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10 things you need to know about Cobra’s new King F8 lineup for 2018

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Following up on its previous King F7 golf clubs, Cobra is back with its full line of King F8 drivers, hybrids and irons, and you’ll notice a slew of differences from its predecessors. Cobra has thrown the proverbial kitchen sink at the new F8 golf clubs based on about 2.5 years of R&D, according to the company, and many of the new technologies are quite visible. It’s also the first line of “smart” golf clubs, which you’ll learn more about below.

Here are 10 things you need to about Cobra’s new F8 golf clubs, and don’t forget to join the discussion and see more photos of the product!

1) CNC-Milled Faces 

Unlike just about every other driver face on the market, Cobra’s new F8 and F8+ drivers have multi-directional CNC-milled faces. The process, which takes roughly 25 minutes per head according to Cobra, allows the faces to be produced thinner to increase ball speeds, and it saves weight to be used elsewhere in the heads (mostly low and rearward to increase forgiveness).

The surface roughness that the milling produces increases friction, which actually lowers spin on drivers. Additionally, milling the faces tightens the tolerances, leading to more consistency and overall ball speed — since there’s a tighter tolerance, Cobra can get consistently closer to the USGA’s CT limit (a measure of spring-like effect).

2) Aero-(S)trips 

While we’ve seen “speed trips” on the crowns of other drivers on the market to increase their aerodynamic quality, Cobra was able to add trips without adding much weight to the crown’s structure. That’s because Cobra is using polymer decal tape to trip-up airflow around the crown during the swing. The polymer trips, along with a re-designed, streamlined shape — Cobra calls this “360 Aero” — the company has reduced overall drag by 17 percent compared to the F7 drivers. According to Cobra, this leads to 1.1 mph more ball speed, and 4 yards in total distance.

3) Weight a second

Rather than three weight ports in the soles of the drivers, as we saw in the F7 and F7+ drivers, Cobra has switched to two weight ports in the F8 (draw and neutral) and F8+ (forward and rearward) drivers. According to the company, fewer weight ports in the head allowed engineers to drop overall CG (center of gravity) in the head, thus making them more forgiving, while not giving up the ability for golfers to adjust CG to their swing needs.

4) All of the F8 clubs are “Smart”

Cobra launched its Connect system, in connection with Arccos Golf, in the F7 drivers. That means Arccos tracking system was embedded in the grips of the drivers, which uses vibrations to return club analytics.

Now, Cobra Connect will be available in every club throughout the F8 line. When you purchase a set of King F8 or King F8 ONE iron sets, you will also receive a full set of Arccos 360 sensors for FREE; Cobra says this is a $249 value. With the new Cobra Connect system in every head throughout the set, golfers will receive stroked-gained stats and other helpful data in the app.

Side note: you will still need to play golf with your smartphone in your pocket for the system to work.

5) Doubling down on the rails

Cobra’s Baffler technology isn’t new, as it’s been featured in the last few iterations of fairway woods from the company, it has brought the rails closer together and made them taller. The technology works similarly to bounce on wedges, and helps the club glide through the turf, preventing digging and allowing for a more aggressive pass at the golf ball.

The new F8 and F8+ fairway woods have been given a sleeker head shape based on feedback from player testing. There is also Carbon fiber in the crowns to drop weight in the club head to make them more forgiving.

6) Carbon Fiber in the irons

Cobra’s new F8 irons, as with the F8 fairway woods, have also been given a carbon fiber addition. In the irons, there’s a new Carbon fiber medallion in the rear cavities — the design will work to provide a softer, lighter feel. Like irons in the company’s past, the F8 irons also have progressive TecFlo designs and spin technology throughout the sets; this means the long irons will fly higher and with less spin for more distance, while the shorter irons will fly lower and with more spin for greater control. The F8 irons utilize the familiar “PWRSHELL” technology that keeps CG low to boost forgiveness and speed.

7) One-length irons and… hybrids?

The one-length iron sets have been given a few tweaks. Most notably, Cobra has adjusted lie angles throughout the set to make long irons fly a bit higher and short irons a bit lower. Also, the longer irons have been given a wider sole, especially when compared to their variable-length F8 counterparts. The F8 ONE sets will also utilize carbon fiber for a better feel.

New in this year’s F8 ONE set is the addition of a hybrid — it also utilizes Baffler Technology. Along with bringing the long-game benefits of a hybrid into the one-length concept, a Cobra representative also notes that it will be utilized by many as an option around the greens due to its shortened length.

8) Nardo

The “nardo” gray color (pictured on the right), which is an option in the metalwoods aside from black, is undeniably popular right now throughout the sporting world and beyond. You may have noticed Oklahoma State and Ohio State’s college football teams using the color recently for their alternate jerseys, and several automobile manufacturers utilizing nardo in their color schemes. It’s the hottest color in sports right now, so why not bring it into the world of golf?

9) For the kids

Cobra is offering F8 Junior heads that are “real deal drivers,” in 39 (7-9 year olds), 41 (10-12 year olds) and 43-inch (13-15 year olds) length options. The best thing is that if you register the club through Cobra, the company will upgrade the driver with the longer shaft option for free as he/she gets older.

10) Specs, pricing and more

Note: All drivers, fairway woods and hybrids will hit stores on January 12, while all irons will hit stores February 2.

King F8 and F8+ Drivers ($399)

  • The F8 drivers (9-12 degrees) come with stock MRC Tensei CK Blue 50, Aldila NV 2KXV Blue 60, or Aldila NV 2KXV Green 65 shafts with Lamkin REL Cobra Connect grips.
  • The F8+drivers (8-11 degrees) come with stock Aldila NV 2KXV Blue 60, Aldila NV 2KXV Green 65 or Project X HZRDUS Yellow 75 shafts and Lamkin Crossline 360 Cobra Connect grips.

