By Ed Travis
Cobra Golf’s Radspeed family of woods use newly designed radial placement of internal weighting for low spin and high forgiveness in three drivers, four fairway woods and two hybrids.
Fast Facts Radspeed drivers:
460cc clubhead; Carbon fiber crown; T-bar chassis
CNC milled wrap around face
Adjustable hosel
Cobra Connect by Arccos
Color choices: black/Turbo yellow, Peacoat blue/red
Stock shafts: Fujikura Motore X F3, Project X HZRDUS RDX Blue, Fujikura Motore X F1
Suggested retail for each $449. Full specifications on Cobra website
Available January 29, 2021
What You Need to Know:
The concept for the Radspeed line of woods came from Cobra designers deciding to relook at the various elements in a clubhead such as internal weights and calculating something called the radius of gyration. For those of us lacking engineering degrees, the radius of gyration is the distance from the clubhead’s center of gravity to the location of each weight mass. Cobra R&D saw this measurement was the key coming up with an effective blend of high ball speed, low spin, forgiveness, and launch angle calculating both the proper amount of weight and where it should be placed.
Basically, the solution was to push the front and rear weights as far apart as possible thereby increasing the distance between them. Cobra calls this “Radial Weighting” which makes the name Radspeed a natural.
Three Radspeed driver variations are available. Each has an internal T-bar frame lighter by 7 grams than in last year’s SpeedZone driver and a 30% thinner carbon fiber crown that extends over the skirt replacing sections of the sole with a saving of another 6 grams. The CNC milled “Infinity Face” wraps around the front of the crown and leading edge of the sole as well as up the hosel, a construction Cobra says enlarges the area that will produce maximum ball speed.
The standard Radspeed puts 28 grams of weight near the front (16 grams fixed, 12 grams adjustable) and 10 grams in the rear (8 grams fixed, 2 grams adjustable). This is a better–player driver since it produces low spin with a somewhat lower launch and allows the most workability.
The Radspeed XB (“Xtreme Back) is weighted to have the most forgiveness with 20 grams (14 grams fixed, 6 grams adjustable) in the rear and 8 grams (fixed) in front. Cobra tells me this is a very stable driver and the most forgiving they have ever made.
Radspeed fairway woods ($279 each) and Radspeed hybrids ($229 each) have similar constructions using the radial weighting concept. We were impressed that Cobra for the first time was able to make use of a CNC milled face for the standard Radspeed fairway wood and the hybrids continue to use the hollow split rails on the sole, a valuable performance feature used for years in previous Cobra hybrids.
