- Staff
- #1,501
I completely agree. Bang for the buck right now if you’re buying a new driver, it’s impossible to ignore the F9
Cobra KING SPEEDZONE and SPEEDZONE XTREME Drivers
That is where I ended up as well. I had a PING G400 Max 10.5* that I played in the small - setting. The ball flight was high and straight. It was a REALLY good driver. I started with the stock setting, but ended up going +1. The trajectory is a bit lower than the PING, but it is longer and just as forgiving.
I've actually delayed going from the F9 to the SZ or SZX. I love the look of them but am in love with the Masters camo F9 head. I demoed the SZ and SZX and they were good but it was with a different shaft. I was planning to hit them side my side with my gamer shaft to see how they performed and all this Covid19 mess happened. That test will still happen and I'm hoping we see a masters edition of the SZ / SZX as that will make my decision a lot easier!
I just might have to tinker with shafts. I'm just not sure this hzrdus yellow is working for me.
- Moderator
- #1,505
This might be one of the more pathetic update thoughts on the driver, but man I love how much the infinity face has saved me from potential disaster a couple times.
While I work through my driver swing glitch, I've hit it well up and toe side on the head.... Something I did only a couple times last year and chipped the top of my F9... With the infinity face design, it safeguards so gloriously against idiot marks. Huge benefit.
Also, for anyone playing this - what are your thoughts high toe? Are we seeing a bit of a low point for spin there? I don't have numbers, just seems like the ball is spinning less up there (which is awesome in my books).
While I work through my driver swing glitch, I've hit it well up and toe side on the head.... Something I did only a couple times last year and chipped the top of my F9... With the infinity face design, it safeguards so gloriously against idiot marks. Huge benefit.
Also, for anyone playing this - what are your thoughts high toe? Are we seeing a bit of a low point for spin there? I don't have numbers, just seems like the ball is spinning less up there (which is awesome in my books).
The advantage of this is real for amateur golfers. There is nothing worse than getting a new driver, and while learning to play with it, putting an ugly sky mark on it. I remember also being nervous letting someone “try” my new driver and that is no longer a concern.
my biggest problem with F9 when demo-ing was high toe misses. The tour length Sz, I am finding more center contact, but high toe isn’t a bad miss with this one. Heel strikes arent good for me with this and I do have more with this one than my old driver, but I just think it is tour length doing that. With my old standard length driver, I lived out on the toe and rarely was heel side of center. Now that I am more in the center, it only make sense that I will have some more heel-side strikes
- Moderator
- #1,507
"You sky it you buy it" is now "good luck not buying one of these after you hit it" haha
The idiot proofing is huge for me haha... I didn't see much high toe from my range session the other day, but if memory serves the one that I did connect with there was pretty low on the spin side.
- Moderator
- #1,509
Where are you living? Inside heel? Dead nuts?
Thats odd cuz I think my Xtreme is the loudest driver by far ive ever played... Its definitely not as loud/obnoxious as the square drivers 10+ years ago, but much louder than the TM drivers ive played the past 5 years
Even head to head with the SIM Max its night and day. its irrelevant tho bc the Xtreme outperforms the SIM Max
- Moderator
- #1,511
Not surprising, if we're using TM as a baseline for sound. They've been close to 'dead' or 'dull' sounding for years now. Might have been one of my favorite features of the M5 tour haha
I must not pay a lot of attention to sound volume. Granted I'm older, so maybe it's my ears
. But I've not found the SZ to be lounder than my previous Callaway driver, but just more of a different tone or pitch to it. I haven't minded the sound difference, nor do I think it's an issue.
LOL yea completely muted sound. I had m5 all last year and it definitely sounds dead. SIM improved the sound imo....after 4 rounds now with Xtreme I dont notice it as much compared to my first ever tee shot with it, but I definitely notice the sound each time. It does feel extra powerful tho hitting one dead center paired with the sound
- Moderator
- #1,514
I am pretty sure the sound on the Speedzone is amped up a bit from F9, but I don't think it's in the realm of loudest for 2020. There are some drivers out there with way more volume.
I cannot help with high toe, but I can speak plenty to low heel. I have been too inside out and getting a lot of heel strikes that are turning into high spin push fades with the SZ for me. When I did my fitting the ball speeds in that area where about 8mph less than dead center strikes too. May have just been that day, but low heel has me considering the Extreme.
Limited exposure mind you-- 20ish swings I'd say looked like this: 4 flushed, 8 heelside low, 4 heelside high, 1 toe and the rest were mid face but high. Of those 20 swings I'd say 15 would have ended up playable.
I agree with this-- I noticed it pretty quickly when hitting the SZ at the range. I don't know if I'd say significantly louder but it's definitely noticeable.
MrFlapjack
Active member
First round in the books. Hit 10 low hooks, one fade that went further than expected, and absolutely crushed one. I'm going back to the original HZRDUS black instead of the Smoke to see if that fixes it. The Smoke seems a bit softer and not sure its gonna work out.
Mach2
Well-known member
- Joined
- Sep 30, 2015
- Messages
- 3,321
- Reaction score
- 1,119
- Location
- Henderson, almost Las Vegas
- Handicap
- USGA 13.7
Today I changed the setting from 9* STD to STD+D. A noticeable difference in that I hit more straight drives than with the STD setting. Only issue is I have a Tour Velvet 360 Align grip and now the red align strip is on top of the grip. Looks and feels slightly strange but the straight results make it livable. The love affair with this SZ Extreme driver is continuing :twist:
I have seen the same so far. High toe seems to launch high neutral low spinners for me. Tendency with my swing path to be a slight push off that high toe with slightly more draw tendency.
Today's lesson went well. Had time to take the driver to the course for a couple of holes with my instructor. He was duly impressed with my progress in hitting this club. He isolated a minor swing fault which was keeping the face slightly open on a couple of swings and the result was amazing. He even complimented me on how I was able to take his input and with just one swing correct the fault for the rest of the lesson. Needless to say I am loving this driver/shaft!
Yikes! First round since I mailed off the PING G400Max....
I put a ring on the Cobra and was treated to the dreaded 2 way miss all day today. Hook city or blocking it hard right. Went from 12 of 14 fairways last week to not hitting a fairway on the front 9. It got a little better on the back until I dropped 2 shots OB (I know I shoulda dropped with the new rule) on 15...the hole I always tear up at my home course.
I put a ring on the Cobra and was treated to the dreaded 2 way miss all day today. Hook city or blocking it hard right. Went from 12 of 14 fairways last week to not hitting a fairway on the front 9. It got a little better on the back until I dropped 2 shots OB (I know I shoulda dropped with the new rule) on 15...the hole I always tear up at my home course.
- Moderator
- #1,523
I'm starting to obsess over it... I love it.
Right now, with a driver and whatever the hell route I am taking, stock shot is basically a tiny fade. If I can lay it out there on the high toe, it kind of hangs and doesn't turn over but goes and tumbles forward. Great stuff.