Equipment

Cobra AMP Forged: Member Review

Published

12 years ago

Sep 11, 2012

From Cobra: Trusted and tour proven, these irons have the best of forged performance combined with Advanced Material Placement to offer the best of both worlds—playability with forgiveness. AMP Technology is applied individually to each iron in the set. The irons feature high MOI tungsten inserts (3-7 iron) and progressively larger CNC milled pockets (3-9 iron) that redistribute weight for higher launch and more consistent distance on off-center hits.

Pros: Cobra packed a lot of power into these irons — I saw at least 10 yards of distance with each club. Another great feature is that while each club’s sole is HUGE for “players irons,” the sharp leading edge compensates, giving me the confidence that I can compress the ball instead of just having the club bounce off the ground.

Cons: Having played blades for almost a decade, I am used to getting instant feedback with every shot — you know your swinging well with blades when you barely feel a thing at impact. These are SO forgiving that off center hits feel identical to solid impact. Also, at the proper angle, the chrome finish bounces the sunlight into your face at address more-so then other chromed irons I’ve tested.

Bottom Line: The added distance and monster ball flight make the AMP Forged extremely fun to play. It’s very easy to produce a shot with penetrating flight that goes DEEP and lands soft. These are ideal for the better player that can’t always get a lot of practice in during the week.

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About the tester

Swing Speed (Driver): 110 mph
Handicap: 3
Plays: 1-2 times a week

Click here for another review of the AMP Forged from a 45-year-old, 6-handicap golfer and to see comparison photos

Looks

I’m used to a small blade without the bling that these irons have. The orange insert is what jumps out to me first. It is purely cosmetic, and egos are the only thing that might be hurt by it, preventing experienced players from giving these irons a chance. The size of the clubs may also be off-putting at first glance, as the short irons are quite large. The sole on the gap wedge, pitching wedge and 9 iron is very wide, which gives them a bit of a “game improvement” look rather than the “players iron” that Cobra might have been going for. Not to worry though — over the ball the leading edge is sharp and the hosel is thin, giving them a very blade-like appearance over the ball. The sole starts to thin out as you go up the bag, ending with the 4 iron being a not-so-shocking width. The 4 through 7 irons have the added tungsten inserts in the heel and toe which really doesn’t make a noticeable change to the look; just a dark grey spot on either side of the number. Looking at the cavity, you could say that these irons are “ripped.” For a cavity back, there is a lot of muscle bulging out the back, with the COBRA logo popping out of the cavity. For me, the best part of the look is that at address I didn’t see the cavity creeping out behind to the topline in the long irons. So many other brands with this style of cavity back have longer dragged out soles in the long irons that give them somewhat of a hybrid, and thus a “game-improvement” look. With these, all you see at address is the thin topline and sharp leading edge, which a lot of players will like to see.

Click here to see more photos and read the discussion in the forums

Performance/Playability

The AMP forged have great versatility. A standard shot gives you a penetrating flight that goes for miles and lands softly, which you would expect from a cavity back. Obviously the right shaft helps, but a lot of times, cavity backs are just a big blunt instrument that aren’t as easy to be creative with. With these, you also get the workability and trajectory control of a blade. For as high as these can send the ball, they can just as easily fire little low bullets. Shaping shots is a bit trickier. The larger face and wider sole take some getting used to when trying to work the ball. Having been with thin blades for so long, I was always used to having a small, thin sole hit the ground at impact. With these, the wider sole seems to try to square the face at impact, making it a little difficult to leave the face open and hit a little cut. It’s not impossible though. Once you start to feel how the club reacts differently compared to a small blade, you can make the adjustment and still do have the ability to shape the ball. Also, the lofts are two-to-three degrees degrees stronger than standard (my set had a PW of 48 degrees, the AMP Forged PW measured 45 degrees), so each club gave me at least 10 yards additional distance.

Feel

Feel is one of those personal characteristics that make people like certain clubs over others. For me, these have a soft, solid feel that I would expect from a quality forged club. For a forged club, these are also incredibly forgiving. The tungsten weights in the mid and long irons really increase distance and forgiveness on off center hits. My misses were flying just as far as a center strike, and felt just as soft. For me, that’s not always a good thing. When my last shot was “not so perfect,” I try to apply how the shot felt at impact to the next few swings so I can adjust on the fly. My old blades had a very obvious feel when the shot wasn’t dead square, and I could learn and apply that to the next shot. It’s a little harder with the AMP Forged. They are so forgiving that they don’t’ always give you that immediate feedback, making it harder to know how to prevent that same swing on the next shot. Every shot with the AMP Forged feels flush. These might make things difficult for the better player who is always trying to improve and learn something from each shot.

