COBRA ONE LENGTH - iS THE HYPE FOR REAL

[dcorun]

I'm looking for opinions about these irons from members who play them or have tested them. Not looking for reviews from ads or magazines. I plan on trying them soon but, want some honest answers from the real world not the corporate one. Also, any future tellers in the crowd who have any ideas how the 2nd generation one length might be tweaked in the 2018 set? 

[Golfspy_CG2]

Well if you want honest real feedback from all range of goflers, you've come to the right place.

 

I'll share my very limited experience.  I got to demo the F7 One and the One Forged last November with the Cobra Rep.  He only had CTaper  Stiff shafts for both, and that is a bit stout for me, as I usually play a shaft in the 95 to 105 gram weight in R flex.  

 

I grabbed the F7 One as a 17 HC, I figured that was best suited for me.  I didn't like it at all really (remember the shaft) I picked up the One Forged expecting to not to be able to hit it at all, but I was very shocked.  I was hitting solid shot after solid shot.  I of course could feel the shaft was a bit of a struggle for me and not completely loading, but you really couldn't tell there was any significant drop off from that to my normal iron (AP1 in KBS Tour 90)   I must have hit about 20 balls with the One Forged, and could have easily played them all.   We were hitting 5,7 and 9 irons for each.   It felt really good to take the same setup for each club.

 

My Head Pro was hitting right next to me, and he was expecting not to like the concept at all, but he was very impressed.  Especially how easy the 5iron was to hit.  He was hitting a nice high draw to about 190 yards with it.  The 9 iron flew a bit to high for his liking, but he said he could adjust to that. 

 

These are right up there with the Srixon 765 irons on my ponder list.  

[PlaidJacket]

I'd like someone explain to me "loading of the shaft". Carolina refers to not being able to feel the shaft Loading. Does that mean when you're testing clubs and or shafts you think about Loading? I personally have never given Loading a passing thought.

My fitter never asked me how the Loading of the shaft felt to me. Perhaps a machine can measure loading? Me... I don't think so. I'm suspicious of the term. For instance when you're selecting a shaft; do you say to yourself, "I don't like the way the shaft loads". When selecting a shaft where do you find the Load factor listed?

[Golfspy_CG2]

I'd like someone explain to me "loading of the shaft". Carolina refers to not being able to feel the shaft Loading. Does that mean when you're testing clubs and or shafts you think about Loading? I personally have never given Loading a passing thought.

My fitter never asked me how the Loading of the shaft felt to me. Perhaps a machine can measure loading? Me... I don't think so. I'm suspicious of the term. For instance when you're selecting a shaft; do you say to yourself, "I don't like the way the shaft loads". When selecting a shaft where do you find the Load factor listed?

Plaid...I was stumped by this as well for the longest time.   But after a fitting a couple years ago that was done by Club Champion (not a commercial, just a reference) I finally got it.   I had been swinging a shaft that was too heavy and too stiff for me, but I didn't know it so I really had nothing to compare it to.  Once he put me in a shaft that had a softer flex and bend profile, I could actually kind of feel where the club head was during my downswing,  and as a result could feel the flex working as intended.  Meaning, that it had some spring in it as it came into the down swing.   

 

I'm probably not explaining this well, but the only other analogy I can think of is if you were to swing a short two by four, it wouldn't give at all, it would just follow you as you swung it, but if you were to then swing a whip, it would bend and flex to much and you'd be able to feel that.   So a shaft loading properly should feel somewhere in between. 

 

To me it's one of those things, that's hard to describe, but you know it when you feel it. 

[revkev]

I think it's one of those there physics terms Plaid. It's important that you have the proper shaft as it will maximize the transfer of energy from your body, to the club face to the ball. A properly "loaded" shaft stores the energy and imparts it at the right time (at impact).

 

It's a pretty common term among equipment geeks.

 

I can't tell you that I know what it feels like. That's what a fitter is for - at least for me it is because by feel I wouldn't be able to tell you if I were properly loading the shaft or not.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using MyGolfSpy

[alfriday101]

Several years ago I tried single length irons.  I liked the concept, but I hated the heads on the clubs.  They were super game improvement clubs and I couldn't really feel where on the club face I was making contact.  I sent the clubs back with in the trial period.  But, I told my self that if a company ever came out with a set of "players" clubs, I would try them again.  

 

Fast forward to 2017.  I ordered a set of one length irons from Cobra.  I received them in February.  I now play with the forged set LW through 7 iron and the cast set in 6 and 5 iron. I worked with the new clubs over the winter in Florida and am now playing them in-between rain drops in the Midwest.  So my view is based on 3 months of practice and play.  

