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Photo Heavy (Long post) My journey to Morgan Cup: One Length or Not?

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oumagic

oumagic

‘24 NFL Experience at Ballyhack
Albatross 2024 Club
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Location
Gilbert, AZ
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GHIN 11.2
This is a thread that talks about my journey to the Morgan Cup. We do not have club options yet, but my biggest preliminary pondering has been whether I can play One Length. My 2020 goal before MC was announced was to get my handicap to single digits. I want the Cobra clubs and my prep for MC to be the reason why I accomplished my goal and not an excuse as to why I didn’t. The easiest road would be to go with variable length and Speedzone irons because that is closest to my current setup. That said, I have been sitting between 11-14 hcp for 15+ years and maybe it is time to shake things up!?

Brief intro to me and my history with Cobra: I have never played Cobra but in March 2019 I went to my local store to buy F9 OL. The sales rep didn’t think I should, but let me try them and I got some strange numbers with a gap of only 18 carry yards between the 9i and 5i. I ended up walking out with my current set of Callaway clubs, but just couldn’t help but keep thinking how OL made sense to me.

Over the past year, I have still been researching OL. I listened to the Golfunfiltered podcast that issued the OL challenge. I have looked at YouTube reviews, I followed @time4tim journey, and texted @phoffer and my other Arizona THP friends until my fingers bled. It really had me on the brink of jumping in, but as with any set of clubs, I kept hearing “make sure that you get fit!” That is where thing went sideways. Here are a few responses from fitters; one fitter is the one I have used in the past that I really liked.
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There seems to be confusion on the part of Cobra dealers and independent fitters. At one point, I guess there were different shaft weights in the set. Fitters complained about not being able to get proper gapping accomplished with OL and how hard it was to fit people when they needed various shaft weights in a set of clubs. I believe that has changed; a Cobra rep told me at a demo day today that all they need to do is fit you for the 7 iron and use that shaft for every club. He said that there is a chance that you might need to address a few lofts to help with gapping, but you don’t need different shafts for different clubs in the set. I did pull this image from the cobra website today, so I don’t really blame the fitters for being confused; I will definitely confirm with Cobra before ordering that one shaft weight will work with a set of OL.

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The dealers don’t really seem to push OL. It is easier for them to just sell what they are used to in variable lengths? Maybe by pushing OL, they feel they are doing a disservice to their other major OEM since they don’t have the OL option? Most of the big dealers have OL heads to fit you (5/7/9) but it has been work just getting them to help. At one place they let me try them after raising their eyebrows and another when I asked about OL said “oh, you don’t want to do that”

I will have plenty more later, as this adventure continues, but I went to a demo day today and was able to try OL Forged Tec in a few different shafts and they felt great. They didn’t have a monitor, but it was good to be outside and able to see ball flights. I had almost given up on trying OL until I found the demo days. So while I am not 100% on OL, I am leaning more that way than ever before. I have not compared Forged Tec to Speedzone irons but will be doing that soon.

I started my decision process prematurely but as soon as I got picked for MC I have been thinking about OL, Cobra, and Sand Hollow daily. This thread won’t only be about OL, but it is definitely the biggest part of MC on my mind today ;)

demo day event:
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One more thing. I didn’t start this thread to scare people off from OL. I want anyone interested to be able to know it is an option and don’t let dealers and fitters scare you off. If you want to try OL, do it. Educate yourself and go try it out. My first swing with a 5 iron OL was bad, but man it felt great in just a few short swings. Start with 7 iron, then hit the 5 but setup exactly like it is a 7i and then go to the 9i. It was really a fun time at the range.
 
Looking forward to following along here! Seems like you’re going into this with plenty of insight and an open mind.
 
Good luck with your process. It will be interesting to follow along and see how it turns out for you.
 
Congrats on being selected for the Morgan Cup it is quite an amazing ride! It is easy to get overwhelmed and research everything to the most minute detail and drive yourself and everyone around you crazy.:)

One thing I will say is my Morgan Cup set are OL and gap really well. Cobra has done an amazing job figuring that out. The weighting is different in each head.
I have the Forged Tec Black but if I could do it again I would get the F8 OL for the extra forgiveness But I have Zero regrets going OL and I love my FTB!
I wouldn't compare a set of Cobra OL to any other OL club manufacturer and how they gap. The amount of R&D Cobra does is amazing.

I got Recoil shafts since I wanted graphite in my OL with no issues. You probably have a list of shafts available just try to hit them and see what gives you the best results. They should translate to OL pretty well.

Bryson Dechambeau plays OL and so can you!!

Try to enjoy the ride you are in for a AMAZING time!
 
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I have found the switch to be crazy. I was "Lent" a set from another THP'r and my first round was Awesome, then the next two were "meh" but range closures from rain and cold and lazy muni workers not allowing me to warm up before a round hamper my swing and warm up before rounds. Car Wreck and not playing for a couple of weeks....weather issues....( its that time of year) to today, lots of fairways and smooth swings, shot 78 and played awesome, I have not given up and if i had ben chosen for the MC, I would have chosen Ol for sure.
 
The best way to single has nothing to do with irons....Improve your short game. Repeat...Improve your short game.
 
