Tis the season.
Not the Christmas season but the season of new releases of golf clubs. Fall usually sees most of the new releases for the coming year in advance of the PGA Merchandise Show in Orlando, Florida. This year sees more of the same, so let’s see what the equipment manufacturers have in store for us for 2020.
Cobra SpeedZone and SpeedZone Xtreme Drivers
Fresh off its remarkable success with its F9 Speedback driver and fairways, Cobra is back with the new SpeedZone and SpeedZone Xtreme drivers.
The F9 Speedback was generally regarded as Cobra’s best driver ever, so how do you follow a product like that?
The F9 Speedback was a very low CG, high MOI, and a precision milled face. All three have become the foundation of Cobra metal woods across the board.
For 2020, Cobra Golf has done something completely unique to the market with the SpeedZone and SpeedZone Xtreme drivers. The Zones tackle all the hotbeds of driver performance speed, stability, weight, CG, and overall performance.
The Zones
Power Zone—Cobra has used CNC milling in its woods for a few years now and with great success. The SpeedZone twins offer Cobra’s new Infinity Face, which expands the milling even more—95 percent more. With the milling crawling all the way over the topline, the SpeedZone now offers even more consistency across the face and ensure that each face is exactly the same. Quality control is taken a step further with 100 percent of the heads inspected.
Strength Zone—Both drivers are equipped with a Titanium T-Bar Speed Chassis that allows R&D to remove weight from the crown (25 grams total) and utilize it in the hot spots of the golf club (i.e., the perimeter and discretionary placements). The goal here is an even lower CG and higher MOI.
Low CG Zone—A really low, dead-center CG made the F9 a winner. In the SpeedZone, Cobra went even further. 69 grams of mass (an increase for 40 grams in F9) have been strategically placed around the head to fine-tune launch conditions for any type of player.
Aero Zone—This is the airflow portion of this machine. In the rear end of the crown, you will find what appears to be an exhaust area. This addition limits air drag, which in turn means increased clubhead speed.
SpeedZone Xtreme
The 2020 Cobra SpeedZone Xtreme carries with it a slightly larger profile that allows more weight around the perimeter and a 17-gram weight that is placed behind the exhaust in the rear of the clubhead. Additional weighting and in contrast to its sibling, the Xtreme has only one visible weight placed at the back end of the sole creating the highest MOI Cobra has ever had and a high launch/low spin profile for the player.
Being more forgiving, it’s natural that the SpeedZone Xtreme driver possess a larger footprint than its less extreme sibling. But it’s not grotesque. Optically, it’s a bit of a longer profile face-to-back, and the top-to-bottom look is a bit shallower. Other than that, both drivers look quite similar and since the F9 was one of the more handsome clubs of 2019, this is a very good thing.
Look for a brace of fairway metals to compliment Cobra’s new big dogs.
Callaway Mavrik driver
Callaway’s new Mavrik and Mavrik Sub Zero drivers have been spotted on the USGA’s Conforming List, which for those that don’t know, is a publicly available database that allows tournament committees to check the conformity of any club that might be put into play during an event. Every single OEM has to submit each variation of a club to the USGA before it gets deemed legal for competition.
Callaway stays true to form with the release of a “standard” model along with a lower-spinning, lower-MOI Sub Zero version. It isn’t apparent from the images how the Mavriks differ from the Epic Flash twins. But it would be safe to assume that the Mavrik will employ all the existing tech also present in the Epic Flash in a slightly more forgiving package.
The most noticeable difference so far compared to the 2019 Epic Flash is the lack of any movable weight track along the back of both Mavrik driver models. They look to have the same adjustable hosel but no adjustable CG, beyond the potential of moving a heavier weight to the rear of the Sub Zero head.
Callaway will also offer fairway metals to complement the Mavrik drivers. A standard and a Sub Zero model, and that unlike the previous Epic Flash fairway woods, the Mavrik heads will not be adjustable at the hosel. The interesting thing about the hosel is that Callaway has been producing non-adjustable versions the standard retail (adjustable) heads on tour for a few years now, and this could mean that as far as fairway woods go, there is potential for increased forgiveness from freed up mass when the adjustability is removed—at that point it becomes a fitting want versus a performance need with either one being the better option depending on the player.
Titleist Vokey SM8 wedges
Has it been two years already? The SM7, which we reviewed much earlier in the year, was seemingly the quintessential wedge. It had it all, good looks, some of the spiniest, most consistent grooves on the market and the greatest variety of sole grinds on the market today. It’s hard to conceive how Titleist and wedge god Bob Vokey continue to improve what already is the gold standard in the wedge game today.
Titleist isn’t helping matters, this year. They’re playing coy, not releasing product details or a white paper on the SM8 just yet. They will when the wedge hits the market or by the PGA Show but for now you know about as much as we do.
There’s no question there have been some tweaks to the grinds that many players know and love. These subtle tweaks are all about keeping up to the demands of the modern game and turf conditions. Technology in turf management is just as advanced as modern golf club manufacturing and as we continue to see it change, the short game tools like Vokey wedges will continue to evolve with it.
Titleist Vokey wedges have utilized variable groove shaping based on loft to maximize short game performance in the past and it would be safe to surmise that the Vokey team looks to improve on that with the SM8.
The SM series has made its name on the efficacy of their grooves, so it behooves Titleist to look at how tool changes and draft angles can now bring each and every face right to the limit of conformity and increase control, as long as Titleist works with machine shops to constantly check parts. Titleist’s quality control is already one of the best in the business and if there is improvement to be had, they’re the one company that’s sure to find it.