Cobra Smarter Ways To Lower Scores 2018: 24-handicap Peter Howe’s Fitting

Golf Monthly reader Peter Howe enjoys a full driver-to-wedge custom-fitting as part of our ‘2018 Smarter Ways to Lower Scores’ project with Cobra Golf…

COBRA Golf Smarter Ways to Lower Scores 2018

Last year we teamed up with COBRA Golf to help readers Mark Smith and Lawrence Stocker do just that in our inaugural ‘Smarter Ways to Lower Scores’ campaign. ‘Smarter Ways’ has returned for 2018 bigger and better, with COBRA Puma Golf giving two more readers the perfect opportunity to take their games to the next level.

COBRA Puma Golf has long been about innovation and performance, and its exciting new 2018 range is no exception, whether the new King F8 and F8+ drivers with their CNC-milled faces, the forgiving King F8 irons in Variable length or One-Length - as championed on tour by Bryson DeChambeau - or the striking new King Black wedges with their Dimonized Black Metal finish. And this year, the Cobra Connect shot-tracking system in association with Arccos is available throughout the bag to help our two readers analyse all areas of their games from tee to green. Here, we look at the custom fitting for Peter Howe, a mad-keen 24-handicapper from Hartlepool GC who has been playing for under a year...

He’s still experiencing the frustration of glimpses of brilliance mixed with baffling mishits: “One shot, I'm Tiger Woods, the next, my clubs might as well be thrown in the woods!” he says.

“I only took golf up about eight months ago. I find it addictive, but also frustrating. An opportunity like this is fantastic as I look to improve my game, become more consistent and hit more shots like I know I can. Smarter Ways could help me achieve my goal of breaking 90 in 2018.”

Peter was fitted for...

Driver: COBRA King F8 11.5˚ draw, Aldila Blue 60, stiff

3/4-wood: COBRA King F8 15.5˚ draw, Aldila Blue 70, stiff

3-hybrid: COBRA King F8 19˚ One-Length, Aldila Rogue regular

Irons 5-GW: COBRA King F8 One-Length, stock steel regular, standard length and lie

Wedges: COBRA King One 54˚ & 60˚, STD wedge shaft, standard length and lie

COBRA PUMA Golf Brand Experience Manager Joe Folker’s fitting analysis Peter’s clubs were from the 1990s since when technology has come a long way. His favourite club is his 7-iron, which he hit consistently, so we tried our King F8 7-iron in an XP90 shaft. There were instant improvements, so we tried a One-Length 5-iron, which proved far more consistent than his own, as did the 9-iron, with 20-yard gains and far better dispersion.

From 5-iron we tried an F8 hybrid in Variable and One-Length, with the latter again performing better. He ripped our F8 3-wood, and in our F8 driver, we put the weight in the heel with a draw bias and the loft at 11.5˚, to counter his shot to the right. I expect to tweak that down over time as he gets used to a bigger driver head.

Peter’s feedback It was nice to get feedback from computers as well as Joe. My own driver is far smaller, and I struggled a bit with the bigger head, but I think that’s down to technique, which will come.

One-Length clubs are all 7-iron length so it’s the same stance from hybrid to wedge, which really worked - even the hybrid and lob wedge felt comfortable. The 3-wood was great and if I need to use that rather than my driver for now, so be it!