Back in January, we got a look at the new Cobra KING Tour irons with MIM technology at the PGA Show. Then a couple of months later, a pandemic happened that changed the landscape of the golf industry. Today, these irons that have been often discussed, but not available, become official.
Metal Injection Molding (MIM) technology is not brand new, but we are seeing it more and more due to the precision that it creates. Most recently for Cobra, their wedge designs have been gaining in popularity in part due to the precision shaping and overall performance. Unlike traditional forging or casting, MIM manufacturing utilizes few steps to create.
In the case of the Cobra KING Tour irons, a mixture of 304 stainless steel powder is heated and injected into a mold. Heating to even a higher temperature than most forgings, the result, according to Cobra, is a very tight grain structure providing an incredibly soft feel. The MIM process requires only moderate polishing compared to forgings to ensure the shaping is completely consistent.
“We’ve used our MIM process over the past two years to deliver softer and more precisely-shaped designs in our wedges,” said Tom Olsavsky, Vice President of R&D for COBRA Golf.
“Now, in response to demand from better players and our Tour staffers, seeking the same benefits in a full set of irons, our R&D team delivered the KING TOUR Irons. These irons are softer than any forged offerings on the market, and like their wedge counterparts, offer better consistency in shaping for more precision shot-making on the course. While soft feel and consistency are important in the short-game, optimizing these attributes throughout an entire iron set will give golfers better performance across a wider range of shot selections.”
A tungsten weight is positioned in the toe of the club to perfect the center of gravity (CG) directly behind the impact zone. The ability to manufacture this way allows for precision, but also stability. Moving from the toe to the small cavity, a TPU Insert is directly behind the sweet spot to dampen vibrations a bit and enhance the feel even more.
Cobra Connect is still in place and might just be the best value add in golf. Powered by Arccos, the system utilizes smart grips to track your data through the round. Each set comes with a 90 day trial of the Caddie App as well. For the loft peepers spec fans out there, here is a look at the specs.
The Details
In Stores: October 30th, 2020
Shafts: KBS $-Taper (many options are available through custom)
Set Makeup: 4-PW (3 iron and GW are available through custom)
Cost: $1299
I get it for T-Rails, since F-Max didn’t have OL variants. The CB/MB are easy to understand too. And it’s reasonable why they stopped selling any OL women’s sets. But yeah I think that Tour, TECs, and the yearly GI OL would be a perfect lineup
Would be great, and not surprised if cobra has that in the pipeline
Is it though? Here is my reasoning. Every “better player” on the internet pans OL (without trying it) so why make a fairly limited better players club available?
This is what I was thinking. This is often catered to a different segment of the market and my local fitter says he can’t get a better player to even consider these. (my fitter actually thinks OL will help many of them). I wonder how much of this is the concept of OL and how much is the irons that it is offered in. I think the new Forged Tec irons are incredible so having OL there is a big statement. If there’s a big enough demand in the better player segment I can see Cobra investing in it.
True statement right here. I would consider it IF I struggled with long irons. I don’t though in fact I hit them very well and when I tried the shorter version of a 4i I hated it. Although Bryson is doing well with the OL he is the ONLY one on tour correct? That leads me to think that maybe OL appeals to a different demographic?
I’d argue that if the
bestmost dominant player in the world right now is doing it, you should offer it, when he is the face of your brand.Wasn’t the thread for it but @phoffer hit on it, I think for them not to offer in the SGI/GI lines is a bigger miss than this line.
However I think when they offered it in the Forged Tour line, 3/4 years ago it wasn’t a miss. also if they went soft on the forecast and only did 1000 sets of OL they could gauge demand and see if they needed to ramp up production in the factory if the irons are on a 2 year cycle.
