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 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 8-gram 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 2-gram weight which you can interchange if you want to, to adjust those launch and
01:57spin 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 100 or 200 RPM, but actually it went
03:48up by more like 400 to 500 RPM, right about the 2,400 mark average, and for me, that's
03:54a little bit too high, actually, you notice the distance really came down, the spin numbers
03:58were higher, but they were more consistent, and the flight was a lot more consistent as
04:02well, so while I wasn't getting as much distance in that setting, I was loving how straight
04:09the ball was going, then I tested the Cobra Radspeed XB driver, and typically, I've found
04:15that they're extreme drivers, so the Kingspeed's an extreme driver from last year, that was
04:19really, really too high spinning for me, I lost about 10, 15 yards by switching into
04:23that driver because it was too high spinning, but actually, the XB driver gave me a surprisingly
04:28good middle ground, in a bit of a dilemma into which model I want to choose, I'm kind
04:32of torn between this one and the XB, they both perform very similar, but I think the
04:35differences and the decision will come down to the looks of these drivers, because they
04:41do have two very different looks, so I prefer the shorter look of this Radspeed driver,
04:46and also the matte finish on the crown, I definitely prefer that, versus the stretched
04:50out look of the XB driver, this is a really, really cool looking driver, it's got loads
04:56going on on the bottom, you've got carbon fire panels, you've got loads of weight ports,
05:00that turbo yellow colour really pops through, really, really cutting edge, I love the look
05:04of that driver, feel and sound as well, definitely improved with this driver, I think, where
05:09the King F9 was quite a low pitched thud sound, and the King Speedzone driver was quite a
05:16loud high pitched sound, this is somewhere in the middle, and I think strikes a really
05:19nice middle ground in terms of that feel and sound, feels really, really solid out the
05:23middle, you've obviously got that infinity face here, which I think also helps a little
05:27bit with alignment as well, that kind of contrast between the crown and that infinity face,
05:31the way it wraps over the top section of the crown, just gives you a little bit more alignment
05:34assistance on offer, so definitely food for thought there, wasn't confident as to which
05:39model would be best for me, yes, that low spin driver, in its low spin setting, gave
05:44me the best average carry, but I really wanted to find out if that was playable out on the
05:48golf course.
05:49Okay, so I've hit some shots here on the range with this Cobra King rad speed driver in its
06:00low spin setting, and I've got to say, I was surprised at how stable and consistent
06:05the ball flight was in its low spin setting, I'm a five handicap golfer, so I'm peppering
06:10kind of around the area on the circle on the face where this infinity logo is, I say the
06:14ball 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,
06:24there 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
06:32does have more fade bias built into it than the other models, which I think definitely
06:37helps me as a drawer of the golf ball achieve a more stable, neutral ball flight, but switching
06:43the weights around, having that heavy weight in the back definitely gave me more consistency,
06:48but I would say 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
07:13something like this would really help you out, as a golfer that hits quite a lot up
07:18on the ball, I don't necessarily want lower spin to get me more distance, but that said
07:23the numbers would show that this driver did unlock more performance for me or the most
07:28performance in its low spin setting, but for me whether you opt for a low spin driver like
07:32this, I think it's actually quite course dependent, if your course is quite open and you can get
07:38away with those miss hits and those offline drives more, then maybe a low spin driver
07:44could work for you, it's the same with the longer shaft debate, if the course is quite
07:47open you can get away with wider shots, but if your course is quite tight, for me Pearly
07:52Park Golf Club here in Stamford, it's quite a tight course, tree lined, it's quite short
07:57as well so I need more control than I do distance, so therefore a low spin setting isn't really
08:02overly beneficial, I think dragging that weight back and having a bit more spin, maybe sacrificing
08:08a few yards but finding a few more fairways would definitely help me out more than hitting
08:12the ball a little bit further, that said if I'm swinging the driver really well, I think
08:17there's definitely a case for swapping those weights around, having the heavy weight in
08:20the 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
08:28and that's why I think this Cobra Rad Speed driver is quite versatile because you can
08:32set the driver up differently depending on the course and how you're playing and give
08:36you two quite different types of performance, we've seen from the numbers how the difference
08:40in the RPM was significant in those two weight settings and therefore you've always got two
08:44drivers in one, you've got a low spinning bomb driver, if you want to hit high bombs
08:48like Phil Mickelson you can do that with this Rad Speed driver in its low spin setting
08:52but if you want a bit more control you can switch those weights around and you're getting
08:55something that's a bit more stable whilst still looking nice and compact down behind
08:59the ball, so I think it's a really thoughtful offering from Cobra, really, really versatile
09:03as I mentioned and when you consider the price tag, £369, significantly cheaper than a lot
09:09of the mainstream brands on the market and this performance from this driver I would
09:13say is pretty comparable with those, I've not even custom fitted for this driver, definitely
09:18if you go for a custom fitting process I think you'll unlock potentially even more
09:22performance from this driver than I did, when you factor all those things in as well as
09:26the Cobra Connect shop tracking system that comes included with this driver, I think this
09:30is a mightily enticing package for the club golfer, especially when you consider in addition
09:36those two other models to choose from, so the XB driver if you want even more forgiveness
09:40you 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 if I had to choose the driver and the setting that I would go
09:59for it probably would be this Rad Speed driver and I'd probably opt for the weight at the
10:04back just to give me a bit more stability initially and then as I kind of got used to
10:07it I might think about having that heavier weight forward to give me a bit more distance
10:10but in answer to the question at the start of this video, can you now get away with playing
10:15a low spin driver, I'd say that definitely the potential has increased with the launch
10:19of this 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
10:31driver model might be best for you from the new range, I've really, really enjoyed my
10:35time testing this Rad Speed driver, do click the like button down below if you like what
10:39you're watching and comment on the video, tell me are you interested in hitting high
10:43bombs with low spin or do you want a bit more control and accuracy on your drives but that's
10:47all from me from Burley Park Golf Club here in Stamford, I'll see you next time.