Joel Tadman tests the new Cobra Radspeed drivers to discover if more golfers can now benefit from using a low-spinning driver. The Radspeed has some extreme front and back weighting claiming to offer low spin with forgiveness, but what are the sacrifices in performance if any? He also tests the Radspeed XB driver up against two older models to see how the performance has evolved.
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00:00Hello everybody, Joel Tabman here from Golf Monthly and welcome to a wintry Burley Park
00:07Golf Club here in Stamford where I'm going to be answering the question as to whether
00:11you can now get away with playing a low spin driver.
00:15Historically, low spin drivers have only really been for very fast swingers or low handicap
00:20golfers that use very little of the club face.
00:23They're using the centre of the face more often than not, but is there a case now that
00:26more golfers can benefit from low spin performance without sacrificing accuracy out on the golf
00:33course?
00:34That's the question I really want to answer with the launch of this new Cobra Rad Speed
00:37driver, new for 2021, comes out at the end of January.
00:41I've been giving this a thorough test in its various different weight positions, various
00:44different models, up against the prior generation drivers as well to see how the performance
00:49has evolved with this driver, are there distance gains to be had without sacrificing accuracy
00:54from the design of this new driver?
00:56Let's find out.
01:08Right, so Cobra Rad Speed driver, all about pushing weight to the extremities in terms
01:12of that front and back area, getting it further away from the centre of gravity, giving you
01:18forgiveness but with low spin to maximise performance for different player types.
01:22So you'll notice with this driver you've got two new weights here right at the front of
01:26the head, two 8g weights that are designed to give you more ball speed and lower the
01:30spin and then you come back to the rear of the head, you've got this Rad Speed weight
01:35right at the back, similar to the Speedback design we saw prior from Cobra, dragging the
01:39mash low and back, increasing launch, MOI, spin as well to give you forgiveness.
01:45So you combine those two together, you think it's the ideal blend of performance.
01:49You've also got two adjustable weights here in this standard model, you've got a 12 and
01:53a 2g weight which you can interchange if you want to, to adjust those launch and spin characteristics.
01:59This is one of three models now from Cobra in the new range, you've also got the XB model
02:04which stands for Extreme Back, so no adjustable weighting, more weight is back in that head
02:08to give you more forgiveness and a bit more stability, so that's really designed for players
02:12that utilise more of the face and really want more forgiveness from their driver.
02:16Then you've also got a new XD model which stands for Extreme Draw, so if you're struggling
02:21with a slice, you should be able to get more distance by opting for the XD model, so it's
02:25really getting about distance in different ways from this Rad Speed range.
02:30The big question I want to answer of course is, can you get away with playing a low spin
02:34driver like this, or how low spinning is this driver compared to the rest of the market?
02:39So I gave these drivers a really thorough test down at Foresight Sports HQ on the GC
02:43quad launch monitor using Titleist Pro V1X golf balls, and I'll flash the data up on
02:48your screen now because I think it is really, really interesting and there's no question,
02:51this driver, especially compared to the prior generation drivers from Cobra, so the King
02:56F9 Speedback, the King Speedzone drivers, this driver is unquestionably lower spinning
03:02than those drivers, and you'll notice from that lower spin, this driver was delivering
03:07me more distance on average than those other drivers.
03:11So this is all with the same shaft tested, so I've got the new Fujikura Matoran, so I
03:16was able to retrofit this shaft into those other drivers, same loft, so nine degrees
03:21of loft, and my first impression was, well okay, it's great to get low spin, but getting
03:26a spin number that under that 2,000 RPM mark is a little bit of a concern for me, so obviously
03:31there are ways you can just raise the spin a little bit, certainly I thought I needed
03:36to try and do that to get it closer to optimum, so I started by moving the 12-round weight
03:40into the rear of the head, and you'll notice from the numbers how the spin really, really
03:44popped up there, so I was expecting it to go up by one or two hundred RPM, but actually
03:48it went up by more like four to five hundred RPM, round about the 2,400 mark average, and
03:53for me that's a little bit too high actually, you notice the distance really came down,
03:58the spin numbers were higher, but they were more consistent, and the flight was a lot
04:01more consistent as well, so while I wasn't getting as much distance in that setting,
04:07I was loving how straight the ball was going, then I tested the Cobra Radspeed XB driver,
04:14and typically I've found that their Xtreme driver, so the Kingspeed's own Xtreme driver
04:18from last year, that was really, really too high spinning for me, I lost about 10, 15
04:22yards by switching into that driver because it was too high spinning, but actually the
04:26XB driver gave me a surprisingly good middle ground, in a bit of a dilemma as to which
04:30model I want to choose, I'm kind of torn between this one and the XB, they both perform
04:34similar, but I think the differences and the decision will come down to the looks of these
04:39drivers, because they do have two very different looks, so I prefer the shorter look of this
04:45Radspeed driver, and also the matte finish on the crown, I definitely prefer that,
04:49versus the stretched out look of the XB driver, this is a really, really cool looking driver,
04:56it's got loads going on the bottom, you've got carbon fire panels, you've got loads of
04:59weight ports, that turbo yellow colour really pops through, really, really cutting edge,
05:04I love the look of the driver, feel and sound as well, definitely improved with this driver,
05:08I think, you know, where the King F9 was quite a low pitched thud sound, and the Kingspeed's
05:15own driver was quite a loud high pitch sound, this is somewhere in the middle and I think
05:19strikes a really nice middle ground in terms of that feel and sound, feels really, really
05:22solid out the middle, you've obviously got that infinity face here, which I think also
