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The Great Cobra Experiment - 1 seasonish on, what's your take?

SuperStroke
Super Tuna

Super Tuna

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Greetings all,

First, I'd like to take you back to January at the PGA show when all the coverage was coming from THP about the Cobra booth and the new Amp, Baffler and ZL Encore lines. The reaction was pretty visceral and immediate with people falling pretty quick on the love or hate side of things. Many mused about the direction Cobra was taking here and if it was a good idea. Many more mused on whether Cobra wasn't simply trying to go after a market demographic but create one. Was it visionary or a disaster? We're still waiting and will be for a while I believe.

What side of the street did you sit on when the products were first released? How about now after potentially demoing the equipment or just getting used to seeing more colour then before?

I'm curious as to how people's thoughts have evolved over the course of the season so far. I'm equally curious because of a number of tidbits that are popping up now such as
1: The Amp line is discontinued and there's huge discounts on all of the products everything. Does that tip someone over the edge that was iffy about the colour but liked the performance?

2: It's being reported by a number of people that the overall sales numbers are frankly not what Cobra nor Cobra partners expected. I can't corroborate this since I don't currently have access to said data but it's coming from enough solid sources that's fairly plausible.

3: The replacement to the Amp line called the Amp Cell is floating out there as the Cobra reps are kicking into over drive getting partners on board with it and trying to jazz up others who felt let down in sales this year. Even more interesting is that Cobra isn't dialing the colours back, they're in fact adding more, allowing people to choose their head colour from 4 options.

So, it looks like the press from Cobra is going to try to make even more "juicy" goodness for next year with woods, irons and wedges all confirmed in various sorts.

While I expect we won't know how the Great Cobra Experiment went for a number of years, I'd like to touch on this each season for the next couple of years to see if opinions amongst the learned online community has changed and for the better or worse.

So, what say you? Was the GCE a colossal failure in year one? Was it just a stepping stone of mistakes that had to be made to do successful years in the future or something else altogether?

And yes, I am eyeballing all of you who have picked up Amp's after the Outing and the Outing feedback to chime in here.
 
The AMP line is certainly not being discontinued. No more so than the R11 was when the R11S came out or any other company when they release new goods.

I wont comment on future items because I dont think there is any place for it personally. I also wont comment on sales figures, except to say that some of the above is not quite correct.
 
ST, I've only ever hit the AMP driver and it was indoors into a net about 10 yards in front of me. I felt like it was a solid driver that seemed to offer some nice pop off the face. Even almost through the 2012 season I have yet to see any LH sample locally to try out. I wish I could comment more on that.

I was pretty harsh concerning the AMP line. I still think it's horrendously coloured and it doesn't appeal to me very much, but it does what it's supposed to do.
 
I will chime in:

When the cobra line was first released, I will admit I was a bit turned off by it. I will make it no secret I dislike Rickie and the way he dresses and the flat bills etc. You can say what you want, but that is simply my opinion. I did hit the Amp line at the PGA superstore and had pretty decent results. Having played a white driver for awhile the silver crown didn't bother me and I liked the stock shaft offering from Cobra, but the R11s was a better performer for me.

1. I think with the discounts on the AMP stuff now would be a good time to buy for someone on the fence. I have tried to never let looks get in the way of a purchase and I didnt in this case. I saw so much AMAZING feedback that I decided to pickup a Classic over the AMP driver as they have both been discounted.

2. I would be interested to see the sales data for sure, I would imagine much fewer people buy Cobra simply because it is Cobra compared to those who buy TM for the same reason. The colors may have turned potential new Cobra purchasers off and they might want to consider offering some classic colors.

3. I have read about the AMP cell and heard they are offering a couple of different crown colors, but from what I have seen black doesn't seem to be one of those options. I will be interested to see what people feel about this as I believe many still prefer the traditional head color.

I don't know if the GCE was a failure or not. I can only assume that their brand awareness has increased many-fold due to Rickie Fowler and their lack of fear of being "out there" with colors and such. Not sure if it will payoff going forward, but it will be interesting to see.
 
I don't know if I have a great anwer.

I thought a couple of the items in the line (AMP driver and AMP Forged irons) were really good, but the looks really hamper them in ways. I was able to stomach the driver, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't slightly embarassed pulling it out of the bag at times. I think I'd feel the same about the irons. Maybe even moreso than the driver.

I think TM has made people think that a company has to be young and hip to succeed, when I think it's much more about Tour use and getting your product noticed on TV.
 
I thought Cobra's marketing campaign was pretty bad. Cobra has many loyal followers that are at retirement age. Those guys aren't known for liking bright colors like Yellow and Orange. I think Cobras products this year, especially when it comes to woods, can compete with any line out there, unfortunately there marketing fell so flat that the lines seemed to fail miserably. You almost never see the new Cobras on the course.

I remember the immediate reactions when the new lines came out, everyone was saying that Cobra went with loud colors on old tech, and were trying to sell clubs on marketing instead of results. Looking back it actually turned out the opposite, many here said they would never consider the amp line because of how they look, but have now pondered or even bought them after hitting the woods, and seeing the great results.

I'm hoping next years marketing campaign will focus on the quality clubs they put out instead of the ridiculous looks of the club.
 
I liked the looks of the Amp line and Cobra makes great produts and I think that this year is a stepping stone. I like that they have the long Tom brought back the rusty have a variety of drivers. I do think the orange combined with IMO bad marketing is what hurt them this year. I think they need to have a better campaign and clean up the look or like you suggested give more options on colour. Fwiw the S3 pro are my favorite iron I have gamed Cobra and Wilson are extremely under rated.
 
