With the decade nearly in the books, take a look back on some of the most influential and important putter innovations of the past 10 years.
With the decade nearly in the books, Golfweek looks back on some of the most influential and important putters and innovations of the past 10 years.
Ping Anser
The original Anser putter was sketched by Karsten Solheim on the sleeve of a 78-rpm record and debuted at the 1966 Phoenix Open. Its much-replicated shape has not changed much over the years, but Ping has kept this icon current by adding subtle technology enhancements. In the 2010s, the most significant enhancement has been the addition of the True Roll face. The variable-depth grooves, like those in this Vault 2.0 Anser, are designed to normalize ball speed across a large portion of the hitting area for better distance control.
With a milled face, moveable weights, carbon fiber elements and adjustable hosel, the newest drivers from Cobra are packed with technology.
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Gear: Cobra King Speedzone, King Speedzone Xtreme drivers Price: $449 with UST Helium Black, Mitsubishi CK Blue, Project X HZRDUS Smoke or Aldila Rogue Silver shaft and Lamkin Crossline Connect grip Specs: Carbon-fiber crown and sole areas with milled titanium face, moveable weights and an adjustable hosel. Available in black/yellow or black/white Available: Jan. 17, 2020
Veteran golfers may remember Cobra’s SZ 400 and SZ 440 drivers from the early 2000s, but while the company has brought back the Speedback name for its flagship woods for 2020, the newest models are not throwbacks. The new King Speedback and King Speedback Xtreme are packed with modern technologies to help golfers hit the ball farther and straighter.
The most unique feature of the new Speedback drivers is the CNC-milled Infinity Face. Most driver faces are forged, soldered onto the chassis and then hand-ground and polished, but the faces of the Speedback drivers are milled using computer-controlled robots. They pass a high-speed bit across the hitting area, shaving off tiny ribbons of material to ensure the face thickness that engineers want is achieved every time.
The milling of the King Speedback driver’s face extends around the toe, into the topline and under the leading edge. (Cobra Golf)
The F9 Speedzone drivers used by Rickie Fowler, Bryson DeChambeau and Lexi Thompson throughout 2019 had CNC-milled faces too, but the milled faces of the new Speedback drivers extend all the way around the face and into the leading edge, the toe and the topline. Cobra said this enlarges the sweet spot and helps protect ball speed on mis-hits more effectively.
A piece of titanium connects the front and back of the head, and carbon-fiber pieces reduce weight in the crown. (Cobra)
The chassis of the club also was redesigned. A titanium strip on the top connects the front of the club to the back section, and carbon fiber was used in two large areas on the crown and in the sole. Fifty percent of the club is now made from carbon fiber, which saved 25 grams of weight that could be redistributed to performance-enhancing areas.
Most of that was added to a 69-gram internal weight positioned at the back of the sole. It helps pull the center of gravity down and away from the hitting area, which encourages a higher launch angle and boosts stability. Cobra further enhanced stability by adding a pair of weights to the heel and toe areas behind the face. They help the club resist twisting on off-center hits.
The King Speedback comes with a pair of moveable weights: a red 14-gram weight and a black 2-gram weight. Putting the heavier weight in the forward position reduces spin and creates a lower ball flight. When the heavier weight is in the back, it boosts forgiveness and spin.
An internal weight in the back of the head lowers the center of gravity and boosts forgiveness. (Cobra Golf)
The King Speedback Xtreme shares all of the standard Speedback driver’s technologies, including the MyFly adjustable hosel that allows players and fitters to increase or decrease the club’s stated loft by as many as 1.5 degrees, but it is designed to be more forgiving. It is slightly larger from front to back and has more perimeter weighting, so it has a higher moment of inertia.
The clubs come standard with Cobra Connect, an Arccos-powered sensor embedded in the grip that links to a free smartphone app that can track drives and compile stats about performance. They also are available in standard length (45.5 inches) and Tour length (44.5 inches) with black and yellow or black and white color schemes.
Cobra added carbon fiber to the topline and designing a hotter face to make these game-improvement irons longer and more forgiving.
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Gear: Cobra King Speedzone, One Length Speedzone irons Price: $899 (4-GW) with KBS Tour 90 steel shafts and Lamkin Crossline Connect grips; $799 (5-GW) with UST Mamiya Recoil ESX 460 graphite shafts Specs: Cast stainless steel heads with carbon-fiber inserts and multi-material badge Available: Jan. 17, 2020
The top of an iron rarely is the place where innovation happens, but Cobra’s newest game-improvement iron was designed in a unique way, and a lot of golfers are going to stare at the top of these clubs.
