Cobra reveal King Forged and King F7 One Length irons

Cobra reveal King Forged and King F7 One Length irons

Bryson DeChambeau burst onto the global golfing stage in April by competing at The Masters as an amateur. Since then he’s answered more questions than a dodgy tabloid journo at a phone hacking inquiry about his single length irons.

Following Augusta the guy turned pro and looked for an equipment deal. Whilst other brands insisted he use their current irons Cobra who love to do things a bit differently agreed to work on a new set of single length irons with him.

In the space of 7 months which has seen DeChambeau spend eight days at Cobra’s Carlsbad HQ, with his own access all areas door pass (they even talked about getting him his own office at one point as he spent so much time in the R&D department) they’ve created a set of irons which the physicist turned tour player has put straight into play.

This is their story…      

Cobra King Forged One Length   

Details: RRP £849 (s) 4-PW

Stock shaft: KBS Tour FLT                                   

Cobra surveyed a 1000 golfers about what’s most important when it comes to iron performance. And surprisingly the most important factor with 37.4% of the poll (feel garnered only 9.3%) was the combination of accuracy and distance. To cut a long story short Cobra looked at the best ways to improve both factors and just like Bryson they reckon same length irons have the answer. Improved consistency is real and measurable, and there’s a greater chance of hitting shots closer to the centre of the face more often, which means less loss of ball speed and greater overall distance. Each of the irons in the one length concept is built to a 7 iron length and weight…so how consistent are you hitting a 7 iron compared to a 4?      

Accuracy and gapping

In testing Cobra were astonished how accurate Bryson was with his irons. They reckon the guy’s more accurate from 180 yards than many tour pros are from 120 yards, which is quite a statement. Much of it comes down to his “keep it really simple” technique and concept. His 5 iron strikes are more centred, theres tighter distance and dispersion control because each of his iron and wedge swings are exactly the same. Tom Olsavsky Cobra’s Vice President of R&D reckons club loft affects shot distance much more than club length. So they’ve created really consistent yardage gaps between each iron for Bryson and regular club golfers alike.  Which has been a major point of debate with the single length concept before.       

5 step forging process

The King Forged is the iron that Bryson uses, so expect a seriously precise design. Cobra reckon the heads been forged 5 times, giving a very accurate shape and because the head’s hit more often by the heavy forge its structure is tighter for better feel too.  

TPU insert

No matter how much tinkering and weighting Bryson had Cobra’s engineers perform on his irons, he still wanted maximum feel. A thermoplastic insert behind the hitting zone means the King’s feel like a muscleback iron. Roll that together with the type of playability and forgiveness delivered by a cavity back and you’ve got a seriously good players iron.  

100% CNC Milled face and grooves

Did we mention how Bryson’s a club geek? Well the club face of every iron is CNC milled to ensure its perfectly flat, and each groove is cut on the mill too. It all ensures every groove is a precise shape and size with a very tight tolerance to maximise spin and control.

Tungsten weighting

We hear a lot of talk from club designers nowadays about aligning the CG with the centre of the face. Strategically positioned tungsten weights in the toe of each iron lower and draw the CG towards the middle of the bat. It means better feel, forgiveness and ball speed preservation.      

Cobra King F7 One Length

Details: RRP: £549 (s) £649 (g) 5 – GW

Stock shaft: True Temper King F7 (s) Fujikura Pro 63i (g)

 As good as Bryson DeChambeau is Cobra realise the guy and his forged irons only represent a tiny portion of overall iron sales. So they’ve also developed a much more mass market game improvement King F7 One Length iron as well.

Just because the F7 won’t be played by tour players it absolutely doesn’t mean it won’t boast of the latest iron tech either. Trust us the F7 is crammed with game improving features as each club has been created as an individual to serve a particular purpose within the set, this is how they differ to their King Forged brothers.      

Tecflo progressive set

Cobra break the set down into individual parts and look at each iron in its own entity. There’s hollow heads in the longer irons, half hollow’s in the mid, cavity backs in the short irons and a blade construction in the wedges. The engineers didn’t stop there either. A harder 17-4 steel in the longer irons maximises distance while a softer 431 steel heightens feel and feedback from the 8 –PW. There’s even different shaped grooves in the longer irons to lower spin and increase distance, which makes the F7’s a seriously impressive package.    

PWRShell face   

Some brands talk iron Cup Faces, others Speed Slots and Pockets, but Cobra reckon their new PWRShell face can out-perform all comers. It basically means the face is constructed as an extra piece (and welded on) so its thickness can be very closely monitored to maximise ball speeds across the whole face. Its designed to have more flex and joins the sole of the iron so the lower portion of the face is hotter.  Which if you didn’t know is typically where lots of club golfers impact shots on the face. Cobra reckon the tech itself is capable of adding at least a couple yards to every single shot.     

Multi-Material construction

There’s different steels used in the F7’s head construction but the multi-material concept doesn’t end there. They’ve also cleverly used lightweight aluminium to remove extra inefficient weight meaning more mass to position to lower and centre the CG and improve forgiveness.    

One Length make up

Just like Bryson’s King Forged One Length irons the King F7’s have exactly the same concept, the whole set is based around a 7 iron shaft length and weight set up.

Combo set

Cobra reckon 50% of their irons are now sold as Combo sets, with each set including at least one hybrid. So they’re making the F7 available from 3-SW (5-GW will be the standard stock set) but with the option of switching out either one or two irons and replacing them with hybrids. Which for us makes a lot of sense to ensure you get the best club for each shot on the golf course.   

How do you know if One Length irons are for you?

Cobra reckon you need to ask yourself three questions:

1: Do you struggle with your long irons?

2: Do you want to hit more greens in regulation?

3: Would you like greater consistency with every iron shot?

If you answer yes to one or more of these questions you really should have a look at One Length. But because Cobra know the concept won’t be everyone’s cup-of-tea they’re also making both the King F7 and King Forged available as traditional length sets too.

All four sets will be available instore from 13th January 2017, for more information visit www.cobragolf.co.uk