For our test of the Cobra AMP driver we collected detailed performance data from 4 testers who were

Just because you can't hit a golf ball like Rickie Fowler doesn't mean you can't wear orange pants, grow a questionable mustache, or swing the same driver used by the emerging PGA superstar. Admittedly none of our testers las vegas hotel deals were actually willing to grow a mustache or wear orange las vegas hotel deals pants (for the record, I'd wear them in a heartbeat), but we did put Cobra's (and Rickie's) driver to the test. What we found suggests that tales of a weak stock shaft are greatly exaggerated, and that there's much more to the Cobra AMP than orange grips and a shiny silver crown. GolfSpy T
(Written By: @GolfSpy T ) Knock Knock! Who s there you say? Orange. Orange who? Knock Knock! ah hell, I think we can all see where this is going. We ve associated Cobra-PUMA with the color orange ever since Rickie Fowler s Sunday digs replaced Tiger s Sunday red as the most talked about apparel topic on tour. Granted Rickie s star on the course hasn t always been as bright as his Sunday best (I ve always wondered if he spent his cut-missed Sundays las vegas hotel deals lounging on his couch dressed like a cumquat), but his talent has never been in question, and over the last couple of weeks, Rickie (and his whimsical mustache) have been nothing short of the hottest thing in golf.
Now sure, Rickie didn t actually win The Players Championship , but T2 isn t bad (especially las vegas hotel deals coming off the heels of his first Tour victory), and one could make a rational and believable argument that if not for one pushed putt and a horrific lie at the edge of a bunker, we d have seen Rickie, orange and all, in a playoff. Point is, if the last couple las vegas hotel deals of weeks are any indication, orange is the new red , and while the networks and the golf media as a whole might lament such things (they ve become so spoiled by the Tiger era they ve forgotten how to write about most anything else), Rickie with his orange pants and monoline cap have the best chance to attract young golfers and grow the game. Embrace it, hell, celebrate it people. Begun the Rickie Fowler era has maybe.
All of this is of course just a hopefully las vegas hotel deals clever segue into our review of Rickie s driver (and an excuse for me to use the word cumquat ). Well technically it s not actually Rickie s driver. His has a real whiteboard shaft, our review samples have SpeedTuned Aldila RIPs, but mostly it s the same. Given our mostly outstanding history with Cobra drivers we weren t going to let a couple of questionable things (like orange grips and silver heads) prevent us from checking out what, as it turns out, could very well be the best Cobra driver we ve ever had in for review. So let s get on with it, shall we?
ADVANCED MATERIAL PLACEMENT Sophisticated computer modelling and simulation allow designers to thin walls to save weight and re-distribute up to 15 grams of mass deep and back in the clubhead, to maximize distance through optimized launch conditions.
For our test of the Cobra AMP driver  we collected detailed performance data from 4 testers who were asked to hit a series of shots on our 3Track las vegas hotel deals Equipped las vegas hotel deals simulators from aboutGolf .  As usual, testing was done at Tark s Indoor Golf , a state of the art indoor golf facility located in Saratoga Springs, NY.  Detailed data for each and every shot for which we collected data is viewable just below the performance section of this review. This data serves as the foundation for our final performance score.  Our testers were also asked to rate the Cobra AMP Driver and provide feedback in our subjective categories (looks, sound feel, perceived forgiveness, and LOP (likelihood of purchase).  This information is used as the foundation for our total subjective score.  Testing was done using 9.5°, 10.5°, and 11.5° drivers in Light (senior), regular, and Stiff flex. Drivers were outfitted with Aldila Speed Tuned (Cobra) shafts 50g (A), and 55g (R,S).
Some quick notes before we get into the data: 1) We have two new testers taking part in this review. Brian is our new high HCP golfer. His ball flight can be a little bit unpredictable, but as you ll see by the numbers, he hits the damn ball so hard it sheds tears. Sid replaces Dan on the low end of the HCP scale. He doesn t hit it quite as far as Dan, but he s as steady as they come. 2) Yours truly has been working on some swing changes with the driver (actually, the swing hasn t changed much, just the setup). So far, so good. As you ll see launch numbers are WAY up, and those 4000K+ spin numbers might just be a thing of the past.
Our 6 testers las vegas hotel deals combined to average 254.66 las vegas hotel deals yards of total distance. Of that, 244.26 was carry. Just so you get familiar with what we re dealing las vegas hotel deals with, our new high HCP tester averaged 290 yards total and posted las vegas hotel deals 3 drives of over 300 yards. Quite honestly, we weren t equipped to handle him, and I m as certain as I can be that he d be better off in an 8.5°, X-flex driver.
