Product Review: Cobra King F7 Driver

The Cobra King F7 driver will change the way you play. Bold statement, but I can’t remember the last time a product came in for review that created so much buzz.

First off, never before have we seen a driver with so much diversity. The King F7 is billed as “3 Drivers in One,” but it’s actually more, thanks to the eight adjustable loft settings.

We’ll get to the lofts, but let’s focus on the “3” for a moment. That’s based on the three different center of gravity settings - front, back and heel. Depending on the position, the King F7 will produce three different ball flights.
1. Move the heavier 12g colored weight to the front position for a lower, penetrating ball flight with less spin and more roll;
2. Place the weight in the back position for a higher, towering ball flight with added spin for more carry; and
3. When moved to the heel position, it works to create more draw spin to correct a slice.

Changing the loft on the King F7 driver is simple

The trifecta of CG! Pick your position and fire away.

As for the loft settings, in only three steps you can adjust to these eight options: 9° / 9.5° / 9.5° Draw / 10.5° / 10.5° Draw / 11.5°  / 11.5° Draw / 12°. The three steps:
1. Remove the shaft insert with the provided wrench;
2. Rotate the shaft until your desired lost appears in the window; and
3. Tighten the screw. A noticeable click means the loft has been completed successfully.

Note: For each increased/decreased degree of loft, your trajectory will change +/- .7 degrees and your spin rate will change up to 300 rpm.

Testing the Engineering
For testing purposes, we tried each of the three CG settings at 10.5 degrees. For comparison, my current driver carries approximately 240 yards, has a spin rate around 3,000 rpm and launch angle of 12.

Cobra’s proprietary carbon fiber (TeXtreme ) allows for a lighter crown and moves more weight lower on the clubhead. This is done to increase distance and forgiveness.

With the CG weight in front, my carry remained around 240 yards, but spin rate dropped to 1,250 rpm and launch angle was slightly lower at 11.8 degrees. Total distance - normally at 260 yards - increased to 267 yards.

With the CG weight in the rear, carry increased to 246 yards and spin rate was consistently around 1,275 rpm. Launch angle moved back to 12 degrees, similar to the test driver.

With the CG weight at the heel, we saw carry distances and launch angle matching the test driver (240 yards and 12 degrees), but more spin (1,285) than the other two positions. The only negative of our session occurred here, with several snap hooks. That could be the added weight in the heel or user error, of course.

Another thing we noticed ... Off-center hits performed better than they did with the test driver. This could be a product of the larger “Sweet Zone” and variable thickness structure of the face that is designed to be lighter, thinner and hotter.

Track distance and accuracy with COBRA CONNECT

This is where I sound like an infomercial. BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE!!!

Cobra has teamed with Arccos for unprecedented stat tracking. Forget tagging, as you can automatically track the distance and accuracy of each drive. With COBRA CONNECT, all you have to do is pair your club with the free Arccos Driver smartphone app to gather performance data. The app also provides GPS distances for more than 40,000 courses worldwide. Personally, I’ve used another stat-tracking system and always forget to tag before a shot, which throws off my numbers. COBRA CONNECT does it for you automatically.

The Cobra King F7 driver originally retailed for $349, but is now $100 cheaper because the company recently introduced the F8 line to the family (available in January 2018). Read about the new F8 technology HERE. If you can do without that and want to save some money, the King F7 is an excellent driver.