Jos and Yags have both said that OL continues to outpace forecasts and if Bryson becomes more dominant with the increase in popularity of fittings and people still resistant to seeing instructors people can continue to chase the "easy" improvement
I think that is also the misnomer of OL. That they are there to fix the long iron struggles. When in fact by design they are there to help all of them, since only one swing is needed
But if it’s commercially viable, and people want pretty things why not offer it – I’d argue the majority of golfers don’t know what they should play and see something on tour and think give me Bryson specs give me Tiger specs give me Rors specs
Do you think other tour players have given it some thought or even tried it? There has to be a reason why only Bryson is doing it. If it were the magic pill everyone would flock to it. I think most still see it as a gimmick and see how awkward it looks with the way he does it. But I guess maybe with continued success maybe it will start to become more popular, no clue. I’ll admit I didn’t give it a full go but I have tried some OL clubs and I just didn’t like them compared to the regular version.
Cost? I have no idea. I also know that when @oumagic wanted to start his OL journey he had a heck of a time trying to find a fitter that would fit him into OL.
No. They didn’t grow up with them. Same reason 15 years ago at the emergence of great cavity backs they didn’t change right away. Or why hybrids took so long to adopt.
Next generation will though just like all of those things.
I will preface this by saying I have not tried OL irons. Isn’t there some sort of adjustment period to changing to one length clubs? I would imagine that there is a learning curve when trying to figure out the distances your shorter irons will now travel since they’re 7 iron length. I would argue that it is a harder sell to a "better" player. They’ll typically have a repeatable swing and aren’t necessarily looking for a wholesale change to their bag setup. I am not saying they aren’t out there. I just can’t imagine that there is a large number of them. I would assume that Cobra has done some sort of market analysis since they are basically the face of OL clubs now.
If I think about one length, it’s not something I would spend $1300 on trying to see if it’s feasible for me. I think it’s something that a player would have to test on the course across the whole bag to know for sure it’s worth switching. I am not saying it’s not worth it, nor am I saying OL doesn’t work. Just my thoughts on the matter.
It definitely is a cost aspect from Cobra – I’m just surprised considering the sales volume they do in OL, not to offer it in limited sets – they are fine when stuff sells out generally. As I said, I think not offering it in the better player category gear is more understandable for me than the GI and SGI lines when arguably it would be more beneficial
No kidding. But I’m telling myself no every 5 minutes. I like sleeping inside my house!
Thanks. Good to know. I wasn’t trying to discount the benefit of them as much as point out the fact that they would be less inclined to even try it. Just a harder sell.
But, not to turn this into a discussion on one length irons and more on topic. With MIM, would these irons be expected to wear similarly to a forged club? Or, would it be almost bullet proof like many cast irons?
I think they will wear like a forged club. My MiM wedges feel great, but do wear more than my set wedges as they are softer
MIM definitely wears like a forged club, at least the wedges have
I hope Gary Woodland does ???
Dufner has MiM wedges but is playing the old chrome CBs. And who knows Rickie might try them for a week and then continue his searching lol
Forgot Duff Daddy was a Cobra staffer
I thought Gary Woodland was sponsored by Wilson for clubs and puma / volition for his clothing. Did that change?
That’s why I put the laughing emoji in there, because he is – but I would love to see him rocking Volition and a sweet set of Cobra MIM Tours irons
I’m gonna need about a dozen of you to play them and provide extensive reviews, of course.
More thoughts to come in a couple of weeks.
You would rock these! But I have a hunch your future has other options for you …
The in hand pics are sooo good
Trueeeee about the other options. But these are ??? and I still want to try them lol
MiM is interesting. I’ve seen this used in knives mostly with the SV30/35/90 lines where it’s used to create a precise blade that is very hard… I’d be interested to see how this translates to irons where softness is more prized.
There is a huge gap between the cb/MB irons and the forged tec and this will help those that want to combo.
I will say, Cobra has a lot of irons on the market and while I think one length would of possibly been a good play here, I can’t imagine them getting too many sales.
??? I didn’t realize these were RH only. Looks like I will just have to enjoy from afar as well
I am not sure I am a candidate for these anymore. I like the forgiveness and distance in the player’s distance category.
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Yes. Lofts we have are from Cobra and clearly lofts on their site are from Cobra. We have asked for clarification and have not heard back as of yet.
Sorry, I sort of scanned the thread before asking, but didn’t see it. Should have looked more closely.
I second this!
Love the fact that the $ Taper is stock on these. I love that shaft.
Same. It’s been the best KBS shaft for me for some time.