The topline of the Speedzone irons was designed with carbon fiber. (Cobra)
While most of the club is cast from stainless steel, the company designed two carbon-fiber strips in the top of the King Speedzone 3- through 7-irons. One strip is visible on the top of the club, and the other is under the topline, inside the cavity. The pieces are strong but 3 grams lighter than the steel they replace, which gave Cobra’s designers more discretionary weight to put in other areas of the club.
The weight saved in the topline was added to the lower back section of the heads to pull down the center of gravity and shift it farther from the hitting area. This should encourage a higher launch angle and more spin.
The forged face wraps under the leading edge. (Cobra)
The face of the King Speedzone irons is forged from 17-4 stainless steel and is thicker in the center and thinner in areas where Cobra has learned players with a handicap between 10 and 25 tend to mis-hit. It also wraps under the leading edge and into the sole to allow the face to flex more effectively on shots struck low in the hitting area.
Like many modern irons designed to provide mid- and higher-handicap golfers with more distance, the King Speedzone irons have strong lofts, with the 5-iron having 21 degrees of loft and the pitching wedge at 42.5 degrees. However, because of the low-and-back center of gravity, golfers should still see their shots climb to the anticipated height, just farther downrange.
The Speedline iron’s back badge absorbs vibrations to enhance sound and feel. (Cobra)
To enhance feel, Cobra designed the King Speedzone irons with a back medallion that features thermoplastic polyurethane, elastomer and an aluminum-foam tape like the material used to join carbon-fiber panels on aircraft. Those materials absorb excessive vibrations at impact to soften feel and make the sound more pleasing.
In addition to the standard Speedzone irons, Cobra is offering a One Length version of the clubs, with each iron being 37.5 inches in length. The company said half of the iron sets it sells are One Length, and they appeal to players who want to develop a single, consistent swing.
Both the standard and One Length Speedzone irons come standard with Cobra Connect, a system of embedded sensors in the grips that link wirelessly via Bluetooth to a free smartphone app. Using the app, golfers can track their performance and learn precisely how far they hit each club.
A milled face, carbon fiber crown, tungsten weight and a railed sole helps Cobra’s newest fairways enhance distance and forgiveness.
Gear: Cobra King Speedzone fairway woods Price: $279 with UST Helium 4, Mitsubishi Tensei AV Blue or Project X HZRDUS Yellow shaft and Lamkin Crossline Connect grips Specs: Stainless steel body with carbon-fiber crown, CNC-milled face and adjustable hosel. Available models range from 13.5-degrees to 22.5-degrees of loft Available: Jan. 17, 2020
Cobra’s newest fairway woods, the King Speedzone, combine several distance-enhancing elements found in the company’s drivers with features that make hitting off the turf and from the rough easier.
As with the Cobra F9 drivers and fairway woods from last season, the new King Speedzone fairway woods have a stainless steel face that is CNC-milled. While most faces are soldered onto the heads and then hand-ground and polished to create the curvature required, for the Speedzone fairway woods a computer controls a high-speed tool that passes over the hitting area and shaves away tiny pieces of metal. This allows Cobra to control the thickness of the face more precisely, and the company said the result is more ball speed.
The milling tool used to create a Cobra King Speedzone fairway woods’ face creates tiny lines in the hitting area. (Cobra)
The use of carbon fiber in the crown saves a significant amount of weight. Much of that goes into a 12-gram tungsten weight in the back of the head that pulls the center of gravity down and away from the hitting area. This should encourage a higher launch and more forgiveness.
Cobra updated the railed sole of the King Speedzone fairways. As with previous clubs, the rails still make it easier to maintain speed through the hitting zone and keep the club from digging into the turf, but Cobra reengineered the portion of the rails behind the leading edge and made them hollow. The hollow area of the rail system lets the face flex more easily on shots struck low in the hitting area while still giving golfers turf-interaction benefits.
While the standard King Speedzone fairway woods will be offered as a 3-wood (14.5 degrees), 5-wood (18.5 degrees) and 7-wood (22.5 degrees), Cobra also designed a Tour version and a Big Tour version of the clubs because some players consider their fairway woods to be secondary driving clubs.
The tungsten weight is positioned forward in the King Speedzone Tour fairway woods. (Cobra)
The Speedzone Tour (14 and 17.5 degrees) has a more compact shape with its tungsten weight just behind the leading edge. Its center of gravity is slightly more forward for a lower ball flight and less spin.
The King Speedzone Tour Big is designed to maximize performance off the tee. (Cobra)
The Speedzone Big Tour (13.5 degrees) can almost be thought of as a mini driver. It has the strongest loft, the largest volume and, like the Tour version, its tungsten weight is forward to enhance ball speed and reduce spin.
