Cobra King Speedzone Drivers

Cobra King Speedzone Drivers Review - Joel Tadman tests the new King Speedzone and Speedzone Xtreme drivers from Cobra up against the outgoing King F9

Cobra King Speedzone Drivers Review

The King F9 was a big success story for Cobra so we were keen to discover how its replacement, the King Speedzone, stacked up. You can read all about the updated technology here.

We had an exhaustive testing session indoors on the Foresight Sports GCquad to gather data with both the Speedzone (SZ) and Speedzone Xtreme drivers and also tested them out on the course.

The King SZ is unquestionably a better looking driver – cleaner, easier to align with the infinity face and with a slick new alignment logo and graphics around the edges.

A quick glance at the numbers from the launch monitor, in the same 9° loft and Project X HZRDUS Smoke 6.0 shaft, suggested the performance was nigh-on identical between the old King F9 and new King SZ drivers.

Delve a little deeper into the data, though, and there were some more interesting findings to be had. In the exact same spec and with the weights in the low spin positions, we actually swung the King SZ driver more than 1mph slower than the King F9.

As you can see in the video, the strike location map was much more centred with the King F9, yet the launch monitor told us the King SZ was actually more efficient at translating club speed into ball speed.

It is impossible to tell why we swung the King SZ slower but if it was down to us, not the aerodynamics of the head, then there’s a case to be made that over a longer period of time, golfers should be able to get marginally more performance out of the new King SZ model. But perhaps the missing Aero Trips from the King F9 had an effect, who knows.

It also seemed to manage direction a little better overall - our misses were less punished in terms of direction.

In the same setting, the King SZ Xtreme driver didn’t quite deliver the ball speed and distance of the King SZ model for us thanks to the extra 400 rpm of spin but it did launch the ball higher, qualities that are ideal for golfers with slower swing speeds. Through a thorough fitting, we're confident either driver could be set up to perform depending on what you're looking for.

Sadly, for us the sound has taken a step back with the new model. It is now loud, higher pitched and quite overpowering, which is surprising given the addition of more carbon fibre on the head. We much preferred the duller, more softer sound and feel of the King F9.