The new KING line of drivers from Cobra Puma Golf has been the big talk around our golf shops, partly due to Cobra’s partnership with NASA to develop new materials for this driver on the space station. The newest addition to this driver is the “Spaceport”- a 16 gram weight, which helps to create an extremely low center of gravity (CG), and a very high moment of Inertia (MOI). Cobra claims that the KING line of drivers is the first to achieve a CG position on the “neutral axis”. This is important as a CG position on the neutral axis should allow for the most efficient energy transfer with less gearing (more forgiveness).
Over the last couple of seasons we have heard many different CG stories from some of Cobra’s competitors. Some have claimed a low/forward CG, others claim low/back. In our testing, low/forward typically produces the lowest of any CG resulting in a driver that will produce the least amount of launch and spin. With a low/back CG position, typically the CG is in a higher position than low/forward. This results in more forgiveness, but also usually higher launch and spin. The benefit of a CG position on the neutral axis is taking the best from the other two CG locations; a very low CG position set back from the club face. As mentioned before, this should result in max efficiency and forgiveness.
I put the two clubs to test in the Cluboratory at Miles of Golf and was very surprised at how forgiving each club feels. It’s also not only the perception of forgiveness but the TrackMan data completely backed it up. I used the stock Rouge Black, X-Flex while keeping each head at its lowest loft setting. LTD has a loft adjustment from 9 to 12 featuring draw settings, while LTD PRO has fade settings with a loft adjustment from 7 to 10. Both heads are 460cc.
Clubhead Speed | Ball Speed | Launch Angle | Spin Rate | Carry Distance | Spin Axis | Total Distance | |
LTD | 108.6 | 163.3 | 16.0 | 2202 | 287.7 | -2.8 | 307.7 |
LTD PRO | 108.6 | 164.5 | 14.3 | 1629 | 287.5 | 4.2 | 316.4 |
Looking at the numbers we can relate the change in launch and spin to the static difference in loft. It’s not surprising to see very similar ball speeds between the two drivers given the static loft difference, due to both drivers being very efficient. The only real separation in distance performance comes from the flatter trajectory (lower launch and spin) of the LTD Pro. While hitting both clubs it was noticeably easier to return the face back to square with the LTD vs the LTD Pro. This is represented in the dispersion chart below. When I looked down at LTD Pro set at 7 degrees it looked open to me, whereas the LTD at 9 degrees looked square. Cobra claims that their “SmartPad”, a technology designed for the sole of their drivers, will return their drivers to a square face angle no matter what loft it is set at. I clearly saw a difference between the two different models and I believe this is why I had the tendency to hit the ball right with the LTD Pro.
After testing these two clubs I can say our excitement for the KING models is justified. Not only are the clubs appealing to the eye, they are a complete pleasure to hit. The feel of the ball off the club face is simply awesome. We expect this will be one of our better all-around performing drivers of the upcoming season.