Cobra reveal ‘electronic’ King F7 Driver plus new fairways and hybrids

Cobra reveal King F7 woods

We’ve all wondered how far the ball’s gone after we’ve ripped a drive. Now Cobra’s new King F7 driver can tell you in seconds. It’s the world’s first connected golf club and we reckon this is a watershed moment for equipment that gives you shot feedback via GPS and the internet.

Yes, shot tracking’s been around for a few years, but to access shot data you’ve had to install expensive tags in the grips of your clubs. Depending on which system you chose you’ve also had to wear a sensor on your belt and “tag” each shot as its hit, which can be a real bind. What Cobra have done is to simplify the shot tracking process. They’ve teamed up with shot tracking experts Arccos, and created “Cobra Connect”, so when you buy your new driver everything comes integrated and installed, all you need do is download the Arccos/Cobra app. The idea combines all the best shot tracking tech and squeezes it along with a sensor into the grip on the new F7 driver. Which means anyone via their smartphone can now get instant access to their longest and average drive data, along with fairways hit, where you usually miss and tons of other useful data.

Cobra are so into the idea they’re creating loads of their own content for the app too.  As you play they’ll monitor every drive hit. They’ll look for trends of where you most often hit your driver and offer tips of how to find the fairway more often as well as advising how best to set your driver up for your particular shot pattern and swing speed etc. Cobra staff players Ricki Fowler, Bryson DeChambeau and Lexi Thompson will use the system in 2017 as well, so you’ll be able to compare your performance against theirs as well as sharing your best numbers across your favourite social networks too.

Expect to see the F7 arriving in store from 13^th January 2017 with an RRP of £279. For further information visit www.cobragolf.co.uk.

F7 Driver details: RRP £279

Lofts: 9° – 12°, Stock shaft: Fujikura Pro 60

Adjustable hosel: Yes, How much loft change: Eight settings from 9°- 12° (three draw settings)       

Multi-Material construction

Cobra are massive fans of carbon fibre, and by updating the F7 with a new Textreme (carbon fibre) crown they reckon they’ve saved 20% more weight over the F6. And that means more mass to influence forgiveness, lower spin and create a draw bias.

Larger profile

Most drivers nowadays are right on the 460cc head size limit. But how that size is used can vary immensely. A taller deeper face might lower spin but it also reduces MOI and forgiveness. So Cobra are saying, the F7 is right to the very limits of size from toe to heel and just inside the rules limit from front to back. Which means a larger more stable footprint and a 5% larger club face than the F6 driver. And it wouldn’t be Cobra if you didn’t get a colour choice. So there’s a black and orange scheme inspired by Rickie Fowler, a blue and red developed for Bryson and a more standard silver paint job.   

Front, back and heel CG positions

You won’t hear many drivers spout about being low spin, forgiving and offering a draw bias. Like peanut butter, jam and marmite the 3 don’t readily go together as different designs are needed to affect each attribute, well that was the idea until Cobra decided to roll all three into the F7. Ping have their G, G LS-Tec (low spin) and G SF-Tec (straight flight/draw bias) drivers and Cobra reckon they can offer a similar story by simply using one driver head! There’s three weights (1 x 12g and 2 x 2g) to give the option of creating a forgiving driver, by positioning the 12g weight at the back. A low spin driver by moving the 12g weight to the front and lowering spin by 410rpm, which Cobra reckon can gain over 6 yards carry distance so long as you have the club speed to launch shots high enough. Or move the 12g weight to the heel to create a 13 yard draw bias to help straighten out a slice. Combine that with the 7 yards of draw on offer for dialling in Cobra’s adjustable hosel to a draw setting and you’ve got a whooping 20 yards of draw bias to help hit the fairway, without a closed club face in sight.

Cobra Connect

The new smart sensor inside the grip measures how far you hit your drives, where you’ve hit shots too and gives you averages for your overall performance. All of which can be shared and compared on your social networks and analysed via Cobra’s Connect app.

F7+ and F7 HT

Cobra are well aware that as good as the F7 is, it’s incredibly hard to satisfy all golfers with one driver model. So they’ve also created an F7+ and F7 HT. The F7+ has a slightly smaller head, with a matt finish and thanks to its increased workability will be found in tour players bags in 2017. For slower swinger speeds the F7 HT has a higher loft range (11° – 14°) to help launch shots higher to maximise carry distance.

There’s F7 fairways and hybrids too…

No new woods or irons launch these days is complete without matching fairways and hybrids. They’re such an integral part of the buying decision when getting fit for a driver or set of irons. Cobra reckon 2 years-worth of developments gone into the F7’s so they certainly can’t be accused of being an after-thought.

Baffler sole rails are nothing new for Cobra, they invented the concept in back 1975. And for the F7’s they’ve spent hours studying how the ski like rails on the sole interact with the turf. They’ve discovered how deeper rails become more effective on higher lofts. Research has proven by managing turf interaction it’s possible to lose less head speed at impact. So Cobra reckon the new Baffler is 2-3mph quicker coming out of the turf than a conventional sole design. Which for most golfers equates to 3-4mph of ball speed which is significant when it comes to maximising carry distance.  

The F7 fairway also has a 475 stainless steel face to maximise face flex and ball speed. 20g and 2g sole weights can be swapped to create a higher launching or lower penetrating ball flight, with 300rpm of spin difference. Just like the driver there’s a choice of either a black, blue or silver paint scheme to boot.

The F7 hybrid has a 455 stainless steel face which is lighter and thinner for faster ball speeds on off centre hits. There’s a fixed sole weight to deliver a towering ball flight for maximum carry distance and all lie forgiveness.

F7 Fairway details: RRP £189

Lofts: #3 – #4 wood 13° – 16°, #5 – #6 wood 17° – 20°, #7 – #8 wood 21° – 24°

Stock shaft: Fujikura Pro 65

Adjustable hosel: Yes,

How much loft change: 3° (with three draw settings)  

F7 Hybrid details: RRP £159

Lofts: #2 – #3 hybrid 16° – 19°, #3 – #4 hybrid 19° – 22°, #4 – #5 hybrid 22° – 25°

Stock shaft: Fujikura Pro 75

Adjustable hosel: Yes,

How much loft change: 3° (with three draw settings)  

For further information visit www.cobragolf.co.uk