GolfTravelDude said:
The best way to single has nothing to do with irons....Improve your short game. Repeat...Improve your short game.
Click to expand...
I agree and work on it constantly. But my stats really show I need to improve my approach and chipping. If I improve my approach, that in itself will improve my chipping because I won’t have to do it every hole. The stats don’t tell the whole story because I do believe my putting isn’t as good as it shows while my chipping isn’t as bad; it has more to do with me not adjusting my first putt distance with Arccos.

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Great thread Sean. Good luck with finding proper fittings for the OL journey. I have decided to stay with VL at this time. Will be interested in your progress. Go low!
 
If I hadn’t discovered the Launcher HB’s, I’d still be playing my F9 OL’s...
 
High interest in this thread, after @time4tim did his experiment it really peaked my interest in OL. Your findings may push me over the edge.
 
Good luck with your journey, will be following along.
 
Excellent write up on your experience so far. I’ll be following along with you for sure.
 
Great explanation! It is going to be an awesome journey!
 
I can understand why OL would be a bit more difficult to stock as a fitter. But with that said, I wouldn’t let that deter me from going OL. I’d love to see more guys in the MC make it happen because I think it would be exciting for the conversation here but also would be good for the sponsors of the event.
 
Great write up and sorry to hear about the struggles for one length. If you think about the business model and number of people doing one length I understand why it's not readily available.

You would think someone would jump on the fitting of OL because it's made headline in golf and Bryson is still playing well.
 
OL is always in the back of my mind as an option.
Sitting at a 10.2 right now, I know that my iron striking is something that holds me back, but it also isn't the ONLY thing that holds back my game.
The 1 or 2 shots I might mishit with an iron probably doesn't hurt me nearly as much as the short game screwups or mental hiccups.

At the same time though, I certainly think that being able to groove one iron swing, and not adjust club to club, would be something that could benefit my game.

I really think that getting into a bay and demoing the OL gear more is vital to making the decision though. Don't just choose the OL blindly (which you clearly aren't). I tried them in a bay once, and am intrigued, but definitely not convinced.
 
Some things to add:

ONE Length accounts for half of Cobra's iron sales, so from a fitting perspective, it should NOT be niche at all. Especially considering Cobra has a pretty limited iron line compared to some other brands, so it's not like they have an excessive amount of irons to manage.

Shafts- The stock steel KBS shafts have been progressive on F9 and SZ, but previously were not. There's reasons for it, but there's nothing to be concerned about with other shafts. Basically, find the shaft that works the best, and have it through the whole set. Should be the least of worries.

Fitting- It's interesting that so many places don't care for fitting it. I can understand a lack of familiarity, but the total misunderstanding is depressing, and honestly kind of insulting to Cobra and also to golfing consumers. IF the whole point of fitting is to put people in the best clubs for their game, you should at least know better than to send someone to Dick's or give bad info. I can understand a disinterest in truly grasping it, when it SEEMS so different at first glance, but still. But as @JB constantly says, it's just hitting a 7 iron!! There's nothing special about fitting them, hit the 5/7/9 and make sure they gap correctly. What's different about that?

As for the actual fitting carts, the only extra gear needed for fitting are 2 extra heads, OL 5 and 9. The 7 head is the same. Shafts are the same. It's not like a whole new set of equipment is sent. So maybe there are perfectly good reasons why a place would fit Cobra but not OL, well, I have a hard time buying it.
 
Really interesting about the fitters perspective on one length. Sounds like you are really doing your research in making your decisions. Pictures of those new king irons look great. If I were in your shoes it would be hard for me not to go One Length.
 
I keep going back to the demo. I can’t explain exactly how nice it was just to swing a 7 iron and concentrate on target more than setup and mechanics. It is not for everyone, but I do think it would benefit more people than actually try it. Is it for me? If I had to decide tonight, I would say yes. But I don’t have to decide tonight ;)

I started with a heavier steel shaft in 7i while he got the 5 iron in graphite ready. The first 5 iron swing was awful, but it could have been switching to the lighter shaft more than it was about going from 7 to 5. But after that swing, I hit some very straight 5 irons on target and then went straight to 9 iron like it was nothing and those went perfectly at target.

One thing I don’t know is how far anything was going. I feel like it was close to my current yardage based on how far out they said the flags were and how far I hit range balls with my current clubs (i am always shorter on range than reality).

I am not 100% convinced on forged tec over Speedzone for me, but so far I have hit FT so well and love the look/feel of those irons that I haven’t really tried SZ. Part of me trying one length was thinking that it would help me go from an SGI club to a player’s distance club. But now that I am more sold on one length in general, I need to really put 7i FT up against SZ 7i.

I also tried the driver. Without a monitor, I have a hard time telling what the ball was doing. I only tried the extreme SZ in two shafts. I had a nice fade going that may have been slightly shorter than my current driver. But when I watch range balls fly on driver, it is really hard to gauge distance. I have a feeling that SZ extreme at 9 with a draw setting could be an accurate tee shot for me. I didn’t spend much time with driver because the fitting will cover that.

When I go to my fitting, I will nail down the top of my bag, decide on which 7 iron works the best for me and pick the right shaft. Then I just decide if it is one length or not. This is going to be fun!
 
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Looking forward to seeing what you pick @oumagic. No doubt in my mind you will crush whatever you get And that goal will be met.
 
Looking forward to following your journey!
 
I’m definitely following your journey, because I am still giving serious consideration to OL irons.
 
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