[GolfSpy T]

In For Review! - Cobra AMP Driver

Waiting for a couple more samples to come in before we get started on this one, but I do expect we'll be fully reviewing Rickie Fowler's driver, the Cobra AMP. If you read our recent review of the ZL Encore you saw a driver that offers outstanding performance, but that perhaps aesthetically didn't quite turn our tester's heads. Though some may not agree, I think this one looks infinitely better than the ZL Encore.

I haven't hit this one yet, so I can't comment on any aspect of performance (I may hit it tonight), but visually it's pretty distinct from anything else out there. Rickie Fowler's Sunday orange was clearly the inspiration here. It's evident on the sole plate, as well as the grip, and accents on the shafts. Unlike the Adam silver, the AMP crown has a little bit of gloss to it, and is reflective (though not to the extent of your average black driver). The grip is a bright orange Lamkin R.E.L. 3-Gen, and if you've seen my irons, you'll no doubt understand why I love it.

The silver 55 gram Aldila RIP is a matte silver that blends to black at the tip. The grip, shaft, head combination is positively brilliant visually. I'm not sold on the 55gram shaft, and according to Cobra's own shaft chart, it should produce more than an average amount of spin.

Headcover is Cobra Knit...similar to what shipped with Long Tom.

Please reply with any questions, or let me know if there are angles I missed that you'd like to see.

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[stevenhw8]

Not a fan of the Cobra AMP logo, but the combination of orange, gray and black face is pretty cool!

[Super Tuna]

I like this one much more then the ZLE. The muted grey looks great and I found it to be quite a bit less spinny right from the gates. Not a huge fan of the RIP but I can see some people loving it.

[ninjacobra]

wow i dont think id fall in love with this club even aft a 6 pack n a few shots of whisky.

that being said i wont be surprised if some old guys at my club gna buy this club and then hit it on a 150 m par 3

[da555ve]

I dont get Cobra right now... Where are they going in the market now ? Are they going for the young audience or are they keeping with senior ?

AMP look cool in my opinion of 31yo golfer... Weak shaft look NOT cool...

anyway, i don't even get the difference between AMP and ZL encore... two weak shaft ! no one seems like a tour head...

and don't speak to me about AMP hybrid with its offset... beurkkkk!

[Stuart81]

I have to admit apart from the TM RBZ this was the one other Driver I am looking forward to hitting. It will be interesting to see if it is a perfect match for Rickie Fowler, all show and no end product (at the moment, just my opinion)

Agree with da555ve, not sure what market Cobra are after with this surely the younger market is to small for a company of Cobra's size to try to dominate ?

Stuart

[da555ve]

Stuart, If I had a look at the younger market, I would have put a beefier shaft on it... If not, add a tour version with a good shaft!

Even if i'm not a fan, I have to give TM that. When they sell woods for good players (good player usualy are longer hitter with higher SS), they had a great shaft to it. For senior, they are also having good product with good shaft.

The AMP is probably an awesome head...

[Stuart81]

Da555ve

Exactly so where does this leave this Driver, are they in fact hoping that better golfers want the club but will want an up-graded shaft meaning spending more money?

Stuart

[ninjacobra]

i went for the demo yesterday and i couldnt tell apart the feel of this driver and the ZL encore. but the difference in price is almost 200 dollars.

i tried 10.5 ,9.5 in the ZL and maybe the stock shaft is a bit too watered down my friend said it looked lk my ball was "hanging on a string dangling in the sky" i gathered he meant it was launching high and just having a bit too much airtime instead of penetrating forward. because they didnt have any aftermarket shafts the guy suggested i try the AMP but in an 8.5 loft.

i have never hit an 8.5 before, and i thought to myself this is gonna be one of those embarrassing 200 yard dipping driver shots, but to my amazement on my first shot the ball had plenty of forward flight and even when it flew past the 250 sign it was still carrying and ended up flying over the back net.

i hit a couple off the bottom to just try out the " dual Roll" and theres a slight improvement in spin because the flight instead of just ballooning it was still flying forward. and touched the back net. the AMP is pretty forgiving as they claim. the shaft feels pretty ok too even if it was a watered down RIP maybe because of the lower loft i was hitting it couterbalanced the high launch shaft. The head is definitely excellent,the elliptical sweet spot works- its jst the shaft that is crappy.



the conclusion is the AMP is a good forgiving driver head, couldnt tell much difference between the feel of the AMP n the ZL encore especially the Encore has a whippy F1 shaft. COuldnt care less for the looks, but id be interested to try it again in a better shaft.

