Gear: Cobra King wedges
Price: $149 each with KBS Hi-Rev 2.0 shaft and Lamkin Crossline Smart grip
Specs: Cast stainless steel with CNC-milled face and grooves and three sole grinds. Even lofts from 48 to 60 degrees
Available: March 19
When it comes to wedges, versatility and the ability to spin the ball means a player has more control. With the release of Cobra’s new King Cobra wedges, the California-based company aims to provide more of both to a wide variety of players.
While the logo on the back is a throwback to Cobra’s old-school past, the grooves that are CNC-milled into the faces of these clubs are high-tech. First, the grooves vary in size and depth based on the club’s loft. Pitching wedges and gap wedges (48-54 degrees) have iron-like grooves that are narrower and deeper, while the sand wedges and lob wedges (56-60 degrees) have wider, shallower grooves to channel water and debris off the face more effectively.
High-lofted King Cobra wedges have full-face grooves, while the pitching and gap wedges have grooves only in the traditional hitting area. (Cobra)
Cobra also designed each wedge’s face differently, filling the entire hitting surface of the 56-degree, 58-degree and 60-degree models with grooves because players often open the face of their sand wedges and lob wedges. If contact is made high or in the toe, the clubs can impart more spin on the ball.
However, all the new Cobra King wedges have Snakebite grooves utilizing a new cutting method that the company said produces an edge radius that is 40 percent sharper than Cobra’s previous wedge groove.
The Cobra King wedge will be available in three sole grinds:
- The Versatile grind is designed with heel, toe and trailing-edge relief to make it a good performer in medium to firm conditions.
- The Classic grind has extra trailing-edge relief for golfers who like to sweep the ball off the ground instead of swinging steeply.
- The Widelow grind is a low-bounce option with a wide sole that is especially effective in bunkers and soft turf conditions, because the width of the sole keeps the leading edge from digging too much.
Cobra King One Length wedges (Cobra)
In addition to traditional-length King Cobra wedges, the company is making One Length options available, with each club measuring 37.5 inches in length.
Finally, all Cobra King wedges come standard with Cobra Connect, an Arccos-powered shot-tracking system. New subscribers that download the Arccos Caddie app to their smartphone receive a free 14-piece Arccos Caddie Smart Sensor kit to enable the rest of the clubs in their bag, along with a 90-day app trial for free.