The Takeaway

These are definitely a fun club to play. They break from the traditional look and add some great detail that player’s irons may have been missing. They provide the length and forgiveness of normal cavity backs with the versatility of traditional blades. The forged steel is very soft and forgiving, yet provides an explosive feel that makes each shot feel flush and solid. Are these the best feeling clubs I’ve ever played? Not quite. But for a strong player who wants distance, forgiveness and control, the AMP Forged are definitely near the top.

Click here to see more photos and read the discussion in the forums

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Whats in the Bag

Kevin Tway WITB 2024 (May)

Published

1 day ago

May 10, 2024

GolfWRX Staff

Kevin Tway what’s in the bag accurate as of the Wells Fargo Championship. More photos from the event here.

Driver: Ping G430 LST (10.5 degrees)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Black 6 X

3-wood: TaylorMade Stealth 2 (15 degrees)
Shaft: Mitsubishi Diamana D+ 80 TX

Check out more in-hand photos of Kevin Tway’s clubs here.

5-wood: TaylorMade Stealth 2 (18 degrees)
Shaft: Mitsubishi Diamana D+ 90 TX

Irons: Wilson Staff Utility (2), Titleist T100 (4-9)
Shafts: Mitsubishi MMT 100 TX (2), True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X100 (4-9)

Check out more in-hand photos of Kevin Tway’s clubs here.

Wedges: Titleist Vokey Design SM10 (48-10F @47, 52-12F @51, 56-14F), SM7 (60-10S)
Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X100 (48-56), True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S400 (60)

Putter: Scotty Cameron T-5 Proto
Grip: Scotty Cameron Black Baby T

Grips: Golf Pride Tour Velvet Plus4

More photos of Kevin Tway’s WITB in the forums.

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Equipment

Did Rory McIlroy inspire Shane Lowry’s putter switch?

Published

1 day ago

May 10, 2024

GolfWRX Staff

Editor’s note: This is an excerpt from a piece our Andrew Tursky originally wrote for PGATour.com’s Equipment Report. Head over there for the full article.

The timing of Lowry’s putter changeup was curious: Was he just using a Spider putter because he was paired with McIlroy, who’s been using a Spider Tour X head throughout 2024? Was Lowry just being festive because it’s the Zurich Classic, and he wanted to match his teammate? Did McIlroy let Lowry try his putter, and he liked it so much he actually switched into it?

Well, as it turns out, McIlroy’s only influence was inspiring Lowry to make more putts.

When asked if McIlroy had an influence on the putter switch, Lowry had this to say: “No, it’s actually a different putter than what he uses. Maybe there was more pressure there because I needed to hole some more putts if we wanted to win,” he said with a laugh.

To Lowry’s point, McIlroy plays the Tour X model, whereas Lowry switched into the Tour Z model, which has a sleeker shape in comparison, and the two sole weights of the club are more towards the face.

Lowry’s Spider Tour Z has a white True Path Alignment channel on the crown of his putter, which is reminiscent of Lowry’s former 2-ball designs, thus helping to provide a comfort factor despite the departure from his norm. Instead of a double-bend hosel, which Lowry used in his 2-ball putters, his new Spider Tour Z is designed with a short slant neck.

“I’ve been struggling on the greens, and I just needed something with a fresh look,” Lowry told GolfWRX.com on Wednesday at the 2024 Wells Fargo Championship. “It has a different neck on it, as well, so it moves a bit differently, but it’s similar. It has a white line on the back of it [like my 2-ball], and it’s a mallet style. So it’s not too drastic of a change.

“I just picked it up on the putting green and I liked the look of it, so I was like, ‘Let’s give it a go.’”

Read the rest of the piece over at PGATour.com.

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Equipment

Webb Simpson equipment Q&A: Titleist’s new 2-wood, 680 blade irons, and switching to a broomstick Jailbird

Published

2 days ago

May 10, 2024

Andrew Tursky

With seven career wins on the PGA Tour, including a U.S. Open victory, Webb Simpson is a certified veteran on the course. But he’s also a certified veteran in the equipment world, too. He’s a gearhead who truly knows his stuff, and he’s even worked closely with Titleist on making his own custom 682.WS irons.

On Wednesday at the 2024 Wells Fargo Championship, I caught up with Simpson to hear about his experience with Titleist’s new prototype 2-wood, how Titleist’s 680 Forged irons from 2003 ended up back in his bag, and why he’s switching into an Odyssey Ai-One Jailbird Cruiser broomstick putter this week for the first time.

Click here to read our full story about Simpson’s putter switch on PGATOUR.com’s Equipment Report, or continue reading below for my full Q&A with Simpson at Quail Hollow Club on Wednesday.

