Equipment

What IS that on the back of Rickie Fowler’s Cobra King wedge?

Published

6 years ago

Jan 31, 2018

Rickie Fowler is no stranger to using wedges that are custom-made… and with wild, Oklahoma State-orange stampings on them.

Back in 2015, I spoke to Ben Schomin, Cobra’s director of tour operations, about Rickie Fowler’s special Tungsten-plugged Cobra irons and wedges. Schomin told me that since Fowler likes his wedges a half-inch short and at a swing weight of D3, Cobra developed a special fixture to mount the wedges in order to be able to insert conical Tungsten rods into Fowler’s wedges to make them heavier. He also said that each wedge took to 2-to-3 hours to make.

Flash forward to 2018, and Schomin has a bit different, more time-efficient process to add weight.

As we spotted in his recent WITB, Fowler has new wedges (56 and 60 degrees) with metal protrusions on the back cavities that look like caterpillars. To find out more about Fowler’s new Cobra King wedges, I again spoke to Schomin to get the lowdown. Here’s what he had to say.

“The grind is a specific shape I’ve been making for Rickie the last couple of seasons. Since he plays his irons 0.5 inches short, we need to add weight to those clubs to get the swingweight back up… Typically we’ve added tungsten internal weighting for both, but for testing purposes, I’ve added weld beads to increase weight over the years, which helps speed up the weighting process. Now I clean up the weld heat tint and re-blast the head to make it look good.”

Here are the specs on Fowler’s new 60-degree wedge.

Shaft: True Temper Dynamic Gold S400 Tour Issue
Length: 34.5 inches
Swing weight: D4.5
Grip: Golf Pride Tour Velvet .600 Rib 1+ .5 RH

Next time you see Fowler get up and down using a wedge, know that he has a bead-welded, torched caterpillar on it helping out.

See all of the clubs in Fowler’s bag here.

Your Reaction?

LIKE127
LEGIT13
WOW8
LOL4
IDHT1
FLOP6
OB3
SHANK15

Related Topics:featured

Up Next

Patrick Reed’s driver saga continues, spotted testing Ping G400 LST

Don't Miss

A Q&A with Seven Dreamers about its $1,200 shafts

Andrew Tursky

He played on the Hawaii Pacific University Men's Golf team and earned a Masters degree in Communications. He also played college golf at Rutgers University, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism.

15 Comments

sid

May 9, 2018 at 10:19 am

Cobra club designers must wince painfully to see all that ugly weld bead on the back of their beauties. It’s a total rebuke by Rickie that must really sting… lol

Reply Report comment
William King

Feb 2, 2018 at 11:21 am

Is that club on the USGA and R&A approved list? No doubt the original is, but I think that the rules prohibit alterations to an approved club.

Reply Report comment
Milton Gombo

Jan 31, 2018 at 7:20 pm

He used as little welding heat as possible, so as not to warp the club head. Weld will crack and fall off if not ground down and finished properly.
Lesson learned: if you like a heavy wedge, look elsewhere.

Reply Report comment
- George
  
  Feb 2, 2018 at 5:18 pm
  
  You don’t have a clue what you are talking about.
  
  Reply Report comment
  - Milton Gombo
    
    Feb 2, 2018 at 5:51 pm
    
    Professional Certified Welding Inspector and consultant here.
    Heard we can all learn something from everyone. Please elaborate.
    
    Reply Report comment
M-Herd4

Jan 31, 2018 at 5:38 pm

If it doesn’t bother Ricky it doesn’t bother me. Most pros don’t care how pretty the club is as long as it feels right in their hands and they can hit the shots they need to on command.

Reply Report comment
Blake

Jan 31, 2018 at 4:55 pm

Did people not know this?

Reply Report comment
farmer

Jan 31, 2018 at 3:36 pm

Not a very good job of welding. Ugly, but it works. No way to clean up those welds and make them look good.

Reply Report comment
George

Jan 31, 2018 at 3:20 pm

It’s a tool. All these idiots that sit around looking at their clubs obviously have no idea how to use them.

Reply Report comment
Piney

Jan 31, 2018 at 1:57 pm

“Now I clean up the weld heat tint and re-blast the head to make it look good.”

If that’s your definition of “good”, please don’t ever touch my clubs. It looks ridiculous. Also, there’s physically no way that bead welding, then removing a finish, then re-blasting his clubs is faster than adding or removing a few strips of lead tape…

Reply Report comment
Ed

Jan 31, 2018 at 1:20 pm

What’s wrong with a neat patch of lead tape? The weld bead makes the Cobra wedge fugly.
Will Cobra provide me with a custom weld bead or do I have to go to a local muffler shop for a weld bead? 😮

Reply Report comment
- deeo
  
  Jan 31, 2018 at 2:01 pm
  
  Maybe it‘s inefficient to use leadtape because of all the adhesive?
  I honestly don‘t know, but this torched caterpillar seems more … condensed than adding layers upon layers of lead tape.
  
  Reply Report comment
Zach

Jan 31, 2018 at 1:16 pm

Are those 56 and 60’s really those lofts? He has some 54 and 58 stamps on them that would elude one to think they are 54* 58*??

Reply Report comment
- Brian
  
  Jan 31, 2018 at 1:55 pm
  
  They’re probably bent to 56/60 for bounce and/or offset purposes.
  
  Reply Report comment
  - Zach
    
    Jan 31, 2018 at 3:55 pm
    
    Or is it the other way around? Looks to me like the stock on them is 56/60 and he has bent to 54/58?
    
