/shorter in length.. You will still get the benefit (if you decide there is a benefit for you) of 1 length on all your full iron shots, e.g. 4 thru GW, and that could be huge in terms of improving your ball striking and GIR which is a key for reducing your Score. I remember the old Tommy Armour EQL irons and have wondered for a while why no OEM had come out with a modern single length iron, since the tech. now makes it more practical to get the distance gapping right….which Cobra and Wishon claim they have done. The Only reason this doesn’t make sense for almost everyone is if the distance gaps are not right, that is the key thing to examine; otherwise I think these would make the game easier for most golfers.
300 Yard Pro
Nov 6, 2016 at 9:45 pm
Exactly. The benefit of the one length system comes from a full set. Not from just using 4-6.
Jt
Nov 1, 2016 at 7:54 pm
Great way review! You have me seriously considering these irons!
leo vincent
Nov 1, 2016 at 7:53 pm
The head weight numbers were confusing.I think he was trying to say how much the weight differed from a standard head weight of the same number.
nelson Radcliffe
Nov 1, 2016 at 6:29 pm
Love the idea of one length irons. I have struggled lately with irons, particularly long irons.
Jo Mil
Nov 1, 2016 at 6:10 pm
Gaps between clubs were 24 yds, 6 yds, 14 yds, 14 yds, 7 yds, 10 yds, 5 yds. Correct me if I am wrong, but that doesn’t sound good at all. Also, if each head weight is different and the shafts are all the same weight, wouldn’t you have 8 different swing weights and wouldn’t the different weights create different bend profiles and load on the shafts, therefore resulting in very inconsistent results. Unless of course, the mention of different head weights was an indication of what they had to do to get each of the standard heads to be all the same. Changing head weights to create different ball flights seems like a really bad idea to me.
Peter
Nov 1, 2016 at 4:26 pm
Anyone who is just starting to play golf would find great benefits with these irons as without doubt the majority of new golfers struggle with shafts. longer than 7/8 irons.
Thus
Nov 1, 2016 at 4:17 pm
Great review mark, I have put my name down for a set when the do get released here in New Zealand.
The idea of one length makes a lot of sense and like you said about “committing” to the shot I feel once you have crossed that bridge you will play great golf with them.
Shaun
Nov 1, 2016 at 3:54 pm
Wasn’t considering them, but the review definitely made me curious. Interesting to see Mark’s surprise at the feel and results.
Tom A
Nov 1, 2016 at 3:52 pm
Good review and thanks for taking the time to share with us.
I’m sure after a little getting use to these they would work fine for many people but I prefer to stay with standard lengths.
MP-4
Nov 1, 2016 at 2:49 pm
I wonder if Fowler will eventually move to a blade version of these considering he prefers irons that are 0.5″ short of standard?
Rimjob
Nov 2, 2016 at 2:42 pm
That’s only because he’s a short dude
RthrGlf
Nov 1, 2016 at 2:34 pm
Looks like Cobra has a great offering for one-length irons. The fitting should be easy. Just use the appropriate 7-iron length for all the clubs, assuming each club has same lie angle. What is the lie angle, anyway? Would love to win a set of these. Thanks for the review.
Martyn Edwards
Nov 1, 2016 at 2:07 pm
Interesting logic….I am going to have to give these a serious look at
Tom
Nov 1, 2016 at 2:05 pm
already half way through and mark posses some interesting question…… I’m startin to get nervous.
Branson Reynolds
Nov 1, 2016 at 1:50 pm
Was the Cobra set better than the Wishon?
Tom
Nov 1, 2016 at 1:46 pm
Great review. I particularly enjoyed how surprised Mark was when he liked these clubs.
Paul Evans
Nov 1, 2016 at 1:42 pm
Have a look at Tom Wishon’s site on Google.
Mike Zilis
Nov 1, 2016 at 1:35 pm
As a hack, I like the idea of shorter long irons and longer short irons. It’s nice to see them perform in the hands of a good player but I’d also like to see them tested by a high handicap player where the potential improvement might be more realized.
Paul
Nov 1, 2016 at 12:06 pm
just curious but does anyone know where i can find the lofts on these irons? i doesn’t look like its up on Cobras website yet.