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Gear: Cobra Darkspeed LS, Darkspeed X, Darkspeed Max fairway woods
Price: $429 with UST Mamiya LIN-Q M40X White shaft and Lamkin Crossline grip. $329 (Darkspeed LS), with UST Mamiya LIN-Q M40X Blue or UST Mamiya LIN-Q M40X Red shaft (Darkspeed Max, X)
Specs: Titanium face and body with carbon fiber crown and adjustable weights and adjustable hosel (Darkspeed LS); Stainless steel body and face with carbon fiber crown and moveable weights and adjustable hosel (Darkspeed Max, X).
Available: January 11 (pre-sale), January 19 (in-stores)
Who It’s For: Golfers who want more ball speed and distance with some adjustability (Darkspeed LS). Golfers who want more distance and forgiveness (Darkspeed Max, X).
The Skinny: The Darkspeed LS has a titanium face and body with a carbon fiber crown for players who want a low-spin option off the tee that does not sacrifice distance. In contrast, the Max and the X versions have extra stability and forgiveness.
The Deep Dive: Finding just the suitable fairway wood can be challenging because you want a club that fills a distance gap and can hit a specific yardage both off the tee and from the fairway. With the release of the three Darkspeed fairway woods — the LS, the Max and the X — Cobra is giving players and fitters a wide variety of clubs and several different ball flights to choose from.
The most interesting is the Darkspeed LS, a club made for fast-swinging players who generate excessive spin and need a club that produces a lower ball flight.
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The Darkspeed LS was designed like a small driver, with a titanium body, titanium face and carbon fiber crown. The titanium faces in the Darkspeed LS fairway woods can be made thinner than their stainless steel counterparts, which saves weight while still allowing them to flex more at impact for increased ball speed.
Inside the Darkspeed LS, Cobra has added a 19-gram tungsten weight pad in the heel and two areas. The internal weights boost the moment of inertia (MOI) and, combined with the internal PWR Bridge bar that extends from the heel to the toe area, lowers the center of gravity (CG) location.
[afflinkbutton text=”Shop Cobra Darkspeed LS fairway wood” link=”https://worldwidegolfshops.pxf.io/anG6Zb”]
Opting for a titanium body and a carbon fiber crown saved even more weight, which allowed designers to add three moveable weights to the sole, two in the forward area and one in the back. The Darkspeed LS comes standard with two 15-gram weights and one 3-gram weight, and when the heavier weights are in the front, the club produces more ball speed, less spin and the lowest launch angle. However, players and fitters can move the weights to simultaneously boost stability and create either a draw or fade bias.
The Darkspeed LS comes in 13, 14.5 and 17.5-degree versions, but using the MyFly adjustable hosel, players and fitters can increase or decrease the loft by up to 1.5 degrees to help them find the ideal ball flight and distance.
The Darkspeed X and Max fairway woods are constructed similarly, but instead of using titanium, they each feature a 475 stainless steel PWRShell face and 17-4 stainless steel chassis.
[afflinkbutton text=”Shop Cobra Darkspeed MAX fairway wood” link=”https://worldwidegolfshops.pxf.io/JzdQvr”]
The PWRShell face extends the hitting area below the leading edge and into the sole, which helps to broaden the sweet spot and enhance performance on low-struck shots. And, like the Darkspeed LS, the Darkspeed X and Max fairway woods have the MyFly adjustable hosel system, and an internal PWRBridge weight helps to lower the CG location to encourage higher-flying shots.
The Darkspeed X (15, 16.5, 18 and 21 degrees) has a 3-gram weight in the back of the sole that increases stability and gives the head a neutral shot-shape bias.
The Darkspeed Max (15.5, 18.5 and 21.5 degrees) has two weight ports and comes standard with a 15-gram and a 3-gram weight, along with ports in the heel and back of the sole. When the heavier weight is in the heel, the Max has a draw bias, but when it is in the back, the MOI, forgiveness, spin rate and launch angle all go up.
[afflinkbutton text=”Shop Cobra Darkspeed LS fairway wood” link=”https://worldwidegolfshops.pxf.io/anG6Zb”]
[afflinkbutton text=”Shop Cobra Darkspeed MAX fairway wood” link=”https://worldwidegolfshops.pxf.io/JzdQvr”]
[afflinkbutton text=”Shop Cobra Darkspeed X fairway wood” link=”https://worldwidegolfshops.pxf.io/nL6bZo”]