Cobra Smarter Ways to Lower Scores: 7-handicapper Andy Wright's July 2018 update

7-handicapper Andy Wright looks back on progress so far with his new COBRA clubs and what the 'COBRA Connect powered by Arccos' data has most taught him...

Golf Monthly has teamed up with COBRA Golf again in 2018 for ‘Smarter Ways to Lower Scores’, an exciting project in which two readers have enjoyed full COBRA Golf club fittings to help take their games to the next level.

Andy Wright, a 7-handicapper from Cheshire, was fitted for a full driver-to-wedge COBRA Golf set at Silvermere in March and put his new clubs in play straightaway in a determined bid to finally get down to Category 1 this season.

This year the ‘COBRA Connect powered by Arccos’ shot-tracking system is fitted into every club, allowing our two readers to pinpoint exactly which areas of their games need the most attention. In mid-May we met up again at Frilford Heath in Oxfordshire, along with Alex Higgs from Arccos, to play in the Pro-Am at the Europro Tour’s season opener, find out how Andy had been getting on and discover what he had most learned about his game so far from the wealth of data available via COBRA Connect.

Andy Wright Handicap: 7  Home Club: Lymm

On COBRA Connect powered by Arccos… Alex Higgs: Andy has about six or seven rounds under his belt and the data shows that driving and putting are his weakest elements and approach play the strongest. We rate the handicap level of each aspect and his approach play comes out at +0.8, and the driving at 10, so quite a big difference. He’s losing a little bit of distance, and dispersion is both left and right.

He’s also averaging 1.9 putts per green so if he can improve his driving and hole a few more putts, there’s much potential for handicap reduction.

On his COBRA clubs… Switching a whole bag of clubs in one go is a big change, but I’ve got used to them now and am really enjoying my new COBRA gear, especially my COBRA King Forged Tour irons. I actually had a level par round at St Annes Old Links, but sadly it was just a bounce game!

I’m not really a stats person but I’m getting quite addicted to COBRA Connect. I would have said my putting and short game had been my biggest struggles, but the Arccos data shows that my driving needs some work too, so I’m working with the COBRA guys to get my COBRA King F8 driver really dialled in.

On the Pro-Am… This was my first Pro-Am and I really enjoyed it. I played quite well and hit the ball nicely but struggled a little around the greens. I ended up pretty much on handicap though. I made a couple of birdies from hitting wedges close but was really pleased to hit a lot of drives down the middle.

My irons weren’t quite as good, especially the longer irons, but overall I’m pleased with how it went. I didn’t have any three putts either and think I’m playing well enough to get down to 5 if I can just tidy everything up a bit.

Mid-July update My season is progressing nicely. My handicap is currently sat at the lowest it's ever been (6.4). My Arccos handicap using the 27 rounds I have in the COBRA Connect system is 4.0, so I know I'm capable of getting lower, and hopefully to my target of 5 before the end of the season.

The COBRA Connect stats tell me I need to improve my putting and driving, so I've been working on those aspects of my game and as a result, my scores these past couple of months have been  consistently lower than ever before. Indeed, I recently shot my lowest ever competition (qualifying) score of 4-over so its all heading in the right direction!