Pushing the technological envelope is nothing new for COBRA, a company whose history has seen them at the forefront of club innovation time and again. RADSPEED, COBRA’s latest engineering advancement, utilizes an extreme weighting formula to leverage faster ball speeds, greater forgiveness and towering trajectories.

COBRA’s latest driver release, RADSPEED, is all about adding weight to hit it further, straighter and more consistently—and no, not the kind of weight Bryson DeChambeau put on. The new drivers will be available for pre-order January 22, 2021 and in stores / online for purchase February 8, 2021.

In order to create a driver that encapsulates every aspect of performance, COBRA thought outside the box to push strategic weighting away from the centre of the clubhead. Most drivers on the market have weight loaded to the back to promote a higher launch, or more weight forward to generate less spin and penetrating ball flights. The problem is that neither positioning comes without compromising some aspect of performance. Too much weight at the back equals excessive spin, while too much forward weight offers less forgiveness. To create a driver that gets the best of both weight classes, COBRA engineers implemented extreme weighting on both ends of the scale, putting weight as far back and forward as possible. “Whether you want stability or you want speed, you’re going to get them both,” says Jose Miraflor, COBRA Golf’s VP of Marketing. “Having both the front and the back (weights) together, rather than separate, drives either speed or stability depending on how you weight it.”

So, how does it work? In simplest terms, COBRA has maximized the club’s radius of gyration, which ultimately means weight is pushed away from its centre of gravity to promote greater inertia, lower spin and a higher launch angle. COBRA’s last generation driver, SPEEDZONE, utilized a similar weighting method, but didn’t go as far in maximizing its benefits. Only with the latest R&D innovation has COBRA fully exploited the “radial gyration formula” to produce unwavering performance and unparalleled MOI. This extreme radial weighting is ultimately how COBRA came up with the name RADSPEED.

And as much as it’s about moving weight around, RADSPEED would only work if COBRA was able to shave grams elsewhere. “All of this is made possible because engineers continue to look for savings in weight. You can’t simply come up and say you’ve found another 16 grams to manipulate,” says Miraflor. With a 30% lighter carbon wrap, COBRA was able to save 6 grams while lopping off another 7 grams with RADSPEED’s new T-Bar Speed Chassis. Within this framework of radical weight distribution, COBRA has gone one step further, creating three distinct RADSPEED driver models to meet a variety of golfers’ needs.

RADSPEED

The standard RADSPEED driver tends to benefit better players. With more weight at the front of the club, this model provides less spin than COBRA’s SPEEDZONE model and a more penetrating ball flight, something tour players and low handicappers favour off the tee. “This is what I think you’ll see myself, Bryson (DeChambeau) and Lexi (Thompson) use. Little bit more weight forward, little bit lower ball flight and less spin,” explains Rickie Fowler, who’s been testing the new driver. With two 8-gram weights frontloaded, one at the back, and an additional 14 grams of adjustable weight to be tinkered with, COBRA’s RADSPEED produces exceptional ball speeds while maintaining forgiveness at impact. The RADSPEED is available in a 9- or 10.5-degree loft and comes with a matte crown finish.

RADSPEED XB

The RADSPEED XB, which stands for Xtreme Back, is the more forgiving model and will benefit players who need help getting the ball airborne—and keeping it there. With a greater amount of weight in the back of the driver, XB is far more forgiving and delivers a higher launch, two things most golfers need more of. “You have a driver that’s super forgiving without losing speed because you’re keeping weight in the front of the head as well,” explains Miraflor. The XB is available in a 9-, 10.5- and 12-degree lofts and is available with a gloss crown finish.

RADSPEED XD

There’s also a model to assist the slicers out there, of which there are many. The RADSPEED XD, which stands for Xtreme Draw, promotes a draw ball flight courtesy of a 10-gram weight located in the heel. By moving weight to the inside of the clubhead, the XD helps golfers return to square at impact, throwing the toe of the clubhead shut to generate a draw spin and offset those slices. Both the XD and XB models also have an oversized profile, with an elongated front-to-back shape. The XD model comes in a 10.5 or 12-degree loft.

Other Key Tech

CNC Milled Infinity Face

Long a staple of COBRA Golf is its CNC Milled faces, which are up to five times more precise than standard hand finishing to provide greater thickness and structural consistency.

Dual Roll and Tri-Bulge Face

Another key piece of tech, COBRA’s Dual Roll design helps mitigate mis-hits high or low on the face, while the Tri-Bulge curvature straightens out heel and toe strikes for greater consistency across the entire impact zone.

And it wouldn’t be a COBRA driver if it didn’t have some additional flare. RADSPEED comes in black with turbo yellow accents, as well as a matte-finished peacoat blue with red and white accents as an alternative colourway.

ARCCOS

Each COBRA club comes with COBRA CONNECT in the grip and a 90-day free trial to ARCCOS, an innovative app that provides players with detailed analysis of their play.

In addition to the release of the RADSPEED drivers, COBRA’S 2021 lineup also includes the RADSPEED fairway woods and hybrids, as well as new RADSPEED irons.

Available for pre-order on January 22, 2021 and in stores/online February 8, 2021.