Gear: Cobra DS-Adapt, DS-Adapt Max irons
Price: $999 with KBS Tour Lite steel shafts and Lamkin Crossline grips. $1,099 with KBS PGI graphite shafts
Specs: Cast 431 stainless steel body with 17-4 stainless steel face, vibration-dampening foam, and aluminum medalian
Available: Jan. 10
Who it’s for: Golfers with a handicap between 10 and 20 who need a game-improvement club that blends distance and forgiveness.
What you should know: Cobra updated the cup-face design to enlarge the sweet spot and reinforced the chassis of this iron, then added vibration-dampening foam to create a club that feels better at impact, delivers more ball speed and makes it easier to hit high-flying shots.
The deep dive: Cobra makes plenty of irons for accomplished golfers, like the King CB/MB and the King Tour, and even better-player’s distance irons like the King TEC and King TEC X. Those irons blend forged feel with high-tech features to maximize feel and control, and in some cases, enhanced distance in a compact club.
But for golfers who prioritize distance and forgiveness, Cobra now offers the game-improvement DS-Adapt, which replaces last season’s Darkspeed iron.
Previously, the hitting area of Cobra’s game-improvement irons was L-shaped, with the face plate wrapping under the leading edge and into the sole. In the DS-Adapt 4-iron through 7-iron, however, the 360 Speedshell design extends back over the topline, the toe area and farther back in the sole. The thickness of the leading edge has also been reduced, so a larger portion of the hitting area flexes at impact.
The DS-Adapt 8-iron through pitch wedge do not feature the Speedshell because those scoring clubs are designed to amplify feel on approach shots and put a greater emphasis distance control. Cobra refers to this progressive set design as TEC Flo.
The face itself has a variable-thickness pattern that Cobra refers to as H.O.T Face. The acronym stands for Highly Optimized Topology and it blends thick and thin areas to enlarge the sweet spot and protect ball speed on mis-hits.
To lower the center of gravity (CG) location, Cobra designers enlarged the internal weight bar referred to as the PWR-Bridge. By adding more internal mass low in the head, the CG location is pulled down and back. That should result in a higher initial launch angle and a steeper angle of descent, so shots stop faster on the greens.
To improve the sound if impact, an internal bar extends up from the back of the sole to the topline, stiffening the upper portion of the head and helping to reduce energy lost during the collision with the ball. It is complemented by urethane microspheres, which are injected inside the head to soak up vibrations and soften the feel.
For golfers who want even more height and forgiveness in a lightweight offering, Cobra is also offering the DS-Adapt Max. The Max version has a longer blade length and weaker lofts. While the standard DS-Adapt’s 5-iron has 21 degrees of loft and its 9-iron is at 36.5 degrees, the Max edition’s 5-iron has 23 degrees of loft and its 9-iron is at 38.5 degrees. That should help moderate and slower-swinging players get the ball up more easily and maximize carry distance. The Max also has a thicker topline and more offset.
According to Cobra, the Max edition launched the ball 1.6 degrees higher, generated 550 rpm more spin, peaked higher and came down more steeply than the standard DS-Adapt irons. The Max also has a draw bias.