See Webb Simpson’s full WITB from the 2024 Wells Fargo Championship here

GolfWRX: It seems like you’ve been a little all over the place with your irons in the past six months or so, and now going back to the 680’s. Is that just a comfort thing? What’s been going on with the irons?

Webb Simpson: Titleist has been so great at working with me, and R&D, on trying to get an iron that kind of modernizes the 680. And so the 682.WS took the T100 grooves, but kinda took the look and the bulk and the build of the 680’s into one club. They’re beautiful, and awesome looking. I just never hit them that well for a consistent period of time. It was probably me, but then I went to T100’s and loved them. I loved the spin, the trajectory, the yardage, but again, I never went on good runs. Going through the ground, I couldn’t feel the club as well as with the blade. So last week, I’m like, ‘Alright. I’m gonna go back more for…comfort, and see if I can get on a nice little run of ball striking.’

So that’s why I went back.

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OK, that makes sense. I know you had done some 2-wood testing recently. Is that in the bag right now?

It’s like day-by-day. I used it at Hilton Head every day. Valero, I used it one round. And this week, me and my caddie will do the book every morning, and if it’s a day where we think we need it, we’ll just put it in and take the 3-wood out. I love it because it’s a super simple swap. Like, it doesn’t really change much.

Yeah, can you tell me about that club? I mean, we don’t really know anything about it yet. You know? I haven’t hit it or anything, obviously.

It has grooves like a 3-wood. Spin is perfect. And it’s honestly, like, everything is in the middle of a 3-wood and driver number. Trajectory, spin, carry, all of it. So, a Hilton Head golf course is almost too easy to talk about because, you know, there, so many holes are driver 3-wood.

Valero, our thinking was we had two par-5’s into the wind, and we knew that it would take two great shots to get there in two. So instead of hitting driver-driver, we just put it in. And I used it on those holes.

Hilton was a little easier because it was off-the-tee kind of questions. But Colonial will be a golf course where, you know, there’s a lot of driver or 3-woods. It’s kind of like a backup putter or driver for me now. I’ll bring it to every tournament.

So it’s, like, in your locker right now, probably?

Well, it would be. It’s in my house [because Webb lives near by Quail Hollow Club, and is a member at the course.] It’s in the garage.

Oh, yeah, that’s right. Do you know what holes you might use it out here if it goes in play?

Potentially 15, depending on the wind. Second shot on 10. Could be 14 off the tee. The chances here are pretty low (that he’ll use the 2-wood). But, like, Greensboro would be an awesome club all day. I’m trying to think of any other golf courses.

There’s plenty that it’ll be a nice weapon to have.

It’s interesting, the wave of 2-woods and mini drivers. Like, it’s just really taken off on Tour, and all the companies have seemed to embrace it.

Yeah. The thing I had to learn, it took me, like, at least a week to learn about it is you gotta tee it up lower than you think. I kept teeing it up too high. You need it low, like barely higher than a 3-wood. And that was where I got optimal spin and carry. If you tee it up too high, you just don’t get as much spin and lose distance, I don’t know if that’s just a mini driver thing.

And you obviously have a Jailbird putter this week. What spurred that on?

Inconsistent putting. I’m stubborn in a lot of ways when it comes to my equipment, but I have to be open minded – I just hadn’t putted consistently well in a while. And I’m like, ‘Man, I feel my ball-striking coming along. Like I feel better; for real, better.’

If I can just get something in my hands that I’m consistent with. Being on Tour, you see it every year, guys get on little runs. I can put together four to five tournaments where I’m all the sudden back in the majors, or in the FedExCup Playoffs. You can turn things around quick out here. I’m like, ‘Man, whatever’s going to get me there, great.’

My caddie, David Cook, caddied for Akshay at the Houston Open and he putted beautifully. Then, I watched Akshay on TV at Valero, and he putted beautifully. And, I’m like, ‘I’m just going to try it.’

I’ve never tried it for more than a putt or two, and I just ordered what Akshay uses. It was pretty awkward at first, but the more I used it, the more I’m like, ‘Man, it’s pretty easy.’ And a buddy of mine who’s a rep out here, John Tyler Griffin, he helped me with some setup stuff. And he said at Hilton Head, he wasn’t putting well, then tried it, and now he makes everything. He was very confident. So I’m like, ‘Alright, I’ll try it.’”

And you’re going with it this week?

Hundred percent.

Alright, I love it. Thank you, I always love talking gear with you. Play well this week.

Thanks, man.

See Webb Simpson’s full WITB from the 2024 Wells Fargo Championship here

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