I was not turned off from the product because of the choice of color (neither then nor now).

With the recent drop in prices, i did purchase a driver after a positive experience at the THP Demo Day weekend. It is definitely a solid offering that is still battling for a spot in my bag.

I really do not pay much attention to the marketing side of things and do not know enough to have an opinion either way when it comes to long term success of a particular line.
 
Oddly enough, I've seen more clubs from the AMP line in people's bags around me than I have Cleveland, Nike, or Callaway. Part of it can be that the AMP stuff stands out so easily, but isn't that their objective? I thought the equipment was good and they did something with the color scheme to grab your attention.
 
I have said all along that I thought the only thing holding the AMP line back was the bold, in yo' face aspect of it. I hit the AMP Forged at a STL Demo and really liked them. And when I wrote up my thoughts after demoing them, I said that if people can get past the initial shock of the colors, they would find that the AMP Forged are a seriously good set of irons and a set or irons that should be given serious thought.

I don't know. I like Cobra's approach and trying to draw in a new generation, but, I believe you can do that, without alienating another group of consumers. Bold is good, but give people an option to go bold or not. Put out a line that is more traditional, while targeting those that want to be bold. A lot of companies are doing that same thing, allowing consumers to be bold, by putting argyle print on their wedges (My Custom Wedge.com by Cleveland), Flames on their driver head (Adams Golf), or have their driver in the same color palette as a favorite football team (Callaway Golf and Furyk's driver being black and yellow, for the Steelers). These are "options" made available to you by these companies, not their sole offering. I think that is where Cobra missed the boat this year. It's odd going to a Demo Day, visiting the Cobra tent and seeing a 50 year old man, dressed head to toe in a Rickie Fowler get up, while Swedish Techno music blares in the back ground. I don't have a problem with it, but I can see where others might.

I have actually been more intrigued by Cobra's line this year, than I have in years past. But, it's not because they have went "bold".
 
ddec said:
Oddly enough, I've seen more clubs from the AMP line in people's bags around me than I have Cleveland, Nike, or Callaway. Part of it can be that the AMP stuff stands out so easily, but isn't that their objective? I thought the equipment was good and they did something with the color scheme to grab your attention.
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That's interesting, like I said, I very very rarely see the Amp stuff in bags. I've seen one set of the irons, and a few ZL encores, no bafflers or amps.
 
Interestingly, Cobra did have another line out there, but look at which one we're talking about. Just food for though.
 
I personally feel like they went from the old guns to the young guns with the flashy colors and such. The product from what I have heard is sound and it will be greeted by many of the younger bucks with delight. This old coot has moved on.
 
I'd be interested to hear how their target demographic responded to the line and just how much money they are spending on golf equipment.
 
ddec said:
Oddly enough, I've seen more clubs from the AMP line in people's bags around me than I have Cleveland, Nike, or Callaway. Part of it can be that the AMP stuff stands out so easily, but isn't that their objective? I thought the equipment was good and they did something with the color scheme to grab your attention.
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That's b/c NY'ers are obnoxious :alien:

I've seen zilch around here. Seriously.
 
Wake said:
That's interesting, like I said, I very very rarely see the Amp stuff in bags. I've seen one set of the irons, and a few ZL encores, no bafflers or amps.
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I haven't seen anyone with a Classic driver or Razr Fit outside of THP. I've seen a bunch of AMP irons and drivers. Like I said, it could be because they are easier to spot for me.
 
That's the way the driver market appears to be heading for on down the road....more and more color. Cobra, Callaway, Taylor Made and Ping (with the Bubba pink) and giving more color options to us the buyer. We shall see.
 
I actually liked their new line when we first heard of it and saw it. I know many people didn't because of the colors. I think a lot of people have had their minds changed because of all the good feedback I've heard about this driver. Everyone seems to like it and you can't even see the orange from address. I'm wondering where they'll go from here.
 
Nate said:
That's the way the driver market appears to be heading for on down the road....more and more color. Cobra, Callaway, Taylor Made and Ping (with the Bubba pink) and giving more color options to us the buyer. We shall see.
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they guy in front of me 2 weeks ago had that bubba pink driver. First time I saw one. He hit the crap out of it too.
 
TC said:
That's b/c NY'ers are obnoxious :alien:

I've seen zilch around here. Seriously.
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I'd think the hippies in Asheville would love this stuff hehe
 
What I find interesting is everytime you see some youngster in a ricky/clown outfit, they seem to be playing titleist. Now whether that is because they haven't switched to Cobra yet, or because they don't intend to I don't know.
 
ddec said:
I'd think the hippies in Asheville would love this stuff hehe
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Nope, there's still some fine Southern folks around here. I'd say Mizuno is by far the most played iron I see around here. I'd say I see more white drivers than anything. By a large margin.
 
TC said:
Nope, there's still some fine Southern folks around here. I'd say Mizuno is by far the most played iron I see around here. I'd say I see more white drivers than anything. By a large margin.
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same here. I would say irons up here lean towards PING. But I haven't come across anyone with i20's yet.
 
ddec said:
same here. I would say irons up here lean towards PING. But I haven't come across anyone with i20's yet.
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That's b/c the finish sucks and the stock shaft offering is garbage :alien:
 
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