All three King Speedzone fairway woods come with the MyFly8 adjustable hosel mechanism, which allows players and fitters to increase or decrease a club’s stated loft by as many as 1.5 degrees to make gap-fitting easier.
The Speedzone hybrids are designed to hit higher-flying shots and help golfers get more distance off the tee, from the turf and in the sand.
Gear: Cobra King Speedzone hybrids Price: $229 with UST Recoil 480 ESX shafts and Lamkin Crossline Connect grips Specs: Stainless steel body with tungsten weight. 2H (17 degrees), 3H (19 degrees), 4H (21 degrees) and 5H (24 degrees) Available: Jan. 17, 2020
To complement the new Cobra King Speedback drivers and fairway woods, the company created a line of hybrids to provide more distance and forgiveness.
The King Speedzone hybrids have the same Hollow Split Rail technology found in the King Speedzone fairway woods. A pair of rails on the sole run from the leading edge to the back of the head, but unlike previously released railed hybrids, the front area was left hollow. Cobra said the advantage is the lower portion of the hitting area can flex more effectively at impact because there is less mass behind the leading edge, so the clubs can create more ball speed on shots struck low in the hitting area.
The look at address is clean, but technologies on the sole will help golfers improve their consistency. (Cobra)
At the same time, the rails encourage the King Speedzone hybrids to skim across the turf, through rough and over sand without digging or slowing down through impact.
A 12-gram tungsten weight in the back of the head helps lower the center of gravity and pull it away from the face, which should encourage shots with higher launch and that come down more vertically to stop faster on the greens.
Cobra King Speedzone One Length hybrids (Cobra)
Cobra also made the King Speedzone hybrids in One Length versions, with 19-, 21- and 24-degree clubs that are 37.25 inches long, the typical length of a 7-iron. That is significantly shorter than most iron-replacing hybrids, which tend to measure between 39 and 41 inches. Cobra said many players improve their quality of strike with shorter clubs, which offsets a slightly slower swing. As a result, many golfers who try One Length clubs find they don’t lose distance, and their consistency and accuracy improve.
Pros are getting their first chance to play Titleist’s newest wedges, the SM8, this week at the PGA Tour’s RSM Classic in Georgia.
The PGA Tour’s last full-field event of 2019 is this week’s RSM Classic at St. Simons Island, Georgia. The tournament is the first time that pros are going to have a chance to put into play Titleist’s newest wedge, the Vokey Design SM8.
Titleist is mum on the details about the clubs, and if history is a guide, they will not be released at retail until the PGA Merchandise Show in late January.
Bob Vokey, Titleist’s master craftsman for wedges, PGA Tour rep Aaron Dill and Titleist’s director of wedge R&D, Kevin Tassistro, are all at the RSM Classic to show the wedges to players and fit them into new clubs.
Titleist Vokey Design SM8 wedges (Titleist)
Prototype wedges have been spotted throughout 2019 in practice rounds, but now we can see cosmetic changes have been made to the back of the newest clubs.
The SM stands for spin milled, a manufacturing technique that involves a special circular saw-style cutting tool passing back and forth across the smooth hitting area to create the grooves. The first spin milled wedges from Titleist appeared in 2007.
It is safe to assume that the SM8 wedges will replace the SM7 family in Titleist’s stable. Those clubs, available in lofts from 46 degrees to 62 degrees, have been made available in Tour Chrome, Brushed Steel, Jet Black and Raw finishes. They feature different grooves in each wedge based on its loft, with low lofts (46-54) being made with narrower, deeper, iron-like grooves. Higher-lofted SM7 wedges (56-62) have wider grooves that can remove sand and water from the hitting area more effectively. They feature a progressive center of gravity design and six options for sole grind.
See all the gear that the American stars like Tiger Woods, Justin Thomas, Brooks Koepka and Dustin Johnson are expected to play in December.
With Tiger Woods having announced his captain’s picks (including himself), we now know the 12 members of the U.S. Presidents Cup team that will face the International squad Dec. 12-15 at Royal Melbourne Golf Club in Australia. Below is a list of the U.S. players and the equipment they are expected to use.
Patrick Cantlay’s Titleist irons (David Dusek/Golfweek)
HYBRID:Titleist 816 H2 (21 degrees), with Mitsubishi CK Pro Blue 90 X shaft
IRONS:Titleist T100 (4-PW), with True Temper Dynamic Gold 120 shafts
WEDGES:Titleist Vokey Design SM7 (54 degrees bent to 53, 56 degrees bent to 57, 60 degrees bent to 61), with True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S300 shafts
