Cobra Connect Five-Pre Challenge Chatter-Testers Announced.

[Nunfa0]

On 7/20/2021 at 3:45 AM, txgolfjunkie said:

I worked on straightening out the Radspeed driver and 3W over the weekend...this was all indoors so I'll need to test these out on the course before deeming it worthy...

Driver

My biggest concern about opening up the driver face to -1.5* is my launch will get too low and I'll start losing carry distance. I have the 16g weight up front and a 8g weight in the back. This is 10g more weight than the stock weights and I do feel the head better during the swing. The added weight provided a more consistent strike, however, I still saw the hard draw on almost every swing. I added 4g of lead tape to the toe and immediately started to see results. My only issue is that the tape wouldn't stick to the matte paint and would fly off at impact. The hard draws straightened out to a more playable draw but I noticed some wild swings with driver spin. Keep in mind I'm using the Left Dash Pro V1x in all of my tests. I do throw in a Bridgestone Tour BX occasionally if I think the driver head is too low spin and I need something with a little more spin to keep the ball in the air. I'll say I've never seen such wild swings in launch and spin than with this driver. It's a little frustrating and I feel like this is a complex Rubik's cube and I've only got one side complete. Open the face, launch gets too low but spin is perfect. Square the face, launch is perfect but spin is counter-productive and ball moves right. Move weight forward, spin is reduced but I'm seeing ball fly further right. Move weight back, straighter ball flight but with excess spin. I love tinkering with clubs but I'm about out of ideas. 

Big Tour 3W

I added 4g of lead tape to the toe of the BT and it was an instant success. I averaged 23 yards right of target without the tape, and only 6 yards right of target with it in place. The Left Dash paired with the BT is giving me driver-esk launch numbers (161mph ball speed, 12* launch @ 2400rpms - 278y carry). The left dash is a little bit more active (left-right movement) off the tee than the Bridgestone but both balls performed well. Regardless, my confidence in the 3 wood greatly increased and with the carry distance I'm seeing, I see it as a great sub in case the driver isn't behaving. 

I know this may sound stupid but have you checked the setting on the adjuster? There are usually two settings, one is standard and one is draw. So it is possible you have it set -1.5 D not -1.5 standard. I made that mistake with my F9 and hit some big pull hooks.

[Nunfa0]

On 7/21/2021 at 12:11 AM, jlukes said:

Absolutely. 

I have learned over the years, through experimentation, through online learning (TXG) and through my fitting at True Spec, that I perform best with shafts that are softer in the butt section (handle).  For some players, including me, a softer butt section translates to better feel.  It really lets me know when the shaft is loading and helps me time my transition.  It is why my first two shaft choices were Modus 105x and Modus 120x.  Those models have a relatively softer handle and give me a great feel throughout the swing - and they are most similar to the Oban CT 115 shafts I was fit into at True Spec (the Modus shafts were the runners up in this fitting).

With the DG X100s, they are stiffer in the handle and thus I lose a ton of that feel that I love.  I am really struggling to feel the head during the swing and thus my transition is wildly inconsistent which leads to my delivery numbers (face, path, and angle of attack) to be inconsistent as well.

Now the X100s are one of the most popular irons shafts on tour, so it's obviously not a bad shaft.  What it does show is that some players are more effected by different profiles of shafts and I happen to be one of them.

I know exactly what you mean, during my multiple iron fittings this year i can go from hitting beautiful baby draws to horrible fats and thins just by changing the shaft. I just hope there re lots of AMT white shafts around when I order my new clubs.....

[txgolfjunkie]

8 hours ago, Nunfa0 said:

I know this may sound stupid but have you checked the setting on the adjuster? There are usually two settings, one is standard and one is draw. So it is possible you have it set -1.5 D not -1.5 standard. I made that mistake with my F9 and hit some big pull hooks.

I wish that was the case but the setting is correct... -1* STD lie. I think Cobra sits a little upright compared to other manufacturers so it is in their DNA to have a draw bias. 

[null]

47 minutes ago, txgolfjunkie said:

I wish that was the case but the setting is correct... -1* STD lie. I think Cobra sits a little upright compared to other manufacturers so it is in their DNA to have a draw bias. 