05:26helps a little bit with alignment as well, that kind of contrast between the crown and that
05:30infinity face, the way it wraps over the top section of the crown, just gives you a little
05:34bit more alignment assistance on offer, so yeah, definitely a food for thought there,
05:38wasn't confident as to which model would be best for me, yes, that low spin driver in its low spin
05:43setting gave me the best average carry, but I really wanted to find out if that was playable
05:47out on the golf course. Okay, so I've hit some shots here on the range with this Cobra King
05:59Radspeed driver in its low spin setting, I've got to say, I was surprised at how stable and
06:04consistent the ball flight was in its low spin setting, I'm a five handicap golfer, so I'm
06:09peppering kind of around the area on the circle on the face where this infinity logo is, I say
06:14the ball flight was very, very straight, very consistent, on those kind of off centre hits,
06:19especially in the toe, outside that area where you do see spin dropping off quite a lot,
06:23there is a case to say, yes, you are getting a bit more kind of curvature to the left,
06:28it's not quite as stable in that setting on those slight off centre hits, this driver does have
06:33more fade bias built into it than the other models, which I think definitely helps me as
06:38a drawer of the golf ball achieve a more stable and neutral ball flight, but switching the weights
06:43around, having that heavy weight in the back definitely gave me more consistency, but I would
06:48say in its low spin setting, there was more forgiveness on offer than I was expecting,
06:53I think whether you opt for that setting will depend on a lot of different factors, obviously
06:57depends on your own swing, would low spin generally be helpful to you, maybe you're
07:04quite a high spin player already and therefore knocking some RPMs off wouldn't be a bad thing,
07:09is your attack angle down, obviously that will contribute to more spin and therefore something
07:14like this would really help you out, as a golfer that hits quite a lot up on the ball,
07:18I don't necessarily want lower spin to get me more distance, but that said, the numbers would
07:24show that this driver did unlock more performance for me, or the most performance in its low spin
07:29setting, but for me, whether you opt for a low spin driver like this, I think it's actually quite
07:33course dependent, if your course is quite open and you can get away with those miss hits and
07:40those offline drives more, then maybe a low spin driver could work for you, so same with the longer
07:45shaft debate, if the course is quite open, you can get away with wider shots, but if your course is
07:50quite tight, for me, Burley Park Golf Club here in Stamford, it's quite a tight course, tree lined,
07:55I need, it's quite short as well, so I need more control than I do distance, so therefore a low
08:01spin setting isn't really overly beneficial, I think dragging that weight back and having a bit
08:06more spin, maybe sacrificing a few yards, but finding a few more fairways would definitely
08:10help me out more than hitting the ball a little bit further, that said, if I'm swinging the driver
08:15really well, I think there's definitely a case for swapping those weights around, having the
08:20heavyweight in the front and benefiting from that extra distance, if you're hitting the centre of
08:25the face more often, if you're swinging it well, that's a really good option to have and that's
08:28why I think this Cobra Radspeed driver is quite versatile, because you can set the driver up
08:33differently depending on the course and how you're playing and give you two quite different types of
08:38performance, we've seen from the numbers how the difference in the RPM was significant in those
08:41two weight settings and therefore you've always got two drivers in one, you've got a low spinning
08:46bomb driver, if you want to hit high bombs like Phil Mickelson, you can do that with this
08:50Radspeed driver in its low spin setting, but if you want a bit more control, you can switch those
08:54weights around and you're getting something that's a bit more stable, while still looking
08:58nice and compact down behind the ball, so I think it's a really thoughtful offering from Cobra,
09:02really, really versatile as I mentioned and when you consider the price tag, £369, significantly
09:08cheaper than a lot of the mainstream brands on the market and this performance from this driver,
09:12I would say is pretty comparable with those, you know, I've not even custom fitted for this driver,
09:17you know, definitely if you go through a custom fitting process, I think you'll unlock potentially
09:21even more performance from this driver than I did, when you factor all those things in,
09:25as well as the Cobra Connect shop tracking system that comes included with this driver,
09:30I think this is a mightily enticing package for the club golfer, especially when you consider,
09:36in addition, those two other models to choose from, so the XB driver, if you want even more
09:40forgiveness, you can go for that one, if you want more slice correction, you've got the XD model
09:44as well, so really, really comprehensive package from Cobra, looks fantastic, feels great,
09:49nice variety in the setups that are available to you, depending on what you are looking for
09:54from your driver, but for me, you know, if I had to choose the driver and the setting that I'd go
09:59for, it probably would be this Rad Speed driver, I'd probably opt for, you know, the weight at the
10:04back, just to give me a bit more stability initially and then, as I kind of got used to it,
10:07might think about having that heavy weight forward to give me a bit more distance, but,
10:11you know, in answer to the question at the start of this video, can you now get away with
10:14playing a low spin driver, I'd say that definitely the potential has increased with the launch of
10:19this Rad Speed driver, but do do it with caution, because it won't be for everyone.
10:24Guys, I hope you enjoyed this video and it's given you a good idea as to what the performance
10:27of this Rad Speed driver is all about, how it compares with what came before, and what driver
10:32model might be best for you from the new range, I've really, really enjoyed my time testing this
10:36Rad Speed driver, now do click the like button down below if you like what you're watching and
10:39comment on the video, tell me, you know, are you interested in hitting high bombs with low spin,
10:44or do you want a bit more control and accuracy on your drives, but that's all for me
10:48from Burley Park Golf Club here in Stamford, I'll see you next time.