    Reply Report comment

Cancel reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Equipment

A shocking Backstryke putter appearance + 7 interesting gear photos from the Zurich Classic

Published

8 hours ago

Apr 25, 2024

Andrew Tursky

Welcome to New Orleans, where TPC Louisiana plays host to the 2024 Zurich Classic. In between breakfast beignets and nightly Creole feasts, PGA Tour players are also competing in the unique two-man format at the Zurich this week.

Although the vibes in Nawlins are a bit lighter-fare than the recent back-to-back competitions the Masters and the RBC Heritage signature event), the gear news was no less serious this week.

We spotted some recent changes from Rory McIlroy, a very rare Odyssey Backstryke putter, dove into the bag of legendary New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees, and spotted Patrick Cantlay continuing to test new equipment.

Get your beads out and crack your crawfish, because it’s time for an equipment rundown from The Big Easy (meaning New Orleans, of course, not Ernie Els).

See all of our photos from the Zurich Classic here

Rory’s on-and-off lob wedge

Since the end of 2023, Rory McIlroy has had an on-again, off-again relationship with a Titleist Vokey K-Grind lob wedge. In his last start, it was on, and the wedge is back in the bag again this week. We got a great look at the complicated grind that McIlroy uses.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by GolfWRX (@golfwrx)

A full look into McIlroy’s bag above also shows that he switched out of the TaylorMade BRNR Mini Copper that he used at the RBC Heritage, and he’s back into the Qi10 core 3-wood. As we discussed last week, McIlroy will likely keep the BRNR around as a course-specific club, trading it in and out for the 3-wood.

See Rory McIlroy’s full 2024 WITB from the Zurich here

Turning Back the clock

Unless Tommy Gainey is in the field, it’s unlikely you’ll ever see Odyssey’s Backstryke technology make an appearance on the PGA Tour.

But then, when you least expect it, Russ Cochran shows up.

For more than a decade – since the 2013 Sony Open in Hawai’i – Cochran has been stuck on 599 PGA Tour starts. This week will be his 600th.

Cochran is in the field at the Zurich this week playing alongside Eric Cole, whose regular caddie is Reed Cochran, Russ’s son.

The Backstryke putter was first released back in 2010, and its unique design helps shift the axis point of the putter closer to the CG of the head. And, the putter is getting a nod this week at the Zurich Classic, thanks to Cochran’s 600th career PGA Tour start.

The putter is certainly awesome, but don’t forget to check out Cochran’s full WITB from this week.

Drew Brees with a Super Bowl winning Scotty Cameron putter

Drew Brees, a legendary retired quarterback for the hometown New Orleans Saints, made an appearance at the Zurich’s Wednesday Pro-Am, playing alongside Zach Johnson, Ryan Palmer, and current Saints QB Derek Carr.

Brees’ bag included a TaylorMade Stealth2 Plus driver, a BRNR Mini 13.5-degree, a Stealth 5-wood, a mixed set of P-790 and P-760 irons, Milled Grind Hi-Toe wedges, and a custom Scotty Cameron “New Orleans Saints” putter, which Scotty made for Brees following his Super Bowl MVP-winning performance in 2010.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by GolfWRX (@golfwrx)

It should also be noted that Brees has his Venmo QR code as a bag tag.

If you’re gambling with Brees on the course, just know that not having cash won’t work as an excuse.

Brilliant.

See Drew Brees’ full WITB from the Zurich here

Stricker’s unrecognizable putter

Steve Stricker has made numerous upgrades to his bag recently, including a new TSR3 driver and T100 irons, but his longtime Odyssey White Hot No. 2 putter is still going strong. It’s the most recognizable unrecognizable putter ever.

Here’s a better look at Stricker’s flatstick, which he started using back in 2007.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by GolfWRX (@golfwrx)

Patrick Cantlay has opened the equipment-switching floodgates

Over on the PGA Tour’s Equipment Report this week, we covered Cantlay’s recent switch into Ping Blueprint S irons, and a Titleist TSR2 driver.

Cantlay hadn’t switched irons for about seven years, so the iron switch he made at The 2024 Masters came as a shock to the norm. He simply isn’t one to change gear very often, so anytime Cantlay makes a switch, it’s news.

It seems the floodgates of equipment testing have opened up a bit for Cantlay, who was also spotted testing a custom Scotty Cameron blade putter on Tuesday this week. By Wednesday, Cantlay was back practicing with his familiar Scotty Cameron T5 Proto mallet, but it’s certainly something to keep an eye on going forward.

Daniel Berger’s custom Jailbird site lines

Berger, who’s currently using Odyssey’s Ai-One Mini Jailbird mallet putter, has a unique 3-dot, 2-line alignment on the crown of his navy-white-navy-white mallet putter. Looking down at the putter, it’s easy to see why this alignment system would help; it just seems impossible to set up to the ball off-center, or misaligned to the target.

Also, for anyone worried, you can rest easy. Yes, he’s still playing the 2013 TaylorMade TP MC irons, which we highlighted in our recent “Modern Classics: Old vs. New” video testing series.

FitzMagic teams back up

Brothers Matthew and Alex Fitzpatrick are teaming up once again at the Zurich this year, and Bettinardi Golf hooked them up with some festive “FitzMagic” headcovers to match this week.

See what else is in Alex Fitzpatrick’s WITB here

And, with that, we say goodbye to the Zurich Classic in New Orleans. Don’t forget to check out all of our photos from this week, including 30 unique photo galleries full of equipment photos.

We’ll see you next week in Texas for the 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson!

Your Reaction?