I don’t know how you feel about it but this launch season proves to me that the golf industry is shifting. The biggest shift is also the most undeniable.
OEMs are changing the way they design, manufacture and market game-improvement and super game-improvement irons. And for what it’s worth, we couldn’t be happier.
Submitted for your approval are the following factoids:
- While distance is still important, TaylorMade, Callaway and now COBRA are focusing on playability over how far the ball goes.
- All three OEMs acknowledge spin, launch angle and descent matter (this one’s been going on for a while).
- Distance through stronger lofts is passe. The new message is consistent distance across the face.
- Everyone in this category is focusing more on feel than ever.
- Annual launch cycles tied to annual driver/metalwood launches are over. Everyone (save for Callaway, at least for this year) is now on a two-year life cycle for GI and SGI irons.
Friends, those are some seismic shifts, especially that last one.
And those shifts are what make the new COBRA KING and KING MAX irons so interesting. I was expecting something tied to the OPTM metalwood family because that’s what COBRA has been doing for the last two decades at least. Instead, COBRA is adding its GI and SGI irons to its golfing KING family and shifting to a two-year product cycle.
Yep, something’s happening here. What it is may not be exactly clear but it is coming into focus a little.
COBRA KING and KING MAX irons: Why the change?
COBRA, along with the other OEMs we’ve spoken with this launch season, acknowledges that market trends are changing. Consumers, they told us, are getting kind of jaded and are over the whole distance and speed stories they’re hearing year after year.
The focus is on hitting more greens which means accuracy and controlled distance. The towards, it would seem, have caught up to the how-fars.
Make no mistake. COBRA isn’t skimping on the how-fars with the new KING and KING MAX irons. However, all of the speed and distance technology is joined at the hip with speed and distance consistency.
If any of this sounds familiar, it should. TaylorMade says virtually the exact same thing about its new Qi MAX game-improvement irons as did Callaway about its new Quantum irons.
When the universe spins, all of its participants spin with it.
3D printing and catapults
COBRA is using its emerging 3D-printing technology with the new KING and KING MAX irons, just not in the way that you think. Unlike its fascinating new 3DP MB and 3DP X irons (fully 3D printed using advanced metal jet printing technology), COBRA is using 3D printing for just a portion of the new KINGs, a new lattice-shaped back medallion.
Instead of metal, the new medallion is made from ABS plastic and is designed to save up to five grams of weight. Five grams might not sound like a lot but in an iron where there isn’t as much wiggle room to move weight around, it’s a fairly significant amount.
That weight savings allowed COBRA to move the KING’s center of gravity two millimeters lower than it was in last year’s DS-ADAPT irons. Again, that might not sound like a lot but COBRA says that small shift resulted in a 1.18 mile-per-hour increase in ball speed (maybe two yards more carry) without strengthening the loft. It also resulted in a slight increase in launch angle with a minimal impact on spin. Usually, you’d pay for that combination of ball spin and launch by giving up spin.
COBRA is also redesigning its internal weighting system with what it calls a Catapult Weight. It’s a free-floating, 80-gram steel weight that sits in a polymer sleeve behind the face. It prevents metal-on-metal contact when the iron face flexes at impact.
Its job is to free up the face, sole and back of the iron to flex together and deliver more ball speed at impact. In the DS-ADAPT, that weight was fixed to the iron body which limited face and sole flex.
She sells SPEEDSHELLS by the Skid Soles …
While COBRA is leaving DS-ADAPT in the dust, it is keeping at least some of the tech. Specifically, we’re talking about its 360 SPEEDSHELL face design, which is COBRA’s take on a variable thickness cup face.
Why keep it? Well, because it works. According to COBRA, SPEEDSHELL unlocks 23 percent more face flex than the older PWRSHELL face it used before DS-ADAPT. I, for one, am grateful that COBRA has chosen to use all the vowels for SPEEDSHELL, even though it still insists on capitalizing THE WHOLE THING.
Another blast from the past is something COBRA is calling its Skid Sole. Back in 2002, COBRA’s Phil Rodgers designed the original Skid Sole for its wedges. It’s actually a precursor to Srixon’s V.T. Sole and COBRA later used a variation on the soles of its Amp and Amp Cell irons in 2011 and 2012.
The Skid Sole has been slightly reimagined for the 2026 COBRA KING and KING MAX irons. It features more leading-edge bounce along with a flatter sole and reduced camber. The idea is that a bouncier leading edge reduces digging for golfers with a steeper angle of attack while the flatter sole and reduced camber let the iron sit closer to the ground. That, in theory, should help shallow attack angle “pickers” make crisper, more consistent contact.
COBRA KING and the changing world of game improvement
COBRA, like any good OEM, asked its customers in the 11- to 20-handicap range what they wanted. The response was not all that different from what TaylorMade learned in its customer survey. Both distance and forgiveness were on the leader board but, according to COBRA, its golfers valued accuracy, distance control and feel just as highly.
I swear, we’ve heard more OEMs emphasizing greens in regulation more this than in the past 10 years combined. It’s almost as if actually playing golf has become just as important as hitting the ever-loving snot out of the ball.
First two-year product cycles and now this? What in the name of Old Tom Morris is going on here?
For its part, COBRA isn’t touting monumental gains in distance or even tiny gains in distance. It is touting 1.18 miles per hour of additional ball speed that might be worth a couple of yards. COBRA is saying, however, the new KINGs are delivering on the whole accuracy and distance control thing.
Using test golfers in the 11- to 20-handicap range, COBRA tested the new KING head-to-head from 160 yards out. It found that golfers not only hit 10 percent more greens with the KING but there was a noticeable drop in longest-to-shortest dispersion. The result was 1.35 strokes gained.
Additionally, COBRA found the new Skid Sole actually helped shallow attack angle golfers in terms of club speed more than it helps steeper swingers. Because Skid Sole lets the club sit closer to the ground, COBRA says golfers impact the ball higher on the clubface, closer to the sweet spot. That would obviously account for more consistent ball speed.
COBRA KING and KING MAX irons: Specs, price and availability
COBRA, like Callaway, is eschewing the HL (High Launch) model trend. The KING remains strong-lofted with a 27-degree 7-iron. It’s made for the mid to high handicapper who has enough swing speed to activate those stronger lofts.
The KING MAX is the super game-improvement model and is weaker lofted by two degrees across the board. It’s only slightly larger than the KING but is built to be more forgiving and a bit more draw-biased. When combined with the higher lofts, it serves not only as the SGI model in the family but it’ll do a passable job of serving the needs of a slower swing speed player in need of higher launch as well.
Both irons will be available in left- and right-handed models. The KING will be offered in a 4-iron through a gap wedge. The KING MAX will come in a 5-iron through gap wedge.
The KBS Tour Lite is the stock steel shaft while the lightweight KBS PGI is the stock graphite. The new SuperStroke Crossline STD is the stock grip.
A KING Max women’s model, in an Earl Grey colorway, will also be available. It features an even lighter-weight KBS PGI shaft in women’s flex along with an undersized SuperStroke Crossline grip.
The COBRA KING and KING MAX irons will come in seven-piece sets for $999 in steel and $1,099 in graphite. The women’s KING MAX is six pieces and will run $942.
All three sets will be available for fitting and pre-sale on Feb. 3. They’ll be available at retail and online starting Feb. 6.
If you’re looking for a deal, last year’s COBRA DS-ADAPT irons are on sale now, starting at $799.98.
For more information, visit www.cobragolf.com.
The post The New COBRA KING And KING MAX Irons Make It Official: Industry Trends, They Are A-Changing appeared first on MyGolfSpy.