Especially when compared to PiNG, which I believe has one of the the flattest standard lie angle for drivers in the industry 

[ejgaudette]

5 minutes ago, jlukes said:

Especially when compared to PiNG, which I believe has one of the the flattest standard lie angle for drivers in the industry 

I wonder if Cobra and other companies might change it up for various models more. Like Callaway, the Max LS is two degrees flatter than the most forgiving Max option knowing most better players need low spin and prefer not to go left. So the RAD could easily be 1 flatter I feel.

[txgolfjunkie]

So I had another 'doctor's appt' this afternoon as I was more concerned with the ball flight of the Cobra woods than I was about my TPS reports at work. 

It was a circus start to finish so hang tight with the story...

I work in The Woodlands, TX and it's surrounded by a number of private courses. It's a tease. You think you have all these options but not really for the general public. I can usually find a way to hit balls at one of the courses if a buddy is available and this is where the fun started...

First course: driving range closed due to total restructure of hitting deck and targets.

Second Course: closed due to charity scramble.

Third Course: range closed until 3pm on Wednesdays (I arrived at 1pm).

Fourth Course: course closed in July for annual maintenance. 

Fifth Course...an absolute goat ranch. I won't say the name..but hey, they're open. I pull up into the parking lot and there's a whopping eight cars. Not a good sign given how packed courses are in the Houston area, even in the unbearable heat. Regardless, I grab my sticks and promise myself to enjoy the time out of the office and house. It's just after 1pm and the heat and humidity greet me immediately. 

I go into the 'pro shop' and two old gals assist me in purchasing two small buckets of the finest range balls I'v ever seen. One range ball actually still has a few dimples on it and another had what looked like a Callaway logo on it. When you're struggling to hit a straight ball with a certain club, 'eggs' are definitely NOT the best balls to straighten out that draw or cut. Here's what I was dealing with:

The bermuda grass was sparse and the hitting area was sand based. I warmed up with four balls on the 56* wedge, three balls on the 8 iron (to reduce wear) and then moved to the utility, 5W, 3W and driver. 

Once again, mother nature sends her finest to interupt my practice session. At first, I thought maybe one of the lovely range balls exploded on contact, but turns out there was a catepillar infestation and one apparently made it's way onto the ball. I think there was so much sweat in my eyes to begin with, I didn't see it...regardless, more bug art on the copper MIMs.

Utility iron was great. It sits a tad closed (in my opinion) in the STD setting but it launches great and no draw bias to it. Off the tee, it will be great for the long Par 3s or placement off the short Par 4s. I haven't hit it much on the course, but it does have a nice feel to it. 

The 3 & 5 woods were acting up but i think it's because I'm starting to stand just a hair away from the ball in a more 'driver' stance and playing for raw distance instead of control. 

The driver finally came around. I set it to STD (for optimal launch), 16g up front, 8g in the back, and actually setup with my hands a little higher. Ball after ball started down the inteded line and only a handful moved in a draw fashion. Now, this is different than what I'm used to so is this the player adjusting his swing to the equipment instead of the other way around? Well, yes. However, if that's what it takes to tame this driver, then so be it. This was the most consistent I've ever hit this club and that brought me some hope for the competition. Check out the strike pattern during today's range session:

Last story...after a couple of drives, I was searching for my tee and noticed a tee in my area with a familiar logo. I picked it up and immediately started laughing...It was a Patrick Reed 'Team Reed' tee. Now, I know anyone could've picked it up at his course (Carlton Woods) and managed to drop it off at the goat ranch but I'm telling my golfing buddies he was out there and I have picture proof. Yeap, Patrick Reed, PGA's 2020 villian of the year, was hitting balls next to me and I grabbed one of his tees as proof. That's my story and I'm stickin to it. 

 

[Mtbryant01]

18 minutes ago, txgolfjunkie said:

Last story...after a couple of drives, I was searching for my tee and noticed a tee in my area with a familiar logo. I picked it up and immediately started laughing...It was a Patrick Reed 'Team Reed' tee. Now, I know anyone could've picked it up at his course (Carlton Woods) and managed to drop it off at the goat ranch but I'm telling my golfing buddies he was out there and I have picture proof. Yeap, Patrick Reed, PGA's 2020 villian of the year, was hitting balls next to me and I grabbed one of his tees as proof. That's my story and I'm stickin to it. 

