The Cobra Darkspeed Max fairway wood is the most forgiving in the stunning 2024 Darkspeed series. We see how it performs – especially as it is now available at some great discounted prices!
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Cobra Darkspeed Max Fairway Wood Review: NCG Summary
NCG SUMMARY
A gorgeous fairway wood. The Cobra Darkspeed Max is the most forgiving of the Darkspeed series but I would recommend all handicaps give it a go.
PROS
- Gorgeous looks.
- Forgiving
- Performed well from tee and fairway
- Extremely adjustable to get a great fit
- Sits square despite draw bias
CONS
- None
Cobra Darkspeed Max Fairway Wood Review: First Impressions
The Cobra Darkspeed series of fairway woods are some of the most stunning clubs I have seen. This series has something for everyone. The Darkspeed Max is their most forgiving club. The club has been designed to give a high draw-biased flight. It has an adjustable weight system for fine-tuning forgiveness and flight. The Darkspeed Max uses the Cobra PWR-BRIDGE and PWRSHELL H.O.T face technology which is being used across the board in this range.
This provides faster ball speed through a low forward CG location. The fairway wood has a carbon crown shell that removes weight from the upper part of the clubhead, which contributes to the low CG. The technology in the face uses machine learning to provide a multitude of hotspots across the face, leading to even greater forgiveness. This golf club has a really shallow face and looks so gettable, which is a confidence-inspiring feeling from a club that is historically the hardest to hit from the ground consistently.
NCG Verdict
I tested this on a GC3 launch monitor indoors to get the data. The stock shafts from Cobra are the UST Mamiya LIN-Q M40X. I was not fitted for this shaft but it performed well for me. The standard loft is 15.5° and this is how I tested it. My current 3-wood is 15°, and the numbers were commensurate with the loft. It has an adjustable hosel (see below) to allow for significant loft tweaking.
The club behind the golf ball looks great and has a lovely shape that I found very easy to square up. Despite its draw bias it did not look that way at all. This is a huge plus in my book as I do not like a club face that is anything other than square. The off-centre hits were, as would be expected with the technology, pretty forgiving, and the ball still had a higher launching ball flight and there was not a great amount of distance loss compared to fairway woods of days gone by.
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I was interested to see if I actually got more distance with the forgiveness and slightly more loft, perhaps launching the ball more easily. The figures, however, showed the distance to be that expected with the loft when comparing it to other Darkspeed woods and, indeed, my own 3 wood. Off the tee, I gained around 5 yards, which is normal for me.
In summary, the Cobra Darkspeed Max is a fantastic-looking wood with loads of technology to make it their most forgiving and potentially easiest-to-hit fairway wood. The lofts are very tweakable and I would always recommend getting fitted properly. The lower lofted fairway woods can be hard to hit, and getting the correct combination of shaft and loft can pay real dividends. I also do not think that golfers should necessarily pigeonhole themselves into buying the club that is supposedly designed for their handicap.
The Cobra Darkspeed series has something for everyone. if you are looking for new fairway woods, then I would certainly consider the Cobra Darkspeed and look at them all, including the Darkspeed Max.
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Cobra Darkspeed Max Fairway Wood Review: The Details
RRP: £279 / $329
Loft: 3W 15.5˚ (14°-17°), 5W 18.5˚ (17°-20°), 7W 21.5° (20°-23°)
Stock Shafts: UST MAMIYA LIN-Q M40X Red A, R and S Flexes.
More information: Cobra Website