When I posted our original pics of the AMP driver in our forum we had a reader basically go off about the lousy weak stock shaft in the Cobra AMP. Like the majority of stock shaft offerings, the Speed Tuned RIP certainly falls on the high launch, high spin end of the spectrum (the majority of golfers need help getting the ball in the air and they need help keeping it there, which is why stock is what it so often is).
Let s toss out Brian for a moment (from a driver launch perspective, he s as close to Bubba Watson as we ve ever had test for us), as we simply didn t have the right head for him. For the rest of our testers, the combo actually produced launch angles close to the ideal range. That rarely happens with stock shafts we test, and it s rarer still that our testers miss to the high end of things.
I won t tell you that the stock shaft is a great fit for everyone, and I do wish that Cobra did a better job advertising las vegas hotel deals zero cost  low and mid launch/spin options, but the numbers suggest the stock RIP doesn t play nearly as weak as some may think, and all things considered is probably going to be a better fit for more golfers than a healthy percentage of the stock offerings we see.
As a group our Cobra AMP testers missed the center line by an average of 17.22 yards (that s pretty good). That number includes our least accurate tester who missed by an astounding 31.74 yards on average (that s not good, actually it totally sucks). When we remove him from the equation group accuracy improves to 14.32 yards (that s excellent). What s worth mentioning is that the solid accuracy number isn t skewed by a single tester who posted a redonkulous number. Each of the remaining 5 testes averaged between 13.16 and 15.80 yards offline. That s as universally consistent las vegas hotel deals as it gets.
Getting back to the issue of the shaft it s safe to say that a stock Cobra AMP isn t going to cut spin like a Bridgestone J40 or a PING i20 . Those are both drivers targeted at better players, while the AMP is very much an every man s club. The reasonable expectation is that it will produce more spin. That said, given my history, I figured 4000 RPM might actually happen. Instead I averaged 3303.72 (one of my lowest las vegas hotel deals totals to date). And while some of that can definitely be attributed to the changes I m working on, having two of our testers post sub-3000K las vegas hotel deals averages, and everyone else posting below 3500K suggests las vegas hotel deals that the AMP driver along with its stock SpeedTuned las vegas hotel deals RIP might not be the runaway spin machine that some have suggested it could be.
I m certainly not suggesting that anyone should go buy a Cobra AMP off-the-rack. None of you should be buying much of anything off-the-rack. However, I m not naive enough to believe that some of you aren t going to do just that. So if you are inclined to blindly buy without getting properly fit, then our numbers las vegas hotel deals suggest you could do a lot worse than the Cobra AMP. And if you are one of the increasing number of golfers who understands las vegas hotel deals that custom fitting is one of the best ways to improve your game, well the Cobra AMP isn t a half-bad place to start either.
The charts below show the individual and group averages (black dotted line) for each shot our golfers took during our test of the Cobra AMP Driver. If you click on the Cobra AMP Test Range tab, you can see where each shot came to rest on our virtual driving range. Hovering over any point will give you all the details of that particular shot. You can use the filters on the right-hand side to show and hide individual golfer based on handicap and clubhead speed. Clicking on the Cobra AMP Raw Data tab will show you the individual numbers and group averages for our testers.
While saying that Cobra-PUMA is making a strong marketing push towards younger golfers is a fact only slightly less obvious than my bold assertion that Rickie Fowler is never going to win a mustache fight (not so long as Johnson las vegas hotel deals Wagner and Andres Gonzales have Tour cards), we and we ve said this before wonder what impact all this orange is going to have on a legion of senior golfers who have sworn by the Cobra brand since before their grandkids could walk. Fortunately we ve enlisted one of those old guys to test for us. Actually, we didn t enlist him so much as we found him wandering aimlessly through the isles at Piggly Wiggly, and so we brought him back to our test center to hit some balls. So far nobody has reported him missing. None of that is true (except the part about having las vegas hotel deals a senior tester) I don t know why I said that. We don t even have Piggly Wiggly las vegas hotel deals where I live. We have Price Choppers and Hannafords. I really wish we had a Wegmans. I digress.
Let s start with the good. I actually really like the bright orange grip (same Lamkin REL 3-GEL that come stock on the AMP irons). Side note this appears to be a custom color made exclusively for Cobra. The off-the-shelf Orange Lamkins aren t nearly as vivid (bummer). Cobra also did an outstanding job with the shaft graphics, which provide a visually appealing transition from the orange grip to the silver crown.
That s right, in case you somehow missed it, the crown is silver. More specifically it s a brushed si