Equipment
What IS that on the back of Rickie Fowler’s Cobra King wedge?
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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- Michael S. Kim what’s in the bag accurate as of the Valero Texas Open.
Driver: Titleist TSR3 (10 degrees, B1 SureFit setting)
Shaft: Graphite Design Tour AD DI 8 X
3-wood: Ping G430 Max (15 degrees)
Shaft: Graphite Design Tour AD UB 8 TX
Irons: Titleist T200 (3, 4), Titleist T100 (5-PW)
Shafts: Graphite Design Tour AD IZ 95 X (3), Nippon N.S. Pro Modus3 Tour 120 S
Wedges: Titleist Vokey Design SM9 (52-12F), SM10 (56-14F), WedgeWorks Proto (60-L)
Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S300
Check out more in-hand photos of Michael Kim’s clubs here.
Putter: L.A.B. Link.1
Grip: SuperStroke Zenergy Tour 1.0P 17
Grips: Golf Pride MCC
Ball: Titleist Pro V1x
Check out more in-hand photos of Michael Kim’s clubs here.
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TaylorMade is leaning in even further to the retro vibes with the 2024 edition of its BRNR Mini Driver.
Patterned after the Carlsbad-based company’s iconic late 1990s Burner driver design, the 2024 BRNR Mini features similar copper styling and a retro version of the TaylorMade logo.
Featuring the same technology as its 2023 BRNR Mini Driver, the 2024 edition continues to play the hits that saw the unique club land in the bag of tour pros, such as Tommy Fleetwood and Jake Knapp.
- Check out details on the technology in our 2023 BRNR launch story.
- See more in-hand photos and read what GolfWRXers are saying in the forums.
Why play a mini driver?
In general, TaylorMade finds two types of golfers gravitate toward a mini driver. In the first case, it’s an addition to a standard driver: Players looking for a “fairway finder” driver without giving up too much distance that can also be hit off the deck. Second, TaylorMade recommends giving a mini a go to golfers who struggle to hit 460 cc drivers, particularly choppers. It’s a better alternative than a 3-wood off the tee.
Tommy Fleetwood’s endorsement of playing a mini driver
“For me, if I HAD to hit a fairway, I’m more comfortable hitting a driver than a 3-wood. I would tee the driver down, and I would hit a little cut, or a neck-y cut in the fairway. The 3-wood isn’t for that. The 3-wood, generally, is a pretty hot club that I’ll hit from 270 or 280 in the fairway on a par 5. You get some courses where a 3-wood is not always necessary. [With the BRNR] you put a normal swing on it, and I’m more comfortable hitting it straight. It’s a replacement for a 3-wood, basically.”
Pricing, specs, availability
TaylorMade’s new BRNR Mini Driver Copper clubs will sell for $449.99 in 11.5 (RH/LH) and 13.5 (RH) degree options, and they will be available for custom orders.
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Equipment
Coolest thing for sale in the GolfWRX Classifieds (4/5/24): I think I ‘Blacked Out’ trying to love these irons
At GolfWRX, we are a community of like-minded individuals that all experience and express our enjoyment of the game in many ways.
It’s that sense of community that drives day-to-day interactions in the forums on topics that range from best driver to what marker you use to mark your ball. It even allows us to share another thing we all love – buying and selling equipment.
Currently, in our GolfWRX buy/sell/trade (BST) forum, there is a listing for a set of blacked out P770 irons
From the seller: (@hammertime1515): “Just one single iron set up for grabs today. Got these right before they quote selling them at the end of February. Only played 3 full rounds with them and a couple short range sessions. 7 iron shows the most wear and 8 iron has a sandy mark on the toe (ball striking out of winter wasn’t the strong suit) Just not right for me no matter how much I wanted them to be. Price is shipped and OBO……
P770 Black Out irons. 4-PW. —New Tour Velvet Align Midsize Grips —1/2” over TM standard —2 degrees upright —Standard Lofts —Dynamic Gold 105 X100 shafts —PW has never been hit, most of them have been hit sparingly. Tried to capture the wear on the 7 iron and the toe mark on the 8 iron the best I could. Soles have virtually no scratching from use and no bag chatter. -If more pics are needed just ask ——PRICE: $1000 OBO” & Shipped
To check out the full listing in our BST forum, head through the link: Blacked out P770 irons
This is the most impressive current listing from the GolfWRX BST, and if you are curious about the rules to participate in the BST Forum you can check them out here: GolfWRX BST Rules
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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
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.
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.
George
Feb 2, 2018 at 5:18 pm
You don’t have a clue what you are talking about.
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.
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.
Blake
Jan 31, 2018 at 4:55 pm
Did people not know this?
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.
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.
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…
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? 😮
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.
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*??
Brian
Jan 31, 2018 at 1:55 pm
They’re probably bent to 56/60 for bounce and/or offset purposes.
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?