Equipment

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

Published

8 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.

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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

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Equipment

Interesting clubs at top of bag – GolfWRXers discuss

Published

4 hours ago

Jun 3, 2026

Will Schube

In our forums, users are talking about top of bag setups that are non-traditional or thought-provoking in some way. Original poster @SuperSpurs106 inquired about other members who might use unorthodox set-ups to help with gapping issues or weak spots.

They wrote:

“I currently have a PING G430 driver, TM Qi35 3W and a TM Qi4D 7W. Driver and 7W are fine but can’t get on with my 3W and have always struggling with this club over the years. Thinking of adding a 2H which I know would look odd. Just wondering if anyone else had a weird set up at the top of their bag?”

Our members in the forum have offered up their thoughts and personal experiences with non-traditional top of bag set-ups, and their reasoning for thinking outside of the box to begin with. Here are a few posts from the thread, but make sure to check out the entire discussion and have your say at the link below.

BowMain42: “Don’t worry about what “looks” odd. If the club does what you need it to do, it’s the right club.”
scooterhd2: “I cant hit 3 woods either. Thats why I roll with a unicorn XL Hibore 2 wood. 400 cc head at 16 degrees of loft and its just a monster 3 wood off the tee. Off the deck, we are playing the f6 baffler. 5 wood at 41.75 inches and its easy to control.”
phizzy30: “I had driver, 3 metal, 2/4 hybrid once upon a time as a higher ss player. 4 hybrid is gone and in place is a driving iron nowadays. I don’t think what you’re proposing is weird in anyway, however the yardage gap might be glaringly huge between driver and 2 hybrid. What is it about your 3 metal that has got you all messed up? You could always go 4 metal with shorter shaft and see if that works.”

Entire Thread: “Interesting clubs at top of bag”

If you aren’t a member, join us in the GolfWRX forums today!

Equipment

Members of the Mini Driver Club – GolfWRXers discuss

Published

4 hours ago

Jun 3, 2026

Will Schube

In our forums, one user has gone searching for fellow users of a mini driver. In a post, @TightFade asked for other mini driver users to chime in with their weapon of choice, the reason for employing a mini, and what club follows it in the bag.

@TightFade asked:

“What mini are you playing? What spot in the bag did it take over? What’s the next club after it? For me: Elyte mini 13.5. Replacing 3w. Next up club looks like it’ll be 5w.”

Our members in the forum have been sharing their own bag setups featuring the mini driver, and the various reasons they purchased one in the first place. Here are a few posts from the thread, but make sure to check out the entire discussion and have your say at the link below.

RCGA: “Ping G430 Max 12* ‘Thriver.’ Next club is a 4w and 2i (I play a weird course).”
JMB3: “R7 at 12.75 with Diamana BB 63s. 3w replacement. Next Club: Elyte Ti 5w at 17*.”
ColdOkieGolf: “R7 15.5 turned down to 13.5 It replaces the 3w. I found it surprisingly easy to hit off the deck, and it’s very rare that I need or want to hit something beyond 250 from the fairway, so next club is my 7w.”
ChaosTheory: “I’m sub-90 MPH with driver. But I’m able to hit DOD. I have been wanting something like the R7 15.5, so I just ordered one. I have a spot in the bag so nothing has to go. But I could see it replacing my trusty 4 wood, which I never use for approach shots. Just tee shots and lay ups. If I drop the 4 wood, I will turn my 7 wood down to ~20 degrees and will have good gaps. I recently tried a thriver build: 12 degree driver turned to 14, with a heavier 44 inch shaft and added head weight. I hit it great. Very accurate and not overly high, but the problem was that it sometimes went as far as a typical drive. And that’s not what I needed. So I will probably turn the 15.5 up to 16.5 or even 17.5. It’s all theoretical at this point. ?”

Entire Thread: “Members of the Mini Driver Club…Check In.”

If you aren’t a member, join us in the GolfWRX forums today!

Whats in the Bag

Chris Gotterup WITB 2026 (June)

Published

4 hours ago

Jun 3, 2026

GolfWRX Staff

Chris Gotterup had >14 clubs in his bag when photographed prior to the Memorial Tournament.

Drivers: TaylorMade Qi4D (8 degrees), Ping G440 LST (9 degrees @8), Ping G440 LST (7.5 degrees)
Shafts: Project X HZRDUS Smoke Grey 6.5 TX 70 g, Project X HZRDUS T1100 Handcrafted 6.5 TX 70 g, Project X HZRDUS Smoke Grey 6.5 TX 70 g