P.S forgot to mention the sound of both drivers, both the Encore n AMP doesn have the ugly crack that the Speed LD has anymore. IF anything they sound pretty ok to me and even better than Nike. THe Encore has a more muted sound than the R11.

[RoverRick]

The orange may appeal to the seniors out there. My club recently got a bunch of blaze orange pullover light weight jackets. I do not know exactlly what they are called, but I bought one of the tan ones last year with our country club logo. This year they got these blaze orange and I thought who in the heck will buy these. This morning I went out early to the bank and other places and came back to join the 10 am group, anyone there at 10 am is divided onto a team. This is usually earlier than I can go because of that pesky job but today I made it and when I rounded the corner there were 5 of these over 70 guys wearing these blaze orange pullovers standing around the 10th green. It looked like a highway department crew that had gotten lost.


I asked them later if they started wearing them because that way they could keep for running over each other with the cart and I can not tell you their response with out getting reported to the big MyGolfSpy monitor, but there were some hand movements to ensure I received the message.


The point is I do not think they will have a problem with the bright orange. Maybe they can make the wedges the same color because every day I see one of them going back to get their wedge they left at the previous hole.

[ninjacobra]

RoverRick, on 02 March 2012 - 04:13 PM, said:

The orange may appeal to the seniors out there. My club recently got a bunch of blaze orange pullover light weight jackets. I do not know exactlly what they are called, but I bought one of the tan ones last year with our country club logo. This year they got these blaze orange and I thought who in the heck will buy these. This morning I went out early to the bank and other places and came back to join the 10 am group, anyone there at 10 am is divided onto a team. This is usually earlier than I can go because of that pesky job but today I made it and when I rounded the corner there were 5 of these over 70 guys wearing these blaze orange pullovers standing around the 10th green. It looked like a highway department crew that had gotten lost.


I asked them later if they started wearing them because that way they could keep for running over each other with the cart and I can not tell you their response with out getting reported to the big MyGolfSpy monitor, but there were some hand movements to ensure I received the message.


The point is I do not think they will have a problem with the bright orange. Maybe they can make the wedges the same color because every day I see one of them going back to get their wedge they left at the previous hole.

RR they ald make the AMP irons butt ugly. its like a cheap looking beginners set. saw a few guys try it out yesterday tho - john daly crowd and a few old dudes over 50

[MyGolfSpy]

Good analogy of their demographic NinjaCobra:

"john daly crowd and a few old dudes over 50"

[da555ve]

Stuart81, on 01 March 2012 - 04:58 PM, said:

Da555ve

Exactly so where does this leave this Driver, are they in fact hoping that better golfers want the club but will want an up-graded shaft meaning spending more money?

Stuart

Don't know... One thing I have to give to Cobra, it's that they customized their driver depending of the loft. X-stiff model in 8,5* had a better shaft overall. I have the RIP shaft on my TMR9SD in 75gr version, really like it. Don't know if the 65gr will be strong enough..

[RoverRick]

ninjacobra, on 02 March 2012 - 07:43 AM, said:

RR - john daly crowd and a few old dudes over 50

Ouch, you are striking a little close to home with this word choice.

At 47 in two months I am not sure I love being an "old dude over 50" but I guess that is better than the alternative, a dead dude, but not quite 50. Everybody learns by their 45th birthday that old dudes are 70 and above.

I really thought that the would appeal just to the younger crowd, now I am not sure what these OLD men would like. Of if they would even cared.

[da555ve]

im really confused about one thing with AMP driver, the 8,5*loft is presented with a SW of D7. If im right with my understanding of my sw chart, that would mean a head of 210 grams... Seams like a tour head from Cobra that will be cut at 44" or 44,5" by pros...

More the loft is high, lighter seems the head... interesting idea !

Too bad they didn't produce something like that with the FW that seems really "vanilla"