 

Only way to find out…tag @useGolfFACTS on Twitter and Justine might respond!

[GolfSpy BOS]

13 hours ago, ejgaudette said:

I wonder if Cobra and other companies might change it up for various models more. Like Callaway, the Max LS is two degrees flatter than the most forgiving Max option knowing most better players need low spin and prefer not to go left. So the RAD could easily be 1 flatter I feel.

You’re basically correct, but they do it based on loft.

the 9* heads for the Radspeed and Radspeed XB come with 57.5* lie angles while the 10.5* heads are 58.5*. 12* is another degree up at 59.5*. 
 

[null]

39 minutes ago, B.Boston said:

You’re basically correct, but they do it based on loft.

the 9* heads for the Radspeed and Radspeed XB come with 57.5* lie angles while the 10.5* heads are 58.5*. 12* is another degree up at 59.5*. 
 

Yup.  My original plan was to go with the 10.5 head and then loft it down so I could open the face, but the lie angle increase prevented me from doing so.

[ejgaudette]

1 hour ago, B.Boston said:

You’re basically correct, but they do it based on loft.

the 9* heads for the Radspeed and Radspeed XB come with 57.5* lie angles while the 10.5* heads are 58.5*. 12* is another degree up at 59.5*. 
 

Good bit of info thanks for sharing. I hadn't noticed that.

[GolfSpy BOS]

1 hour ago, ejgaudette said:

Good bit of info thanks for sharing. I hadn't noticed that.

It almost makes me wonder if they're using the same heads and adjusting the hosel bore for the loft/lie on the different loft models.  A few generations ago they only offered one "loft" head in each model.

[ejgaudette]

14 minutes ago, B.Boston said:

It almost makes me wonder if they're using the same heads and adjusting the hosel bore for the loft/lie on the different loft models.  A few generations ago they only offered one "loft" head in each model.

Could be would make more sense from a cost perspective than producing essentially 6 different heads across the Rad Speed and XB line.

[gavinski91]

4 hours ago, B.Boston said:

You’re basically correct, but they do it based on loft.

the 9* heads for the Radspeed and Radspeed XB come with 57.5* lie angles while the 10.5* heads are 58.5*. 12* is another degree up at 59.5*. 
 

This was the one of the reasons I went with the XB at 9° rather than the XD at 10.5° and lofted down. And since the order was placed I've been working on some swing changes that have dramatically reduced my slice, so the XB in a draw setup should be enough to keep me out of the next fairway over on the right!

[ejgaudette]

7 minutes ago, gavinski91 said:

This was the one of the reasons I went with the XB at 9° rather than the XD at 10.5° and lofted down. And since the order was placed I've been working on some swing changes that have dramatically reduced my slice, so the XB in a draw setup should be enough to keep me out of the next fairway over on the right!

Glad to hear the swing is moving in the right direction (well I guess the left direction technically).

[gavinski91]

8 minutes ago, ejgaudette said:

Glad to hear the swing is moving in the right direction (well I guess the left direction technically).

Harry Nodwell posted a drill on his Instagram page, Nodwell's Daily Dingers, a couple weeks ago that was actually the catalyst for the change. In the past when I would struggle with my slice, I would subconsciously try to hit the ball further left, which in practice led to a more severe out-to-in club path and an even worse slice. After going through the drill that he suggested, I now set up for every drive aiming down the left side of the fairway, and then visualize a sweeping push draw and try to hit that. The result is a nice baby fade that matches the flight path of the rest of my clubs.

[gavinski91]

Well look what was waiting for me at my desk this morning!

The label says irons and wedges. I haven't opened the box yet, but will record an unboxing video later today and share that in this thread!

[Mtbryant01]

53 minutes ago, gavinski91 said:

Well look what was waiting for me at my desk this morning!

The label says irons and wedges. I haven't opened the box yet, but will record an unboxing video later today and share that in this thread!

Hopefully this is a good sign we are close to having everyone get the rest of their remaining clubs! 

[Brian A]

28 minutes ago, Mtbryant01 said:

Hopefully this is a good sign we are close to having everyone get the rest of their remaining clubs! 

