LPGA star Lexi Thompson announced on Tuesday that she will be retiring at the end of this season. Thompson has been one of the faces of American women’s golf since she qualified for her first U.S. Women’s Open at age 12. She’s never won the U.S. Women’s Open, but has come heartbreakingly close, including in 2021 when she had a five-shot lead at The Olympic Club in San Francisco before but wound up losing to Yuka Saso.
Before the start of the 2022 season, I had a chance to chat with Thompson on the phone about her equipment. You can read the entire interview here, but for me, the highlight was chatting with Lexi about the irons that never left her bag over 15 years.
That’s not a typo, as this excerpt from that conversation recalls:
David Dusek: OK, trivia time: Do you know the year the Cobra S2 irons, which you play, became available?
Lexi Thompson: Ha, probably the year I turned pro, if not the year before.
D.D.: Yup, 2009.
L.T.: I know because I have been using them my whole career.
D.D.: What is about those clubs that has made them impossible for you to replace?
L.T.: It’s kind of the same thing that I talked about with the 3-wood. With irons, I’m not one to use a blade, but the S2 is super forgiving and super soft coming off the face. I know that when I hit them solid, they are going to go the distance I need them to. They are going to be steady in the wind.
I’ve been using the Project X 5.0 shafts, and people tell me, “You should be using 6.0 [which is stiffer],” and I’m like, nope. My golf swing is set up for them and every time I have tried something new, it doesn’t come out right. It’s just not the same.
D.D.: Has Cobra told you if it is running out of S2 irons, and how often do you have to get a new set of the same irons because you wear the old set out?
L.T.: We’ve definitely had those conversations. I try all the new irons that Cobra makes, and they’re great. It’s just that once you find something you love, it’s hard to replace. But yes, we’ve had that talk. There may be something in the works, so we’ll see.”
In case you are wondering, Thompson is competing in the U.S. Women’s Open this week at Lancaster Country Club with a set of Cobra S2 irons in her bag.
More: Photos through the years of Lexi Thompson, who will retire at 29