King F8 fairways ($249)

  • Head options: 3-4: (13-16 degrees), 5-6: (17-20 degrees), 7-8: (21-24 degrees)
  • Grip: Lamkin REL 360 Cobra Connect
  • Stock shaft: Aldila NV 2KXV Blue 70

King F8+ Fairways ($249)

  • Head options: 3-4: (12-15 degrees), 5-6: (16-19 degrees)
  • Grip: Lamkin Crosline 360 Cobra Connect
  • Stock Shaft: Aldila NV 2KXV Green 75

King F8 hybrids ($199)

  • Head options: 2H (17 degrees), 3H (19 degrees), 4H (22 degrees) and 5H (25 degrees)
  • Stock Shaft: Aldila Rogue Pro 75
  • Grip: Lamkin REL 360 Cobra Connect

King F8 ONE hybrids ($199)

  • Head options: 3H (19 degrees), 4H (22 degrees) and 5H (25 degrees)
  • Grip: Lamkin REL 360 Cobra Connect
  • Stock Shaft: Aldila Rogue Pro One Length

King F8 Variable length steel ($799 steel, $899 graphite)

Steel irons (5-PW, GW) come with True Temper XP 90 shafts and Lamkin REL 360 Cobra Connect shafts, while graphite (5H, 6-PW, GW) come with Aldila Rogue Pro 65 shafts with Lamkin REL Cobra Connect grips.

King F8 ONE ($799 steel, $899 graphite)

One-length iron sets (5-PW, GW) come with either Aldila One Rogue 65 shafts or True Temper One Flighted shafts and Lamkin Crossline 360 Cobra Connect grips.

 

Discussion: See more photos, and read what GolfWRX members are saying about the clubs in our forums

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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.

20 Comments

20 Comments

  1. Steve

    Dec 17, 2017 at 3:47 pm

    I think this looks like it wants to be in my bag. I want to play these clubs. This just might be what can get me to give up my ping driver. Definitely want the baffler. I sold an old 7 cobalt 7 wood from Tony Penna golf many years ago that had rails I miss that club.

  2. Crazy About Golf

    Dec 14, 2017 at 11:19 pm

    Put a Callaway GBB Epic Sub Zero in my bag a couple months ago and it is a bomber…..but I’m definitely going to give this new Cobra a few swings! Just for fun! It looks bad a$$!

  3. Ian

    Nov 29, 2017 at 9:39 am

    Cobra trying to change the game. Could be great

  4. Val

    Nov 15, 2017 at 7:46 pm

    I WANT all those awesome wild weapons sitting in my WITB arsenal !!!!!
    I’m a King Cobra golfer and others will fear me and my WITB weapons !!!!
    Man ‘o man am I itching for all the FFFFF88888 destroyers !!!!!

  5. Gorden

    Nov 15, 2017 at 6:45 pm

    One thing for sure we are seeing them going to major bells and whistle’s to sell a driver at $399. Anyone playing to a 12 or more will never need any of this, (unless they are under 10 and at a 12 already).

  6. Underachiever

    Nov 15, 2017 at 4:35 pm

    Curious what the numbers will be like on high toe shots I hit when I catch it on the text…

  7. Jeff Newman

    Nov 15, 2017 at 3:03 pm

    So, friction now decreases spin??? WTH? So what is Cleveland and their wedges touting and are they totally wrong? Come on….. Something or someone is not telling the truth.

    • John

      Nov 16, 2017 at 12:04 am

      well if you hit up with a driver and down with a wedge, wouldn’t it produce opposite results?

      • Robert Parsons

        Dec 20, 2017 at 12:08 am

        Explain how that works with so many people that have negative AOA? Thanks for playing, and feel free to try again.

    • Mike

      Nov 16, 2017 at 11:14 am

      Bridgestone did this with the J715 for the past few years and it was amazing. That is still one of my all time drivers because it did drop my spin and I am still using that driver today. All new drivers could not match that head/shaft combo and that was after extensive testing of the other latest and greatest. This might be the new driver for me since I am a true believer of that milled face.

    • Troy

      Dec 3, 2017 at 7:41 am

      I was curious about this too. Seems like CNC milling will only add spin, but there has been no word on this from anyone. I am super interested in the driver, but I am going to have to see how the numbers compare to my current gamer before making any decisions.

  8. alexdub

    Nov 15, 2017 at 11:46 am

    This could be the best looking driver cobra has ever put out. Love it.

  9. Milo

    Nov 15, 2017 at 11:42 am

    Guess we’ll see how the F8+ does against my LTD Pro

  10. Bo Pence

    Nov 15, 2017 at 11:23 am

    Doesn’t look as good as the white and black carbon composite the Taylormades have. Price is good though!

  11. Duncan Marc

    Nov 15, 2017 at 10:25 am

    Is it 7 yards longer? J/K.
    Cobra makes great stuff. I’ll have to give their irons a look when I’m ready this spring.

  12. M-Herd4

    Nov 15, 2017 at 9:57 am

    Awesome!!! My wife made the switch to a full bag of Cobra’s 3 years ago and I traded in my Pings for Cobra’s 2 years ago. Best moved we ever made. Absolutely love Cobra products!!

  13. Dat

    Nov 15, 2017 at 9:08 am

    At least it isn’t $899.

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Whats in the Bag

Kevin Tway WITB 2024 (May)

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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

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)

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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Did Rory McIlroy inspire Shane Lowry’s putter switch?

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

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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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A post shared by GolfWRX (@golfwrx)

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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