Every day I get my hopes up when I see the FedEx truck and it just drives by… 

[null]

Figures! I’m just left for the shore for the weekend so of course boxes would start showing back up!

[gavinski91]

Working on the unboxing video now - initial news is that the wedges look great. The irons, however - I got my second choice shaft (KBS $-Taper Lite S), which is fine, but according to the packing slip they got my lie angles wrong. I'm gonna measure them to confirm, but the packing slip said standard lie when I asked for 2° up. Not the end of the world I guess, but that does mean that I won't be getting the best possible results out of the clubs.

[gavinski91]

The unboxing video is finished - it has my initial thoughts of the irons and wedges, along with some glamour shots. Check it out!

 

[GolfSpy BOS]

Awesome unboxing video @gavinski91!  Glad that you got your irons and wedges in now.  One step closer to the games beginning.

The Radspeed irons look like the blend fairly well into the snakebite wedges too.  It's always interesting to see how the GI irons look down at the wedges when you're playing a more traditional shape wedge.  

[edingc]

11 minutes ago, gavinski91 said:

The unboxing video is finished - it has my initial thoughts of the irons and wedges, along with some glamor shots. Check it out!

 

Awesome unboxing!

I really like the look of the Radspeeds. They look nicer than the SpeedZones. Although I think the gray carbon fiber on the SpeedZones blended better than the black. I agree about not noticing it, however.

[gavinski91]

1 hour ago, B.Boston said:

Awesome unboxing video @gavinski91!  Glad that you got your irons and wedges in now.  One step closer to the games beginning.

The Radspeed irons look like the blend fairly well into the snakebite wedges too.  It's always interesting to see how the GI irons look down at the wedges when you're playing a more traditional shape wedge.  

Yeah I'm happy with the transition. Like I mentioned in the video, the only thing that I would like to see is to have the chrome of the Snakebite wedges to be a more muted satin, would visually match the Radspeeds better that way. But then they wouldn't match the MIM Tour irons as well, so I guess it's six of one, half dozen of the other, and probably too many SKUs to have both color options available in all the loft and grind combinations.

[Nunfa0]

Great video @gavinski91, it will be interesting to see if the irons are standard lie or not. But don't be surprised if they are more upright than your Wilsons anyway.

[russtopherb]

Awesome vid @gavinski91, great job with the editing   I'll also be curious to see what the story is with the lie angle, and if they *are* standard, how they work out for you.

[gavinski91]

I think me and the 5-iron are gonna get along great off the tee!

The irons overall will take a bit of getting used to, but initial impressions are promising. 
 

The real star of the day though was the Snakebite wedges. I only used the 58* once (had a 70 yard shot that needed to get way up over a tree), but I used the 52* 12 times in this morning’s round, and every single time it put the ball on the green, with an average distance to the pin of 24 feet (including an up-and-down from 85 yards to save par)  

I had a lot of shots that I’d like to have back, but managed to card just 1 double-bogey on my way to an 83!

[Mtbryant01]

1 hour ago, gavinski91 said:

I think me and the 5-iron are gonna get along great off the tee!

The irons overall will take a bit of getting used to, but initial impressions are promising. 
 

The real star of the day though was the Snakebite wedges. I only used the 58* once (had a 70 yard shot that needed to get way up over a tree), but I used the 52* 12 times in this morning’s round, and every single time it put the ball on the green, with an average distance to the pin of 24 feet (including an up-and-down from 85 yards to save par)  

I had a lot of shots that I’d like to have back, but managed to card just 1 double-bogey on my way to an 83!

I love the snakebite wedges so far, especially out of the sand with my 58 and around the green with a combo of the 54 and 58. Love the bite they are producing. 

 

[Josh Ross]

Dude, @gavinski91, amazing video. Very well put together, felt like I was watching a seasoned vet on YouTube. 

[sirchunksalot]

On 7/23/2021 at 4:01 PM, gavinski91 said:

The unboxing video is finished - it has my initial thoughts of the irons and wedges, along with some glamour shots. Check it out!

 

I've got to agree with the rest of the responses and say you did an amazing job on the unboxing video. Slick editing and I loved seeing the closeups of the clubs. I do hate that the lie angle is not correct, at least that's something that's easily remedied.