 

Over all I really like the irons.  It took a few weeks to get used to the new irons.  No surprise there.  I practiced by randomly lining up the irons and grabbing one to hit without even looking at the number on the club.  This helped to get me to swing each club like a seven iron.  Nevertheless, when I started hitting to specific targets, I still had a bit of a mental block to overcome--the 5 iron just seemed too short to go 180 yards and I'd swing too hard until I got used to it.  Now that I have adjusted, it is no problem,  

 

The 5 and 6 iron do fly a bit low compared to my previous irons, but that is more than compensated for by improved ball striking.  The gaping is different from my previous irons, but it is an even gapping.  The irons are different lofts from my previous set, so the difference was expected.  

 

Regarding the high lofted irons and wedges:  I absolutely love them.  I cannot imagine going back to short shafted wedges, ever.  I'm 6' 2" and used to get a sore back from practicing chipping and pitching.  No more.  My wedge play has improved dramatically.  I am definitely making better contact throughout the set.  The wedges do go higher than my old set, but it hasn't really been a problem.  I've played on a couple of really windy days, and it hasn't been a problem.  I can hit all the shots I hit with my regular set--low, medium or high--I'm just making a lot better contact.  

 

One of the biggest advantages of the set is with practice.  I no longer have to work my way up the set.  The wedge and the 5 iron set up the same.  The sing is the same.  I spend much less time hitting different irons which frees up time to work on the short game, hybrids and woods.  

 

Interestingly, my ball striking with my woods and hybrids as also improved a bit.  I think I just get used to a smooth, consistent swing with the irons that transfers to the other clubs.

 

The irons aren't without drawbacks.  The low lofted irons do fly lower and the wedges do fly higher.  Even the forged one length irons don't feel as good as my old irons, but I've adjusted to that.  On balance, however, the downside is more than made up for with better ball striking.  The rounds I've played this year are all under my average from last year, and one round was the lowest I have shot in three years.  Not all of this improvement can be attributed to the clubs, I have been working on my over all approach to the game.  But, some of the improvement is directly because of the shift to one length.  

 

I ordered the irons in the standard length, which for me makes the irons my 8 iron length.  (I normally play clubs 1/2 inch long.) Tom Wishon recommends the 8 iron length for his Sterling irons.  I hit my standard 8 iron better than my 7, so I went with the shorter length.  

 

To sum up my views:  the irons have been good for my game.  They have some drawbacks, but those are made up for because of better ball striking through the set.  

 

As for the future, I think the clubs will continue to evolve as more companies explore the single length option.  Edel is working with different shafts in the set, Sterling used different faces in the set and Cobra has its tech-flow technology through the set.  It will be interesting to see where the next few generations of set go.  I'm glad I got the one length irons this year as I'm seeing immediate gains.  I may replace them in a few years if the next generation sets work out some of the problems, but I'll need to see real improvements.   

[PlaidJacket]

I had a similar experience Carolina...

 

When I was fit we did work through the process of me feeling the club head as I swing and tried several shaft options. My fitter would add a tiny amount of lead tape down on the hozel and ask me to hit a shot or two and give him feed back as to how the club felt. I recall at one point I went, Ah ha! Meaning... that feels great. So perhaps that's what you're referring to. At the end of my fitting we talked about it (shaft & weighting) and he showed me some tiny lead shot and said that is what (amount of weight) he'll be adding to my clubs. He placed them in my palm and I said, "that's it?" You could hardly feel the weight but it made a big impact in the way my clubs felt. Perhaps that's feeling the loading.

As I've said many times... I really don't care all that much about the minute details of club fitting and all the shaft talk, and other mumbo-jumbo. I just care how my clubs feel and perform. Basically what I see with my eyes and feel with my hands when I play.

 

BTW: sorry for getting off topic. Now back to single length irons.

[Golfspy_CG2]

Yes. I think it was very similar. I also have heard an OEM say a couple gram difference is practically undetectable for the average player. But can make a difference in performance.

 

I find it all interesting. But if it gets too deep I tend to not retain it all.

 

Yes, on the subject of one length. Im a fan and hope to get more experience with them.

 

Sent from my LG-D850 using MyGolfSpy mobile app

[McaseyM]

Great review alfriday101, thanks!

I just demoed these last weekend, and liked the feel for the F7 versus forged, but I wasn't paying attention to the shafts, but I know they were stiff versus the x stiff I play.

I would imagine that the next generation will be more dialed in, but I did like them, love the concept, and put my name in for forum testing.

 

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using MyGolfSpy

[fraasty]

I have a set of these 5-lw and really like them.

 

The only downside imo is the lower flight of the 5 and 6 irons. I have even thought of throwing regular sized 5 and 6 irons back in the bag. The short irons do fly nice and high with a lot of backspin which is good with me.

 

I do pretty much all my chipping with a 60 deg and I will say the cobra wedge rolls out farther than my old Cleveland rtx 2.0 did. Not too bad just have to get used to it.

 

 

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk